A successful seminar offers a number of important attributes as a communication and sales vehicle. It is a means by which prospective clients and existing clients can learn about your product and services in a non-intimidating way and can communicate a number of more complex issues that are unable to be communicated by advertising alone. Seminars enable a company to create a positive and professional impression and demonstrate your capabilities face to face with your target market, as well as allowing you to increase sales by gaining appointments at the end of the seminar.
However, a poorly managed seminar can produce a disappointing outcome for all concerned. Here are the top 5 factors that will make or break your seminar:
1. Venue
The most important element in the venue selection process is to ensure that the locations you select are convenient, local and well known for your target audience. An in-depth analysis of the demographics of possible attendees is needed to ensure this process achieves the seminar objectives.
You must also ensure the venue represents the brand identity of your company. Deciding between the function room of a five star hotel or the local RSL club will all depend on the preferences, age group and expectations of your customers.
2. Timing
Appropriate timing is crucial to ensure that your target audience will make an appearance on the day. As you would expect, evening seminars bring out a higher number of pre-retirees whilst those that have already retired prefer a day time seminar.
Geographic location also determines the most appropriate starting time for seminars. For example, from our experience we know that a Canberra audience likes to attend an afternoon, whereas Sydney and Melbourne customers prefer a time later in the evening in order to miss peak hour traffic.
Always avoid Mondays and Fridays for holding a seminar, as attendance ratio’s plummet on these two days. Also remember to avoid competing with school holidays and major sporting events.
3. Welcome
The guest arrival process is one of the most important aspects of the evening. Make the procedure simple, whether it may be ticking a surname off or handing over a name badge. A gift bag of promotional materials, collateral and a copy of the presentation is always helpful.
Make sure personnel are on hand to make a great first impression. There is nothing worse than a group of company staff standing at the back of a room discussing last nights footy scores; this will make guests feel uncomfortable. Talk to your attendees, build a rapport, answer any initial questions they may have and deal with any issues they wish to bring up. You’re staff are the hosts for the night so ensure they take on this role, offering guests food and beverages and assisting attendees in finding a seat.
4. Presentation
Relevance and currency are prime factors in considering the development of your presentation. Make sure that the presentation is designed with the target audience in mind; make it easy to understand, without seeming like you are patronizing them. Appropriate presentation production will need to be undertaken to ensure slide layout and content is visually effective.
Ensure the presenter has the appropriate skills and training to engage an audience. Confidence, clarity and compassion are needed to present effectively - that is, your presenter needs to speak well in front of a group, speak without creating ambiguity as well as be able understand the issues and concerns of their audience.
5. Evaluation
No seminar is complete without gaining valuable feedback and guest information. Don’t waste the medium of a seminar to gain direct information for the target audience, this feedback is invaluable. A helpful hint is to use your evaluation forms as lead generation tools. Have a call to action on the form so that customers express interest in, say, a one-on-one meeting. This will allow you to monitor the effect you have had on the audience and, most importantly, improve lead generation greatly.
Ensure your event remains outcome-focused, and you will discover that a seminar series is an extremely powerful tool in connecting with your target audience and getting real results.