What I Learned Putting on my First Seminar
June 5, 2009 by fladlien
Filed under Uncategorized
I just got back from putting on my first seminar in Dallas, Texas with
Robert Plank and Mary Wilhite. We ended up bringing in about 30 people
to the event, which I consider pretty good for the first time. On
Friday I did two presentations, and on Saturday I spoke for over 5
hours!
Every time I’m at seminars, I always walking away with some new
insights, which I’d like to share with you. The first insight is
thanks to Mary, who is a genius at planning, it only cost us less than
$1600 to put on the whole event. I never dreamed it would be so cheap
to do one of these things. We’d already made our money back just from
the sales of the seminar tickets.
The second thing I learned was that most people who attended these
events seems to operate their online business with the breaks on! What
gives? Dan Kennedy once said something that stuck with me – you can’t
be a WUSSY and make money. It’s so true. In fact, the second day I
spent about two hours just mentally toughening up the audience. Some
people have trouble asking for the order. Other people are afraid they
might break something when they go out and try a new skill. Others
still are just plain shy.
Now, it’s natural to feel all of those things – but that doesn’t mean
you should accept them. You need a strategy for learning how to deal
with them.
Take me for example. I presented with NO POWER POINT or ANY NOTES.
Actually the only preparation I had done was in my head. In fact,
before my last presentation on Friday I had no idea what I was going
to say until 10 minutes before I stepped on stage. Which leads me to
share a funny story with you. Robert is not only a great business
partner, but also someone I consider a great friend. So we joke like
friends do. Robert bet me $5 that I couldn’t seamlessly work the word
“wagon wheel” into a presentation.
I had forgotten about it until ten minutes before that final
presentation. I was going to talk about email marketing. I have my 6
step approach to email marketing, but that sounds boring doesn’t it?
So what I did was drew a wagon wheel on a piece of paper, and said
“this is the wagon wheel approach to email marketing”. I did it to win
$5. But what I discovered was a huge, happy accident. People
immediately tuned in. Attentive rate was 100%. It stuck with them.
They talked about the wagon wheel for the rest of the event.
So I’m going to be using more visuals – on purpose – because it was
actually very helpful to the audience.
Which brings me back to my main point – I went out and tried something
new, just to see what would happen and got a great result. I’m sure
the same thing would happen to you if you just quit focusing so much
on the fear of failure, and instead tried to approach new things in a
state of curiosity.
Another big takeaway I got, which I’m going to start implementing at
future seminars, is to have people come up with their goals before the
seminar. Whenever I personally attend a seminar, I always write out a
one sentence goal on a piece of paper of what I went to get out of the
seminar. It might be something like “set up 3 joint ventures with
people who have a list of 2,000 or more subscribers”. Or, “schedule
three guest webinars”. Or “come up with an idea from one of the
presentations that you can create into a product and launch it in the
next week.”
In the future, I’m going to get seminar attendees on an autoresponder
and help them define their goals in advance of going to the seminar. I
don’t think one person there had a clearly defined and written down
goal going into the seminar of what they wanted to get out of the
seminar. My goal was to sell at least 30% of the attendees to join the
last webinar training program I’m doing with Robert Plank (it’s
already sold out!). So the whole time I was asking myself what I’d
have to do meet that criteria, and created my close around that goal.
I ended up getting 50% of the attendees to sign up.
Here’s a technique that will be useful for you, regardless of whether
you attend a real live seminar, a webinar, or a teleseminar. I call it
the “1 page of notes” technique. Les Tatum, a client and friend of
mine, was telling me that he took over 20 pages of notes for the two
day seminar. I told him he should take those 20 pages, and go through
them, and condense them down into 1 page. Then ACT on everything on
that one page.
Keep the rest of the notes around just in case you might one
day reference them – but let’s get realistic – even I can’t act on 20
pages of notes. But everyone can act on one page. So it forces you to
take the best of the best stuff and immediately implement it.
Anyways, thanks for reading. Was this helpful for you? If so please
leave a comment. Also, when you leave a comment, let me know where’d
you like me to do my next seminar at, and if there’s enough demand for
one certain area, I’ll put it on the map, as we have at least 3 more
scheduled for this year.
Thanks,
- Jason
Jason,
This was a really good read. I’m possibly putting on a seminar in the next few weeks, and this helped me immensely.
Thanks.
i’ve seen your father’s economics blog, and it’s way cool…
Jason,
I agree, the Action Seminar was a lot of fun. I tried giving two types of presentations: Seth Godin style (images only on slides) and regular PowerPoint to gauge the audience’s reaction.
I also was watching them during Marc Harty’s flip pad presentation and your presentations, both just talking and with the flip pad.
People loved the flip pad! Especially when you drew diagrams, even when the diagrams weren’t necessary.
Obviously the content has a little bit to do with it but we all had great info to take down… the point is the audience’s attention is the highest with the flip pad.
Their reaction got me so excited that I bought a flip pad for future Flip videos. I was messing around with some shots here:
http://www.viddler.com/explore/robertplank/videos/7
p.s. One page is too much. I never write down more than a 3×5 index card worth in a day, and I apply the notes that same day and tear up the card at the end of the day.
Hi Jason:
About note taking: I have attended many seminars and have taken copious notes. Of course I could not act on everything, but by taking notes as I listened I used my eyes, ears, and hands. Had I just listened and looked, I would only used to of my senses.
The one page of notes is a great idea. Another way I remember what I learn from a seminar or something I’ve read is to immediately talk about it with a friend.
The more I talk about what I learned and describe in detail what I learned the more solid my memory becomes.
Cheers,
Roger Haeske
The 41-Year-Old Teenager
Thanks, Jason. I always enjoy your posts. You’ve suffered both tragedy and triumph in your life, so whatever you teach about innovation and mental toughness is true.
Cheers,
Mary
Hello Jason,
Your tip about condensing 20 notes into 1 page goal sheet was very valuable. I was also used to be one of the same person who like to take lot of notes and at the end of the seminar , I was completely getting confused because of the sheer number of choices I had.
Now it is different and I have realized it that less is always better.
Hi, Jason
It’s a very good tip and an interesting thing to think about. Keep going with new experience and new inspiration. Success always.
I’ll bet most will remember the wagon wheel approach long after other details have faded.
Associating facts and ideas with imagery is a very powerful way to learn.
You’ve shared a couple of good ideas here: Just act. And more importantly keep things simple–like putting all the ideas in a seminar or course onto one page.
I can’t wait for the webinar to begin on Monday and I’m already using the information you’ve given out in the pre-course e-mails.
Great stuff!
As usual, good stuff here – I think it would be great if you did a seminar in Denver.
I love the reminder to get visual! Thanks!
A year ago a guest on my internet radio show shared that one of her rules for attending seminars is what she calls “the 72 hour rule”. She takes random notes from the last page of her notebook forward (because we all want to take notes) and in the front page she writes down only those ideas she’ll put in play within 72 hours of getting back from the conference.
It really made me get much more real with my own notes!.
Being a big fan of happy accidents, I loved the “wagon wheel” story. The image can be used to highlight why having the important components of a campaign (“the spokes”) equally strong allows it to “roll out” smoothly, effortlessly and sustainably.
The action planner exercise would make a good wrap-up for any presenter — “take out a piece of paper and number 1-5. Now, take ten minutes to go through your notes and list five valuable insights that you will begin to act on tomorrow. Now put a star by your very favorite one.” It could be made even more effective if the allotted time allows participants to share their starred item — BIG benefits to both making a verbal personal commitment and to hearing your peers’ insights. If a presenter wanted to be perceived as particularly remarkable, a follow-up email a week later asking participants about progress on their specific favorite idea would be awesome (and it wouldn’t be hard to automate).
It’s COOL that you’ve found your passion, Jason, and that you seem genuinely interested in sharing knowledge rather than PURELY interested in making money. Now, that’s “a path with a heart.” Way to go! Keep going!
Hey Jason,
Good post…one thing you did that I need to do is step out of my comfort zone. I need to start doing more things. My problem is I feel something has to be perfect before I can sell it or implement it.
As far as location for another seminar…North Carolina would be good in the Fayetteville area. I’m sure there are a lot of people around here that would take it.
Thanks,
Michael
I like your tip about the one page of notes. I end up taking lots of notes, but that’s mainly to help cement what was talked about in my mind. Writing stuff down is another learning tool for me.
Peggy
Hey Jason,
I always enjoy reading your blog…
I started a few months ago
I’m not surprised you didn’t need any notes for the seminar…
After hosting so many webinars I’m sure you have everything memorized…
All the best,
Jeff Bode
Hello Jason,
It Mary, your seminar partner first you should have asked me for the numbers.
We actually had 48 out of 50 people who attend the seminar.
Second, you and Robert were great to work with, you guys made fun of me using
Twitter all the time, but I really learned something from the both of you.
Your message and take always were great and I learn that I could implement right away.
I am getting so many requests and I am getting our next event as we speak.
I hope that you were happy with me, and the results. I look forward to working the both of you in the future.
Mary Wilhite
The Internet Cheerleader
Hey Jason,
I have been on your seminars and have been inspired to create my own software products that I use myself for IM. Thanks so much. You’re style inspires me!
Nitin
I never take notes because I don’t think it is possible to write about something and digest it at the same time. That’s probably why I only get B’s in school most of the time.
I may consider breaking my own rules and take some actionable notes if you and Robert come to Toronto for a seminar
Hey Jason,
Awesome stuff man. I was teaching this past week for four days at a conference in Denver. There is truly no greater feeling than helping people eyeball to eyeball.
It sounds like you had a fantastic presentation, and not just because it was your first time. Being able to speak without a ‘chart’ to follow shows that you own the material and not vice versa.
Keep at it dude, the world needs more people who aren’t afraid to tell the truth.
PhilHughesDotTV
the wagon wheel was cool
Jason, thanks for the post. I often take 5 or 6 pages of notes on a one or two hour teleseminar and I have whole notebooks from live seminars.
Your insight is correct… No one can act on that many notes – though sometimes I look through them. But one page and a commitment, that is a real idea.
the 1 page notes are a great tip, learned that from a Jay Abraham event, took everything from all the notes we took prioritized them and only put the A1 priorities on the single page and created an action planner with it….good stuff!