Running events is a key for many Speakers Authors and Coaches — either to get attention or make money or both!
Running events is a great way to get in front of ‘your crowd. But it’s also hard work. So before you agree to run or be part of one, you need to know what you want that event to do for you — for your reputation, credibility, and sanity!
We’ve run hundreds of events, from small to big — intimate group coaching session to 6 people, to events that 1000s have attended. Despite the times we are living in, as a Speaker, Author or Coach, events are likely to be part of your business model and strategy in some way. So whether you are planning to run some in person events in 2021 (we are crossing our fingers!), or indeed have transitioned some of your products as more ‘online’ and making those available, you need to understand how to run them well. The key is to decide what kind of events and what role you want to play in them and then to establish what you will do to make your events successful.
First things first. What do we mean by events?
We mean anything that allows people to experience you in a group setting of some kind. It likely goes wider than you account for, so here’s a non-exhaustive list to get you thinking about what you currently have in place, and what you might want to add or at least think about:
- Workshops
- Taster sessions
- Seminars and Conferences
- Trade Shows
- Retreats
- Client Appreciation Events
- Team-Building Events
- Product Launch Events
- Awards
- FB or LinkedIn Live events
Understanding your role in an event
There are many reasons to run or be part of events, but they fall into 3 key areas:
- Positioning
This is about the role you want to play at events. You can of course play different roles, but most Speakers, Authors and Coaches will opt to be one of three key roles. Do you want to be the Invited Expert, the MC or Host, or the owner or sponsor of an event? Each has its merits and positions you in some way. So how do you want to be seen by your audience?
2. Financial
Running events can be a lucrative part of your business model. Running events to make money making is a perfectly valid thing to do, so your job is to ensure that you get your return on investment for all the effort of setting up, organising and running your events.
3. Impact
It may be that you choose to do or run events in order to increase the influence you have — providing one to many education, reaching more people and generating more impact.
Understanding why you want to run or attend events — event management or a starring role — helps you choose what to say yes or no to, but also allows you to begin to understand what a ‘successful’ event means for you. It’s usually about increasing one of the above.
Criteria for evaluating the success of an event
Firstly, make sure it’s a success for you — what do you want it to do for you? Make a list of all of it. Get really tangible and ‘selfish’!
And then work out what will make it a success for your attendees — why will they want to come and what will you deliver over and above the norm or expected to help them ‘rave’ about your event. This all relates to your WHY for creating or running the event. Again, these fall into several categories, but with this list, it may be more of a checklist — you might want your event to tick a couple or more of these boxes at the same time!
- Receiving financially — being on budget, money making, upsells to other programmes, enrolling people etc.
- Creating Raving Fans
- solving problems, helping people achieve their learning goals, entertaining them whilst educating etc.
- Getting Media Attention
- Setting up the event to get coverage, being featured on local, regional or national tv, radio and press
- Build or strengthen relationships
- Events that provide connections or space to collaborate, brainstorm and further communications
- Build credibility in the market place
- Hosting events with respected people in your industry; showcasing your own products and services etc
- Teaching or sharing your message
- Group or mass education events that help your current audience engage and learn from you
The list above should give you an idea of what you might set out to achieve by running events.
Now it’s up to you. Building events into your Speaker Author Coach business is essential — you just need to decide what you want those event to do for you and get going!
As always, do let us know if you’ve had an aha or if you have any questions! 😊