Profitable Seminars
195 Tips on Designing Marketing and Delivering the Goods
Expertise: some have it, many want it. That is the premise for this book, which provides a thorough overview of life as a seminar presenter. As an adjunct to a full-time career or an entrée to a new one, seminars are big business, and the author points the way to getting a slice of that pie, concluding “Once you get into the seminar business, you’ll love it. It gets into your blood and drives you to new levels of achievement.”
Succinct and well organized, the book is presented in chapter format, with the 195 tips sprinkled throughout. Though seminars are often given for free, Wood focuses on developing seminars to deliver for profit. Chapters including “Deciding to Create Your Own Seminar,” “Creating a Winning Program,” and “Marketing Your Seminar” explain the basics required to get up and running. Following chapters review setting a price, selecting a presentation approach, and finding the perfect place to hold a seminar.
Ensuring profitability and continued success, however, requires a sustained effort, and Wood backs that up with chapters such as “Seminar Partners Need Prenuptial Agreements,” “Arrive Early and Avoid Disaster,” and “Feedback Is Brutal and Usually Accurate.”
Adding to his prose, Wood includes profiles of successful presenters as well as inspirational quotes that tie into each chapter topic. Several appendices provide useful information, such as contact details for hotel chains and frequently used seminar locations around the country. References, a glossary, and an index are also included.
The author, having made his own career switch from government employee to entrepreneur and author, has aptly demonstrated his expertise on this topic. Perhaps the only shortcoming in this book results in part from its strength. Though Wood touches on every conceivable situation a presenter could encounter, space does not allow him to cover every facet of delivering information to an audience in detail. For example, a novice could not prepare a PowerPoint presentation or create a website using this book; the few pages spent discussing these topics could easily have been foregone with a reference to one of the many books written on those subjects.
For those with their own unique expertise to share, this book provides a complete primer, delivering on the promise to help readers go from simply having expertise to sharing it.
Reviewed by
Vicki Gervickas
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
