I have to say that there are two primary reasons why I don’t end up going to a lot of seminars that I’m invited to.
The first is that I often just forget about the thing altogether. I get an invitation in January asking me to come to a seminar in June, and by the time June rolls around I’ve long since forgotten about that invitation.
I know why they sent out the invitations so early. They want to make sure that I’d have the day free, so they made sure to get it in early. I understand that and I don’t question it, but where was the follow up? Why didn’t they send another one in early March, and then yet another one in early May? If you keep sending them out to people you’re going to make sure that they remember and keep your seminar in mind.
Now, the second reason is because I don’t know enough about what I’m going to get. Many seminar invitations I see cover only the topic and maybe a few of the people who are going to be speaking. They don’t go into any of the major details of what topics will be covered and what’s going to be said about them.
Here’s the thing on a number of topics: people might not immediately realize how important it is to them. Many seminars cover a number of different subjects, so many that you can’t normally fit them all on an invitation. Because of this the company instead choose to have an over all theme, and that’s all they mention.
This isn’t enough. I want to know more about what I’m going to get if I show up. I have to know I’m going to learn something to make me willing to attend.
Here’s what you can do to avoid this problem. Get some booklet printing done and make sure your booklets cover all of the key details of each part of the event. Hand out a little additional information about what’s going to be said to. If you already know a little something about the speeches that will be given you can provide excerpts from those speeches in your booklet.
Or if your speakers have written books in the past put excerpts from their books so that I can know just how much of an expert they are in their field.
Yes, it will take you a little extra time to write up these and get the booklet printing done, but you’re now able to give people a very concrete reason why they should bother attending. I would suggest that you don’t make your booklet to dense. Stick with a broad overview that cuts right to the point and covers everything quickly but effectively.
This way you can be sure that people will take the time to read through your booklet, which will then encourage them to give your seminar a chance.
