Learning and meeting like minded creatives is so much fun!
I am sure by now most of you know that I teach a slipcover class for Craftsy, “Custom Fit Slipcovers; Couches and Sofas“. Well as an instructor I was invited to join the Craftsy team along with 199 other Craftsy instructors for the first ever Instructor Summit held in Englwood Colorado January 22-24 of this year. The summit was so much more than I had expected it to be.
Friday evenings event started at 4:00pm in the “Spotted Dog”, which is a cozy little bar with pool table and a very nice fireplace. The atmosphere was so pleasant and the energy in the room was off the charts! I don’t know if you have ever been in a room with that many creative personalities, oh and at least 80% women, but it is an experience for sure. Some of the faces were familiar as I had taken their classes online and felt like I already knew them. It was great to sit and talk with Josh Scott one of the founders and COO of Craftsy. He was very willing to chat with all of the Instructors at our table.
Saturday started with a wonderful breakfast followed by Craftsy Style Connections. We were put into groups with new faces. The conversations were very easy and flowed so rapidly that you didn’t realize how fast the time went by. I was in a group with Joi Mahon who is a clothing designer. What style this women has! You must check out here class “Fast Track Fitting – In the Details“. We were also joined by her husband who works in the business as well. Another enthusiastic instructor was Stephanie Flynn Sokolov who teaches a great weaving class, “Pickup Stick and Finger Control Techniques“. The next women was in my category, Cynthia Bleskachek with her class being “Getting Started with Upholstery”, needless to say our conversations were fast moving and full of enthusiasm. The groups were very willing to share and ideas just kept flowing. I wish we could of had another hour together. Bill on the other had was in another group of all women who by the end of his session were giving him hugs…hmmm luckily I am by no means the jealous type The next sessions of the day were just as exciting, “Craftsy on Deck, Back to the Future” which told of the history of Craftsy. What a brilliant idea the founders, Josh Scott and John Levisay, had when they started this company. Teaching the art of all types of crafts online and in one place. With millions of members enjoying topics such as Photography, Garment Sewing, Quilting, Cake Decorating, Cooking, Painting, Drawing, Wood Working, Gardening, well you get the idea. Anything you could imagine you might want to learn is all on one platform. Totally exhausted and over stimulated we gathered according to the categories we teach in so that we could get to know the other instructors. With a glass of wine to relax us we all gathered, again my category of “sewing” was predominately women so conversation was by no means an issue. I was able to talk with instructors who’s classes I had taken as well as approached by many who had taken my class as well. It was wonderful to see Linda Perman who is an instructor, but also works as an acquisitions editor for Craftsy. No, that still was not the end of the day by any means. We left our cocktail hour and headed to the lobby to gather for dinner. We were told earlier that the door at the end of the hall would be closed and not to open it, but just gather in the lobby and someone would come and get us. When the doors were opened the tears began to flow. Being one of the first to go in and seeing so many of the Craftsy Team all cheering and clapping for us, the Instructors, was awesome to say the least. This company and everyone that works there really values the talent of every instructor that helps to make Craftsy great. As we walked through the processional we were high fived by each and everyone! And Yes, my eyes did well up with tears of joy as well as pride felling so honored to be a part of such a great company. After dinner we had a DJ with dancing and also some fun games and non monetary gambling activities. The best part of the evening for me was just relaxing and having more conversation. There was a photo booth so of course we did take group pics with fun props. I talked with instructors and members of the Craftsy team alike. On Sunday we had more seminars with many more topics as well as time to visit with the wonderful vendors who displayed their products as well as answered many questions. The final item on the agenda was a “Town Hall style Q & A” where Josh Scott, John Levisay another founder and CEO and Emily Lawrence SVP of Content and Production (Craftsy’s first employee) were seated in the center of the room and there to answer any questions we might have. Thanks for letting me relive the great experience I had attending #CraftsyInstructorSummit 2016. I hope you enjoyed following me on facebook during this fun event and got an opportunity to watch some of the live video we put up. I am most certain you can feel how exciting it was. Thanks again for reading this and I hope you will hop on over to facebook and share any classes you may have taken with me on our page. 
Wow, I am exhausted just thinking about it. Our next session was great information shared by Sara Wilson on using FaceBook to grow your audience. Followed by Shari Coudron, “Tell Your Story, Build Your Brand” along with a workshop on how to write and craft your story. At this point my head is so full and the ideas are just coming to me from all directions. But wait there is more! After lunch Carol Ann Waugh, who teaches a couple of quilting classes, talk about how she built her following on Craftsy as one of their first instructors. Next up was “Just What the Doctor Ordered” presented by Danielle Wilkie who is Craftsy’s VP of Growth, then “Image Editing and Sharing On the Go”, last on the agenda for the day was Steve Reinhardt, one of the Craftsy Team Members, presenting a slide show “Meet our Craftsy Members” which included video testimonials and emails from members of the Craftsy Platform. By the end of the day I was thinking that this was so great what could the evening and next day possibly have in store that would top this. Nothing right? WRONG!
You might want to check out her Crochet Classes. I met so many great people it’s hard to mention them all as I would need several pages to do so. 
Mary and Lindsey, part of the Craftsy team, were always around and eager to assist.
This was very informal but also very informative. The team at Craftsy are all very available to us as instructors and are very talented professionals as well as having brought in some of the best instructors from around the world. Kim
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