Picking Your Seminar Topic (or Course Topic!)
You want to find a hot seminar topic that will have people flocking to your event, right?
Most marketers and product-development experts say it boils down to this: Find a hungry crowd. Figure out what they want. And then deliver the goods.
It seems simple enough. Just pick any audience, research what those folks want, then craft a seminar or virtual event that gives them the information they want.
There’s just one problem. This approach ignores a huge component in the formula for a successful seminar: YOU!
Passion, in my book, is vital when picking a seminar topic.
Does Your Seminar Topic Interest You for the Long Haul?
Building a seminar business can take time and effort. Competition is fierce. Success does not happen overnight.
Passion for your seminar topic is the secret for powering through. If you’re not passionate about what you’re sharing, you’ll lose your steam and give up before you strike gold.
And when you do make it? You’ll face a different challenge – that of needing to deliver your training for a long time. Passion will sustain you over the long haul; a seminar topic that bores you from the get-go will be torturous to deliver before long.
Passion for Your Seminar Topic Impacts Your Marketing
Passion also impacts the message you deliver when promoting your event.
After almost 30 years in marketing, I’ve witnessed how lack of passion leads to ho-hum marketing copy. To grab attention and generate registrations, your copy must sizzle.
When you’re using video or audio tools to market your seminars, passion is even more important. It’s one thing to hire a copywriter to craft your marketing copy. But when you’re delivering a video or audio message, a lack of enthusiasm will shine through quickly, leading prospects to conclude that your seminar is dull and definitely not worth the investment of time and money.
Match Your Seminar Topic to Your Purpose
When helping clients determine their seminar topic, the question that intrigues me the most personally is “What are you here to do – and who are you here to serve?”
I firmly believe you have a purpose … just like I firmly believe that you are here to serve certain people. As one of my early spiritual teachers phrased it, you have a “divine appointment” with those people.
When it comes to picking a seminar topic or even a course topic for that matter, I’m far more interested in what you feel your purpose is. Create that seminar or course, then go find your people.
The seeds of this approach were planted very early in my career, when I spent a few years working in higher education. Sure, we’d pick new seminar topics based on what we thought would be popular or what our existing students wanted. But when promoting our events, we’d also brainstorm about who might be interested in or benefit from the topics – and that list was typically wide-ranging.
Find Crowds Who Is Hungry for Your Seminar Topic
For the greatest success — at least, if you’re delivering the training yourself — don’t search only for a hungry crowd. Instead, look for a hungry crowd that you’re passionate to serve. Then develop the training programs they want and need.
If the hungry crowd you already serve is craving a topic in which you have little interest or familiarity, partner with another speaker or trainer who has the passion and ability to deliver a stellar presentation. Or simply serve as an affiliate and promote another expert’s programs to your list.
You’ll often hear that you need to find a large crowd to justify the time, energy and money you’ll spend developing a seminar, webinar, or course. If people aren’t searching on your keywords, for example, there may not be a big enough audience to produce the revenue you want.
However, the size of your universe isn’t the most important factor to predicting the success of your event. The hunger of your crowd is. It’s far better to market a seminar to a smaller, tightly targeted crowd that’s starving for your training than a gigantic mass that’s merely looking for a snack.
Bottom line, you’re looking for a niche — a targeted group that has special requirements. The more tightly you can match your passion, message and content to what they want, the greater success you’ll have filling your event seats.
