A little while ago I went and took a two-day workshop from a blacksmith that I really respect and it turned out not as I had expected. I was really looking forward to this particular two-day event, had booked it probably five months in advance, and it wasn't cheap. I saw it as an opportunity to improve my skill-set is as well as is learn from someone that's been a blacksmith for over forty years. What I learned instead was how not to organize and conduct a class. I received a first-hand lesson about making sure that my students are prepped in advance for the class, that my tools and material need to be ready to go, and that expectation should meets realization or something close to that for the students.
My initial hope was that I was going to come away learning some new techniques and maybe getting to see how a master of the craft goes about just day-to-day mundane activities in the forge. That was just not the case. People are different, personalities are different, and sometimes you chalk it up to just a personality quirk, or there is something going on in a person’s life that is hard for them or distracting. Really nice guy personally, an amazing blacksmith, stunning work there's no doubt about the level of the man skill, however sometimes the finest artist and the most skilled craftsman are the poorest teachers.