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Basic organizational principles

• When planning the seminar, do everything possible to try to keep it as a free event. Since you are marketing, the idea is to present in front of as many potential customers as possible, so don’t put them off by needlessly charging.
• In a similar vein, make sure you schedule the presentation so that it is convenient for as many people as possible to attend. For example, if you are targeting busy business people, try to arrange an early breakfast meeting, from which the attendees can then go onto their places of business without interruption to their working day.
• Ensure that the invitees are properly targeted people who are likely to be interested in the products or services which you are providing. Present to your target market.

• Make sure everything appears well-organized.
• Provide an employee in order to welcome the invitees on arrival.
• Arrange for other employees to be available to network with the guests on arrival. This will allow ample resources to answer particular questions which the guests have and will also serve the purpose of making them feel relaxed and welcome.
• Provide coffee, tea and refreshments. Consider whether you should provide food. If, for example, you are arranging a breakfast meeting then it will be appropriate.
• Consider preparing handouts to be given to the attendees. This is almost certainly a good idea since it will help the attendees to understand the content of the presentation and, more importantly, remember your business and its services afterwards. It is also a good place to provide business cards and contact details.
• Arrange an overhead projector so that the presenters can display and refer to slides.
• Ensure there is sufficient material for the presentation. An hour to an hour and a half (with quick, regular breaks) is probably a good period of time. Any longer than this and you risk losing people’s attention.

The presentation itself

• You will need to choose appropriate employees to deliver the presentations. They should be confident on the course material so that they can answer any questions and, of course, competent public speakers. Employees should be keen to take on this task as it will show positive career aspirations.
• If possible, try to split the presentation into several segments, to be delivered by various employees. This will reduce the pressure on individuals and is also likely to have the effect of keeping the presentation sharp and interesting.
• If you are the company’s controller, ask the presenting employees to show you their presentation notes for approval beforehand.
• Consider inviting presenters from other companies. This will not be appropriate in all circumstances and it would obviously be foolish to invite direct competitors. However, you might have network contacts that provide related but different services to the same target market and you might therefore be able to arrange a joint, linked presentation, from which you will both be able to benefit. This will also have the additional benefit of developing relationships with your network contacts, reminding them of your company’s services and hopefully encouraging them to reciprocate this positive gesture, hopefully by referring new instructions or clients to you.

After the presentation