Thinking of Hosting a One Day Workshop? Here Are 5 Things You Need to Know Before You Plan Your Event

Considering hosting a One Day Workshop in your business?

Workshops are a great way to generate more revenue in your business and an easy way to get more clients and fill your coaching programs.

But many entrepreneurs don’t do them because they:

• Don’t know how to host one
• Are afraid of the expense of hosting one
• Aren’t sure of what they need to do to plan one

In today’s post I’m going to review some of the things that you need to know before you do so if hosting a workshop has been percolating in the back of your mind for a while and now you’re ready but don’t know where to start, you’ll be a little further ahead.

Here are 5 things you must know before you do:

1. Your Goal

Before you even consider hosting your workshop you want to think about why you’re doing it in the first place.

Is it to generate business? Build your list? Create more visibility? Make an offer? Sell a program? Use it to launch another event?

It’s best to know why you want to host the workshop before you jump in and do it.

So decide on your purpose or end game before jumping in.

2. Choose a Date, Time and Length

Once you know the purpose behind your workshop you then want to choose a date and time to host it.

One Day Workshops can be done as a 3 hour (Half Day) event or a full day event.

There are benefits to each. But of course the longer the day the more your guests have a chance to get to know you. This way when it comes time to present your offer they already feel more comfortable with you.

3. Choose a Location

A One Day Workshop is much different than a 2 or 3 day event because typically you’re going to be attracting attendees who are more local and or are willing to travel up to a few hours.

However for several of my workshops and events I’ve had guests who were excited to come and stay over night because they really felt the content, networking opportunity and experience were worth the trip.

When choosing a location make sure you select a spot that’s relatively easy to get to.

Things to consider are:

• Is the location near an airport?
• Is the location near a bus or train station?
• Does the location have parking and a valet service?

Additionally you want the location to represent you and your business.

For many of my events I’ve hosted them at a boutique style hotel. It fits my brand and vibe and is a place my clients and attendees have enjoyed in the past.

So when I decided to host my  next 2 day event, Talk & Profit LIVE! this October I thought why not look into the same location?

4. Create a Marketing Plan

Don’t assume that if you announce your Workshop that people will fall at your feet begging to come. You have to create a plan to get them there.

Before hosting every event I carefully craft a plan to fill the room.

Some ways I’ve done it in the past include:

• Hiring a copywriter to write great copy to announce my event
• Facebook Ads
• Invite current clients
• Invite my email readers
• Promote on social media

And much much more.

This is the part where the strategy, patience and trust come in.

Believe me when I say that I’ve sweated filling seats for my events only to find myself completely filling them and creating a waiting list.

Which brings me to the last point.

5. Make Sure You Have Enough Time to Plan

The best events I’ve ever had have been because I’ve carefully planned them and given myself enough time to fill the event and make it a wonderful experience for attendees.

No matter if you’re hosting a Half Day, Full Day or Multi-Day event you need to give yourself time to plan it because you’ll be needing to make sure you have:

• A marketing plan
• A sales strategy (for your offer)
• Valuable content and information to share
• Workbooks and worksheets
• Exercises (physical or paper)
• Order forms
• Photographer (and or Videographer)

And much more

The point is that you need to plan ahead to make it the best it can possibly be.

Okay, so those are some things for you to think about before hosting a One Day Workshop.

I’d love to hear your questions and comments below. Have you thought of hosting a workshop or event? What do you feel you need to know before you do it?

Oh and I’ll be sharing much more about hosting your workshops at my upcoming event, Talk & Profit LIVE!, Early Bird Tickets are now on sale so make sure to check it out!