How to Create ENGAGING Online Workshops (5 Simple Steps)

Plus 5 tips to start publishing YouTube videos

It’s amazing how much you learn when you just get started with something, even when you don’t feel “ready.” Take me, for example. Four weeks ago, I signed up for Ali Abdaal’s course on YouTube. But then I got carpal tunnel (in both wrists) and had to skip the first two weeks to prioritize work essentials.

So I had two options: I could tell myself it was “too late” to catch up and resort to going through the content once the course ended, or I could jump in midway and get as much feedback as possible while I had access to it.

I opted for the latter and even though I’ve been doing the bare minimum for the past two weeks, I’ve already learned way more through trial and error than I would’ve just consuming the content.

Keep reading for my five tips on how to get started with YouTube so far. But first, I want to share my latest video.

How to Create ENGAGING Online Workshops

Teaching an online workshop isn't as hard as you might think. All you need is:

• A concept or framework

• At least one exercise to apply it

• A bit of structure around exercises

In this week’s video, I walk through how I create workshops in 5 simple steps (and you’re welcome to steal prompt ideas from my slides). This video’s a long one—slightly under an hour—but you can use the timestamps in the description to hop to the sections you’re most interested in.

If you enjoy the video and find it useful, please do me a favour and hit the like button and add a comment (I’d be happy to answer any questions you have). It’ll help boost engagement as I work on growing my YouTube channel. Also, be sure to subscribe so you get notified about new videos. Thanks in advance for your support.

My 5 Tips to Start Publishing YouTube Videos

Now, back to what I was saying earlier about my 5 initial tips for anyone keen to start publishing YouTube videos.

1️⃣ Start With Your TTH

To avoid making a video that’s all over the place content-wise and actually share pointed advice, start planning each video by creating your Title, Thumbnail, and Hook (TTH). These will serve as helpful constraints to stay focused as you plan and record your video.

Creating the right thumbnail seems most critical to whether or not someone watches your YouTube video because let’s face it, we largely judge books by their covers and visuals travel to the brain faster than words. It also helps to include your face in the thumbnail since faces can accelerate trust.

Lastly, try to use colours that prompt the emotions you’re aiming to convey—check out the image below for inspiration:

Colour Psychology (Photo Source: London Image Institute)

2️⃣ Prioritize Audio

Inspired by Azul Wells’ videos where he takes viewers on a stroll outside as he shares his wisdom, I recorded my second YouTube video on a morning walk. The vibe was refreshing but once I got home and rewatched the video, I learned walking on a gravel path is noisy on video, and to stick to grass or pavement next time.

3️⃣ Focus on Quantity to Start

Make ~10 videos to start with and keep them ultra simple, ideally just talking off-the-cuff once you commit to your TTH. Then once you get comfortable talking to the camera, you can work on integrating new video tips week by week (or even month by month).

My first video was ultra basic and off-the-cuff. I didn’t overthink it because otherwise I never would’ve recorded it. So instead, I focused on just shipping it (even when it felt embarrassing) so I could begin building a habit of recording and get more comfortable on camera.

4️⃣ Start With “How to” Videos

When you don’t have subscribers to start with, you need to make it easy for people to search for your videos and get value from them. The way to do that is to prioritize “how to” content and use that format (How to do X) as your title. You’ll notice I named my latest video using this format (which also happens to be the title of this newsletter).

5️⃣ Use Your Small Subscriber List to Your Advantage

Instead of being sulky about not having many (or any) subscribers, look at the bright side: there’s no pressure to pump out high-quality videos to start with. This is something I remind myself of often. Keep things simple and don’t worry about people judging you. It takes guts to put yourself out there, so be proud of yourself and just keep working at getting better.

I hope these tips help you get started with YouTube as much as they’ve helped me.

And if you enjoyed this week’s newsletter, please drop a like or comment to let me know.

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful week,

Alexandra

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