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Primer to a Successful Seminar

by Karen Winner, Marketing Manager

Seminars can be a cost-effective way to generate leads and position your company as a thought leader. Here are six basic steps to make sure your seminars are fruitful.

  1. Pick a topic that interests your target customer.
    Many seminars fail because they are glorified sales pitches. Choose a topic of specific interest that educates and uses real examples to illustrate your points. For example, review the latest compliance specifications or software trends in a particular application. This way, you are seen as the expert in the field and can attract a wider audience.

  2. Partner with a customer.
    People always want to know what others are doing to be successful and few things are more credible then having your customers talk for you. Choose one who can talk in terms of how the ideas you want to present are implemented—what worked, what didn’t. Be sure s/he has a title similar to the level of individuals you plan to invite make sure to help them develop a good presentation.

  3. Partner with a vendor.
    To inject variety, consider partnering with a company offering complementary technology. Additional significant benefits: invitation list doubles; broader education is gained on a topic; company image is enhanced; seminar costs are shared.

  4. Tailor your invite list to your topic.
    Invite only those people who will be interested in your topic. If it goes into detail about an emerging technology, the CEO probably isn’t a good candidate. But discuss growth in markets and ways to cut costs and a C-level executive will be interested. Look beyond your prospect database for names and think about obtaining lists from industry organizations, trade show registrations and technology journals. Segment your list by title and geographic location. Always include a pass-along note with the invite.

  5. Promote, promote, promote.
    Promote early and often. Consider an HTML invite and snail-mail. Include an invite in your monthly newsletter or company announcements. List the event in trade and business journal calendars. Send a press release announcing the seminar topic and locations to your media list. Flyers make great leave-behinds for sales reps and there’s nothing like a phone call to generate more attendees. Also, be sure you post the event on your Home page and it’s always a good idea to call to confirm attendance the day before the event

  6. Location, location, location.
    Location facilitates a good turnout. Pick a spot that’s easy to find with good access from a highway and an airport if you are inviting guests from outside the area. A hotel with spaces to accommodate audiences of all sizes is a logical choice. If you have a high-profile customer that works with other potential customers in your market, consider asking if you can use its location for the seminar. If you’re selecting multiple cities, select hotbed cities and those where you have staff that can support the event.

  7. Follow up to nurture leads.
    Last, make sure you have a sign-in sheet so you have a record of who attended and their current contact information. A good practice is to announce at the beginning of the seminar that you’ll be sending follow up information later so attendees are motivated to sign-in if they haven’t already. Also, though this seems obvious, but many forget: a simple thank-you note followed by a phone call is a natural lead-in to continuing a dialog.