The Secret to Creating Content

If you think public speaking might be for you, if only you had something to talk about, I've got some great news - you do or you will do.

But first, a genuine seminar secret...

How do you think all those speakers you admire so much got to know so much about their subjects? Answer: they learned about them.

Okay, it's no great shock, but it's an important point all the same.

Add a dose of personal experience, a few new angles and a pithy quote or two and you have a great presentation. By that, I mean a genuinely valuable and entertaining speech.

Now think of yourself as a teacher. How do teachers learn their subjects? From their teachers.

You can do the same, and when you add your own personal experiences - and you will have experiences that add value to your talk - you can be a great seminar speaker, too.

But if there's a subject that interests you, the chances are that you'll know a fair bit about it already. I bet, with some preparation, you could talk about it for an hour or two. If you have any gaps in your knowledge, fill them, but remember you'll almost certainly have too much material to fit into one presentation already.

Add your experiences, seek out some pertinent, pithy quotes (Einstein is always a good bet), and you're there.

Then just add practice, the confidence that comes from competence (that comes from practice), and you'll knock 'em dead.

Go to it!

Roy

PS. The latest edition of Niche Seminar Secrets is now available. Go to Niche Seminar Secrets, HERE.

Because everybody knows something, including you. And whatever subject you know about, you will find people who would like to know about it too.

Ustream and I'll Stream, Too

Probably the most effective way to get your message out beyond the room is to stream it live.

Ustream offer a live streaming service that's free, looks very simple and is pretty reliable, too.

You can either broadcast on their own Ustream site or you can embed the streaming video into your own website, so viewers have fewer distractions. You can also have a live chatroom for online viewers. The only issue with this is the need to moderate the chat to control spamming and so on.

The Gateway to Wealth Seminar on 13-15 March used Ustream to great effect, getting over 1000 online viewers at one stage, to add to the 150 plus people actually at the event in Atlanta, Georgia.

We were treated to some excellent content, too, and viewers were regularly reminded to promote the event on Twitter and elsewhere - something to remember if you stream your own event live.

It's not clear whether Gateway to Wealth was also being recorded - I suspect there will be a product available soon - but a lot of people watching live were asking if recordings would be available, so the demand was being created there and then.

Demand for your products is always good - especially if you're re-purposing existing content!

But I'd say Ustream, or a similar service, is well worth considering for your events. Especially as it's not just easy, but free, and it increases your reach exponentially.

Roy

Why it's Good to Talk

At Steve Foley's very successful Econfex event at the weekend, I was able to chat with most of the speakers, some of whom have staged their own events already.

One of the subjects that inevitably came up more than once was how to sell enough tickets for a seminar, workshop or training course. In other words, how to get enough people there to make the event financially worthwhile.

It's not something Simon Coulson seems to struggle with, and neither do, say, Andrew Reynolds, Mark Anastasi or Jonathan Jay.

Consequently, their events are definitely worthwhile!

The secret to filling seats?

Well, there's more than one secret, of course, but the thing all those named above share in common is ... they all have access to a huge list, generally their own.

Selling seminar seats is much like selling any other information product, but a bit harder, unless your list is very well targeted. This is because buying a seminar ticket takes much more commitment than just pressing a 'buy now' button.

The take up for free events is much bigger, of course, because people know they don't actually have to go if they haven't paid. They haven't 'lost' anything if the ticket was free.

And, as I explained in Niche Seminar Secrets, that's why free tickets are generally a bad idea. Frankly, ticket 'sales' for a free event bear little relation to the number of people that turn up.

You could plan for a hundred people (and spend accordingly, promise a good-size audience for your speakers and so on) and then only see fifteen or twenty people arrive on the day. Even a nominal ticket price means most people will make the trip, because they'll 'lose' that money if they don't.

Of course, not turning up is their loss, because the networking alone is worth making the effort for. You lose too, because your event is not the event it might have been.

But first, build or find your list, then always put a real cash price on the tickets, even if you offer a big discount.

Roy

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