Is it a class or an event? Selling a one-off workshop
A one-time workshop can be sold as a class or as tickets to an event. Four questions decide it: who's buying, who's in the room, what you need to know, and what counts as full.
Sep 29, 2026 · 5 min read
The fall term is running, and the one-offs start to suggest themselves. A Saturday intro to pointe. A pottery night for couples. A guest coach running a two-hour clinic. A Halloween open house. Parent-and-toddler yoga on the PA day. Each is a good idea, and each raises the same small question at the desk: how do people sign up for it?
There are two honest answers. You can sell it as a class: one session, people register, each person in the room is someone you know. Or you can sell it as an event: tickets, bought by whoever wants to come, for themselves and whoever they bring. Pick the wrong one and it still works, mostly, but you'll spend the week before chasing names, ages and waivers you should have had from the start.
What each one looks like to the buyer
As a class, a parent finds it among your classes, opens it, taps register, signs in or makes an account, chooses their child (or adds them), and pays. One registration is one person in the room. If they're bringing two kids, they register both.
As an event, someone finds it on your events page, picks how many tickets, gives a name and an email, and pays. Their tickets arrive by email with a code each. One order can be six people, and you only know the name of the one who paid.
| As a class | As an event | |
|---|---|---|
| Who signs up | Each person in the room | One buyer for the group |
| Account | Yes | No |
| You know | Names, ages, notes | The buyer's name and email |
| Full means | Spots taken | Seats or places sold |
Neither is better. They answer different questions.
Four questions that decide it
1. Do you need to know each person? If a child is going to be on the beam, in the pool, or holding a glue gun, you need their name, their age, their allergies and who picks them up. That's a class. Selling tickets to a gymnastics clinic and then emailing every buyer for "the names and ages of the kids you're bringing" is the most common mistake here, and it costs you an evening.
2. Is one person buying for several others? A grandparent bringing three grandchildren to the open house won't register each one, and shouldn't have to. Audiences, open houses, demonstrations, talks and family afternoons are events.
3. Who's the buyer? Your own families already have accounts, so a class costs them nothing. A stranger who saw your poster at the library may give up at "create an account" for a $15 afternoon. If the point is to reach new people and they're only watching or trying, tickets ask less of them. If the point is to turn them into students, a class gets them into your system with the right details from the start.
4. What does full mean? A class is full when its spots are taken: 8 rigs for aerial silks, 12 wheels in the pottery room. An event is full when the room is: 60 chairs for a demonstration, or the fire code's number for an open house. If the limit is equipment and instructors, it's a class. If it's chairs and floor space, it's an event.
Some worked examples
Intro to aerial silks, Saturday 1 to 3 PM, $45, ages 12 and up, 8 rigs. A class. Each participant needs a waiver, an age check and their own spot.
Halloween open house, free, come in costume. An event with free tickets, a capacity of whatever the building holds, and no names needed beyond the buyer's. It tells you how many to expect, which is the only number you need.
A guest choreographer's masterclass, 20 dancers and room for 30 to watch. Both. The dancers register for a class with 20 spots, ages 13 and up. The watchers buy tickets to an event with a capacity of 30. Selling it as one thing gives you either 50 dancers' worth of paperwork or 20 dancers you know nothing about.
Parent-and-toddler yoga on the PA day, 12 mats. A class, with the child as the student. The parent is with them; you don't need to sell the parent anything. Twelve spots, twelve pairs.
Pottery date night for couples, 10 wheels shared by two. Either works. As a class with 10 spots, one partner registers and brings the other. As an event, a single ticket type of "Two people, one wheel" at $90 with a capacity of 10. If it's mostly new faces, the event is easier for them.
Pricing a one-off
Price it by the hour against your regular classes, then add a little for it being special. If your weekly class works out to $18 an hour, a two-hour workshop at $40 to $45 feels fair and is more profitable than the regular class, because the room is full and the teacher is booked once.
For workshops, say what's included. "$45, all materials and a take-home piece" stops the question before it's asked. For events with a booking fee, put it in the price people see (more in the booking fee).
The mistakes to avoid
- Selling tickets, then asking for names. If you'll need names, ages or a waiver for each person, it was a class.
- Registering a crowd one by one. If thirty parents have to make accounts to watch twenty minutes of a showcase, it was an event.
- One capacity for two kinds of people. Participants and spectators are counted separately. Keep them apart.
- Forgetting the room. Book the space and the instructor on your calendar the day you announce it, not the day before.
In Caletan
In Caletan, both are there. A class can meet once, or take a drop-in price for one session of a class that already runs, with families choosing the day and its spots counted with the class's; see adding a class. An event sells tickets for each show with its own capacity, free or paid, to buyers who give only a name and an email; see events and shows.
