posted by Debra on Oct 19
I know you are probably thinking to yourself right now… what? The end of Live Seminars and Events… how can that be?
First let me start by clearing the stage here and saying that Live events such as seminars, bootcamps, trainings and workshops are the best when it comes to successful teaching, networking and selling for today’s Information Marketer who wants to speak at these events.
It is also so for the attendee who wants to learn and have the opportunity to meet the experts live and network with other individuals, create possible joint ventures and of course get away from the spouse and kids.
All teasing aside though, in today’s economy it has becoming increasingly more difficult for promoters to plan, market and promote successful live events. Let’s face it, getting "cheeks in the seats" as I call it, is becoming harder and harder to do. As a promoter you can not rely upon your speakers to promote the event for you and get the cheeks in the seats - it just isn’t going to happen.
If you do not work to create a Win-Win-Win for your event… it may indeed be the end of Live Seminars for you!
Let’s run through the Win-Win-Win of LIVE events…
#1 - Must Be A Win For The Customer
First and foremost is the customer, your attendee. If your attendee is happy then you have secured your first win. To secure a Win for the attendee it must be the right event, the right time, the right price, the right message and the right speakers.
If you fail at any of one these and you are not able to promote this event successfully to get the cheeks in the seats… then you will not have a Win here. Not just from lack of attendees but also for the few that did show up because you see for them it affects thier experience.
The attendee will not be happy because they feel uncomfortable at events with few in the audience and they dont like to stand out. Also now they don’t have the benefit of live networking and joint venture opportunities and the dynamics of a postive successful event change in the room dramatically typically causing a negative environment for all which in turns negatively impacts sales by the speakers.
#2 - Must Be A Win For The Speaker
A Win for the speaker is speaking at a Live event with a full audience at least 100+ people to make it profitable and the audience is the perfect match for their presentation and product. As a speaker you need to ensure that these two criteria are met prior to signing a speaker agreement.
When the turn out is low the speaker is not happy because they essentially loose money. You see when it coms to seminars, the speaker is in a business relationship with the promoter to make money. Here’s how it works…
The speaker pays their way to fly to the event, pays for car/ground travel, pays for hotel and meals. They take time away from thier family and their business to invest in the promoter and the expected audience, knowing that if they have a large, happy and TARGETED audience to speak to then they can teach and successfully sell their continuing education course. This is how the Speaker makes thier money… they sell thier "System" their "Package", and they split the cost 50/50 with the promoter.
#3 - Must Be A Win For The Promoter
When the Win for the audience is met and the Win for the speaker is met, then the Promoter gets their Win in the end and the event is successful and profitable for all.
However, if their is no win for audience and they don’t show up for the event or for those that do show up but don’t buy, that starts the ball rolling down the wrong hill. This affects the event dramatically and the Speaker is not happy then you don’t have a Win for them and your event goes down the drain.
Yes there key strategies that you can implement to mitigate Losses and turn them into Wins and I’ll share those strategies with you in my next post.
Until then… Break a Leg!
