I am doing a cake decorating demonstration for a womens circle. I will be "teaching" a bit and then the women will be assembling and decorating their own 6inch cake to take home.
i am trying to figure out what i should be teaching them. its a one time thing so i want the ladies to feel like they are learning something but on the other hand i only have like 1/2 an hr.
i was thinking to include:
leveling a cake
filling a cake (making an icing dam)
crumb coat
icing (not sure what else to explain except about making sure no crumbs come in the cake)

then i will show them
how to put things (like cake crumbs, sprinkles, mini choc chips, etc) on the side of the cake
a couple borders (shell boarder and an 8 boarder)
how to make a simple flower (just using dots)
basic writing tips (put letters specifically not even to make it look like its on purpose, or if you write in scrip then make a curly line to follow)

what do you think? what else should i be teaching them? or any changes to what i am thinking of?
thank you!!!

Sounds like a plan. Depending on how many women are in the group, half an hour might not be enough time to share the equipment that you have (i.e. levelers, pastry bags with different consistencies and tips, filling choices, spatulas, turntables, bowls full of sprinkles, etc.)

sorry i wasn't clear-i am demonstrating for about 1/2 hr and then they will have up to an hour to do their own cake

That's a LOT to try and show a group in 1/2 hour. You might want to scale back a little.

I suggest that you show only some of your equipment if these people are inexperienced. If you show them everything that you use for your more complicated cakes, it might intimidate them. I'm thinking of two classes I tried to take: (1) a painting class that started with how to build an easel! and (2) a silver-jewelry fabricating class that started with how to convert your home natural gas heat into a source for your jewelry torch! In both cases, I just wanted a taste of the thing to see if I was really interested before I went at it whole hog with a big investment.

I teach a basic class much like you're describing through our community ed. It takes me three hours to demonstrate step by step and then have the students repeat each step-leveling, torting, building a dam, filling, crumb coating, resting, icing, smoothing, VIVA method, making some basic piped designs, and making Duff roses and leaves.
I bake all the cakes and make all the icing. I take turntables and each student gets a kit I put together with a spatula, some bags, couplers and tips, fondant smoother, and putty knife (for smoothing the sides.)
Everyone leaves with a decorated cake, and they seem to like the class. I hope you have good luck with yours.