These are some lessons learned from the recent experiences:

• Thanks to Linda for this reminder - If you are working on cradled boards, it's a good idea to go ahead and install your hanging hardware so you won't have to risk damaging your piece after you've finished.
• Don't use a swiffer to buff an encaustic piece.  Trust me.  Eh gad the lint!
• I bought a bunch of relatively cheap, flat pieces of birch board for workshops.  With a decent amount of heat, these will warp like crazy.  Lesson learned.
• Wait until everything has cooled before you try to do anything on top of an image transfer.  I destroyed my transfer brushing medium over it because the subsequent layer was still a little warm.