1. First things first: make sure you submit your workshop application! Workshops will be selected by our Retreat team based on skill level spread and class interest from previous years’ data.

2. If selected, you will receive an email confirming your application’s acceptance and be added to our Retreat Instructors Discord channel. This will be the primary mode of communication between the Retreat mods, volunteers, and instructors.

3. Retreat mods will help facilitate coordination with your volunteers prior to the day of your class to discuss logistics and set expectations.

4. If you have any class materials that should be made available during/after your session, these will be submitted to the mods for distribution prior to your workshop.

5. When your workshop day arrives, your volunteers will assist you in setting up, taking attendance, running the workshop, and tearing down afterwards.

We ask that our instructors be familiar with the technique they are teaching, comfortable explaining it to someone who does not know anything about it, and knowledgeable about common errors and how to correct them. If you are not fully comfortable with the technique you are teaching or it is experimental, please include that in your description of the class. 

Sure!

• Beginner: You’ve done this a few times but not many! You still need to refer to tutorials and instructions for most bookbinding steps.

• Amateur: You do this for the love of it! You may not have formal training, but you’re reasonably comfortable with the basics and have tried some different techniques, whether that’s different binding styles or related skills-in-a-trenchcoat.

• Intermediate: You’re reasonably experienced in several techniques or have an in-depth knowledge of one particular topic or technique! You may have taken workshops or undergone other formal training.

• Professional in the Industry: This is your day job, at least for the topic of your presentation.

We sure do! 

• Beginner: Starting with the basics! Requires absolutely no specialized knowledge or experience in bookbinding whatsoever.

• Fundamentals: Core parts of making a book! Assumes attendees will have some basic bookbinding knowledge (i.e., parts of a book, typical materials and tools, some basic techniques, etc.), but does not require extensive experience.

• Intermediate: Now we're really getting into it! Assumes attendees are experienced binders with multiple finished projects under their belts. While the specific workshop technique may be new, the general principles of bookbinding are not.

• FAAFO: We're striking out into new territory! It doesn't matter how much or how little experience an attendee has because no one's ever done this before anyway. Experimental, ambitious, and just plain out-of-the-box wildness here.

We like to keep this as broad as your imagination can accommodate, but workshops generally tend to fall into one of three categories:

• Lecture: No hands-on component necessary – for when you want to discuss any bookbinding-related topic.

• Technique Demonstration: The workshop host takes participants through a specific technique. Participants are encouraged to bring their own project to follow along if they so choose, but this isn’t required.

• Hands-On Workshop: Participants walk away with a crafted item.

As many as your heart desires! We love hearing your ideas; be advised that mods will be making decisions based on a lot of different factors, and multiple workshops may not be selected.

Please keep in mind that these rooms are carpeted. No paint/ink speckling of edges, no power sanding, no marbling. Anything that would require open paint/ink containers will not be allowed. Thank you for your understanding.

Instructors are encouraged to demonstrate skills, but we ask that you be prepared to focus primarily on instruction. Instructors should not expect to achieve significant crafting progress while teaching a workshop. While you may have a demo you’re working on, you must be prepared to help your attendees with questions or concerns they may have throughout the workshop. You may not be able to finish your own demo/example in the time allotted.

Yes! We’re planning to have a minimum of 2 volunteers per workshop to: 

• Help with set up of the workshop space and materials.

• Assist with attendee check-in.

• Provide an extra set of guiding hands during the workshop.

• Help with break down and clean up after the workshop ends.

Volunteer sign-ups and additional information will follow at a later date. If there is a specific person you’ve arranged to partner with to assist you with the workshop, please let us know under “additional information.” We cannot guarantee they’ll be approved, but they'll receive priority consideration.

We are looking for workshops that are either 20 minutes (as part of lightning workshop rounds: a set of 20 minute mini workshops with small rotating groups of attendees), 1 hour, 1.5 hours, or 2 hours in length. If you feel like your workshop needs more time, you may present your argument in the application. 

This is up to you! However, we have set a max hands-on workshop size of 30.  If you think you can run a workshop for over 30 people, please explain your witchcraft in the form provided. How many are YOU comfortable teaching? 

Keep in mind that people will not be in their home crafting stations and may be traveling with a limited set of tools. Accordingly, please separate your supplies lists into four categories:

1. Tools that a participant may reasonably be expected to travel with

2. Tools & materials that would need to be purchased and provided to participants as part of a workshop fee for attendance

3. Tools that you will be bringing exclusively for use in your workshop.

4. Tools that are for communal use at the Retreat, e.g., a printer.

Additionally, instructors will be asked to create handouts, in collaboration with the mod team, with instructions/information that your participants can print out for reference. This will ensure that regardless of the A/V situation, or a workshop’s student-to-instructor ratio, your workshop will proceed smoothly. We will provide further information on the A/V capabilities when we have it.

Renegade will have a budget for workshop materials. You may be asked to bring something small if you are able. If you need all the materials to be bought by Renegade, please be specific about what you are asking for and, if possible, have a ballpark figure or estimate of cost. Please differentiate between workshop costs for materials that will be consumed by the workshop and tools that participants would be able to keep. Workshop presenters would be exempt from any fees for the workshop they are running.

Submissions close on December 7th, 2026. Mods will be reviewing the proposals and contacting potential instructors throughout the month of December, with the intent to lock in a workshop schedule by early January 2027.

Please send an email to the Retreat Mods at retreat@renegadeguild.org or @Retreat Mod in the Retreat 2027 Discord channel.