If you’re like me, you get calls from people who are interested in observing class before committing to paying for lessons. That opens up the discussion of whether or not to allow observers in the classroom. Before you can make that choice, you have to consider who observers are.

The Peeping Tom

While this is the rarest type of caller I get, there are men out there who ask to observe classes because they think they are going to provide some titillating entertainment. Fortunately, they are pretty easy to spot.

The Shopper

This person has some interest in class, but isn’t really interested in investing the time and/or money in anything, so she goes from class to class as time allows and watches without ever signing up.

The Spy

This person isn’t genuinely interested in taking your class. She’s either someone else’s student or a teacher herself who is just there to get an idea of who’s in class, how you run your class, what your fees are, etc.

The Parent

This person has a child in class and is interested in how the child is doing. This person may be unobtrusive and curious or could be disruptive. There are both positive and negative parent types.

The Student

This person has taken some sort of dance class before and wants to know what she’s spending her money on before committing. She is serious about learning and doesn’t want to waste her time on a teacher who can’t provide what she’s after.

There are good reasons to ban the first four types from observing. Belly dance classes are often full of people who are insecure and don’t want to be watched or judged- particularly by these types! Unfortunately, the majority of people who call me who are interested in observing fall into the one of the first four categories, so it probably looks like allowing observers is not a good strategy, right? Not necessarily.

If you like the idea of allowing observers, the best thing to do is to have guidelines on how it should be done. You could allow observation only at set intervals like the first week of the month. You could require that observers be there at the start of class, be silent during class, and sit through the entire class to prevent disruption. You could allow only certain ages or genders to watch (be careful as some parents may want to bring their entire families)! If your policy is fair to your students, can be applied in all situations, and enhances your business, the policy is probably sound.

Another way to handle this is to simply bar all observers, but allow interested parties to participate in a class on a drop-in level. Truly the best way for them to know if they are interested in taking the class is to participate. If you have a drop-in rate or a policy of “first class free”, this makes it easy for people to try it before they buy it. I like this solution because it weeds out the undesirable element while encouraging the serious student.

When someone calls wanting to know if they can watch, it’s best to have a policy rather than decide on a case by case basis. Consider your past experiences and what watchers bring and take from your business, then decide what is the best thing for your business.