THEM – Your Audience

That may not mean that they are passionate about the work, but it does mean that event production seminars have a readily available audience of professionals who are usually looking for ways to increase their skills and knowledge of this field. The really good news about such professionals is that they often do not have to spend their own money to attend trainings focused on their occupation. Large and small corporations are generally willing to send these people to seminars, workshops and trainings if they can convince their managers that they will return better able to do their job.

The bad news is that many of those same potential audience members may not be extremely passionate about what they are doing. It may simply be the best job they could find at the time, or they may want to attend just to get out of the office for a few days. That’s when it’s very important to create a context that really supports all participants being entertained and engaged as well as learning. It also doesn’t hurt to hold such events in prime vacation locations such as the Southwest or Florida during the winter.

For more independent events including personal development seminars, the passion of your participants is critical to their attendance. Invariably, people who attend such events are highly committed to their evolution and growth, and that commitment needs to be a critical element of your entire event from the moment they read an email or listen to you on the radio until well past when they leave the room for the last time inspired to take that next step in their growth.

Locating and being able to contact such a niche of people as effectively and efficiently as possible is crucial to your success. This can now be done with a fairly reasonable budget thanks to the Internet. A website that honestly conveys what you have to offer in conjunction with an ongoing marketing campaign can be very successful in making a match that connects you with potential participants. It is then your job (or the job of whomever you hire) to make sure that those potential participants walk through the door of your event that first day if it is right for them.

Realize, however, that just because someone thinks something is right for them does not necessarily mean that it is. I would much rather weed out people who will be lousy participants prior to an event than have them in the room for even a few minutes.

What I mean by lousy participant is a person who simply does not want to be there or, worse yet, is there to prove that what you are presenting is wrong or not something they or anyone else needs. Often such people are dragged to an event by a spouse or “good friend” for their own good. It’s best to attempt letting them off the hook as soon as possible, preferably before they spend the time and money to get to your event.

If your audience is large (more than 100 people) a few such participants will not make much of a difference because their negativity will be drowned out by the positive response of the larger crowd. However, if you have one or two such people in an intimate group less than twenty, you may have a serious problem to deal with.

That’s why it’s best to weed them out before the event. I suggest that this be done in at least two phases. The first is to clearly communicate your intention for the event as exactly as possible (without giving away any of your necessary surprises) in all your pre-event material (flyers, websites, teleconferences, etc.).

The second is to send out pre-event confirmation emails or letters with “homework” to be completed before attending “homework” to be completed before attending. By doing that, your audience will begin to get a sense of what they are getting into. They will also have to make more of a commitment than simply filling out a registration form and sending their payment.

There are also other ways to have the perfect participants in your room. These include relying heavily on word-of-mouth recommendations. Naturally, this is something that builds over time, but it will create audiences who are cheering for you (and their fellow participants) to succeed. After all, if your event provided a positive experience for the friend who sent them, it must be good for them.

And as a last resort, always give people an opportunity to get their full tuition back during the first break of your event if they find that this just is not what they thought it would be. In my experience, this rarely occurs, but it reinforces people’s commitment to participating fully and remaining with you until the end and through to your next event.

Once you have that perfect audience in the room, your job will be much easier than if you try to register everyone and anyone willing to pay the tuition. A great audience will take ownership for their personal experience, and as a great presenter it is your job to do everything you can to empower them to do just that. You want them to feel that this is their event while continuing to recognize that you are the captain steering the ship in the direction that will be best for everyone involved.

Just keep remembering that it’s not about you or your wisdom. It’s about them - your audience, and the more that you can involve them in an experience, the happier they will be. They may believe that they are shy or that they just want to listen to your wisdom, but in truth everyone wants to participate and be heard.