Questions and Answers

1. How do you determine coverage area for your group?
2. How can I find participants?
3. Is this strictly 'live' or can I have a virtual study group?
4. I'm new to coaching, can I still be a host?
5. How do I know if other coaches are also hosts?
6. Can I invite anyone or are only coachville members allowed?
7. Do I have to pay to become a study group host?
8. Can Coachville help find participants? How?
9. How do I determine what Topics to pick?
10. How long are the meetings usually held?
11. What do you do if you get more people than you can handle?
12. This seems like a good idea, but I'm overwhelmed, where should I start?
13. Can I get one of those cool logo's for my study group? How?
14. Can I put one of the logo's on my referral page?
15. Can I get a list of all the email addresses of coaches in my area,
to let them know I'm having a meeting?
16. How does a study group differ from a chapter?
17. Where are the topics to choose from?
18. I want to lead my own material, occasionally, may I?
19. How often are these held?
20. Why is Coachville having study groups?
21. Is this a good way to attract clients?
22. How could/would I lose my Study Group Host status?
23. I'm not a good public speaker...can I still be a host?
24. Do I have to rent a room somewhere?
25. Can I set up and host a virtual study group for my company?
26. What actually happens during a group?
27. What are my responsibilities as a host?
28. I want to target corporate coaching, is that OK?
29. I don't want to host a study group, but it sounds like joining one would be beneficial. How can I find one in my area?
30. How many people do you recommend I have in my group?
31. I have an idea for a topic, what should I do with it?
32. This seems like fun, what's the catch?
33. How long do the meetings last?
34. Can I have weekly meetings?
35. Any suggestions for making my study group a success?
36.What about fees? Should I charge a fee? How much?
 

1. How do you determine coverage area for your group?
There are no limits nor 'protected' areas.  We encourage everyone who wants to create a CoachVille Study Group. This means there may well be 10 or 20 Study Groups in a city the size of Los Angeles, New York, London or Hong Kong.  CoachVille may be setting up Chapters, and these would be one per city/area.  But not Study Groups.  The more the merrier. Everyone has an equal chance of setting one up and running it.

2. How can I find participants?
The best way is to let your friends, coaching colleagues and clients know that you're setting up a Study Group in your area.  Don't worry, word will get around.  Becoming a Study Group Host can become a catalyst for you to set up a local network of coaches yourself, which is always good for your long term networking goals.

3. Is this strictly 'live' or can I have a virtual study group?
CoachVille supports both formats. We are working on a related project called CoachVille Virtual Communities (aka SIGs).

4. I'm new to coaching, can I still be a host?
Yes, certainly.  As host, you don't need to be the coaching expert. Rather you'll be introducing your group to a new coaching tool, exercise or skill set that you've learned from CoachVille.  You'll find that other coaches, especially the more experienced coaches, will contribute to the meeting and so you won't feel the pressure to be the resident expert.

5. How do I know if other coaches are also hosts?
You can do a search at CoachVilleReferral.com. We've added a search for Study Group Hosts on the home page. That'll generate a list of who is a Host and where they are based.

6. Can I invite anyone or are only CoachVille members allowed?
Yes, everyone is welcome.  There are no restrictions or time limits. And, we ask you to encourage non CoachVille members to join CoachVille if they wish, but we're not making this a requirement.

7. Do I have to pay to become a study group host?
No.  It's in our best interest to have 500+ Study Groups operating around the world (brand-building, local presence, basis for local chapters, etc.), so we're happy to provide you with free training and free access to the special tools you can use as the basis of your group's studies/meetings.

8. Can Coachville help find participants? How?
Not directly, but we can help.  We will be directing our members and the public to CoachVilleReferral.com to find a local Study Group. 

9. How do I determine what Topics to pick?
Choose the ones that you, and your group, would enjoy.  We'll be posting a list of topics at the leader area soon (about 20 topics/MicroModules), so you can select from there.  (Note, those Study Group Hosts who are also a part of the Graduate School of Coaching will have access to 100 topics/MicroModules.)

10. How long do the meetings run?
Between an hour and half and three hours.  It's entirely up to you.

11. What do you do if you get more people than you can handle?
Good question.  We suggest you network with other Study Group Hosts in your area and refer folks to each other.  You can always get a larger location if you've got a hot group, although this does change the intimate, close experience of a small study group.

12. This seems like a good idea, but I'm overwhelmed, where should I start?
If you're overwhelmed, don't start.  Wait until you're ready.  There is no rush.

13. Can I get one of those cool logo's for my study group? How?
Currently, we are only making available the generic CV circle with the text 'host' on it.

14. Can I put one of the logo's on my referral page?
Not currently, but a field will appear that you're a Study Group Host once you've updated your listing and checked the box that says "I'm a Study Group Host."

15. Can I get a list of all the email addresses of coaches in my area, to let them know I'm having a meeting?
Not currently.  We have to protect the coaches' email address.  But we will probably do a quarterly broadcast to all members with a list of active study groups and their 'agenda' for the next several months.

16. How does a study group differ from a chapter?
Two key differences.  Size and focus.  The Study Group is small, with between 4 and 12 attendees and the primary focus is learning something new from CoachVille.  A Chapter meeting would generally be larger and with a wider scope of what was discussed and planned.  CoachVille expects to assist our members in the creation of local Chapters, but we're going to start with Study Groups first.

17. Where are the topics to choose from?
You'll receive access to this when you become a Study Group Host.

18. I want to lead my own material, occasionally, may I?
No.  This is a CoachVille Study Group, not a Bill Smith Study Group.  We want to create a consistent experience for attendees and thus this is only requirement we make of the CoachVille Study Group Hosts.

19. How often are the Host orientations held?
Once or twice a month via TeleClass, but you can listen to the RealAudio or read the transcript of a past one if you prefer andor don't want to wait.  The live TeleClass version IS fun because you get to share in the energy of the group, but the RealAudio/html version is still quite helpful.

20. Why is Coachville having study groups?
Several key reasons.  Study Groups help us with good branding, a local presence, basis for developing formal chapters, popularizes our training materials (which we license to corporations), helps our members meet each other, improves the quality of coaching worldwide (our mission), challenges us to create usable coach training content is the MicroModule format, attracts some of the Hosts to the Graduate School of Coaching (so they can get access to, and training in, more MicroModules, along with other benefits) and gets the Study Group Hosts in the training mode so that when we announce the Certifying Coach program, they're ready.  Yes, a lot of reasons that CoachVille is supporting the development of Study Groups.

21. Is this a good way to attract clients?
Could be, especially if you're a coach who is mentoring other coaches.  But I wouldn't plan on this.

22. How could/would I lose my Study Group Host status?
There are several no no's, each would result in immediate termination of your Study Group Host status:
1.  Conducting CoachVille Study Groups using anything other than our MicroModules.
2.  Marketing to (in person, on the phone or via email) to the current or past attendees of your study group (unless you knew them before and they've given you permission to market to them).  If we hear a report that an attendee is getting email 'announcement' from you on anything other than CV Study Group News, you'll lose your Host status immediately.  We just can't have this.
3. If we get complaints about your hosting style, personality conflicts, etc., we'll have to investigate.  Don't host a CoachVille Study Group if you can't get along with people.
4.  If you attempt to turn a CoachVille Study Group into a revenue stream.  These are informal and generally free to those attending.  We are specifically not licensing you to be in the coach training business using our materials.

23. I'm not a good public speaker...can I still be a host?
Yes, of course.  You won't be a public speaker at these gatherings.  They are informal and everyone contributes.

24. Do I have to rent a room somewhere?
We prefer that you do not.  Either host the group in your home, apartment or office. Or find another member who has this type of facility if you do not.  You can still be the host.  Of course, you may rent a room and share the cost with the attendees, but we recommend you first start out in your home or office and see how it goes.  These Study Group gatherings are not events; they are informal get-togethers.

25. Can I set up and host a virtual study group for my company?
Yes, of course.  Several Hosts are setting up Study Groups within their large (Fortune 500) firms.

26. What actually happens during a group?
You meet and greet, with everyone getting to know each other for 10 to 30 minutes.  Then the host will introduce the topic MicroModule for the evening and facilitate a discussion/exercise around that topic. The MicroModules are quite fun/interactive and generate their own level of buzz within the group.  After an hour or so of this, the group ends for the evening or folks hang out together and discuss whatever concerns/ideas they have, unrelated to the MicroModule.  There isn't a lot of forced structure of the Study Group, except that the host most use our MicroModules (not your own content).

27. What are my responsibilities as a host?
To be warm, friendly and ensure that folks who come to your group get value, as they define value.  It's as simple as that. You create the environment, introduce the topic, facilitate the discussion/steps, make everyone feel great ad have a good time yourself. Coaches DO want to connect locally with each other. You are providing that opportunity for them, structured around a MicroModule/learning experience.

28. I want to target corporate coaching, is that OK?
Yes.  Some Hosts will want to position their Study Groups to appeal to certain coaching specialty segments.  Others will keep theirs' more general. It's entirely up to you.

29. I don't want to host a study group, but it sounds like joining one would be beneficial. How can I find one in my area?
http://www.coachvillereferral.com now has search capability to find local study groups in your area.  We don't have the capacity to post meeting times/dates yet, but we will.

30. How many people do you recommend I have in my group?
Between 4 and 12.

31. I have an idea for a topic, what should I do with it?
Please email it seniorhost@coachville.com and we'll see if we can create a MicroModule on this and then make it available for all hosts to be able to access.

32. This seems like fun, what's the catch?
Can't think of any. 

33. How long do the meetings last?
Between an hour and a half and three hours.

34. Can I have weekly meetings?
Yes, definitely!

35. Any suggestions for making my study group a success?
Yes.

36. What about fees? Should I charge a fee? How much?
You may not charge a fee unless it's for direct expenses like refreshments, food and/or room rental, if needed.  We strongly suggest you make this potluck and keep away from charging fees of any kind.