The seminar business is big these days, in demand by individual consumers, organizations, associations, small businesses and giant corporations alike. And although it's a fairly young industry, having only come into its own within the last two decades, it's primed for continued growth and success.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of people pay to attend meetings, seminars, workshops and training programs where professional presenters encourage, enlighten and enliven them. Some of these folks are sent by their companies to learn new skills--everything from time management to basic math smarts to super sales techniques. Others attend on their own, seeking personal growth--how to communicate better with spouses, significant others and kids; manage stress; assert themselves; or invest for the future. Still others sign up for seminars and workshops as part of a professional or social association to learn everything from quilting to romance writing to tax preparation.
Operating Modes
As a seminar professional, you can choose from among three different operating modes. You can:
1. act as a speaker, trainer or presenter, working directly with your audiences and booking your programs on your own or through a speakers bureau (which is sort of like a talent agency)
2. act as a promoter, seminar company or training firm, setting up programs and engaging other people to do the speaking, training or presenting
3. do both, setting up programs at which you present and at which you also bring others on board to share the speaking or training chores
Most seminar professionals choose the first option, but you can go with any one that feels comfortable to you.
Do You Have What It Takes?
Not everybody is cut out to be a seminar production professional. This is not, for example, a career for the creativity-challenged. It takes lots of foresight to figure out what will be a winning program, to design and construct it so it sells, and to promote it effectively. If you're one of those folks who'd rather undergo a root canal than have to come up with peppy advertising copy, then you don't want to be in the seminar business.
This is also not a career for the time-management-deficient. Seminars must be planned and organized months in advance, with everything from the topic and speaker to the dining reservations nailed down early on.
And if you plan on presenting your own programs, this isn't--obviously--a career for the terminally shy or the terminally boring. You must be able to keep an audience interested and entertained for the length of your seminar and beyond. This doesn't mean you need to be trained by both the Royal Shakespeare Academy and the Ringling Brothers Circus school, just that you need to have a natural enthusiasm for your subjects and be able to communicate it.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Benefits of Organizing a free Seminar
It is usually ideal for one to start building his/her seminar profile, by organizing a free seminar.
A free seminar implies that participants do nt have to pay for the seminar.
Such seminars have quite a lot of benefits
1.Exposure
It will help to create tremendous exposure for you in terms of acceptability.
More participants will turn up once they know it is a free seminar, and they will help to spread the good news on your behalf.
2.Authority
One of the benefits of the benefit of putting together a free seminar, is the it enables you to stamp your authority in the seminar business.
Since it is a free seminar, the audience will definitely be much, and you will be motivated to put in your best performance, hence helping to boost you authority in your niche market.
3.Acceptability
A lot of the attendees in your free seminars will show up in your subsequent seminars, even though it is a paid seminar, because you become accepted.
As a newbie in the seminar business, one must not be tempted to start with paid seminar, rather one should exploit the huge potential in putting together a free seminar.
It will definitely help you at the long run.
A free seminar implies that participants do nt have to pay for the seminar.
Such seminars have quite a lot of benefits
1.Exposure
It will help to create tremendous exposure for you in terms of acceptability.
More participants will turn up once they know it is a free seminar, and they will help to spread the good news on your behalf.
2.Authority
One of the benefits of the benefit of putting together a free seminar, is the it enables you to stamp your authority in the seminar business.
Since it is a free seminar, the audience will definitely be much, and you will be motivated to put in your best performance, hence helping to boost you authority in your niche market.
3.Acceptability
A lot of the attendees in your free seminars will show up in your subsequent seminars, even though it is a paid seminar, because you become accepted.
As a newbie in the seminar business, one must not be tempted to start with paid seminar, rather one should exploit the huge potential in putting together a free seminar.
It will definitely help you at the long run.
Friday, September 26, 2008
profiting from seminar business
If I had dreamt some years back that I would be actively making profit from organizing seminars, I would have concluded it was a daydream.
Unfortunately, I am wide awake and making a regular fortune from organizing seminars.
It wasn’t easy starting off on this unknown path called Seminar business, but I learnt the rope in a hard way.
It is my pleasure to share some of those secrets that can make one succeed in the Seminar Business.
There are four steps to success in the Seminar Business.
STEP1
You have to promote the seminar and get people to attend.
This is one of the most crucial steps to take if you are to profit from seminar business.
You can promote your seminar through word of mouth, posters, handbills, special Invitation to churches, youth groups and other relevant organization.
You can also use the print and electronic media if your budget can accommodate it.
STEP2
When people eventually come to your seminar, you must learn to sell your product from the platform.
You must deliver more than they bargained or paid for, and they will be left with no choice but to buy your products.
Never organize a seminar without having a product to market!
STEP3
The third most crucial step in profiting from seminar business is to develop a good database of all your seminar attendees.
You need to create two databases.
One should contain the physical address of all participants, while the second database should contain their email address and phone Numbers.
Not only do you need to capture the names and email addresses of your attendees, you need to also follow them up through regular mails.
For your email list, you need to mail them regularly so that your list does not get “cold”
Your database is the backbone of your seminar business, and you have to guard it jealously.
STEP4
One of the most important formula in seminar business is: TR=SR+PS+CB
Total Revenue equals Seminar Registration + Product Sales + Consulting Business
Two of these items can be easily generated immediately after your seminar.
Consulting jobs that you grab may go on for years after your seminar must have ended.
Seminar Registration is the Total amount of Cash you generate from people who attend your event.
Product sales are sales made at your event and at any point after the seminar from those who attended your event.
Consulting business comes in over a much longer period of time.
It is also one of your biggest channels of profit.
Understanding the above formula is the difference between profit and loss in your seminar business
Unfortunately, I am wide awake and making a regular fortune from organizing seminars.
It wasn’t easy starting off on this unknown path called Seminar business, but I learnt the rope in a hard way.
It is my pleasure to share some of those secrets that can make one succeed in the Seminar Business.
There are four steps to success in the Seminar Business.
STEP1
You have to promote the seminar and get people to attend.
This is one of the most crucial steps to take if you are to profit from seminar business.
You can promote your seminar through word of mouth, posters, handbills, special Invitation to churches, youth groups and other relevant organization.
You can also use the print and electronic media if your budget can accommodate it.
STEP2
When people eventually come to your seminar, you must learn to sell your product from the platform.
You must deliver more than they bargained or paid for, and they will be left with no choice but to buy your products.
Never organize a seminar without having a product to market!
STEP3
The third most crucial step in profiting from seminar business is to develop a good database of all your seminar attendees.
You need to create two databases.
One should contain the physical address of all participants, while the second database should contain their email address and phone Numbers.
Not only do you need to capture the names and email addresses of your attendees, you need to also follow them up through regular mails.
For your email list, you need to mail them regularly so that your list does not get “cold”
Your database is the backbone of your seminar business, and you have to guard it jealously.
STEP4
One of the most important formula in seminar business is: TR=SR+PS+CB
Total Revenue equals Seminar Registration + Product Sales + Consulting Business
Two of these items can be easily generated immediately after your seminar.
Consulting jobs that you grab may go on for years after your seminar must have ended.
Seminar Registration is the Total amount of Cash you generate from people who attend your event.
Product sales are sales made at your event and at any point after the seminar from those who attended your event.
Consulting business comes in over a much longer period of time.
It is also one of your biggest channels of profit.
Understanding the above formula is the difference between profit and loss in your seminar business
How to Kick start your Career in Seminar
Seminar business to a large extent is one of the most lucrative businesses one can venture into, depending on your niche area.
Like all careers however, it requires a bit of skills for one to profit from it.
These skills are not bought, but acquired over a period of time.
Some of the basics to acquiring these skills include:
Investing in Good books/motivational Materials
There are thousands of books, VCD, audiocassette and other valuable materials on seminar business, which can help build up the required skills in any serious individual who desires to go into seminar business.
The secret of success lies in the ability of the individual to continually increase is/her knowledge base, and investing in books and motivational materials is a key factor
Study other Speakers
Watching other seminar speakers is not optional but compulsory, if you are ever going to kick start your seminar career.
Don’t just watch them alone, study them!
Write down those things you like in them, and discard those things you don’t like.
Copy those things, which will enhance your own event.
Write Your Own Book
Writing your own book will create an expert image around yourself.
It will help promote you as an expert in your niche area.
Though it may take a lot of sacrifice to package and publish your first book, but it is worth the effort.
Until your write your own book, you can never be taken serious as an expert in your chosen field
Generate Publicity For Yourself
This can be done through Networking with fellow experts in the seminar business.
It is very important that you brand yourself.
Grab a beautiful set of business card and go out there to network with colleagues in the seminar business.
Remember to drop your business card with them and let them know your area of specialty.
With time, you will become a known figure in the seminar business through these contacts that you have established.
It is chain reactions, which start from just one single opportunity of meeting the right persons.
These can open doors of opportunity to you, and it will be in your own interest to be prepared when the opportunity to showcase yourself comes beckoning.
It is your own personal responsibility to blow your trumpet.
Don’t expect others to do that for you.
Join Online/ Web-based News Group
We are in the global age, and a lot of things are been done online.
If you are going to kick-start a career in Seminar Business, then you must begin to utilize the vast opportunity available on the Internet.
Online/Web-based Groups are a veritable source of Information and current trends in your Niche Market.
There, you will have the opportunity to know what people are thinking about and how you can begin to provide specific Information to meet their needs.
Car must however be taken, so that it doesn’t appear that you are doing blatant advertisement, as this may incur the wrath of other users.
Humour
This is one of the skills you need in making a success in the seminar business.
Tell stories, not Jokes.
If you must tell jokes, it must be related to the subject matter.
Be natural in your stories and jokes, and you will end up endearing the participants to yourself.
Develop Your Own Unique Style
This is a key factor you must never ignore on your journey to seminar profit.
There is nothing as worse as a speaker lacking in style or lacking finesse.
You must learn how to develop your own talking pattern, dress code and presentation style.
Like all careers however, it requires a bit of skills for one to profit from it.
These skills are not bought, but acquired over a period of time.
Some of the basics to acquiring these skills include:
Investing in Good books/motivational Materials
There are thousands of books, VCD, audiocassette and other valuable materials on seminar business, which can help build up the required skills in any serious individual who desires to go into seminar business.
The secret of success lies in the ability of the individual to continually increase is/her knowledge base, and investing in books and motivational materials is a key factor
Study other Speakers
Watching other seminar speakers is not optional but compulsory, if you are ever going to kick start your seminar career.
Don’t just watch them alone, study them!
Write down those things you like in them, and discard those things you don’t like.
Copy those things, which will enhance your own event.
Write Your Own Book
Writing your own book will create an expert image around yourself.
It will help promote you as an expert in your niche area.
Though it may take a lot of sacrifice to package and publish your first book, but it is worth the effort.
Until your write your own book, you can never be taken serious as an expert in your chosen field
Generate Publicity For Yourself
This can be done through Networking with fellow experts in the seminar business.
It is very important that you brand yourself.
Grab a beautiful set of business card and go out there to network with colleagues in the seminar business.
Remember to drop your business card with them and let them know your area of specialty.
With time, you will become a known figure in the seminar business through these contacts that you have established.
It is chain reactions, which start from just one single opportunity of meeting the right persons.
These can open doors of opportunity to you, and it will be in your own interest to be prepared when the opportunity to showcase yourself comes beckoning.
It is your own personal responsibility to blow your trumpet.
Don’t expect others to do that for you.
Join Online/ Web-based News Group
We are in the global age, and a lot of things are been done online.
If you are going to kick-start a career in Seminar Business, then you must begin to utilize the vast opportunity available on the Internet.
Online/Web-based Groups are a veritable source of Information and current trends in your Niche Market.
There, you will have the opportunity to know what people are thinking about and how you can begin to provide specific Information to meet their needs.
Car must however be taken, so that it doesn’t appear that you are doing blatant advertisement, as this may incur the wrath of other users.
Humour
This is one of the skills you need in making a success in the seminar business.
Tell stories, not Jokes.
If you must tell jokes, it must be related to the subject matter.
Be natural in your stories and jokes, and you will end up endearing the participants to yourself.
Develop Your Own Unique Style
This is a key factor you must never ignore on your journey to seminar profit.
There is nothing as worse as a speaker lacking in style or lacking finesse.
You must learn how to develop your own talking pattern, dress code and presentation style.
Packaging Your Own Information Products
What is an information product?
An information product is anything that provided useful, usable and needed information usually arranged in simple, logical, easy-to-follow easy –to-understand manner. Let us assume you have a passion for something say, sewing or cooking, or you have a hobby or pastime-say, maintain climbing, hunting or playing musical instrument, or you have a field of interest-say, journalism, law or medicine, then you can create an information product. Create any product no matter how small the profit margin is.
You can use a step-by-step method. to create your information product. This method describes your information product in detail.
WHY SHOULD YOU CREATE AN INFORMATION PRODUCT?
There are two major reasons why you must create an information product
1. Information is a hot product!
It is in your best interest to market information products such as books, manual, special reports, audiotapes, and e-books
2. It is easy to charge money for knowledge that will make life easier or more comfortable for others.
Lots of people will readily part with their hard earn income for information that will bring them lasting comfort.
In creating an information product, you must concentrate on the major issues, not on minor issues.
Avoid worries over little things. Information product can be packaged in form of infomercial. Infomercial is a T.V advert, which does not take up to 20 minutes to sell the product. It has to do with before and after effect of using a particular product. One can also package Hard to find information product in Newsletter, either in hard copy version, or electronically in website.
Writing an information product should not scare you. An information product is simply a collection of instructions on how to do something. It is fairly simple to write and package. You just start getting down everything you can think of on how to do a specific skill.
Make sure all your notes are in one place and pretty soon you’ll have enough information to package other in book format, Audiotape, CD-Rom or manual.
The main thing is to simply start recording either on paper or on tape every tip you can think of that someone would need to know to be able to do the skill you are trying to teach.
SUPER TIP
You must record your thoughts and tips immediately you think of them. if you don’t, you may never recall what you wanted to write down.
The above tip is for “hard” product and “soft” or downloadable products.
AUDIO TAPE
If you are packaging your info product on audiotape, you will be please to know that the spoken voice is the easiest thing to record. You don’t have to go to a studio and you don’t have to add music. You can record your info product using a small portable tape recorder. You can also record and edit your voce easily with your home computer.
DUPLICATION
You can get a duplicating machine that can make three copies of an hour-long cassette tape and rewind them in three minutes
COMPACT DISC (CD-ROM)
It is pretty to make informational product on CD as long as you have a CD burner. A CD burner is simply a CD player that also has the capacity to to record. You can make lots of money from CD products cost of production can be as low as N250 ($2), which can then be sold for as high as N20, 000
($170). It is very essential that you get a CD burner. To produce the CD’S you get to have software that interfaces with the CD burner. You drag the file you want on the CD from one window to the burn window and hit “Create CD” A wizard pops up that leads you through the process and in a few minutes your CD is ready.
Record able Cd’s are cheap to find. . A CD holds about 100 megabytes so you have plenty of storage available.
MANUALS
Information products can also be packaged into manuals. It is similar to a user Guide/manual, that illustrate how a particular appliance or product functions
A manual simply illustrates the procedure, the method and steps used to accomplish a particular task. One can package a manual on production of cosmetics, food and Chemical products. There are Thousands of untapped information yearning to be exploited and convert to raw cash. Manuals are normally produced using Microsoft Office Word.
VIDEO COMPACT DISC
There is a popular adage that says, “seeing is believing” there is power in sight or vision. When people see what you are offering or talking about concerning a particular product, they tend to not only believe, but also accept the product. All one needs in producing a good info product on video, is a fairly good digital video camera. Duplicating the info product on video is fairly cheap and easy. Having gone through the various medium through which information products can be packaged, one is now left with the choice of selecting the best medium in packaging one’s product. One powerful truth each infoprenuer must take note of however is that packaging sells more than the product.
An information product is anything that provided useful, usable and needed information usually arranged in simple, logical, easy-to-follow easy –to-understand manner. Let us assume you have a passion for something say, sewing or cooking, or you have a hobby or pastime-say, maintain climbing, hunting or playing musical instrument, or you have a field of interest-say, journalism, law or medicine, then you can create an information product. Create any product no matter how small the profit margin is.
You can use a step-by-step method. to create your information product. This method describes your information product in detail.
WHY SHOULD YOU CREATE AN INFORMATION PRODUCT?
There are two major reasons why you must create an information product
1. Information is a hot product!
It is in your best interest to market information products such as books, manual, special reports, audiotapes, and e-books
2. It is easy to charge money for knowledge that will make life easier or more comfortable for others.
Lots of people will readily part with their hard earn income for information that will bring them lasting comfort.
In creating an information product, you must concentrate on the major issues, not on minor issues.
Avoid worries over little things. Information product can be packaged in form of infomercial. Infomercial is a T.V advert, which does not take up to 20 minutes to sell the product. It has to do with before and after effect of using a particular product. One can also package Hard to find information product in Newsletter, either in hard copy version, or electronically in website.
Writing an information product should not scare you. An information product is simply a collection of instructions on how to do something. It is fairly simple to write and package. You just start getting down everything you can think of on how to do a specific skill.
Make sure all your notes are in one place and pretty soon you’ll have enough information to package other in book format, Audiotape, CD-Rom or manual.
The main thing is to simply start recording either on paper or on tape every tip you can think of that someone would need to know to be able to do the skill you are trying to teach.
SUPER TIP
You must record your thoughts and tips immediately you think of them. if you don’t, you may never recall what you wanted to write down.
The above tip is for “hard” product and “soft” or downloadable products.
AUDIO TAPE
If you are packaging your info product on audiotape, you will be please to know that the spoken voice is the easiest thing to record. You don’t have to go to a studio and you don’t have to add music. You can record your info product using a small portable tape recorder. You can also record and edit your voce easily with your home computer.
DUPLICATION
You can get a duplicating machine that can make three copies of an hour-long cassette tape and rewind them in three minutes
COMPACT DISC (CD-ROM)
It is pretty to make informational product on CD as long as you have a CD burner. A CD burner is simply a CD player that also has the capacity to to record. You can make lots of money from CD products cost of production can be as low as N250 ($2), which can then be sold for as high as N20, 000
($170). It is very essential that you get a CD burner. To produce the CD’S you get to have software that interfaces with the CD burner. You drag the file you want on the CD from one window to the burn window and hit “Create CD” A wizard pops up that leads you through the process and in a few minutes your CD is ready.
Record able Cd’s are cheap to find. . A CD holds about 100 megabytes so you have plenty of storage available.
MANUALS
Information products can also be packaged into manuals. It is similar to a user Guide/manual, that illustrate how a particular appliance or product functions
A manual simply illustrates the procedure, the method and steps used to accomplish a particular task. One can package a manual on production of cosmetics, food and Chemical products. There are Thousands of untapped information yearning to be exploited and convert to raw cash. Manuals are normally produced using Microsoft Office Word.
VIDEO COMPACT DISC
There is a popular adage that says, “seeing is believing” there is power in sight or vision. When people see what you are offering or talking about concerning a particular product, they tend to not only believe, but also accept the product. All one needs in producing a good info product on video, is a fairly good digital video camera. Duplicating the info product on video is fairly cheap and easy. Having gone through the various medium through which information products can be packaged, one is now left with the choice of selecting the best medium in packaging one’s product. One powerful truth each infoprenuer must take note of however is that packaging sells more than the product.
Planning Your Seminar
Many wonderful events have ended in disaster, due to lack of adequate planning.
This can be avoided if only one is careful enough to plan ahead of any event.
You can start with a checklist of all items that you may need in the seminar.
These may include;
1.Cash Receipt
2.Promo Materials
3.Name Tags
4.Handouts
5.List of Attendees with payment records
6.Products to be sold at the seminar
7.Freebies if any
8.Registration Sheet
9.Business Cards
Seminar Dates
Most seminars are normally held during weekends (Saturdays and Sundays).
You have to decide if the seminar will be done on any of these days or if it will be a one day or two days seminar?
You can also arrange your seminar to coincide with special holidays or work free days.
However, one must realize that there is not a perfect day.
Once you decide on the seminar date, go ahead and plan adequately for it.
Seminar Venue
Check to see that the venue has been booked and confirmed.
Check to see if the venue is large enough to accommodate the expected number of participants.
Check to see if the venue has a good sound system and adequate ventilation.
The seminar venue should also be easily accessible to participants.
Using Outside Speakers
When you are organizing a seminar, there are basically two options opened to you.
Either you do it entirely on your own, or you invite other speakers to participate.
When inviting outside speakers, make sure you have seen them speak before, and also confirm their availability for the event.
Advance request should be sent to them through letter of invitation and follow up can be done through email or telephone.
Make sure they are given the topic to speak on in advance, and never forget to make all financial transaction clear before the seminar date.
Note: Make an exigency plan in case the outside speaker disappoints or fails to show up.
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