One of Skillshare’s values is community, and that was fully on display at a teacher event we hosted in London on May 18, 2022.
The invitation-only, three-hour event was held at The Depot, a creative coworking and meeting space. Our 55 attendees enjoyed complimentary refreshments, and received free totes and notebooks from Skillshare, as well as beautiful gifted notebooks from Papier.
Organized by Tiffany Chow, Director of Teacher Success, and Natacha Cullinan, UK Market Director, the event was created to bring our teacher community, creatives and influencers together under one roof to share experiences and learn from each other.
It Wouldn’t Be a Skillshare Event without Fun, Creative Activities
Two of our Top Teachers led creative activities for the attendees: Self Care Doodling with Mel Rye, and Origami Sweetie Boxes with Evgeniya & Dominic Righini-Brand.
Top Teachers Tell It Like It Is
Afterward, Cullinan moderated a panel led by two Skillshare Top Teachers, graphic designer and illustrator Smitesh Mistry and illustrator and surface designer Ohn Mar Win, and an SKO Teacher, artist and designer Maria Ines Gul. They each discussed their experiences with Skillshare, and how teaching on the platform has changed their lives.
“I discovered Skillshare after being a stay-at-home mum for eight years,” said Win. “I had worked as an illustrator before I had kids, and I felt my Photoshop and Illustrator skills were really rusty. I found classes on hand lettering and character design, which was really about Photoshop and how to manipulate images. It was a wonderful way to discover my style as a food illustrator, which is the other part of my business. I teach on Skillshare, but I also have lots of food illustrations in Tesco.”
Win went on to say, “For me, Skillshare is a wonderful way to connect with the students, the built-in community and the other Top Teachers. It’s also a wonderful way for me to be myself, be an authentic teacher and talk about what I’m passionate about. I’m now creating my 28th class.”
Connecting with the Audience Through Q&A
The attendees, mostly teachers from across our programs and Originals, some influencers and prospective teachers, then had the opportunity to ask the panel questions.
One attendee asked, “Have you found a way to make classes more engaging or interesting other than by adding your personality?”
Mistry said, “I like to show students my way to do something, and then show them other options to do the same thing in case they don’t have the equipment or software.
Another attendee asked, “While making your classes, do you feel the need to sound perfect?”
In response, Gul asked the audience, “Who here is not a perfectionist? Anyone?” Once the laughter died down, she said, “That’s always a problem I face, and I think we all tend to do that. But people really appreciate it when you share things with them. Never assume that everyone knows everything. You’d be surprised how much you can teach people. It’s the passion that communicates and connects with people.”
Event attendees provided feedback saying they loved the opportunity to meet in real life with like-minded creatives they’ve connected with through Skillshare’s online community.
Let’s Do This Again!
“We loved hosting our very first in-real-life event for our UK teachers,” said Cullinan. “Community is at the heart of what we do at Skillshare, and it was great to experience it firsthand with this meetup. We’ll be planning lots more of these in the coming months, given the success of this event.”
We look forward to creating this community experience for more teachers, students and creatives in the future. Watch this space for news about future in-person events, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook so you don’t miss out. We hope you can join us next time!
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