This morning I heard back from Wilton, and I'm going to be a WMI.

From what I was told, the store I'll be in is relatively new, but used to have a thriving class program, up until the instructor got in a really bad car accident a few months ago. She didn't recover the way she was expecting to, and had to quit teaching.

I'm told that I shouldn't view this as a temporary thing or to think that this won't be my class, so that was one thing I was worried about that got laid to rest.

I'm meeting with the store manager this week, going to send out the check for my kit today, and hopefully we can get the class up and running asap.

I've been a TA in college before and have given lectures in front of 170+ students, so I'm not really overwhelmed by speaking in front of people.

Any tips/advice for me that isn't included in the training materials Wilton is going to send me?

Thanks in advance

pm me your email address so i can get you on the wmi only message board.

PM sent!

I had no idea there was a WMI board... Neat!

May want to check out the Wilton forum for the basic course. There are a couple of threads (within the past 4 or 5 weeks) of people discussing their experiences with their WMI. Now as a former TA you know evals will be influenced by disgruntled students, however, it is a place to get decent insights into what folks are finding useful and not so useful in the new courses and their instructors.

My best tip is to bring your knowledge and have fun with it. I find that my students respond best when they can tell I am having a blast decorating right along with them.

Have fun!

I'm not a strict teacher. I teach what we need for that lesson, sometimes get to throw in a little extra, but I want my students to have fun and enjoy coming to class. For alot of them this is this time away from work, kids and hubby and their relaxing time.

I have my supplies now and I'm just starting out with teaching one course (Decorating Basics) on Tuesday nights in September.

My OCD personality is forcing me to read the lesson plans over and over, and pretty soon I'll probably go through the whole class, with my 2 year old twins as an audience

I'm not really concerned about the class flowing along (though I certainly don't want all of my students to run out of the classroom and demand a refund) but I want to make sure I'm filing all of the paperwork correctly. That's the main reason I'm taking it easy with only one class this month.

My Husband is starting his Basic Course in September. After the ICES cake show in San Diego and looking at the Cake Displays on room near the Vendor Hall. He wants to take classes.


I go with him to his yoga conventions in New york and East Coast. He is a yoga freak and teachers partime yoga in the evenings and weekends. I tried enrolling in yoga classes but find it boring. I prefer walking and pilates.

I am glad he is going to learn how to decorate a cake! Now he understands why cake addicts love going to cake shows!

Defy, which account are you teaching at?

Hobby Lobby in Peoria, AZ.

Ahh okay, then you have the getting paid paper work you have to deal with.

The tracking and student forms are pretty easy.

Not a WMI but congrats!!! Enjoy teaching!

Have fun! Keep the experience positive! Don't be afraid to make a mistake- and when you do- take it in stride- make it a learning opportunity!

I will teach my first class on Sept 5th. I have 2 signed up so far but am hoping that more will sign up. Im excited about it and can't wait.

I just started at Hobby Lobby in June, and I love it. If you are out of AZ, then I think our Supervisor is the same. If you want to PM me, I can give you little tips that are HL secrets

Shhh!

Actually the WMI forum isn't a secret. We all need a place to go to grip sometimes, and since it is hard to find privacy on the net we had to do it somewhere. What is great about the WMI forum (and yes some people Wilton knows about it) is that it gives us a place to go and complain about issues with our managers or students or anyone else and not have to worry about who sees it. Only WMI's are allowed there, so you don't have to worry about your Wilton Supervisor or mananger or who ever seeing something you write and taking it the wrong way.

We are only human and often need a place to blow off stem or get advice on how to handle a situation or so on.

My tracking information came today, and I'm pretty sure that's the last of my supplies.

I can't wait to get going!

Are you starting in Sept? Do you have any flyers up at the store? Sign in sheets in the book?

Yep, the manager put all the signage back up, the Office Manager put it on the website, and I was told they're going to start putting half sheet flyers in people's bags when they check out.

The other day I made sure that the book was all set up and ready to go.

Must be nice to have a store that does all that for ya! Lucky you!

Good luck!

If you ever have any questions, feel free to message me.

I definitely will! I'm grateful that I have people to go to where I can ask these kinds of things

Thanks so much!

I'm so glad I saw this! I just got my placement, and I'll be starting in October!!
Good luck everyone!

Any time Defy!

Congrats Peeb!

I'm going to be at the Hobby Lobby in Pekin, IL. Which, incidentally is right near Peoria, IL. I was so excited that you were so close...until I saw AZ! lol!

Haha, I'm from MI and new to AZ, so I still immediately think of IL when I hear Peoria.

MI to AZ? That's quite a climate change to get used to! Did you have to change any of your recipes to accommodate for the high heat?

I had never found a BC recipe I was really happy with in the first place, so for the one cake I've done since I got here, I decided to try IndyDebi's BC. I couldn't believe how well it stood up to my oven of a house. I haven't tried making fondant here yet, but hopefully it won't be too bad.

(My husband is in the Air Force, so in the last 4 years, I was in MI, then to TX, then back to MI for a while, now we're in AZ. I feel like a ping pong ball with the temperature extremes, haha)