Hosting your own event brings a new level of excitement to your business. As mentioned in our previous article, this is your time to create exactly the kind of event you want; one that will be customized specifically for your audience. You will determine the format, the timeframe and the topics based on what you know your audience needs and wants. This allows you to reach out and touch your audience in a more personal, one-on-one way that will help grow that all-important trust factor.

Planning your first event can be a bit overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. If you start with a clear vision of what the event will look like – online or live; your audience and the message you want to share with them, then the details will become much easier to work through.

The following tips will help you as you plan your own event, whether online or live.

• Decide on the platform that will work best for you and your audience. Online events, such as webinars, teleseminars, weekly series, etc. will certainly help to grow your list, while live events are the ultimate goal for reaching out and upselling.
• Determine the audience you wish to attract to your event. Using your marketing list to help with this, decide if your event will be relevant to your entire list or certain portions of it. If you don’t have a large list, you might want to start with online events first to grow your list and then once you have at least 1,000 people on your list, you might consider a live event.
• Create a powerful presentation. Keeping in mind the audience, prepare a presentation that will be relevant. Focus on no more than three points in the body of your presentation. According to neuroscientists, the human mind can only consume anywhere from three to seven points in short term. I will be discussing more presentation tips in a future article. Just remember, this is your time to share your message with a captive audience; make it powerful, make it meaningful, make it memorable.
• Develop a solid plan for marketing your event. Whether the event is online or live, you need to promote it in ways that will best create awareness and excitement. This might include traditional and online ads, social media promotions and email broadcasts. Make sure your marketing messages are enticing and powerful. Get creative; you want people to feel compelled to attend your event and hear your message.
• Focus on the details. Every event, both online and live, brings with it a list of important details to be handled to ensure its success−from the obvious things, such as the technology required, the venue, and registration process to the less obvious, but still critical tasks, such as attendee materials and meeting links. Create a list of every detail to be done, along with a timeline for accomplishing them. This will help to keep you on track for a successful event.
• Stay calm and enjoy the moment. When conducting your event, remember to stay calm, breathe, speak clearly and engage your audience. This is your moment to feel that magic of connecting with your audience. Enjoy the moment. Share your best stuff and they will want more!
• Follow up after the event. Reach out to your attendees after the event with a thank you message for their attendance. Offer them a free gift for attending, ask them for their feedback, and even request a testimonial. This information will help you continue building relationships with your audience, and you can use the feedback to improve on your next event.

My challenge to you this week is to draft a plan for hosting your own event. Answer these questions: Will it be online or live? What will the topic be? Who will you market it to, and how? And once you have a concept, fill in the details—When will you host it? If live, where will it be? If online, how will it be conducted (telephone, GoToWebinar, etc.). Once that’s done, put your plan in action and begin preparing for your very own event!

Infinite Business Solutions is highly skilled in planning successful events for transformational speakers like you. We work with you to create that special event you envision. With expertise in planning both online and live events for speakers at all levels of experience, IBS is the right team to ensure your event is a huge success. Contact us today and let’s get started!