They are out to take your money and give you VERY little in return. I’d be VERY suspicious of any organization that will claim that they can make you rich if you only join THEIR group.

I’m a member of only one group. The National Speakers Association. I am STILL a member because of the people I know there.

At this point I have (UNFORTUNATELY) found very little value from the meetings that they hold. This is because for all of their GREAT INTENTIONS, implementation of those great intentions is hindered by internal politics.

It was that way years ago when I got started and it’s still that way today. Maybe it’s just how ANY organization works.

My point is this: Don’t expect some organization that you join to give you the MAGIC BULLET for your seminar business.

The biggest “secret” to this business if there is one is to create a MASSIVE list, mail them often with valuable content and then make them AWARE of when you are doing events.

As far as joining a group . . . completely unnecessary!

Then ask yourself, which of the companies you listed would make the MOST sense to approach first. The most sense for THEM! Which companies would benefit the most from getting in front of your group at your event.

Who do you talk to? Start with the vice president of marketing. In some companies they will be the right person to “pitch” on sponsoring your event.

If not the VP, then he/she will direct you to the right person. The decision maker will make their decision on a number of different factors.

They will include:

• How much are you charging for sponsorships?
  
• Are their competitors sponsoring your event?
• How many people are you projecting to attend?
• What is the possibility they will purchase?
• Are the attendees likely to be INFLUENCERS?

All of these questions are critical to be able to answer whomever you talk to sponsorships about.

They will want to feel that the price they pay you for the sponsorship will give them more value than what they paid for it.

What will you give them for sponsoring the event?

Will they be able to put up banners and signs or will they just have an booth or table at the back of the seminar room?

Do they get to sponsor a meal? Will they get to speak in front of the whole group?

What should you do? Sorry to say, but it DEPENDS on what you’re trying to do. If you want the MOST money, you let them have “face time” with your audience. The more time you allow them, the more money you should try and EXTRACT from them.

I’ve also seen people sell the back cover of the seminar workbook to a sponsor. The possibilities are endless. Just put your thinking cap on.

There are two primary things I suggest you do.

One is a longer, more detailed promotional brochure. You will want to do it on an 11X17 coated paper. Given the relatively inexpensive prices of printing these days, you should probably opt for “4 color” printing. This just means that you print in FULL COLOR.

You’ll want to concentrate first on your headline. This will be the most important element of the brochure. Make sure you make it a SELF mailer. Putting the piece in an envelope will only depress your response rates.

On this piece, also make sure to include:

• Lots of bullet points detailing what people will learn
• Plenty of testimonials, preferably audio and/or video
• A bio that will make people want to hear YOU
• Pricing that is tiered based on how soon people respond
• Bonuses that make sense to anyone who visits
• A website address for those who need more info
• Where and when the event will be held

If you opt to do a postcard, here are some of the things you need to know:

• Use a postcard that is over-sized to make sure it gets seen
• Your headline becomes critical to success
• Don’t PACK it with copy, make it “airy” and easy to read
• Your primary goal is to drive people to a site

When using either or both of these direct mail methods, the most critical item is your list. The best list is one that you compile yourself. This will make it MUCH more likely to get people sign up.

I never recommend that people use compiled or purchased lists to promote a seminar. They usually don’t pull enough response to justify their purchase.

Only .com? Not .net or .org or any of the others? Yes, ONLY .com. I don’t want to spend a lot of time here telling you why,
just trust me, ONLY use a DOT COM!

Try and keep it SHORT, EASY TO SPELL and EASY TO REMEMBER.

Here’s an example:

David Hamilton (the WebMarketingMagician) and I will be doing a seminar called Fire Your Webmaster! We will be using the DOT COM of the same name to promote that event.

Follow the steps to create the title of your event and then see if the .com is available. Come up with a few different titles and don’t get MARRIED to any of them until you have checked to see that the domain is available.

You need to start STRONG and end STRONGER!

Hopefully your entire event will be memorable, but when someone asks one of your attendees what they thought of your event, they will think back to how the event ended.

And how it started.

When you start putting your event together, think of how you will open and how you will close. There are NO two sections of your seminar or workshop that are more important.

If you’re looking for an example, go rent the video: The French Connection with Gene Hackman from back in the early 70s. Take note of how the film opens. This will give you an idea of how to start your event.

As for the close, make sure that do two things. First, give people a PLAN of ACTION for what they should do NOW to make things happen.

Second, give them something REALLY solid that you end with. Similar to how you started, hold back one KILLER idea until the very end. One that people will leave saying: “WOW, that one idea was worth attending the entire event!”

REVENUE:

• Registration Dollars – before the event
• Registration Dolars – onsite
• Product Sales – Your own
• Product Sales – Other Presenters (usually 50% for you)
• Coaching/Consulting Dollars
• Sales of Registrations to Future Events (usually discounted)

Expenses:

• Expenses to Market the event
• Food Expenses
• Expenses from the rental of the venue
• Equipment Rental

There will most likely be more sources for both the expense and revenue are that aren’t listed here. The KEY is to make sure that you record every revenue and expense to make sure you get the REAL profit or loss from your event.

That being said, since I OWN all of the equipment already, I capture most of my events on BOTH audio AND video.

There are a SMALL number of my customers who will ONLY buy videos. Regardless of what the content is.

There are some people who will ONLY order if I have something available in that particular form. Fine. That’s who they are.

YOU need to be thinking of WHAT MAKES SENSE?

If you are doing a program that happens to be on cooking, there is little chance that an audio program alone will BEST serve your audience.

If the material warrants the use of video, then use it.

If you don’t own the equipment, borrow it from a friend. Try not to rent it. MUCH too expensive. Once you are convinced that you will be recording a lot of your programs, then go to

http://www.BHPhoto.com

They have a wide selection of products at very reasonable prices. I buy ALL of my video/audio equipment from either them or Costco.

That being said, I record almost all of my bigger events in both audio and video form. I already own all the equipment, so it doesn’t really cost me anything extra but a little time and effort.

That being said, if you’re like me, I PREFER to learn using audio. When I travel back and forth to the L.A. area from Las Vegas, I’m constantly listening to audio learning programs.

It is a time where I can learn a LOT by just sitting in the car.

If the material is NOT easily taught by using just audio, then you will need to capture it in video form as well.

Most of the interview I do are done without the use of video. Why? They don’t need it.

Ask yourself the question: “Can my customer be well served to get this information in AUDIO form?”

If the answer is YES, then you need to make sure that you make the audios available to them.

In what format? Most of what I do these days is downloadable. I record everything in MP3 format.

You do NOT need to record it in a higher quality format than that. It’s just voice, it’s NOT music.

For all of my audio recording I use a Marantz PMD 660. There are many other choices, some of them much less expensive, but that’s what I use!

Not having products at a seminar to sell that relate in some manner, shape or form to your topic is NUTS. You must have some.

If you don’t know how to put them together, that problem is EASILY solved. If you don’t have to proper knowledge or content in your field, then I can’t help you! That you’ll need to acquire yourself before producing products.

Often times when an event is being audio or video taped, the presenter will offer those recordings for sale to the audience members. Not a bad idea, but it’s not going to bring you in a ton of revenue!

Why?

People have just paid to be at your event. Presumably they’ve been paying attention. It’s a very hard sell to get them to pay for what they’ve already PAID FOR.

If you have an event that costs $1000, there is probably a good chance you can get people to cough up $100 for the audios and a bit more for the videos, but not much more than that.

IF you do that, announce it at the very beginning of your program. That way people won’t feel the need to feverishly take notes.

In addition to the products that your guest speaker may offer your audience (that you will get 50% of the dollars from), you may also want to consider a package of YOUR products that are RELATED to the topic.

Make people an “irresistible offer” and they will usually. go for it.

If you’re looking for some kind of SUBLIMINAL or HYPNOTIC formula here, you’ve come to the wrong place.

You may be able to initially get people to buy more from you, but the snake oil salesmen method of getting people to buy will only cause people to be REALLY pissed off at you later on.

I’ve seen it. Do NOT do it.

Instead, do as this section tells you on the website.

I’ve been doing this a long time. It works. Do it my way and you’ll have less aggravation in the future.