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/