Offliners Want To Give a Seminar But Don't Know Where To Have It? Check This Out!

I think that's a great idea. In our immediate area, our public libraries have awesome facilities and all of the equipment to go along with it.

The only issue for me, is that these same facilities have rental restrictions that forbid them from renting to a 'for-profit' organization. In other words, if you're all about making money, go elsewhere.

Talltom

Great idea Jason.

We have always held our seminars (paid and free) at the city University. Great rates and all equipment and any room size available.

Now i have another avenue to explore - never thought of the public library and you just gave me an ah ha moment

Riz

Great idea! Our local library charges anywhere from $50 - $350 but that's still better than a local hotel!

ileneg

Great idea! Never really thought of that.

Thanks for the tip!

Great idea. Also local community hall is good for this purpose and are always inviting and willing when working with a local business.

You just have to do it and it gets easier. I did some network marketing about 15 years ago and the best thing I got out of it was developing the ability to speak in front of a crowd. I figured if that was the only thing I got out of the business it was worth it. I didn't make any serious money but developing that skill carried over into many other things after that.

Usually local movie theaters are rentable very cheaply too and it is a bit more professional. You can also have a Power Point set up on the big screen.
(the popcorn can get expensive though)

May I recommend you join Toastmasters. Great training, very economical, and a lot of fun.

If you don't know a club near you, go to toastmasters.org and at the top of the lefthand column is a Club Finder link to "Find a location near you." For about $50 per 6-months, you get leadership and speaker training in a very supportive atmosphere.

There are Toastmaster clubs all over the world. I am a member of three Toastmaster clubs and was really bad at public speaking when I joined. Now, I'm pretty good and even get paid to speak on occasion.

Great idea. We used to rent hotel rooms and get a heck a deal because we would ask them which days were the slowest and worked out 50-75% off the normal rate. I got rooms that normally cost $400+ for only $100 I have done this at many big name hotels all over the bay area. Let them know you will have business owners from all over the country coming to your event and they will need a hotel room. They would rather make 30-50% the rate then 0% for an empty room.

Always talk to them about whats in it for them mentality.

Another poster had exactly the same suggestion at the same time! I'll leave mine in anyway to reinforce the point.

Marc, do you know about Toastmasters? It's an inexpensive club for people who want to help each other learn public speaking. Between a standardized format, a workbook, and the help of experienced mentors, they can turn most scaredy-cats into reasonably comfortable presenters. The point is that they provide a friendly, supportive environment in which to make all your mistakes! You can visit a couple meeting for free, to find which club feels good to you before you join. Really a superb way to learn and practice the fundamentals of public speaking. They have chapters just about everywhere!

Chris

Talltom1,

That's ridiculous. They're missing out on some much needed money by doing that.

Riz,

Yeah, I did plenty of presenting at a university too. Except it was for grades not money. That's also a good idea, never actually thought about using a college/university for a place to present for business. That's a great idea for other people who may not want to/can't use their library.

ileneg,

Yeah, $350, that's kind of steep when you're just starting out. As said, if you get a few clients it's a drop in the bucket. However, also, as I said, you may want to consider asking whoever runs the library, if you can cut a deal. Offer them 10% of profits you make from the seminar.

If you pick up one or two clients and do $4000 worth of work, that's $400 to the library. It never hurts to ask. In fact, if they didn't like that idea, you could always barter some website/seo work for them in exchange for the seminar room. They are a non-profit and a few hundred dollars worth of free work could help them out. In fact, the biggest question, do they have an auto-responder installed? If not, they're missing out! They need to alert the patrons to upcoming events book sales, youth activities, (your seminar, hint, hint) and also any fund raising, like my library is doing right now.

jrod,

You're welcome, the idea just came to me today, when I was calling them to see if they had any Dan Kennedy books.

rockstarinlife,

Yup, absolutely. People don't realize there's a whole world out there willing to trade for goods and services or offer discounts. You just have to ask.

Marc,

What was said about Toastmasters is sound advice. Not to mention, it's another chance to network with some people in your city. There may be a business owner or two in the group who need services, or can give you some referrals.

For me, that kind of thing has never been a problem. I never had a fright of public speaking. In fact, I was surprised when I found out just not that long ago that it is the number one phobia.

If you want to do a seminar but are afraid to get up in front of everyone and do it, and haven't got the skills from Toastmasters yet, another perfect way to still hold the seminar is to just have someone else speak and present.

So long as you have solid presentation materials, they will be able to do it for you. If you offered them 25-50% of all profits gained from the seminar you'd have an easy time getting someone to do it for you.

Dogscout:

I know what you're saying about the movie theater. However, I'd have to fathom a guess that it would still be more than $30 in my city. Now besides price there's 3 reasons why the library makes more sense to me.

The first one is more about my city. Your mileage may vary here. In my city, the library is actually in a very good central location to the city. It would be very convenient for most business owners, no matter where they are coming from in the city to get there.

The second reason is psychological. What kind of thoughts come to your mind when you think of a library? For me, the first thoughts are: "Learning, education, knowledge."

On the other hand, what are the first thoughts that come to mind when you think of a movie theater? To me, they are: "fun, mindless entertainment, goofing off"

When I think of business, one of the last places I think of is a movie theater. Don't discount the psychology at play in the mind of your prospect related to where you have the event.

Even if I didn't have the first two reasons, the third is why I would still want it at somewhere like the library: Intimacy.

I wouldn't want more than 60 people at my seminar. In fact, I may rent the bigger room just because it's a theater room with a stage, but I may just keep the attendance to 30 business owners.

I would prefer to be able to talk and engage with everyone at the seminar on a more personal level. I just don't think you could do that in a movie theater environment.