Getting Business from Educational Seminars
November 24, 2008
By Theresa Gale and Mary Anne Wampler
Do you host educational seminars and often wonder why you don't get the results you want from the effort?
Educational seminars and speeches are a great way to get in front of a large number of people. They are most successful when you create interest and a desire to talk to you personally about specific work to be done. But to really get results from these events, you need to be very clear about what return you want.
Many believe that if they dazzle their audience with their knowledge and give lots of information that shows their expertise, they will want to buy. While information does build credibility, the goal of any educational seminar should be to pique your attendees interest so much that they walk away saying, "I can't do this without them." If your attendees don't walk away with this belief, you need to rethink your approach.
Here are some tips for truly getting the results you want from your educational seminar.
1. Create presentation that gets the audience involved in discovering and discussing their concerns/issues/wants/desires.
2. If you are presenting for the first time or delivering a new talk, practice or review it with a co-worker at least once before the actual event.
3. At the beginning of the event, ask what each participant hopes to gain from the program (if the group isn’t too large). If the group is too large, select a handful of attendees to answer the question. Get the group involved early.
4. If possible, get a list of attendees prior to the event to see if there is anyone you know or who fits your ideal prospect criteria.
5. Be sure to leave enough time in your presentation to answer questions fully. Don't dodge tough questions, but don't tell them so much technical information that you bore the rest of the group. Remember: Attendees should leave the seminar/speech knowing that they don’t know enough, and that they want you to help them, whatever their reasons.
6. Be reassuring and nurturing throughout the program, but especially at the beginning, when they are talking about their issues/concerns, etc.
7. Don't feel defensive if you can't answer a question. After all, you're human and nobody is perfect. Your job is to communicate to them that your company, product or service—not just you—can help them solve their problems.
8. If you are talking more than three or four minutes without interruption, you're usually boring them. Always involve the audience.
9. Invite questions and remember to follow a question with another question (when appropriate) to make sure you know the "why" behind their question. For example, "When should I fertilize my trees?" Your response might be, "What type of trees do you have?"
10. Before you close the session, ask for questions and comments. Be sure to ask for both.
11. Always have a hand-out that participants may take away with them. Make sure it has your name and phone number on it for future reference.
12. It is important that the audience leaves the program having learned something, but it's more important that they leave knowing they don't know all they need to know, and that your company, product or service can help them.
13. If all you do is educate the audience without getting them involved or engaging them, you run the risk of only appealing to the technical people and losing the others.
14. Always ask them to fill out an evaluation sheet, name and phone number included. Be sure you ask if there is anyone who they think would benefit from this program, or if they or anyone they know are interested in a personal conversation about their specific needs. Also, provide a space for "Additional information you would like us to know."
15. Always include a description of the company and services provided at the end of the hand-out.
Theresa Gale and Mary Anne Wampler are co-owners of Transform, Inc. Gale and Wampler have helped scores of business across the country in the areas of leadership, sales force development and organizational effectiveness. They can be reached at www.transforminc.com or (301)419-2835.
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