At Sherwood Oaks, we have different course styles to suit the tastes of different students. Therefore, you will notice when reading the various course descriptions that a style is listed in order to allow you to choose which course best matches your needs and personal preferences. We leave the choice to you…
Close Encounters
The most popular format, due to its small size and resulting high access to our guests. Up to 18 students gather for a roundtable discussion, for which a guest of honor (industry professional) is centrally seated at the table. The guest will introduce him/herself and discuss his/her own perspective of the industry before a facilitator opens the floor for questions from the students. This process is then repeated for each guest in turn, allowing the students to meet an average of five guests per day of the course.
Rotating Roundtable
These courses open with a Panel Discussion where several industry professional introduce themselves, followed by our rotating format: Instead of all students remaining at one table throughout the day and meeting the guests in succession, the speakers rotate to different tables so that 7 to 12 students can individually talk to each speaker. A different industry professional is seated at each table, and the Roundtable discussion commences for 20-30 minutes (dependent upon the number of guests for that day, as well as each guests personal schedule) before the speakers rotate to their next tables. Each class day features 2 – 3 panel discussions, followed by rotations. This means that a student can meet at least 10 speakers per day and often this number can be as high as 14 each day. Over a two-day course, a student can expect to talk to at least 20 speakers which is more than any other event in the industry.
This format presents students with the opportunity to learn from their fellow students, as well as the numerous industry professionals. It also has the added benefit of a lower cost, since the course sizes are typically 50 – 90 students. Yet, with our rotating format, students still benefit from the smaller class sizes, thanks to the 1:9 student-to-guest ratio at each table.
Panel Discussion
This style of course features several industry professionals conversing at once in a lecture format followed by questions from the students, schedule-permitting. Note: This class style is rare, since Sherwood Oaks believes in creating the best possible student-to-speaker ratio, allowing the students increased access to each guest. However, for practicality and security reasons, we use the Panel Discussion format for classes that feature Directors and famous Actors.