Creating a Winning Workshop Part 2- The Write Format : By Dr. Glen B. Earl

Dr. Glen Earl, author, speaker and seminar leader, is back this week with part 2 of his Create a Winning Workshop post. Last week, he wrote about The Write Subject. This week, he tackles The Right Format. This is great info for authors looking for additional revenue streams or to build out your author platform.


The Write Stuff: Creating a Winning Workshop
Part 2: The Write Format
By Dr. Glen B. Earl

In last week's and this week's guest blog posts, I am writing general information about how authors can use presentations (speeches, seminars and workshops) as a marketing tool for themselves and for their books, and as an additional source of revenue.

In last week's topic I discussed the importance of the Write Beginning – choosing a topic (1) you are passionate about and (2) one that your audience wants; that intersection of passion and desire is your success sweet spot. In addition, I addressed the importance if choosing the Write Subject for your presentation, whether you are a novelist or a non-fiction writer.

The Write Format:
This week the subject is the Write Format, i.e, some details and form in designing the basic structure of your presentation. The first and most important question you must ask yourself is, “What the purpose of my presentation?” There are only three possible answers. They are to either Inform, Educate or Apply. Depending on your answer, every aspect of the presentation; the length, amount of information, cost, and what you do, or not do is determined by your answer.

All three types of presentations are very valuable. I recommend that eventually an author have different presentations that Inform, Educate and Apply, with all his/her topics. To Inform is to provide brief, general information. To Educate is to provide more in depth information and to Apply means the audience participant can actually perform the workshop material.

The Write Length:
In terms of length, Inform is most often a 40-60 minute presentation, Educate is generally a 2 hour seminar and Apply is quite naturally a 4-8 hour workshop (and depending on other factors, such as the amount of material, the workshop could be multi-days). A very popular format I use is a 4-6 series on the same topic, with each session, 1 hour long in length, provided as a webinar, live as a webcast through the telephone and/or the Internet/Computer. I find that timeframe is about the max people can and will commit to.

The Write Price:
Ah, yes, the price. For some, that is the key question. I submit to you, it is important to your success, but not critical. The price again is based on your purpose. I suggest to you, that one of the best ways to make money is giving FREE presentations and seminars (but NOT workshops). Informing the audience about you, your talents and expertise during a free presentation is an excellent, tried and true method of making money.

I give you three examples of people who determined, that for them, giving free presentations is an excellent way to make money…and they are very successful by doing so.

• Jeff Crilly, former local news person (http://www.realnewspr.com/) has sold over $100,000 of his book by giving free presentations.
  
  
• Michael Charest makes six figures a year as a business coach, giving free presentations (http://www.bgsllc.com).
  
  
• Jim Fortin (http://mindauthority.com/) conducts a free two hour seminar, where the audiences experience that value of his paid 8 hour workshop.
  

I know all three personally; I have attended their presentations and purchased their goods and services. I do not receive any monetary compensation for mentioning them here. I just know them, like them and have witnessed their success. At some point in time you will decide that some of your presentations (speeches, seminars & workshops) will generate income. Again, you may ask yourself, what do I charge? The following is my “rule of thumb” is based on over 15 years of designing, developing and facilitating fee-based workshops, on 80+ topics, in over 20 countries, to thousands of people. The cost is per person. These are examples for illustrative proposes and is not designed to be comprehensive.

• 1 hour webinars: possible prices: $10-$19 (individually) / $39, $49, $59 for a series
  
  
• 3-4 hour workshops designed to Inform: larger participant numbers (50+): $49, $79, $99
  
  
• 4 hour workshop designed for Application: smaller participant numbers (20-50): $129, $149, $199, $299
  
  
• 8 hour workshop designed for Application: Small group (10-20): possible prices $299, $499, $799, $999
  

As one can see, there is much thought and deliberation that goes into creating a presentation. However for me, the decision to create and give presentations has always been, and continues to be the Write Choice for me. I strongly recommend you consider giving presentations for fun and profit. Giving presentations is an excellent marketing tool, one that every writer ought to be using.