10 crimes committed by my hosts: How NOT to host a seminar! BY WILL KINTISH I recently attended a breakfast meeting organise by a professional services firm and thoroughly enjoyed it. Not, one might think, for the best of reasons. So many things were wrong I just felt I had to share it with others to ensure you don’t make the same mistakes. Here is a list of what I thought WENT WRONG. Topics 1. I was a guest of, let’s call him Joe, who I knew had 1. 10 Crimes committed by my registered me; he had an email acknowledging this. I hosts: How NOT to host a seminar arrived and wasn’t on the list. So what should happen? 2. I went into the seminar room and got a very luke‐
You‐v‐Your audience warm welcome by one of the hosts. There was no eye In summary contact on the introduction and a begrudging “Would you like a drink?” 3. By the end of the seminar there were 3 hosts and 6 guests. The time Joe and I had arrived there were 2 …“ Hosts at corporate events should behave exactly how they would when hosting social events at home...” guests but only this one host; the partners ‘floated in later. I was told later by one of the other guests when they arrived it was 10 minutes before the host arrived! 4. There were no introductions by the hosts 5. When it was time for the talk I felt the host didn’t give any proper build up to the speaker. 6. Then the presentation. It was a great topic and could have been so interesting and interactive. These are the areas for improvements © Copyright Will Kintish 1 www.kintish.co.uk www.kintish.tv
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He read lots of the slides which were far too wordy •
He did a memory test with us but then never bothered to check we had learnt something from it •
One of the guests suggested ( 3 times!) some inter‐
active exercises; the speaker ignored him on all Topics occasions. The hosts should have intervene at this point 1. 10 Crimes committed by my •
hosts: How NOT to host a seminar I am not sure how often the speaker makes So what should happen? presentations but my impression was ‘this is my You‐v‐Your audience prepared talk and no way am I going to stray from my In summary script’. 7. After the talk everyone then looked at each other and it took some prompting by one of the sparky guests before everyone got involved. Little or no …“My belief is running seminars can be the best form of marketing if you’re in the advice‐giving business….” guidance from our hosts. 8. None of the hosts asked for my card; I could have been their next big client! 9. 2 of the 3 hosts left before the guests! 10. No‐one has followed me up. The least they could do is to thank me for attending. (I have thanked them!) So what should happen? My belief is running seminars can be the best form of marketing if you’re in the advice‐giving business. Why? 1. You’re giving away free and, I hope, valuable advice 2. You are getting prospects, existing contacts and clients to give up their time for you to market to them. © Copyright Will Kintish 2 www.kintish.co.uk www.kintish.tv
3. You are building new or reinforcing existing relationships 4. You are creating a platform to generate further dialogue You‐v‐Your audience The reason you’re putting on the event, I think is Topics diametrically opposed to the reasons your guests attend! 1. 10 Crimes committed by my They are attending primarily to learn something at a zero or hosts: How NOT to host a seminar low price and maybe meet others by way of an added bonus. So what should happen? You should be thinking the same reasons but the other way You‐v‐Your audience round. The key motive for you is to network with your In summary guests. …“The key motive for you is to network with your guests….” In summary Hosts at corporate events should behave exactly like they would when hosting social events at home. We all know how to do that. The author of this article is Will Kintish, leading UK authority on effective and confident networking both offline and online. If you’d like Will to speak at your conference or training workshops, call him on 0161 773 3727. Visit www.kintish.co.uk and www.linkedintraining.co.uk for further free and valuable information on all aspects of networking. © Copyright Will Kintish 3 www.kintish.co.uk www.kintish.tv