Hello!
Well folks, it’s officially 2020. Which means it’s time to get this thing started!
The following is a ridiculously long email with everything you need to know about the program. I will try to break up this information into bite-size chunks. You may need a hot bath or a glass of wine to get through this one.
TEACHABLE:
Teachable is an online platform where all your class content will be located. Every month, there will be a new assignment posted in Teachable. Any additional content, all interviews, and recordings of all the Roundtable Discussions and Critiques will be posted in Teachable as soon as humanly possible after the online sessions take place.
To access the class content, you’ll need to have a Teachable account and sign up for Kirsten Lewis Education. (No need to go through this step if you already have an account.)
To sign up for Teachable, go to: https://kirsten-lewis-education.teachable.com/ Please click where it says "ENROLL NOW.” Let me know if you have any trouble signing up.
After you create an account I’ll be sent a notification that you’ve signed up, and I’ll manually add the course to your account. If you’re already signed up to Kirsten Lewis Education I’ll go ahead and add the course to your account now. You’ll find the course by clicking on “My Courses” in the upper right-hand corner after you sign in.
Right now the only things posted in Teachable are a year overview and the January assignment. I’ll be posting a video soon going over some of this same information, for those of you who are more visual (audible?) learners. Kirsten is also recording a video for you which should be posted soon.
ZOOM:
All of the online meetings, critiques and roundtable discussions will take place in a group Zoom meeting. Most of you have already used Zoom for your 15 minute welcome sessions with Kirsten.
To download Zoom to your computer or phone, go to Zoom.us
It is free to signup and only takes a few minutes.
Each month, I will be sharing several Zoom links with you. (Roundtables, Critiques and quarterly 1:1’s). In order to join the monthly meetings all you need to do is click on the Zoom link at the time of the meeting. During the Critiques and Roundtables you will have the option to have your video on or off (we love it when it’s on so we can see your pretty faces and what food you might be preparing and eating during the meetings..) Everyone’s microphones will be turned off until it’s your turn to talk about your assignment or personal projects. There is also a chat bar where you can comment or ask questions.
CRITIQUES:
Each month there will be an assignment followed by an online critique of the assignment. The assignments will be posted at the beginning of each month, and the critiques will usually take place in the beginning of the following month.
During the critiques a different guest critiquer each month will join Kirsten to look at your assignments. You’ll have the opportunity to talk with Kirsten and the guest critiquer about your work.
The critiques will range anywhere between 2 - 7 hours. The expectation is that everyone will be able to attend the entire critique if possible. If there is any part of the critique where you know you’ll need to step out, you can let me know ahead of time and I’ll send out a critique order based on these requests. The critique order is not for people who would prefer to go earlier rather than later, it’s for people who have prior commitments that they can’t get out of. I’ll switch up the order each month so you’re not always at the beginning or always at the end. We’ll always put the Europeans towards the beginning of the critique because of their time-zone, so they can leave the critique when it gets too late for them.
Kirsten and I will do our best to choose critique times that work for every time-zone. We may need to switch up the times of the critiques each month so that folks in different countries all get a chance to join.
If you aren’t able to attend a critique you may still send in your assignment with a short explanation for Kirsten and the guest critiquer. The critiques will always be recorded and posted in Teachable so you’ll be able to watch any parts that you missed.
ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS:
Each month you will attend one Roundtable Discussion. The Roundtable discussions are a place to talk about your personal projects ands the progress/next steps for each project. You will also be able to share and get feedback on photos that you’ve taken for your project during the month.
The Roundtable discussions will be broken into small groups of 10 people each. You’ll be able to signup for the date of the Roundtable that works best for your schedule on a first-come, first-served basis. This way you’ll be with different people each month and will get the chance to learn about everyone’s projects.
The purpose of the Roundtable Discussions is to have the chance to talk with Kirsten about your projects. For this reason, you’ll only be able to send in photos for Kirsten to review if you’re able to be present in the meeting. The Roundtable discussions will always be recorded and posted in Teachable so you can watch the sessions that you weren’t a part of.
1:1 QUARTERLY CHECK-INS:
Each person will have four 30 minute sessions throughout the year. These sessions are for you to use in whatever way is most beneficial for you. Some people use the sessions to stay accountable with goals, to talk about their photo business, to get feedback on photography sessions, or to talk with Kirsten about where they’re at with their personal journey with photography.
You may also share photos with Kirsten during your 1:1 sessions. For these sessions you can send your photos ahead of time using Kirsten’s wetransfer link: https://kirstenlewisphoto.wetransfer.com/ I’ll send out a separate email with information about how to resize and prep your files.
SCHEDULING:
I’ll be sending out scheduling links throughout each month. We use Calendly for scheduling which is pretty self-explanatory. The scheduling link will bring you to a calendar that shows all the available signup dates for that month. After you sign up you’ll be emailed a confirmation and a Zoom link for the meeting. You should automatically be sent a reminder email a day or two before the meeting takes place, but please don’t rely on the confirmation emails to remember your meetings.
QUARTERLY 1:1 SCHEDULING:
Each month Kirsten will be meeting with 10 people for their 30 minute 1:1 sessions. I will be sending out a link tomorrow morning with all the available dates for 1:1 sessions this month. I’ll also include a list of who should sign up for the month of January.
You will be meeting with Kirsten on a quarterly basis, so if your first meeting is in January, your next meeting with be in April. If your first meeting with Kirsten in February, your next meeting will be in May. And if your first meeting with Kirsten in March, your next meeting will be in June. Please signup for a session on your allotted month. Once people start skipping months it gets difficult to find enough make-up dates to fit everyone in.
Signups for your month will be on a first-come first-served basis. The same signup link will also be sent to Kirsten’s other year-long mentoring group. There will be enough sessions to accommodate both classes, but you might want to grab your session as soon as possible.
ROUNDTABLE SCHEDULING:
There will be 3 Roundtable Discussions each month. The dates of the Roundtables will go out to you each month with a Roundtable signup link. Please sign up for only one of these sessions. The signups are first-come, first served, and there will be a cut-off at 11 people per session. The idea with this is that you’ll be able to sign up for the date that works best for you.
With ALL scheduling, please be considerate to the people who work during the week and are only available to signup on weekends. If a couple days go by and there are still weekend slots available, then it’s fine to sign up for a weekend date. We’ll always have a Roundtable date that is later in the day (MST) for our Hong Kong/Australia ladies. If there’s ever a month when you can’t find a signup that works for you, just let me know.
SCHEDULING CANCELLATION/MAKEUP POLICY:
Kirsten’s travel and online session schedule is pretty crazy. So it’s not always easy to find make-up dates. If you need to cancel for an emergency or sickness, we’ll always find a date to reschedule. We’ll also try to be as minimal as possible with rescheduling online meetings on Kirsten’s end. Sometimes because of sickness, family emergencies, travel changes or delayed flights a session may need to be rescheduled.
UPLOAD LINKS:
The class will be provided with upload links each month for uploading photos for Critique and Roundtable Discussions. If you’re sending a large amount of photos, it’s best if you can send in a zipped file. The links can always be found in your weekly email updates or on the class website.
CLASS WEBSITE:
There is a class website: www.kirstenlewismentoring.com (yes you’re looking at it ;)
It’s a private class website just for you, so there is a password: PN2020
If you’re already overwhelmed by all this information, hopefully the class website will be an easy way to keep track of everything all in one place. There are buttons to Teachable, the Facebook group, the Year Overview, and an archive of the weekly email updates (if you’re like me and lose track of these as soon as they come into your inbox). I’ll post this email in there as well. There is also a class calendar which we will keep updated, Zoom links, upload links and upcoming dates for the month.
CLASS COMMUNICATION:
Kirsten’s email address is Kirsten@kirstenlewisphoto.com. Feel free to email Kirsten about anything throughout the year. I’m usually the first person to see and read all of Kirsten’s emails, and will make sure to pass on emails to her that need to be answered by her personally. It can take Kirsten awhile to get back to emails, so I’ll also get back to you if it’s a question that I can answer.
You may also email me for more immediate help. I am absolutely available to help brainstorm ideas for assignments, be a second set of eyes on your work, or answer any questions pertaining to the class. I’m also happy to meet with anyone via Zoom throughout the year if you want to talk anything class or photography related.
Each week I’ll be sending out a weekly email update with any updates about dates, scheduling, assignments and zoom links.
For all invoicing/payment plan questions please email Kristen Fair at Kristen@kirstenlewisphoto.com. Kristen should have already been in touch with all of you about contracts, questionnaires and your payment plans.
FACEBOOK GROUP:
The purpose of the class facebook group is to provide a place for building community with each other. Not everyone loves facebook, and so if Kirsten or I ever post an announcement in the facebook group I’ll also send the same information in an email to the entire class. Feel free to tag Kirsten or I with questions in the Facebook group, but I can’t promise we’ll see it. The best way to get ahold of either one of us is always through email.
WORKSHOPS:
Everyone in the program will get to attend a 7 day workshop. We’re still working on dates, hopefully we’ll have these for you soon. There will be a lot more info sent out about the workshops throughout the year!
If I’ve missed anything, let me know! I’ve been writing this email for over two hours and I’m sure I’ve forgotten something.
Here’s to a year filled with insight and growth for every one of us,
- Molly
