Before you choose a topic, write one sentence that finishes this line: by the last session, each person can... Keep it to something you can watch happen. 'Understand budgeting' is hard to check. 'Build a twelve-month budget in a spreadsheet and explain one line of it to the group' is something you can see in session six.

Write the sentence first, because every other decision depends on it: the number of sessions, what each one covers, what people bring, and how you know the goal was reached. If two of your planned sessions do not feed that sentence, cut one of them.

Four to six sessions is the range that suits most skills. Fewer than four rarely produces the change in your sentence. More than six asks people to commit to a long run before they know whether the first session suits them. A worked example: six sessions held weekly, with one week off in the middle, finish in seven weeks. Say the end date in your first message.

• Weekly: good for a skill people practise between sessions, such as writing or a language.
• Every other week: good for a project that needs a week at home to finish, such as a craft or a plan.
• Two sessions in one weekend: only for a skill people already partly have and need to put together.

Set the number of seats before you publish. A group of 12 can give each person feedback on their work. A group of 40 turns into a lecture, and the people who needed help leave. Write the number on the page with the reason: 'Limited to 12 so everyone gets feedback on their own work.' People accept a limit they understand.

Plan a waitlist for the people who arrive after the series is full. On Connections a session with no seats left shows a 'Join waitlist' button in the session schedule, and a sold-out ticket tier shows a sold-out label with its waitlist note. Tell waitlisted people when you will email them and what happens if a seat opens.

Start with the final session and work back to the first. The last session is a test of the outcome: what does each person make, show, or do? Then the session before it has to teach what that final task needs, and so on. Write one line per session that names the outcome for that session. Fill in the activities last, once you know what each one must produce.

1. Write the task for the last session in one line.
2. Write the skill that task needs, and put that skill in the session before.
3. Repeat until the first session needs only what a complete beginner can bring.
4. Open every session with ten minutes of questions about the previous week's homework. Skipping this is how people fall behind without saying so.

A session falls apart when people wait for a handout or a cable. For each session, list what must be in the room and what each person has to bring. Print everything you hand out, and bring one spare for every five seats. Someone always forgets a pen, a charger, or the file they were told to bring.

• A room with table space for the activity, not only chairs facing a screen
• One printed handout per session, numbered to match the session
• A screen and cable tested the day before, with a backup plan that needs no screen
• A homework task of twenty to thirty minutes, with the due date stated in the session

The middle sessions are where a series is hardest. The novelty has worn off and the work has started. Plan for it on purpose. After session two, message each person with one question: what did you try this week? Keep it short and personal. A worked example: with 12 people and five of them missing session three, reply to those five the same day with the one thing they missed and where the handout is.

Record the attendance in a plain list after every session. Two missed sessions in a row is the signal to message someone, not to wait and see.

The last session needs a finished task, a short review, and a clear next step. Have each person show their result, even for a minute. Tell them where to go next: a follow-up session, a club, or the materials they need to keep going alone. Send the handouts and the answers to the homework in one file within a day of the last session, so nobody has to search their inbox for them.

Publish the full schedule before anyone signs up. People commit to a series they can see the end of. A series that is added to halfway through confuses the people who joined at the start.

• How to write an event page people finish reading
• How to cut no-shows at free events
• How to price tickets for a small event

Back to all guides