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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
Make your message stick with expert help from this classic trainer's resource How to Run Seminars and Workshops is the classic guide for trainers and presenters in any industry. Packed with clear advice and real-world practicality, this book covers all aspects including planning, setup, delivery, coaching, and more--including valuable guidance on selling your services. This new Fourth Edition has been updated and expanded, with new information on training simulations, self-marketing, and online delivery. New templates and worksheets help you sell your presentation more effectively, and insider tips leave you equipped to handle any situation that might arise. Novice presenters will find extensive guidance for every phase of the process, and even veteran presenters will learn how to fine-tune and adjust their methods to suit their audience and mode of delivery. Most trainers and presenters know all they need to know about their chosen topic, but very few know how to present it effectively. For more than a decade, this book has been training the trainers--from behind-the-scenes preparations to "in the pit" performance and working with trainees hands-on, straightforward guidance shows you how to: * Capture and hold the audience's interest with expert pacing and visual aids * Take advantage of new technologies that make training more accessible * Prepare each session thoroughly to avoid mistakes, malfunctions, and delays * Offer effective feedback, fine-tune delivery, market your services, and more As training departments shrink--many disappearing entirely--more and more companies are turning to keynote and workshop delivery as a way of reaching key clients. Podcasts are replacing live training, and new technology is continually changing the way presentations are made. Professional trainers and speakers must understand the nuances of any audience/delivery permutation, and tailor their methods to match. How to Run Seminars and Workshops is a trusted resource for presenters seeking to boost their effectiveness at any level, in any industry.
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Preface
Acknowledgments
Part I: Getting Started
Chapter 1: Creating a Seminar Business
Branding Yourself
General versus Closed Seminars
Keynotes
Seminars and Workshops
Marketing Your Programs
Speakers' Bureaus
Third-Party Marketing
Summary
Chapter 2: Working with Adult Audiences
Create an Atmosphere Conducive to Training
Build and Maintain Interest
Capitalize on the Experience of Adult Trainees
Structure Your Presentation Logically
Use Activity to Promote Involvement
Set Definite Goals
Use Repetition to Increase Retention of Critical Information
Tell Trainees What You Require of Them
Motivate Adult Trainees to Learn
Make the Presentation Visual
Satisfy the Information Needs of the Trainees
Summary
Chapter 3: Recognizing Trainees' Levels of Behavior
Level One—The Unconscious Incompetent
Level Two—The Conscious Incompetent
Level Three—The Conscious Competent
Level Four—The Unconscious Competent
The Four Levels of Behavior in Action
The Next Level
Summary
Chapter 4: The Personality Parade: Training All Different Types of People
The Loner Trainee
The Quiet Trainee
The Amiable Trainee
The Discouraged Trainee
The Enlightener Trainee
The Joker Trainee
The Reliant Trainee
The Sniper
Some Closing Thoughts
Summary
Chapter 5: The Pace Race: How to Train Groups with Diverse Needs
How to Pace a Course for a Large Group with Wildly Diverse Needs
What Not to Do when Training Diverse Groups
How to Work with the Slowpoke
How to Work with the Whiz Kid
Summary
Chapter 6: Anatomy of an 8:00 a.m. Start: Finalizing On-Site Preparations
7:00 a.m.: Arrive Early to Ensure Everything Is Ready
7:30 a.m.: Arrange Who Sits Where
7:45 a.m.: It's Time for Music to Create a Relaxed Atmosphere
7:50 a.m.: Greeting Your Trainees
8:00 a.m.: Let's Get Ready to Rumble!
8:10 a.m.: Time to Break the Ice
8:30 a.m.: Expectation Time
Summary
Part II: Delivery: The Art of Making Great Presentations
Chapter 7: The Secret of Success: Selling Your Presentation
Introducing the UPPOPPR Process
Mastering the UPPOPPR
Introducing the UPPOP Process
Summary
Chapter 8: Thirty Tips on Maintaining Interest
What to Do about Sleepy Trainees
Summary
Chapter 9: The Art of Effective Questioning: Getting Trainees Involved
Types of Questions
Preparing and Coaching Trainees to Answer Questions
Techniques for Asking Questions
Do's and Don'ts of Questioning
Summary
Chapter 10: Using Visual Aids
Flip Charts
Video
Objects for Demonstrations
Pointers
Dos and Don'ts
Some Final Thoughts
Summary
Chapter 11: Technology and Training
The Technical Revolution
Presentation Software
Laptop Computers
Projectors
Additional Projector Technology
Troubleshooting
Other Considerations
Music
Electronic Whiteboards and Copy Boards
Document Cameras
Summary
Chapter 12: Taking Your Training Online
The Challenges of Online Training
The Strengths of Online Training
Natural Fits for Online Delivery
Tips for Successful Online Delivery
Tips for Successful Online Videos
Letting Others Know about Your Online Presence
Summary
Chapter 13: Giving Feedback and Coaching
Pitfalls to Avoid
Giving Feedback without Intimidating Trainees
Coaching Using the Three Ss
Summary
Chapter 14: Tricks of the Trade
Summary
Part III: Improving the Training Process
Chapter 15: Inside the Mind of a Professional Speaker: How to Present Your Best Self
Always Present a Positive and Enthusiastic Attitude
Don't Advertise Any Lack of Experience
How to Handle Illness on the Job
Surviving with a Split Personality
Stay in Training Shape
Be Confident, Not Arrogant
Coping with Doubt
Working with Anxiety
Summary
Chapter 16: The Value of Good Training: Hiring Effective Trainers
Meet the New Breed of Presenters
Whom to Hire
Summary
Chapter 17: Avoiding the Training Trap: Problems with Relevance and Respect
How to Build Credibility and Gain Respect for Training
Training Can't Solve All Business Problems
Validating Your Training Programs
Summary
Chapter 18: Developing a Training Staff
Emphasize the Quality of Your Training Programs
Make Sure Trainers Work with the Curriculum Developers
Promote Consistency in Course Content and Training Style
Summary
Chapter 19: Evaluation and Support
Evaluating Trainees
Evaluating the Trainer
Advance Preparation Using Preschools
Realistic Expectations
Summary
Chapter 20: Adventures in Cross-Training
Factors to Consider before Cross-Training Trainers
How to Cross-Train a New Presenter
Don't Be a Perfectionist
Power and Its Many Misuses
Summary
Epilogue: What's Next?
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Illustrations
Figure 1.1
Figure 1.2
Figure 7.1
Figure 7.2
Figure 11.1
Figure 11.2
Figure 11.3
Figure 11.4
Figure 11.5
Figure 13.1
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
Part 1
Chapter 1
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Fourth Edition
How to Run Seminars & Workshops
Presentation Skills for Consultants, Trainers, Teachers, and Salespeople
Robert L. Jolles
Cover design: Wiley
Copyright © 1993, 2001, 2005, 2017 by Robert L. Jolles. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.Published simultaneously in Canada.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with the respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom.
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Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Names: Jolles, Robert L., 1957- author.
Title: How to run seminars and workshops : presentation skills for consultants, trainers, teachers, and salespeople / Robert Jolles.
Description: Fourth edition. | Hoboken, NJ : John Wiley & Sons, Inc., [2017] | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016054282| ISBN 9781119374343 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781119374336 (epub) | ISBN 9781119374282 (ePDF)
Subjects: LCSH: Seminars—Handbooks, manuals, etc. | Workshops (Adult education)—Handbooks, manuals, etc. | Meetings—Handbooks, manuals, etc.
Classification: LCC AS6 .J65 2017 | DDC 658.4/56—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016054282
This book is dedicated to my wife, Ronni, who supported, assisted, and endured the trials of this most unusual profession; to the tens of thousands of participants who allowed a struggling professional speaker learn his trade and ultimately learn his lessons in humility and compassion; and to the memory of my dear friend Tony Fox.
Preface
About 25 years ago, I wrote the first edition of this book and invited you into the world of seminars and workshops. Whether you are a professional speaker, trainer, seminar leader, guest speaker, or just someone who occasionally must deliver an idea by addressing a group of people, this book was created for you. From marketing and preparation to all aspects of delivery, this book will guide you through the many nuances that will allow you to direct a group of strangers so that they come together as a team and accomplish a common goal.
A lot has changed over the years. More and more people are tasked with presenting information to others. These presentations are often delivered to a green dot on the top of a monitor and seen by others many miles, and sometimes continents, away.
A lot has stayed the same. The need to gain the attention of others and hold that attention, whether on a stage, in a classroom, on a conference call, on a podcast, in an online video, and more, still challenges us all. In this fourth edition, I hope to address some of the new challenges that come with the changes in technology, and how we give and receive information. The communication process hasn't changed as much as the speed with which we communicate.
There are many misunderstandings surrounding the professional speaking profession. I hope to address many of those misunderstandings. There are many opinions regarding right and wrong. As a former corporate trainer and professional speaker, I hope to give you definitive answers based on my experiences. As with any presentation I deliver, I hope you find the book both informative and fun. I hope also that you will find support and motivation within these pages. That is one of the true values of a good Presentation Skills program, and that is what this book is about.
After I had finished school at the University of Maryland, my first job was for the New York Life Insurance Company. In four days, I was taught how to be an insurance salesman. I was taught the difference between term and whole life insurance. I was taught about preexisting conditions and other key areas of health insurance. I was even taught about disability insurance and the “curse of the living death.” Very scary! Four days later, when they were all through teaching me about insurance, I was shown the door and told, “Two apps a week, ten apps a month. Go get 'em, tiger!” I was trained. But my training failed me. I was taught about my product, but no one ever told me how to sell it.
Most people who become trainers or presenters fall into the same trap. They are taught what to teach but rarely how to teach it. They appear in front of their audiences as ill prepared as I was initially selling insurance. Customers want more than product knowledge, and so do trainees. Therein lies the importance of having information not just on what to teach but on how to teach it.
I have been teaching presentation programs for over 35 years. Thirty-five years of active stand-up delivery training is kind of like dog years—that is, about 245 years of professional speaking to you and me. I have delivered these courses while employed by three major corporations as well as for myself as an entrepreneur. In those years, I have developed a love–hate relationship with a topic that I find fascinating. The love portion of training others to speak like a professional is connected to seeing thousands of presenters just like me—groping for new methods, validating and replacing old ideas, and sometimes just hanging around to get their batteries recharged. The hate portion of training others to speak like professionals centers around its unforgiving nature. In just about any program taught, it is more than acceptable to misplace a handout, forget a trainee's name, or even lose your train of thought. When teaching someone “how it is done,” however, there is very little forgiveness for errors. It is a challenge. It will also age you a bit.
I view this book, as I do a good Presentations Skills program, as a kind of vitamin. When you take a vitamin, your body absorbs only what it needs. In this book, my intention is to give you too many ideas. Each may be appropriate depending on your topic, seminar size, personality, style, and any number of other factors. Take what you need and disregard what is not suitable to your situation.
You will be reading and relating to real-world situations and solutions. Let me give you a quick taste of real world in the life of a presenter. Recently I was asked to speak in front of about 100 managers for one of the largest insurance companies in the country. This presentation was set to last for six hours. The individual who coordinated the presentation on behalf of the insurance company had come to me only weeks before the presentation date, telling me the presentation was “no big deal,” and to just “walk the group through some simple sales skills.” Well, as a professional trainer, I have learned that all presentations are a “big deal,” and I've spent 35 years guarding against the temptation to not take presentations as seriously as they need to be taken. My preparation was thorough and disciplined, following the techniques taught in this book. Minutes before the presentation was set to begin, my contact person informed me that there would be a couple of visitors in the room. These visitors each happened to be senior vice presidents. At that time, I was also informed that instead of six hours, they would like to stretch the presentation to eight hours. “No problem” was my response. The reserve material that I always have on hand took care of the time, and my mental preparation took care of the senior vice presidents. By the way, senior vice presidents rarely sit for seminars without a motive. As I suspected, that presentation acted as an audition for my company and its training capabilities. The results? As of this writing, we have received somewhere in the neighborhood of a half million dollars in training revenue from this company.
That story is a microcosm of what it is to be a professional speaker and why throughout this book you will see references to the term “under fire.” Whether you are speaking in front of senior vice presidents or senior citizens, 150 customers or 15 customers, the pressure is always there. The potential for triumph or trouble is always there. The opportunity for success or failure is always there. Each room is a puzzle that you need to figure out. As a professional trainer, you can die from the pressure or thrive under it. One other reference you will also see from time to time is a reference to the “pit.” This is the area in front of the lectern that separates the presenter from the participants. Depending on the size of the audience, this is where presenters (with the help of a wireless microphone or a booming voice) need to live to stay connected with their audiences. This book is dedicated to teaching you how to understand the pressure of going under fire and thrive in the pit.
One last point before you read what awaits you. Please remember that in no way do I wish you to walk away from what you are about to read with a desire to change your style. The greatest lesson I ever learned about style came mercifully early in my career. There are many who claim to be the greatest salespeople who ever lived. You can pick from any number who have written books, put out tapes, or delivered seminars. Each is good in his or her own way, and far be it from me to knock what others do.
For example, I consider a man named Ben Feldman the greatest salesperson who ever lived. In 1979, while I was with New York Life, Ben led the industry in sales. That is in all the insurance companies, not just mine. Actually, it is unfair to say he led the industry; he dominated it. The top nine agents were all fairly close to each other. Ben Feldman tripled the next closest competitor. What a legend! From the metropolis of Youngstown, Ohio, this man was rewriting the record books in sales. I had never seen a picture of Ben, but I imagined what he looked like. Tall, aggressive, good looking. I sensed he looked a lot like me (okay, minus some of those attributes). One day we received a tape of Ben Feldman in the office. I got dressed up the day I was scheduled to watch the tape, and my life changed. The Ben Feldman on the tape was about five foot four, somewhat overweight, balding, and spoke with a lisp. Not quite what I had expected; however, I watched on. Within seconds, I was drawn to the techniques Ben Feldman was using. It was then and there I learned the most valuable lesson I would ever receive in my life regarding style: I could not be Ben Feldman; I could, however, focus on his techniques and continue to ask myself “How can I do that so it sounds like Rob Jolles?” Rob Jolles cannot do Ben Feldman, and Ben Feldman cannot do Rob Jolles.
As you read this book, continue to ask yourself: “How do I implement these ideas so they sound like me?” If you commit to your own style and implement some of the ideas and techniques recommended in the following pages, I believe you will do just fine. Who is actually attending your presentation, their jobs, their positions within the company, the health of the organization, and more affects how you will apply what you will be learning. In an attempt to connect this information with as many of you as possible, I will refer to you as professional speakers, presenters, and trainers. As for those you are speaking to, I will refer to them as participants, audience members, and trainees. With that in mind, sit back and remember that what is presented in the pages to follow, the good, the bad, and the occasionally ugly, is real world. So, what are we waiting for? Let's get ready to rumble!
Rob “The Rocket” Jolles
Acknowledgments
I would like to acknowledge the following people:
Bill “Scooter” Leathwood who introduced me to the training profession and whose actions inspired me to become a trainer.
Robert C. Camp, author of Benchmarking, for showing me that a project of this nature can be done.
Mary Ellen Silk for her careful maneuvering around my “fragile writer's ego” and providing the editing assistance I so badly needed.
Decades of Wiley editors who have each had a piece of this book, my most recent being Liz Gildea. I'm beyond grateful for your continuing guidance, support, and belief in this book.
Emmett Reagan and Larry Domonkos for graciously filling the roles of mentor and role model, showing me what it is to be a Xerox trainer.
Xerox Corporation for putting their faith and trust in me as a trainer, allowing me to touch so many wonderful trainees inside and outside the company.
And you, the reader. It isn't often a book survives over 25 years on the bookshelf. I'll keep trying to get better, if you keep coming back for more.
Part IGetting Started
Chapter 1Creating a Seminar Business
When I first wrote this book, I was a senior trainer for Xerox Corporation. In that capacity, I felt I had created a program that taught individuals everything they needed to know about corporate training. In fact, that might have been the case for a corporate trainer whose audiences came from within the corporation. However, it has now been over 25 years since I left Xerox to open my own training business. In those years I have certainly learned one simple fact about how to run seminars and workshops. If you can't populate a room with participants, you don't stay in business.
In the following chapters you will learn everything you need to know about how to grab an audience and take them for one terrific ride. In this chapter you will learn how to run a seminar business. Every speaking professional has his or her own way of doing things, and I'm a creature of habit as well. My goal is to provide you with choices and opinions that go along with those choices and then ultimately equip you with enough knowledge to let you decide how to run your own seminar business.
Branding Yourself
Before we start working on putting participants into the seats, referred to as “populating the room,” you must figure out what these participants are coming to hear. The concept of branding yourself sounds a little rough, but not to worry. It isn't as bad as it sounds. You see, rarely are you the only person on the face of the earth who will be talking about the subject you profess to be an expert in. The term “branding” refers to how you will differentiate yourself within your industry.
For instance, there are many who lecture on selling, one of the topics I lecture on. Go to the bookstore and you will notice that there are a few people who claim to know as much, if not more, than I do. However, my branding has been threefold:
I teach a classic Xerox sales approach.
I teach from “repeatable, predictable processes.”
I teach the art of creating urgency.
This becomes my branding, or my niche. It allows clients to differentiate what I do from what others do. It might differentiate me into a job, or it might differentiate me out of a job. Clients can decipher what makes me unique.
What will be your branding? It may be one of the most important questions you ask yourself. Do not rush into a quick answer. In a sense, you may be married to this concept for quite some time. Whatever you decide, I suggest you follow a couple of simple rules.
Rule #1—Think Outside of the Box
That can be a tired phrase, but the fact of the matter is that many geniuses of today are working with ideas that have been around for quite some time. What initially makes them different and employed is the creativity they use to attract their clients.
One of my colleagues, Eric Hargens, works with salespeople as well. He's spent time as a consultant and sales manager, and he struggled with this for a while. He wanted to focus on the initial conversation that goes on between client and salesperson. That doesn't sound much like a branding, now does it? After a few long walks and a couple of cigars, he came up with a different way of articulating this concept. He calls it “the art of chitchat.” Now he has a simple way of explaining what makes what he does unique. That's what I call thinking out of the box.
Rule #2—Keep It Simple
I hear from many people working on their consulting businesses who are trying to brand themselves. When I ask them what they speak on, often the next sentence out of their mouths tells me all I need to know.
When I hear someone take five minutes to answer the question, there is a problem. If you can't explain it, how in the world are you going to sell it? Most people are not interested in hearing a dissertation or pieces of your seminar. They just want to know what you are going to teach them. My rule of thumb is simple: If it takes you more than five words to say it, it's not simple enough.
Please understand that “simple” doesn't mean “obvious.” “Simple” means “easy to understand.” My suggestion is to write out and practice little sound bites that would interest prospective clients.
Rule #3—Don't Underestimate the Basics…Just Don't Advertise It!
Now that you will be thinking out of the box and trying to keep the concept simple, you are probably asking yourself, “How do I come up with the next hula hoop?” You don't have to. You need to put your own slant on your topic and surround it with solid presentation skills that you will learn in abundance as you read through this book. If it were me, I'd start with the basics.
When I left Xerox and started my consulting business, I felt I was on the cutting edge of every process that related to selling. During one of my seminars an individual came up and complimented me on how I was defining the art of selling. I wasn't that surprised because I felt this was one of the most unique definitions I had created.
He then told me he had seen a similar definition in a book he had read. I was flabbergasted and immediately challenged him to give me the name of the book. I had read plenty of books and had never seen anything close to my definition. The book he was quoting was Salesmanship and Sales Management, written by John G. Jones from the Alexander Hamilton Institute. Jones's definition of selling went this way:
Salesmanship, in its broadest sense, is essentially the selling of one's point of view—the ability to start with the other fellow's point of view and to lead his mind to the viewpoint of the seller.
I must apologize for the indifference to gender within Jones's definition, but that is how they referred to many things in 1917, when this passage was written. You see, this is not new information; this is information that has been around…it has simply been forgotten.
Rule #4—Be Passionate
The quickest way out of the seminar business is to lack passion for the topic you are building your business around. Experience is very important, but experience can be attained. Passion cannot be attained. It must be felt.
What do you truly love to study and talk about? You and your topic are going to be together for quite some time; my suggestion is to think long and hard about this. You and your audiences will be a lot happier if you do!
General versus Closed Seminars
Now that you are branded, you have a second major decision to make. Will your seminar business run general sessions, or will you run closed seminars? The answer to this question will go a long way to determining how you go about marketing yourself. Let's spend a moment or two looking at the pros and cons of each.
General Sessions
A general session seminar is one that is put on for a mixed audience. Such seminars typically are attended by multiple companies and accommodate large audiences. If you have ever attended one, you'd know it. Frequently these seminars are held in hotels or facilities that hold large audiences.
The biggest strength of building a seminar business with general sessions in mind is profit. When I decided to go into the seminar business, one of the contributing factors was my attendance in a general session seminar. The program I attended was a one-day coping-with-conflict seminar, and the cost was a measly $175. Of course, I wasn't the only one attending. My guess is there were more than 500 people in attendance. I'm not a math major, but I believe that represents a one-day total of $87,500. There were other costs, like renting of the room, marketing of the seminar, snacks, and coffee, but any way you stack it, that was one heck of a day in the seminar business.
These types of seminars are typically marketed by utilizing key elements of social media, email blasts, and mass mailing flyers sent to selected mailing list clients. This list is determined by the topic. For instance, the session I just described was marketed to human resources professionals. In the sales industry where many of my sessions are delivered, if I were to mass market, I'd aim for a mailing list of sales managers. If I were to put on a general session for training professionals, I'd mass mail to training managers and possibly human resources professionals where training often resides.
If the profit is so high, why would anyone ever want to create a seminar business with any other marketing approach in mind? The answer lies in the topic and the techniques you choose to deliver that topic. As you lean back and decide if this is an approach that you want to consider, ask yourself these questions:
Is my topic generic enough to deliver competently to multiple customers?
When conducting a general session seminar, you may have well over 100 different companies represented in the room. Your topic has to be generic enough to provide examples that will be pertinent to all. Sometimes this isn't possible, and speakers begin to move to multiple industry examples. This is done by highlighting various industries represented by participants in the room, and providing direct examples that relate to them. Once you begin to do this, just be careful to have a wide range of examples to include as many different industries as possible.
Will my message be lost in a large audience seminar format?
Delivering seminars to large audiences requires more lecture than many speakers would like. This doesn't mean there can't be small-group activities sprinkled throughout. However, some topics don't lend themselves to smaller group activities. I'm a little stubborn regarding this topic because I believe any size audience can participate in certain types of activities. However, your exercise has to be conducive to the topic. There's nothing worse than attending a seminar where a forced group exercise is inserted that doesn't add any value to the session.
Are you prepared to dedicate your business to this marketing approach?
Populating a room of up to 300 strangers requires a lot of work and expense. If this is the type of business you will choose, then prepare to be committed to it. This is a year-round marketing approach that will place you in large cities all across the country. Each year in business will allow you to reap the rewards of return customers and word-of-mouth attendees. It is essential that a professional handle the marketing. Personally, I wouldn't skimp one penny on professional marketing, because they are the ones who will get those rooms populated with attendees.
Listen and learn from the professionals.
The costs to put on open sessions can creep up on you. When you look at up-front costs that can include the marketing, mailing lists, hotel, travel, breaks, and AV support, it's not unusual to see a breakeven cost hovering around $10,000 a seminar.
The profit is high, and it's an exciting way to conduct business. If you do choose to conduct your seminar business this way, you will have a head start in providing closed sessions based on specific requests from clients. You see, general sessions always have the potential to create leads toward closed sessions; however, closed sessions never create the potential for general sessions.
Closed Sessions
For many professional speakers like myself, general sessions can be a challenge because the application of what we teach is specific. My topic is not generic enough to deliver competently to multiple customers. When I teach people to sell, I need to know exactly what they sell to provide real-world examples. My techniques do not work generically. I also need to role-play clients on the techniques I teach. Although multiple role-plays can be conducted in larger sessions, if the participants don't understand each other's businesses, the exercise is useless. That's where the closed session approach to the seminar business comes in.
A closed session seminar is a program delivered to a singular client. This doesn't necessarily mean a singular environment, just a client. When I started my business, I quickly started accumulating clients in the financial industry. This both thrilled and worried me at the same time. I was thrilled because I began to quickly create a following within a specific industry. I was worried because I was concerned I might get typecast, much like an actor, and lose my credibility in any other industry.
Closed session seminars generally are not marketed through mass marketing approaches. They are marketed slowly and methodically to specific clients. The sales cycle can often be years; however, the sale to a single client can easily represent a six-figure consulting fee. This is because these clients aren't looking for a generic message. These clients want someone to understand what they are doing and specifically to tailor the message to fit their industry and niche within that industry. In other words, they are looking for exactly what they cannot get from a general session.
The fees can be high because rarely are these companies looking for a one-day session with 300 strangers. They want to create a cultural change within their organization. To do this, they want a consultant who can map out a complete training program for all employees within their organization.
There is no set formula for this, but as your guide through the seminar world, I'd be happy to give you one man's approach. In its most simple form, my definition of truly training an organization consists of three basic programs.
Initial Training.
For most people who put on seminars, this is their bread-and-butter program. Depending on the client's commitment, this program can take various lengths of time to deliver. It typically runs between one to three days. Allow me to make one more recommendation. Clients request closed sessions to receive the direct feedback from the speaker. This means that these programs need to be highly interactive with exercises tightly monitored. For that reason, I rarely recommend a training session with more than 20 participants.
Follow-up Training.
Gone are the days when consulting companies could survive by delivering initial training programs and moving on. It's unfair to clients who have difficulties implementing the information they are learning in the programs they purchase. It's also foolish for the consultant who is clearly leaving money on the table. Follow-up training is not a repeat of the training that was initially offered but instead a program delivered to add on to whatever was initially taught. Sadly, many companies never make it to the follow-up training because it was never implemented. That's where the third basic program comes in.
Implementation Training.
One of the most common questions I'm asked when I complete the initial training for a company is “When will you be back to follow up?” My answer is “Tomorrow if you would like. As a matter of fact, I'd be happy to come back on a weekly basis. However, I don't think that's a very good cost-effective solution.” I then add, “Why don't I spend some time teaching you how to implement this program? That way you can protect your investment. Then, when I come back in six months to a year, we won't have to conduct the same seminar. We can simply add to what has already been implemented.” My suggestion is when you put together a seminar or a workshop program, make sure you are putting a program together that will help management use job aids, feedback models, and implementation benchmarking. That way you'll be creating a client for life.
Another important decision that anyone who speaks for a living needs to make is how long he or she intends to speak. Let's take a moment and look at the two most common types of presentations.
Keynotes
When people think of professional speakers, often they think of keynote speakers, who give presentations that are typically delivered in an hour-or-less time frame, and often to larger audiences. With larger audiences and that short of a delivery time, it's pretty difficult to create change on a deep, cultural level. Often the expectations of these types of audiences typically can be summed up this way: “If I can learn one or two good ideas from this presentation, I'll be happy.”
When I first left Xerox, I swore I would never conduct a keynote presentation. After all, I came from what I had always felt was the Green Berets of speakers, Xerox—the greatest trainers on earth. We didn't necessarily walk into a room to speak to teach you one or two good ideas to motivate or make you feel better. We taught repeatable, predictable techniques that required fairly lengthy workshops. To talk to a group for an hour and call it training was ridiculous in our eyes.
My first year in business, I frequently was asked to deliver keynote-type presentations. I declined. There was no way I was going to give in and compromise my materials. Then one day a new client successfully persuaded me to deliver such a presentation by asking me what I normally got paid and offering to double it. A keynote speaker was born.
It didn't take me long to fall in love with this style of delivery. Not only was the money good, but the wear and tear on my body was a lot less. Which would you prefer: spending a couple of days on the road and speaking for eight or more hours, or getting up early, blowing into town, taking a limo to and from your speaking site, and making it home for dinner? I fell in love with this rock star existence, and who wouldn't? Then in 2002, the stock market corrected, the economy turned, and the speaking industry changed with it.
Those speakers who made a living giving keynotes and motivating audiences for an hour suffered, with many going out of business. In a sense, the herd was thinned a bit. Those speakers who remained in business were forced to adapt to a new way of working with clients, and keynote-type deliveries fell out of vogue. Within a few years the industry crawled back to life, and in 2008, as the market dropped, the herd thinned once again. The industry came back to life once again within a few years, and so it goes.
Does that mean you should never deliver a keynote? Of course not! Just understand what a keynote is and is not. A keynote is not a seminar. It's not a workshop, and it will not create the cultural change many companies are looking for. However, keynotes will do something else that makes them very valuable. They sell seminars.
My clients call the one-hour speaking engagements that I deliver “keynotes.” I call them “sales calls.” When I introduce myself to an organization and the company also gets to know my company and my services, I can add value to that company. That's a home run. In my mind, the keynote becomes the appetizer to creating a more realistic approach to training and to establishing a long-term relationship.
Seminars and Workshops
When you move away from the keynotes and toward a longer delivery, with fewer participants, you are now delivering a seminar or workshop. Whether the delivery lasts three hours or three days, you are no longer there to motivate, inspire, or introduce people to your services. You are there to teach.
Personally, I try not to deliver a seminar to more than 20 people at a time. This size limit allows you to circulate among the small groups you create, listen to role-plays, monitor case studies, provide individual coaching and feedback, and bond with your participants. If a client wants to put more than 20 participants in a seminar, I often bring a second trainer with me to make sure we get the coverage we need. This obviously affects the pricing of the seminar.
Most speakers in the seminar industry seem to commit to one type of delivery or the other—either general or closed. I'm of the opinion that anyone who enters into the seminar business should never deliver in only one format and exclude the other. It might mean a little more development work, but it will be well worth it.
Seminar Materials
Regardless of the type of presentation you deliver, the seminar materials you provide in your sessions will say a lot about who you are and the work you do. Often keynote presentations provide little to no handouts, and I can't figure out why. Your materials add credibility to your message and help participants follow your presentation. From a marketing standpoint, materials provide participants with a way to contact you.
For keynote presentations, I do not recommend building a participant guide, but I do recommend a handout. Most people use PowerPoint presentations during their delivery. My recommendation is to keep it simple. Provide the notes and tools available within the PowerPoint program. There are two approaches that I like. The first is fairly simple and requires that you insert text below each slide you deliver. Audience members see the slide on the screen in front of them but have a smaller slide in their handout, with the text you provide. They will look something like what is shown in Figure 1.1.
Figure 1.1 Sample slide and handout
This approach requires some development from your end. If you want to distinguish yourself from other speakers, these handouts certainly will go a long way toward doing just that.
If you prefer to let your clients take more notes, the second option would be to simply print your slides using the Handouts section of the print screen within your presentation software. Then go to the section marked “Slider per page” and select “3.” By doing this, you will provide your participants with both copies of your slides and a convenient place to take notes. The resulting handout will look something like Figure 1.2.
Figure 1.2 Presentation software slides with notes page
For seminars and workshops, the materials change dramatically. The intent is no longer to allow participants to follow along or to take some stray notes. The intent is to teach, and the document you provide needs to be created with that intent in mind. Here are a couple of guidelines to think about as you develop your participant materials.
Remember that the materials you provide are participant guides, not books. The guides should be created not as teaching tools but as participant tools. That means the materials should be designed with directions on various exercises you intend to cover, worksheets that will allow participants to become involved in your material, and plenty of room to take notes. As far as text is concerned, just list the facts. Remember, it's not a teaching guide. It's a
participant
guide.
Move your font size up to 13 or 14. The guide should be easy to read and easy to follow. A larger font not only accomplishes this task, but once again, it moves the text away from looking like a book and toward looking like a participant guide.
Put a copyright symbol on every page you produce. This symbol will remind anyone who sees it that your materials are not to be reproduced without your permission. Unethical people will do strange things, but the key here is to not allow that unethical behavior to be justified or to go unnoticed.
Make sure you have your contact information in the guide. Be sure to put your contact information behind the cover page and on the last page of the participant guide. I can't count how many times I've been contacted by a participant who took a program from me years ago, held onto the participant guide, and used the guide to track me down.
After the Seminar
I used to think that I had the perfect system for finishing a seminar. I'd make myself available for hours before a session, but after the session, if you blinked, you would miss me. During more seminars than I would like to mention, I would start packing my laptop bag during the last five minutes of delivery. That meant I could finish and catch a flight booked with a tight connection.
Gone are the days when professional speakers could take to the stage, wow an audience, shake a few hands, sign a couple of books, and leave.The days of flying clients to beautiful locations, sending in internal speakers to educate the clients, sprinkling in a couple of professional speakers to hold the meeting together, and marching clients to golf courses after lunch no longer exist. Remind yourself that each delivery is a blessing.
My suggestion is a simple one. Book the later flight, and do not run out of the room when you've finished your delivery. Quite possibly the best selling time for additional seminars takes place the moment you finish that seminar. You owe it to your client and yourself to spend as much time as necessary to sign books, answer questions, and let the audience get to know you.
Marketing Your Programs
Whether you conduct open session seminars or closed session seminars, keynotes or actual seminars, you still will need to market your services.
Nothing else matters if no one attends your seminar. We call the populating of programs BITS, or “butts in the seats!” Fortunately, regardless of which type of program you choose to deliver, the marketing basics will not change. It all starts with your book.
Writing the Book
Like it or not, books build credibility. It might not seem fair, but that's the way it is. That means if you are going to run seminars and workshops, you better start working on that book now. I suppose all authors create their masterpieces differently. However, you're stuck with me as your mentor, and I'm going to tell you how I do it.
Step 1. Create an Outline
The most brutal moment for any author is the day the first word goes into that computer. It's brutal because it's a little like starting to run up a mountain path that's 100 miles long. The first couple of miles seem as hopeless as the first couple of words—that is, unless you've created an outline. That's the first step in this process.
A book outline allows you to create a blueprint for the work you will be creating. It would be rather hard emotionally to put your hands on a keyboard and start typing away without an outline. When I create my book outlines, I usually try to wait until I have a nice environment to be inspired. It may very well be one or two hours of the most critical time of the project, so I recommend you pick your environment carefully.
In 1992, when I started to create the first edition of this book, I'll never forget where that outline came from. I was traveling to Cairo, Egypt, to conduct a Train-the-Trainer course for Xerox Egypt. It was the first of many trips I would take to that wonderful city, but I knew I was going to want to come back with an outline. I checked into a hotel called El Gezirah Sheraton Hotel. When I got to my room, I stepped out on my balcony and nearly lost my breath. Fifteen stories below was the Nile River calmly breaking around the small island my hotel was on. I could look up the river for miles. Between the melodic calls for prayer from the mosques, the boats, and the beauty, I was entranced and inspired. With my trusty notebook and pen in hand, and in what was probably less than 30 minutes, I had a 15-page outline in front of me.
Each page represented a chapter. Each chapter consisted of bulleted points. When you are outlining, you are in what I call “expansion mode.” This means that this is not the time to evaluate what you are writing. Rather it is the time to simply write…and keep writing. While you are writing, make sure you leave some space in between those bullets of yours, because you will fill in the space shortly.
I'm assuming you will be writing about something you've spoken about before. At first, these bullets should flow in a logical sequence. However, information can be moved at any time, anywhere. Don't obsess too much about sequence. In between those bullets should be one- or two-word reminders of the stories, analogies, or other creative ideas you intend to make a part of your chapter.
Before you know it, phase one of the outline is complete, and you have yourself a loose skeleton of a 12- to 15-page outline. Never underestimate the empowering feeling of holding that outline in your hand. Along with it will be the first sensation that you actually have enough information and really can write this book!
Step 2. Adding to the Outline
With your trusty outline in hand or on your computer screen, you're on your way to the next step, which is to add to your outline. The idea now is to allow your mind to wander morning, noon, and night. Keep adding thoughts to that outline. These thoughts might be a story, a better way to explain a concept, a creative way to display something, or countless other ideas. Just turn your mind loose.
My suggestion is to use the record feature on your smartphone or invest in a small digital recorder.
Remind yourself, no matter how obscure the idea or how positive you are that you will remember it, to put it on the recorder. This is particularly important at night. I can't tell you how many times I've fallen asleep swearing I'll remember a certain idea in the morning, only to wake up remembering one thing. I'll say to myself, “I had an idea. Now what the heck was it?” It's a lot like trying to remember a dream; sadly, most of the time you just won't remember.
Step 3. Writing
Now, it's time to get started writing. The first couple of pages are the toughest. You might want to prepare this writing around an event; maybe you have a long train ride, you are flying cross-country, or you have a vacation planned. What you are looking for is three to five hours of uninterrupted time alone.
Personally, I've always loved to write on planes. It doesn't hurt that I travel a lot, but the planes create an environment that suits me to a tee. There are no phones ringing, and the humming engines create a type of white noise that works wonders for me. The few minutes of waiting to load, waiting to push back, waiting to take off, and waiting to reach 10,000 feet and open that laptop allow me to focus on my topic at hand.
I've never actually seen what I look like, but you'll recognize me if you ever see me travel. I'm the guy who usually appears somewhere between being lost in thought and daydreaming before the flight begins. Then I look like I was shot out of a cannon once the flight attendant makes the “cell phones and laptops can now be used” announcement. I'm also the guy who sends absolutely no signals to the person sitting next to him regarding the remote possibility of a conversation. Let me apologize in advance. My time at home is for conversation with family and friends. My time on the road is to write.
Wherever you choose to write, my suggestion is to try to do it consistently. If you want to get up and write early in the morning, do it every day. If you want to put the kids to bed and write from 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., do it every day. The key is consistency. The longer you adhere to a consistent writing schedule, the easier it is to fight off the doubts that will haunt you.
I've always treated my writing projects like training for a long race. As a former triathlete and marathoner, I used to train pretty hard. I wasn't crazy, but I was consistent. I used to set distances to run not by the day but by the week. For instance, I might set a month or two of training with a goal of 30 miles a week. In a sense, I didn't really care how I got to those 30 miles. I'd log my daily workouts and plan my normal daily activities to ensure I got them in.
Some weeks were much easier than other weeks. I might have some free time and take a few long 10-mile runs. That certainly took the pressure off the rest of the week. I never liked running in the rain much. If you ever saw me slogging by, it was usually later in the week. That meant I did not have my miles in, and I had no choice but to get wet.
Have you got the analogy yet? I recommend you handle your writing the same way. Set a weekly goal. I like 10 pages, but it's up to you. If you are like me and have a trip planned, you might do your writing then. You may not need to write at home at all. Maybe it's a short trip week, so there will be a little writing on the road and a little writing at home. Maybe you won't be traveling at all, so there will be a week of writing at home.
As for slogging away, running in the rain, occasionally you might have to cancel plans and be a little miserable on a Sunday getting those last couple of pages in. The most important thing is, once you start, you mustn't allow yourself to miss a week's total. Perhaps it's just my way of thinking, but once you let your mind get away with justifying failure, the next failure becomes infinitely easier to accept and justify.
With every new book I write, and I've written six, I strategically buy an old-school calendar. Once the project begins, almost ceremoniously on Sunday night I write in my page total for the week. Ten pages a week is my goal, but I almost always try to get a couple of extra pages in. This allows me a little cushion in case I have a week of rain. It also introduces a little bit of mystery. After a month or two, I don't really know how many pages I've written in total, and I like it that way. That is a reward I allow myself at the end of each month. At that time I add that month up and the other month or two that precedes it to the total. It's a terrific feeling when the number crosses over the first 100-page barrier.
Allow me one last suggestion that will help you to get to that first 10-page barrier. Don't micromanage your writing. That means don't edit your work. That's for another stage, but not right now. Your job is to write. There will be a time and a place to edit and fix. That's not happening until you bring this writing project in for a landing. That “landing” used to be around 215 pages, but this too has changed over the years. Most business publishers are looking for books in the 150- to 175-page range, with many looking for even fewer pages.
Step 4. Editing Your Book
Want to know one of the best feelings in the world? It's the first time you print out your manuscript and actually hold it in your hands. I'm not much of a cigar smoker, but I usually keep a cigar somewhere near my computer while the typing is going on. Once I hold that manuscript (and I mean the whole thing), I usually light up that cigar. Often it's a bit dried out from sitting by my computer for so long, but it tastes great to me.
There are two editing options now for you to consider. The first is to edit the manuscript yourself, and if you can do that, you are a better person than I. I have a real problem reading my own words for any significant length of time. What's more, I'm a bit sloppy because I know what I'm trying to say and will assume anyone can follow me. You'll save some money here by doing the editing yourself, but personally I don't think it's worth the possible savings.
The editing option I recommend is to find a third party to do this for you. I usually find a retired English teacher or someone who edits material for a living. The costs are usually around $500 and well worth it. You'll have to train your editor, but most of them know what to do. Their job is not to agree or disagree with what you've written. You are the expert, and that's why you've written the book. Their job is to concentrate on grammar and syntax. I know for me, my editor needs to look for a repeated story here or there. Remember, this project may well have been written over a four- or five-month period of time. It's very easy to tell the same story or to use the same analogy two or three times.
Keep in mind that whoever decides to publish your book will have their own editor look over your book and suggest changes. The goal here is to have not only a great book but a well-written book as well. With a small investment in an editor, that's just what you'll have.
