Q&A: “I want to take my seminar on the road…”

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

One thing I really miss is doing more events with listeners and readers around the world. I used to do so many meetups. I got a little sidetracked in 2020, but I don't really have that excuse anymore. So usually I travel and host those meetups and talks when I have a new book out. I'm working on a new book, stay tuned, but still got a ways to go there.

In the meantime, I'm encouraged by our listener today who's been teaching a local seminar on speed reading. She now wants to take her show on the road and fast quickly because, you know, speed reading, I just assume you have to learn it very fast. Well, whether fast or slow, however it works, they want to teach this skill in different cities. What needs to happen next? [Music]

Hi, this is Linda from Sacramento, California.

I've been teaching local classes on speed reading and I want to take my show on the road. I know everyone's into digital learning these days, but I teach better in person and I find a lot of people still appreciate that IRL experience. This brings me to my question. How do I do this? In other words, how can I go from small workshops in my hometown to booking events across the country?

Ideally, I like to do one or two each month and always in a different city. So I can reach new people each time. Aside from replicating the same logistics I do here, I'm not sure where to start in terms of planning and marketing. I'm looking for any help or general advice you might have. [Music]

Yeah, great plan.

I too love the IRL experience, although I love virtual as well. I think for these kinds of things, you have a two-pronged attack, at least a plan for that sort of attack. You know, do some kind of virtual events while also going on the road for the in real life experience. As I said, I miss it. I hope to plan a new roadshow soon.

So what do you need to consider? So, you know, here we have logistics and marketing, I believe our caller mentioned. Those are indeed the two big categories. So, you know, logistics, where are you going? What venues will you work with?

There's really a lot to be decided there. I mean, those are some big questions, but then lots and lots of other small questions underneath them. But let's focus here more on marketing because if you've already been doing some events in your hometown, then you're familiar with the logistics process. It's not that different in different places. But marketing, key question, how will people sign up?

How will people sign up for this seminar on speed routing or whatever the topic is? If you are building an email list or using social media or both, it's very important to generate commitment, pre-commitment even if possible. Ideally, you never wanna go into a situation where you don't know if people will show up to an event. That's why advanced marketing is so important. I sometimes go on Twitter or elsewhere and say, hey, I'm thinking of doing something in a few US cities next month.

Where should it be? And this is not a scientific survey, of course, but it can be interesting to see the responses. So if you have social media, then that could be helpful, even just a personal Facebook account. Now, if you don't have an existing base, like how will people in these other cities hear about it and sign up? I don't know exactly what your answer is, but I would put a lot of time and thought into that.

I mean, that's actually where I would focus my attention because logistics are relatively easy to figure out as you go along, but if the people aren't there, then it's kind of off or not. And I will just say, like a final note here, it is tough to get people to commit in advance. Like you want to incentivize them if you can, maybe there's some kind of discount, some kind of special service or product they get for signing up early, but just know that most people will wait as long as possible before they register, which of course is not helpful to you when you're trying to put together the seminar, the workshop or whatever, but it's just how it goes. So you need to be aware of it. Good luck, let me know how it goes.

Love to come out to that road show and hopefully have one of my own again at some point. And listeners, if you've got a question, sidehustleschool.com/questions, let me know what's going on. I hope you'll subscribe, follow, come back for a new episode tomorrow. My name's Chris Guillebeau, this is Side Hustle School. [Music]

From the Onward Project.