Five Tips for Setting up Events
My most recent radio interview was with Lisa Hanna of Action Biz Concepts.
Five Tips for Setting up Events
I do a lot of public speaking and workshops and I’ve been doing that for the last five or so years. this last half year, in particular, I’ve really been focusing on setting up events for my coaching practice, and as such I’ve had to learn all over again how to setup events, because the audience I’m working with as a coach is decidedly different from the audiences I’ve previously presented workshops to. In fact, it seems to me that when you change your business focus, you’ve got to start from scratch all over again, but that’s an article for a different time.
While public speaking and presenting workshops isn’t for everyone, it can be an excellent tactic for becoming more visible to clients and to your network in general. However, to really make this tactic work for you it’s important to keep the following tips in mind:
1. Practice, practice, practice: It’s important to practice your speaking skills. Toastmasters is one venue, which is specifically focused on providing people a place to practice, but hiring a communications coach to help you can also be useful. In my case, teaching students for a few years, and then presenting talks for some of my writing gave me a lot of practice, and more recently I offered some talks for free for local networking events as a way to practice and also get myself in front of people who didn’t know me.
2. Approach Chambers, networking groups, etc. about speaking: Getting a good venue can be hard, but it can be made a bit easier by approaching the right people. Go to your local chamber of commerce events or others that are close by, look into other networking groups, and otherwise ask around about who can help you organize an event. Having sponsors can make setting up an event much easier, because there’s more of a potential to attract an audience.
3. Bring handouts to give to the attendees: Providing handouts is great, because it not only shows that you really are thinking of your audience, but it also gives them something to take away, ideally with your name and contact information on it. A handout can also be useful for helping you organize your speech.
4. Use Evaluations: Evaluation forms are great for telling you what you can do to improve your speech, as well as providing you the information of the people who listened. If you add a section where people can indicate if they are interested in more programs, coaching, etc., you can also know who to contact about specific services.
5. Follow up with every person who attended: After a talk has been give, follow up with every person that day, with a brief email thanking them for attending and for any feedback offered. This shows your attendees that you genuinely did pay attention to what they had to say and can sometimes lead to more speaking opportunities or consulting gigs. Of course, make sure you follow up with people who requested specific information or services with a longer, more detailed email.
These five tips can help you set up and make your events a success, as well as continuing to make you more visible to other people.
Upcoming Events
Play To your Strengths and Delegate your Weaknesses! Teleclass
Do you feel like you’re always trying to fix your weaknesses in your business, instead of focusing on your strengths? Do you find yourself doing a task which leaves you feeling drained and unhappy? Are you feeling business Burnout, where you just don’t want to work on your business anymore?
If your answer is yes, come to this discussion which emphasizes playing to your strengths, while delegating what you are weak in to people or technology which can do the job for you, so you can focus on doing what you love. In this event you will learn:
- How to identify your strengths and weaknesses in your business.
- How to play to your strengths, while delegating what you are weak in to other people.
- How to use your strengths to create the business you always wanted.
This class is FREE and is offered on Two separate dates: May 28th from 3 to 4pm (Pacific Standard Time) and June 3rd 4pm to 5pm (Pacific Standard Time).
How to know when your Book is ready to be published! Teleclass
If you find yourself keeping your writing in a desk and only bringing it out when it’s time to go to your writing group, this class is for you. There’s a time to write, edit, and revise, and there’s a time to let your writing go. In this class, we focus on recognizing when it’s time to let your writing go, and get it published. In this class, you will learn:
- The Three signs that you writing is ready to be published
- How to stop the eternal cycle of editing, revising, and writing
- What turns a writer into an author
This class is free and is offered on June 5th from 3 to 4 pm (Pacific Standard Time).
What to do when you feel overwhelmed by running your business
Next week’s radio show is with Lisa Hanna, the Mistress of Money and Mole of Management! This week’s radio show didn’t happen, because I was overwhelmed…appropriately, today’s blog focuses on that topic.
What to do when you feel overwhelmed by running your business
There are days, like today, where I feel as if I’m running around trying to bail water out of a sinking ship with a pail full of holes. Ok, that’s probably a little melodramatic, but sometimes I really do feel overwhelmed by running a business. There are so many things you need to do and only so much time to do it. And if you’re like me and you have a to-do list, it seems like everytime one item is crossed off three more appear to take its place.
Very quickly, a person can feel overwhelmed by running business and this can lead to burnout fairly quickly. So what do you do to avoid that, to recover , recharge, and refresh?
First, recognize that everything you think you need to do will still be there the next day, if it isn’t done today. It won’t go anywhere, and in fact, you know you’ll eventually get to it.
Second, if you can afford it, hire an intern to do some of the busy work for you…or develop some strategies to cut down on the time you spend doing busy work. For instance, check your email only twice a day, instead of once every hour.
Third, give yourself time off…whether it’s part of an evening, or a weekend camping trip. Go somewhere, do something else, get away from your office…You need time to do fun activities, and that means leaving your office.
Finally, be gentle with yourself. Don’t judge yourself if you don’t get everything done. Appreciate what have you gotten done, and put the rest aside until the next day.
You’ll feel less overwhelmed and more focused if you can give yourself time off.
Upcoming Event
Bravo Portland, Association of Bridal Consultants, Imagine Your Reality Business and Writing Coaching, and Black Belt Business Solutions Present:
Why do I need Social Networking for my Business?
Yes, you can do it less than one hour a week.
Social networking is a hot topic in businesses today. Many of us are not sure how it helps grow our business or acquire new clients or where we will have the time to add one more thing to our hectic lives. However, one thing is for sure, if we don’t come and find out, we will never have answers to these questions.
In this program, Taylor Ellwood will explain what social networking is, why it’s important to be on these sites, and how it can benefit you and your business. Hew will explain how to automate your social networking presence so you only need to spend one hour a week and still have time to run your business and live your life.
In this class, you will learn:
What Linkedin, Facebook, Biznik, Twitter are and why it’s important to be on these sites or some of them.
How to get clients and business from these sites.
How to automate your online presence so are spending minimum time and effort, yet getting maximum returns.
What a status bar is and why it’s a good idea to update it regularly.
How these sites can be used to obtain recommendations and testimonials from your clients.
The do’s and don’ts of Social networking and how to maintain a professional profile on each site.
Taylor will not only explain, but also demonstrate the benefits of social networks, and show you how you can attract more clients to your business.
Date: Thursday, May 7th 2009
Time: 11:30am to 2pm
Price: $35.00 per person (Special pricing due to sponsors listed at the top)
Location: Bravo Conference Room, 630B Street
Lake Oswego, or 97035
To register call Denise from Bravo @ 503-675-1380 or email: denise@bravoportland.com
Check and credit cards only please, when rsvping.
