Seminars and conferences are relatively the same, but there are some key differences in a seminar.
For example, both are designed for the most part to make money, but conferences are generally used by businesses in order to woo a new client or advertisers that are trying to present a new campaign.
Seminars are a little bit less business-like and can be more laid back.
Some seminars are there to inspire attendants, some are to raise funds for a charity; some are to sell something; and some seminars are there to inform attendants.
Whatever the reason is for your seminar, there is a little bit of a difference in organizing a successful one.
All too often you hear of a seminar that was pretty good if only more people showed up for it. Smart firms, companies and individuals decide to build and market seminars.
That’s really what successful seminars are all about. The people who must deliver the seminar in those firms sometimes spend days making sure they do a great job.
Unfortunately, in too many organizations the efforts for building seminar attendance often miss the mark. Too many dollars and too many hours are wasted on attendance building tactics that just do not work.
So what happens now? Do you give up on seminars? The answer is no.
One of the most effective ways to build a professional service practice is to produce and deliver short (one-half day or less) seminars, speeches and host various other events.
Indeed, you will not find too many people disagreeing that speaking is a great marketing technique because it is more personal and builds trust.
Some advisors say that seminars and meetings don’t work anymore. Clients and prospects seem to view it as a sales push.
These are the same advisors who are experts at seminars after holding two or three and finding out that they didn’t work for them. They are the same people that held public seminars.
Today’s people need to hold targeted seminars. Let me give you an example. What if you sent out a wedding style invitation to people of a certain community and invited them to the local club about a topic that was important to them?
For example, you can take any neighborhood in North America, get the mailing information and mailed an exclusive invitation for residents of various estates to discuss a topic specific to their communitys needs or concerns such as ensuring your estate is taxed at the lowest possible rate through estate trusts.
The invitation could include possibly a lunch or dinner and is at their local club. The club should help you with the meeting also so they can possibly attract new members and meet new people as well.
This is an example of targeted seminars and not just public seminars.
There are four keys to making your seminar work. They are:
1. Don’t try to educate people, open their eyes
2. Don’t inform people, define their problems
3. Don’t offer solutions, provide a sample of solutions
4. Don’t sell products, sell yourself
Ask your board of directors or top clients what type of seminars or information they might be interested in. Find top advisors who have completed successful seminars.
To get good at hosting seminars you need to practice, practice, practice and copy from the best to make seminars work. I have done several different seminars and after doing a dozen or so, I fund a formula that works.
Have daytime seminars in a top notch venue with a targeted list of clients, and follow up with them until we get them into a seminar or two.
Some of the top representatives in the country have been doing the same seminar every month for ten years.
They have a seminar so fine tuned that year in and year out, the representative doesn’t ever worry how they will grow their business from one year to the next. That is what a good performance can do.
A couple of ideas that work are client workshops, where you ask your clients to invite a friend. Birds of a feather flock together.
You can mix your audience with clients and prospects, so that if they were to ask one of your clients after the meeting about you, a strong endorsement after your presentation makes the call to you much more inviting.
Conference calls
Second on the list are conference calls. You can do a luncheon conference call with top managers for clients or prospects. A discussion after the conference call is why you should invest now. Make sure there is a sense of urgency created during the seminar and a recommended implementation schedule.
You need to get creative with topics and speakers. You should also remember the two things that most people remember. Pictures and stories are what people remember. If you paint the picture for them by telling them a great story, you will have your audience hooked.
If you do a superb job at providing worthwhile information during the first 45 minutes, the 15 minutes at the end should be a snap because you’ve already established trust with your audience.
Some of people report that 33% of attendees will end up becoming customers. And it will happen not because you invested money in marketing, but because you invested your time, energy, imagination, and expertise.
Some business owners and hosts will improve upon that one-third closing ratio by doing one of these three additional things.
1. They have a different person take the stage during the final 15 minutes, someone with a knack for motivating groups of people
2. They have salespeople in the doorways exiting the venue, thanking people as they depart, and selling to them at the same time.
3. They make a very special offer that’s available that day only.
The right reaction to a poor professional, who had only 6 at his seminar, is not to give up the seminar, but give up the marketing tactics she used.
