Seminar Planning - Your Target Market

Determine your target audience very early in your seminar planning process. Be very specific as to who you want to attend your event. By this I mean going beyond selecting the age, gender, marital status, financial status and profession that many people do. Go deeper into the minds of your prospective clients.

Ask yourself these questions:

• What is their pain?

• What problem are they trying to solve?

• What information do I have that can help them?

Knowing the answer to these questions will help you plan an effective marketing campaign and design a presentation that will meet the needs of your audience.

Planning A/V for Your Seminar

Your A/V requirements can impact your budget and help you determine whether or not a venue is right for your seminar. Your goal is to present a professional presentation at a venue that lets you use the technical tools you require while you stay within your budget.

Here are some things to consider when planning your seminar:

• If you plan to use your laptop to show a presentation on Power Point, do you own a projector and screen? If so, will the venue let you bring them in? Is the equipment appropriate for the size of the venue and audience? For instance, the projector and screen you use for meetings in your office conference room may not be adequate for a presentation to more than 50 people. If you don’t have equipment, will you rent them from the venue or an outside vendor? How much do they charge? Do you know how to set these up the equipment? If not, you may need to hire an A/V engineer.
  


• Are you planning to use a microphone? Will you need to have a microphone in the audience for a Q&A session? Again, find out if you need to rent these things from the venue or can use an outside vendor. You may also need a sound engineer.
  


• Will you record or videotape the event? If so, can you bring in your own equipment or must you rent from the venue? Are there union regulations about who you can hire to do the work or can you use your staff? Also, is there enough room to set up recording and camera equipment without creating a safety hazard?
  


• If your presentation requires access to the Internet; check to make sure it’s available in the room and ask if there is a charge. You can always use screen captures instead of a live link if you can’t get reliable access at a good price.

Seminar Planning - A Checklist for Room Set-up

Here is a list of some of the things you want to do to prepare the seminar room for your audience:

• Arrive early to rehearse
• Assign one staff member to be the lead
• Put signage up outside the room to guide people to your seminar
• Know how to reach the on-site contact during your event
• Test your audio/visual equipment
• Make sure you have your notes, laptop, water and whatever else you need at the podium
• Set up an easel, if you plan to use one, and make sure it has an adequate number of markers
• Check the temperature
• Check the lighting
• Check for loud noises coming from other rooms
• Have a staffed registration table at the door for attendees to sign in
• Have seating for people with special sight, mobility or hearing needs
• Check and correct any safety issues – tape down cords with duct tape, make sure aisles are wide enough for easy access, clear all items from aisles

Planning the Seminar Room Set-up - Part 2 Banquet, U-Shaped and Boardroom Style Seating

Yesterday, I blogged about different seating arrangements you can use at your seminar. Here are some additional ideas.

Banquet Style
The banquet set-up is used when a meal is served. It is a series of round or oval tables with room for seating 8 to 10 people per table. The arrangement takes a great deal of room but is an excellent style to use not only for meals but when you want to encourage the audience to network with each other. There is a disadvantage, if you seat people completely around each table, half of the audience will have to turn their chairs to see your presentation. You can arrange it so you only seat people around half of the table but this will mean adding tables and using even more space.

U-Shape
Long, narrow, usually 6-foot, tables are placed in a U-shape and chairs are put around the outside of the U. I’ve also seen seating on the inside of the U to double the amount available seats but this tends to make people feel cramped. You, as the speaker, would stand at the opening of the U but could also move about the room.

This style works for intimate seminars with less than 30 attendees and is best for interactive sessions. You might want to use it for a breakout session of a large seminar.

Boardroom
A large rectangular table with you at the head, establishing you as the authority. This is for a very small group, not more than 12 to 15 people. You may have problems making eye contact with the people sitting at the end of table.

In the next blog and tell you some of the things you need to have when you are setting up your seminar.

Planning the Seminar Room Set-up - Part 1 Theater, Classroom and Chevron Style Seating

In this and the next few blog posts I'll tell you about the different ways to set-up your seminar room and give you some tips about set-up. When selecting a seating style keep in mind that you want the audience to be able to see you, hear you, and be comfortable during the event.

Theater Style Seating
Chairs are set up in straight rows facing the stage. There are aisles on either side and a center aisle, just like in a theater. There are no tables in this arrangement so it would not be appropriate if the audience needs to take notes during your presentation or if you are serving food. This arrangement allows the most number of people in a room but make sure the rows have enough room between them to allow leg room.

Classroom Style Seating
Same as theater style but with long, narrow draped tables – usually 30 inches by 6 feet. Audiences like tables when they have take lot of notes or have handout materials and when they have a drink or a small plate of food. With the addition of tables, there is not as much room as theater seating. Some people do a mix of both, classroom style in the front of the room and theater seating in the back and add chairs when they have more attendees than anticipated.

Chevron Style Seating
Theater or classroom style seating but instead of straight rows facing the stage, the rows are angled towards the stage. The audience can see the well without straining their necks and you can establish good eye contact with everyone. This style takes more room than theater and classroom.

I'll tell you more about seating styles next time.

Setting Your Seminar Stage

What is your presentation style? Knowing how you move and act when you speak will help you determine your stage requirements.

If you walk or pace when you speak and want to interact closely with your audience during a question and answer period, you will need a lavaliere microphone, plenty of room on the stage or presentation area to move around. If you have a PowerPoint presentation, you will also need a small table for your computer. Make sure the entire stage area is lit so you will always be seen when you walk and talk. Be aware of the edges of the stage if you are on a raised platform so you do not trip or fall.

If you or your audience would be the most comfortable with a traditional business presentation stage setting, you will need a stationary microphone and a podium. Make sure any paperwork and computer equipment you need will fit neatly on the podium, you don’t want to be scrambling for your notes during your presentation.

Anytime you plan to show video or PowerPoint slides, make sure you can dim the lights and set up a screen. You might also want to set up an easel to take notes during audience interaction.

Can Everyone See Your Seminar Presentation?

There is a hotel in my area that has a large event space. I’ve spoken to them a few times about holding seminars and other events there but my clients and I are hesitant to use the space. The room has a few columns and not everyone would be able to see a speaker or a Power Point presentation without straining or adjusting their chair.

When you visit locations during your site selection process, notice if the room is an odd shape and if there might be any obstacles to being able to see clearly from any part of the room. If you think there might be a problem, mention it to the venue and find out what they can do. They may suggest different types of seating arrangements, they may offer to set up a stage or they may suggest you set up a camera and a couple of screens. If you still think there may be problems, go somewhere else. When your audience has to strain to see your presentation, they will be not concentrate on you and your message.

Why No One Came to the Seminar

A friend of mine referred me to the president of a professional association who needed help with his seminars. I contacted him and he invited me to meet him at his upcoming “Black Tie” seminar on a Sunday afternoon. As it turned out only three people came; the president, the hired speaker and me. He couldn’t understand why it happened.

Here are some of the mistakes he made that you need to avoid:

• Invitations went out only two weeks prior to the event. Since many he invited were from out-of-state, it did not give them enough time to plan a trip. Get invitations and announcements out early – 4 to 6 weeks perhaps more, depending on the type of event.

• The speaker was not nationally known, she was someone who appeared frequently on television and in the news but only in the San Francisco Bay Area. People outside the area would not be interested in traveling to hear someone they had never heard of before. He did say he tried to get an internationally known speaker but received a note that he was not available at such late notice, three weeks before the event. If you are counting on a speaker to draw attendees, make sure the speaker is well-known or has a message that is very important to your targeted audience.

• He assumed people would come so they could bring their families to an event in the San Francisco Bay Area. San Francisco is a big draw for conferences but this event was about 30 miles outside of San Francisco and not near any tourist attractions. If you plan an event in which you think people will bring their families, you must have it in the city which would attract people. Also, you might want to provide information about local attractions and maybe even have events that family members can attend.

• This professional business event was on a Sunday afternoon. Most people do not want to attend business-related events on the weekend.

• The seminar was “Black Tie”. I had never heard of someone having a formal dress seminar at 2pm on a Sunday. There wasn’t any purpose to the event being “Black Tie”. Not everyone enjoys dressing up and certainly not on a Sunday afternoon.

You must get to know your target market before you plan your seminar. Do your research; find out what days are good for them, where they like to meet and what topics they want to learn about. If you don’t, you will be wasting both time and money on an event no one will attend.

To make sure your seminars are a success, get a copy of my free report the "7 Mistakes Seminar Promoters Make . . . And How to Avoid Them" at http://www.eventplanningmistakes.com/

Plan a Follow-up to Your Seminar

Last night I was listening to a teleseminar and the speaker talked about how people fail to make money when they don't follow-up with listeners after their calls. He said it perfectly, “Your future and your fortune is in your follow-up.” This is true of live seminars also.

I work with speakers to plan their seminar and their follow-up. But some speakers don’t make follow-up plans. If an attendee has not made an appointment or purchased a product or service, they don’t make any attempt to contact them again. Sometimes they don’t even contact the people who have made a purchase, they just move on to doing the next seminar. They have no follow-up plan in place and no time to create one after doing a seminar.

You must make your follow-up plans while you are planning the seminar itself. The seminar should be part of your bigger picture - to train people on your topic of expertise, get clients and market products and services.

Some ways to follow-up:

• Thank people for coming with a phone call, letter or e-mail.

• Send a copy of the audio you made of your presentation. This would be good to send to clients who were not able to attend.

• Send a monthly newsletter or e-zine.

• Create a “tips” sheet or series of “tips” sheets on your area of expertise and mail them out monthly.

You want to stay in touch with your attendees so they continue to get to know, like and trust you and remain or become loyal clients.

Make Recordings of Your Seminar Presentations

Are you recording your seminars? You should be. Experienced professional speakers have been doing this for years. They used the audio recording to evaluate their performance. Now, they edit the recordings, put them on CDs or make them into MP3s and use them as products to sell or give to clients. At larger seminars, you would need the help of an audio engineer and special equipment. However, if you are doing a small event at a small venue, you may be able to record your presentation with a digital recorder and edit it yourself with audio editing software such as Sony Sound Forge.

Video taping your seminars are a great idea too. Use clips on your website or post them on YouTube to help market your products and services.

Planning a Seminar? Be Sure to Centralized Your Registration Process

My financial planner’s assistant called to invite me to an exclusive event. I told her I would be happy to attend. A week later I received an invitation in the mail from the financial planner’s corporate office for this same event and a request to RSVP to someone I did not know. I called to ask my planner’ assistant if I needed to also confirm my attendance with this second person, she told me not to worry about it.

When I attended the event, there were so many people in attendance it was hard to breathe. We were seated at round tables and it was impossible for everyone to comfortably see the speaker and his presentation because not everyone could turn their chair in the direction of the podium. I had to inhale and push my chair into the dinner table in order to let waitpeople walk behind me. What happened? There was confusion about the number of people actually attending because there were multiple people in multiple offices accepting RSVPs.

Don’t let this happen to your seminar. Have one central place where all the information on RSVPs or registrations are kept and put one member of your staff in charge of keeping it up-to-date. If you don’t have available staff, you can invest in a registration system which allows you to set up an account and have people register for your seminar online. Or, if you prefer your attendees speak to a live person, you can use a 24-hour call center that has operators who can register callers, process their credit cards, gather information and answer questions.

Seminar Speaking Tips

Because I work with speakers, I often have people asking me for tips about doing presentations. Here are some things I’ve noticed successful speakers do:

They rehearse, rehearse and rehearse
They know their material backwards and forwards. They do full-blown on-site dress rehearsals of their presentations prior to the event even if they’ve done the same presentation many times. This includes testing technology they will use – projectors, Internet connections, microphones and video.

They arrive early for their presentation
Very few speakers can run in at the last minute, get up on stage and speak successfully. Those that appear they can usually have someone taking care of details, such as testing audio/visuals and getting a feeling of the audience, for them. I know because I’ve been that person!

They are prepared for anything and everything to happen.
They know how to cut their presentations short if they suddenly are given less time. They know how to alter their speech if it appears their audience needs more or less information than they originally had anticipated. They can give their presentation without their slides if, for some reason, technology and all back-up plans fail them.

They have an event planner
Ok, this is a shameless plug for my seminar planning services but it’s true. Successful speakers know the value of having someone else handle the details of planning a seminar. They want to be able to concentrate on giving a successful presentation and connecting with their audience.

You Are Here, But Where is Your Presentation?

I attended an event in which the speaker was flown to California from the East Coast. He decided to make a mini-vacation out of the trip and flew in early so he could spend time touring the Napa Valley wine country, just 45 minutes. He left his laptop in the back seat of his rental car while he stayed overnight in a hotel. The morning he was scheduled to give his dinner presentation, he discovered his car had been vandalized and the laptop, with his presentation, and his flash drive, with the back-up cop, had been stolen.

First, never leave a laptop or any other piece of equipment in your car. Don’t even leave a laptop bag that doesn’t have a laptop in it. I had a client do that and the bag and all of the contents were taken even though there wasn’t a computer in it.

Second, if your presentation is dependent on PowerPoint slides, or any other information, which is on your computer, make sure you are not the only one with a copy. If you have an assistant helping you, give that person a copy on a flash drive or CD or, if they have a laptop, have them load it on their computer. If you are traveling out of your area to give a presentation, see if there is a local contact who would be willing let you e-mail a copy to them as a back up. Some of my clients still travel with slides they can place on an overhead projector in case modern technology fails them.

The speaker in my example ended up recreating his presentation from scratch on someone else’s laptop. The events of the day had left him little time to do this so his presentation was disorganized and confusing. Unfortunately, he had not planned his travel schedule well and did not have time to stay and answer a lot of questions.

Don’t let this happen to you. Be prepared for things to go wrong so if and when they do, you can rise above the problems and present yourself professionally.

Planning Seminars Outside Your Local Area

Are you experiencing success with the seminars you are holding in your local area and feel ready to expand? Great! Time to sit down and decide which cities you want to conquer next.

First, look at your database. Do you have a good following, a number of prospects and existing clients, in any one area? If so, survey them to see if they would be interested in attending a live event.

Are there speakers in other cities with whom you can partner and do joint seminars? This way you have access to multiple databases of potential attendees and everyone has the opportunity to pick up new clients.

What you don’t want to do is just pick a city, let’s say, San Francisco, Atlanta, Chicago, etc. without first doing a lot of research to make sure you can draw a qualified audience. If you do, you will be wasting a lot of time and money. Also be aware that costs can vary greatly from city-to-city. Check with local Convention and Visitors Bureaus or venues to get ideas about pricing for rooms, food, parking, audio/visual equipment transportation and labor.

Seminar Goals

Many people decide to have an event and without setting clear goals. Don’t be like them! Determining the goals for your seminar is a top priority when starting to plan. Your goals will help you select your seminar date, location, content and keep you and your staff focused on success.

Here are some of the questions I ask clients to answer to help them determine their goals:

• What do you want to achieve by having this seminar?

• Are you planning to sell a product or service? If so, what? How much are you charging?

• Are you planning to educate? If so, are you offering CEU (Continuing Education Units)?

• Have you held this seminar before? What were the results?

• What would have to happen for you to consider your seminar a success?

• Do you have enough time to promote, invite, organize, advertise your event and plan your presentations so you will be successful?

It takes a little time to sit down and write out your goals but your event will have a greater chance for success if you do it.