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10 Things to Think About When You Run Your Own Seminar or Wo
Experts on all kinds of subjects, at some point intheir careers, often try to run seminars or workshops.There are lots of reasons why they do it, but the mainone is money. These can be very lucrative money-spinners if done correctly.An awful lot are not done correctly. Far too many'experts' think that all they have to do to captivatean audience is to stand at the front with an overheadprojector and drone on for a few hours.The first thing to correct about this way of thinkingis that the people who have paid good money to attendare not an audience.Plays have audiences. Movies do. Even lecturers talk toan audience.Seminars and workshops have participants. And if theydon't get to participate, they might as well havestayed at home.Here are my ten pointers for a successful seminar orworkshop. There is a lot more to it, but get theseright and you will be halfway there.1. Write a very full outline of everything you need tocover. It is vital that you are totally prepared.Nothing looks worse than a seminar presenter who is not100% on top of the flow of events.2. Do a lot of market research before you start towrite your outline. Ask people what they want/need toknow. You will probably be surprised. I have found manytimes that the things people find the most fascinatingor useful are the things that I would have skipped overor assumed they already knew. Never assume possessionof knowledge simply because it is second nature to you.3. Remember that people learn in different ways. Somepeople are visual, some are audible and some have toexperience things. Bearing that in mind, ensure thatyou provide educational stimulus for each type ofperson - visual charts, memorable commentary andinteractive exercises.4. Don't plan a 2-day seminar around a subject that canbe covered in 2 hours.5. Don't try to cover in 2 hours a subject that needs 2days.6. Learn to present. This little step is so oftenforgotten by people who think they can teach.Presentation is so important. You not only have to beseen and heard, but you also have to persuade. Think ofit as selling your ideas.7. If you are new to the field of seminars andworkshops, make sure you carry out a series of practiceruns before you try
to impart your wisdom to payingcustomers. There are lots of thing that can (and will)go wrong. Things like having the wrong content; likereaching the end of your time and finding that you onlycovered half of what you expected; like finding youpitched the content way above their heads - or too farbelow; like not having anticipated what questions wouldbe asked - and worse, not knowing the answers. Run yourseminar at least twice, completely free-of-charge - thecost to the delegates being that they have to give youhonest feedback.8. Don't forget leave-behinds. The better the packagethat you can give people to take away, the morevaluable they will think the seminar was. I run aseminar on presentation skills. Delegates pay up to$1000 each to attend the 2-day course. When theyarrive, I give them a leather presentation wallet witha crisp new yellow pad inside and three colors of pen.As each session ends, I give each person a beautifullycolor printed document that covers all the main pointscovered in easy to refer to summary form. At the end ofthe course, everyone is given a CD with all the slidesand exercises used over the 2 days, plus a load ofextra information - articles, back copies of my e-zine,links to Internet sites and so on. Of course, all ofthis stuff is branded with my name. The perceived valueof this package is considerable, but in reality itcosts me less than $30 a head. Not a bad gift forsomeone who has spent $1000!9. Have a back end. Don't plan one workshop, plan two.Make sure everyone who attends is sold on the nextworkshop (maybe with a special discount offer).Consider selling any products that you recommend. Manybig names who run seminars make a bundle from sellingbooks and tapes at the back of the room.10. Finally, remember that people will thank you ifthey learn something, but they will only recommend youif they have fun in the process. About the Author
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