You don’t need a crystal ball to predict what’s coming down the pike for business events… if you just pay attention. While MUCH is changing — for us as attendees AND for the VAST MAJORITY of us contemplating having events (or an event) of our own — some things are staying the same.
For instance, whether you’re selling coaching or consulting, botox injections, party/event planning, or even financial planning, events will CONTINUE to be an incredible way to both 1) make money through leveraged time AND 2) market your services.
Events are HERE to STAY.
But much is changing as well. And — should you be concerned with having a PROFITABLE EVENT and one that doesn’t require you to sell your soul to fill seats, — you’d better pay attention to these changes. =)
Have you seen the movie “The Other Boleyn Girl” starring Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson as the Boleyn sisters? It’s one of my favorites! In the movie, Anne (Natalie Portman) seduces the King away from her sister — and the church of England — and he begins to despise her for it. Anne — in her desperate attempt to give the King a male heir and secure her position as Queen– confides in her sister with these words,
I’m having to resort to ever more degrading things in order to arouse him.”
Forgive my provocative analogy here, but this is where many people putting on their own events are at. AND — it’s because they are NOT flexing their event strategy to meet the very obvious change in the market.
They’re just doing what they’ve always done — and what they’ve seen others do — and, as a result, feeling like they’ve got to do all manner of “degrading things” to fill seats:
- Reducing price to something that is ridiculously low… CHEAP SEAT SYNDROME. =) Ironically, the “butts” you attract for “cheap seats” aren’t who your IDEAL clients want to hang with!
- “Selling” stage time — DESPICABLE! =) NEVER good for your attendees.. expect a LOT of grumbling and complaining!
- Giving away profit — LOTS of PROFIT — to joint ventures / affiliates. Thank you ANYWAY madame jv-person.
And trust me — MOST of these “holy crap — i’m already on the hook for this event, let’s get people there” strategies are RESENTED by the person doing them…. leaving them feeling much the way Anne Boleyn felt in that scene! (Should you want MORE in depth training about having your own events, get my free gift over here: http://www.thebrokecoach.com/freegift/)
As an aside, my events always attract the RIGHT people… NO ONE sold by any jv or affiliate into the program… NO ONE “urged” to come by some fast-food-like selling strategy “buy one seat – bring a friend for free.” Just sayin’
Here’s the deal! Events are GREAT, but they are changing. Below is a list of what you’ll see from business events throughout the remainder of the year and beyond… especially important to heed if planning one of your own:
- Longer Planning Cycles but MUCH SHORTER promotion cycles. People promoting events — especially multiple events — are realizing that they are burning their lists with constant “COME TO MY EVENT” promotions! Plan longer and smarter! Promote closer to the event. This goes AGAINST what’s BEEN DONE BEFORE, but is right in line with the way our commitment-phone and last-minute society BUYS. =)
- LESS TWEET-ABLES and MORE DEEP DIVES. When you arrive at my events, you won’t be given a twitter handle or hashtag that you can use to PROMOTE ME. Ever. In fact, I make a joke about it at the beginning of each event. I think it’s PREPOSTEROUS to remind people to be tweeting when they are there to learn! ESPECIALLY CRASS to ask them to tweet with YOUR hashtag. Anyway, my events are deep dives. So we can’t afford to be tethered to our iphones or laptops. We’ve got work to do. =)
- LESS SPEAKERS Per Event. In the past — and you still see it today — events that are STILL having tons and tons of speakers. People speaking for 10 – 15 minutes… 30 minutes… Now, some of these are “obligation speakers” as described above. They’ve sold a few seats and “earned” some stage time or they’ve paid for such stage time outright. =( Others are speakers chosen because it was thought that they would be “big” enough to generate seat sales. Both strategies are flawed… and your audience is getting wise to it. They want less NUGGETS and more SHIFTS.
- LESS FOCUS ON MOTIVATION.. and MORE FOCUS on MECHANICS. Who was it that said motivation without mechanics = frustration? Either way, in order to see more MeCHANICS delivered via events, you’ll need less speakers, less hype and more focus.
Anyway, I hope this helps! If you’d like more strategy on how to have your own PROFITABLE event… small or large… get the free gift housed on my tongue-in-cheek site…: ( http://www.thebrokecoach.com/freegift/)
=)
