Event Overview
The Florida Tropical Weavers Guild (FTWG) invites you to teach at our annual conference which will be held April 3-6, 2025. In 2025, we will return to the same venue as 2023 & 2024, the beautiful Wyndham Orlando Resort & Conference Center/Celebration.
We are thrilled about the new opportunities for attendees and day trippers that this location offers. Conveniently located off Hwy. 192 in Kissimmee near Walt Disney World, the entire property was newly renovated in 2021. The hotel features several dining outlets including a lobby Starbucks, full-service bar, and a Pizza Hut Express. FTWG has been granted exclusive use of the entire Conference Center which features its own entrance and ample parking.
As in years past, the conference runs Thursday after lunch through Sunday noon. Evening events include the annual membership meeting, fiber exhibit, fashion show, and awards. The participants with interests in fiber related arts – weaving, spinning, dyeing, knitting, basketry, beading, polymer clay, woodworking, etc. – represent 15 guilds from all over Florida and include a number of attendees from other states. You can visit our Workshop Archive to see what we’ve offered since 2019.
New for 2025
In the past, we have offered mini classes on Thursday afternoon, which were 1 to 4 hour classes, and Workshops which were 15 hours of instruction, but nothing in between. For 2025, we are looking to offer classes in a variety of lengths – 3, 6, or 15 hours of instruction. All classes, regardless of length, will use the application form on this page.
Proposal Process
Proposals must be submitted on the form at the bottom of this web page. Please note that as part of the application, you are required to submit a headshot and 3-5 images that represent the work which will be completed in your class. FTWG has published Media Submission Guidelines, which may help you in preparing your images for submission. If you have questions about or problems with submitting images, please complete our Contact Form and FTWG’s Technology Chair will help you with that part of the process.
Class Proposals for 3 and 6 hour classes ONLY will be accepted until 11:59pm on July 14, 2024.
You are welcome to submit multiple proposals. Each proposal must be submitted separately. If you are submitting multiple proposals, you will not need to resubmit duplicative information, like your contact info, headshot, and bio. There’s a box to check, indicating that you’ve already submitted a proposal, which will allow you to skip those duplicate fields.
When you submit a proposal, it is automatically emailed to FTWG’s VP Programs as the content of an email and as a PDF attachment. You will also receive a copy of this confirmation email.
At the January 2024 Board Meeting, the VP for Programs will present all the class proposals to the FTWG Board, which will select a slate of classes for 2025. After the Board meeting, the VP for Programs will send a Memorandum of Understanding to the selected instructors. Due to changing the 2025 dates of the Conference, we made selections in May 2024 and the Memorandums of Understanding for those are to be sent out during the week of May 12. We are now soliciting additional applications to fill a few open slots. These are for 3 or 6 hour classes to be held on Friday, April 4 and Saturday April 5, 2025.
At the January 2025 Board meeting, the Board will make go/no go decisions on all classes, based on individual and overall enrollment. After this Board Meeting, the VP for Programs sends final contracts to all classes which are a go.
Timelines
Class Proposals are accepted during defined times, announced annually, and only for the next upcoming Conference.
Class Proposals for 3 and 6 hour classes ONLY will be accepted until 11:59pm on July 14, 2024.
January 2024 – FTWG selects slate of classes from the submitted proposals, then issues memorandums of understanding
March 2024 – During this year’s Conference, the VP for Programs announces the slate of classes for 2025
June 2024 – Proposals for basketry classes being accepted
July 2024 – FTWG selects slate of basketry classes from submitted proposals, then issues memorandums of understanding
August 2024 – The 2025 Class information goes live on the FTWG website
October / November 2024 – Member registration opens (exact date TBD)
November 2024 – General registration opens (exact date TBD)
January 2025 – FTWG Board makes final go / no go decisions for classes, based on enrollment, then issues teaching contracts
Mid-February 2025 – Registration closes
April 3-6, 2025 – FTWG Conference is held
Class Expectations
Classes are scheduled in three (3) hour blocks. There is one (1) block on Thursday afternoon, two (2) blocks per day (one in the morning and one in the afternoon) on Friday and Saturday, and one (1) block on Sunday morning. The morning blocks are from 9 am to noon and the afternoon blocks are 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm. Three (3) hour classes may be scheduled on any day. Six (6) hour classes will be scheduled for two blocks on the same day, either Friday or Saturday. Fifteen (15) hour classes are scheduled for the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday blocks.
Basketweaving classes may be scheduled in four (4) hour blocks. For these classes, the 4-hour teaching blocks are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday afternoons 1:30 pm – 5:30 pm; and Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings 8 – 12 am. Four (4) hour classes may be scheduled on any day. Eight (8) hour classes will be scheduled for two blocks on the same day, either Friday or Saturday. Twelve (12) hour classes are scheduled for either both Friday blocks plus one Saturday block or for both Saturday blocks plus the Sunday morning block.
Click here to view the 2024 FTWG Conference as an example of the overall flow of the event. The 2025 schedule is not yet set and may differ from the 2024 schedule.
Teaching schedules for three (3) and six (6) hour classes will be set in consultation with the instructor, and the application form does include a place to indicate preferred days and times for teaching, as well as a comment box to add any additional information that impacts the scheduling of the class.
FTWG will consider accepting multiple shorter classes from a single instructor, up to the maximum 18 hours of teaching time available during the Conference. The Application includes questions for an instructor to indicate the minimum and maximum number of hours they are willing to teach during the FTWG Conference.
On Saturday evening, FTWG holds a classroom Open House. Attendees visit the various classrooms to see the work happening there. Instructors teaching a total of twelve (12) instructional hours or more are expected to be present in their classrooms for at least one hour during the Open House.
Class instructors may be interviewed by an FTWG volunteer. The interviews will be short, roughly 10 minutes in length, and take place via Zoom, sometime in the second half of 2024. FTWG will edit these videos, producing several videos of varying lengths. These videos will be used for promotional purposes, according to FTWG’s discretion, including, but not limited to, use on FTWG’s website, social media pages, YouTube Channel, Ravelry group.
Instructors are responsible for:
- Protecting the workshop area and furniture from damage.
- Bringing all supplies and equipment required for teaching their workshops.
Compensation and Payment
Instructors are paid by check in USD. A W-9 form must be submitted to FTWG at the time of contract, as we report all income/reimbursements to the IRS as required by law. FTWG will not pay an instructor until we have received a W-9 form.
Compensation rates
Compensation is based on instructional blocks. Instructional blocks are 3 hours long for everything except basketweaving classes. Instructional blocks for basketweaving classes may be either 3 hours long or 4 hours long, as requested by the Instructor. For each instructional block, FTWG will:
- Pay an instructional fee of $200;
- Reimburse 20% of travel costs, up to a maximum of $550;
- Cover 20% of the cost of a 3-night single occupancy room and board package, the value of which can be applied to any of the room and board packages offered at the 2025 FTWG Conference.
- Pay a $25 per diem for breakfast, as breakfast is not included in our room and board packages.
In addition to compensation from FTWG, Instructors generally charge a Materials Fee to cover the costs of materials they bring for students to use. On the application to teach, there is a place to enter the materials fee. This fee is paid by the students directly to the instructor at the beginning of the class.
Vending Information
In the Vendor Hall
The FTWG Conference offers a limited number of booth spaces in our vendor hall. Instructors may choose to pay a fee to procure a booth, on a space available basis. Doing so is a separate arrangement, not covered under the terms of the teaching contract. More information is available on our Vending Information page. Please note that this page is not yet updated to reflect 2025 Conference information. The rates for spaces will be changing, and we will be offering 1-day (Friday or Saturday) and 2-day (Friday AND Saturday) options in 2025.
In the classroom
Instructors have the express right to make available for sale to their students any materials, tools, books, or supplies, either as part of the materials fee or in addition to the materials fee, with the following caveats:
- Instructors will not spend instruction time promoting or advertising these items, beyond a simple statement that the items are available for sale;
- Instructors will not spend instruction time making sales to people who are not students in the class;
- During the Saturday evening Open House, Instructors may set up in their classroom a display of materials, tools, books, or supplies for sale to those attending the Open House;
- All items available for sale must be related to the subject matter of the class or other fiber arts classes the Instructor teaches. Instructors will not sell items unrelated to the fiber arts. (FTWG includes basketry in its definition of fiber arts).
FTWG does not charge a fee or commission on sales made in the classroom.