Promote Your Business with Online Conferences

By Sharon • October 10th, 2009

I’ve worked in regional and educational marketing for many years and one thing I’ve noticed is that adults definitely learn differently than younger folks.

Do you think you could sit through a 1 to 3-hour lecture today with quite the same attention span you had as a student (on good days)? Business owners need the learning experience to be interactive, immediately relevant and low on the use of jargon.

Tell me what I need (want) to know
Show me what I need to know
Summarize what I need to know

When those three points are hit during a presentation then I enjoy it and even better I retain it.

So if you’re looking for a way to promote your business why not host a conference on a topic related to the service or product you offer? It’s now considered one of the best ways to market a business.

The concept isn’t that new. Look at any business conference calendar and you’ll see conferences on social media, advertising, client building, internet marketing, legal issues, technology issues, and just about anything viable businesses want to promote to an audience.

But what you should really take note of are the speakers. You won’t see a line up of “professional” speakers (people who speak for a living and demand a fee for doing so). Most speakers in the leading business conferences today are marketing managers, company owners, and other representatives looking for a cost effective way to promote and position their business to a very targeted audience.

Here’s the BIG news: You don’t have to book a large conference room in a ritzy hotel to host a conference. You CAN, but you don’t have to. Since this website targets small, online business owners I’m sure most of you have no desire to spend $20K on hosting a big event (even if you do make it back).

You can host a very effective conference completely online. Your only costs are associated with the technology needed to allow your audience to view PowerPoint slides or websites and whiteboards as you and your speakers talk about your area of expertise and answer live questions from the audience.

Since I’ve started attending conferences online I’ve learned so much more simply because I can afford to attend more events (in-person and online events). Remember your attendees do not have to spend money on transportation or accommodations.

To tell you the truth many of the online conferences I’ve enjoyed in the comfort of my own home have been much better content wise than some of the in-person events I’ve trekked to!

Finally here is more good news for you: one of my favorite business mentors (a former marketing-communications practitioner like myself) offers an excellent service for those who want to host their own online conferences.

You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars for software and service. In fact your costs will be no where close to that amount and well under $40. Take a look here.

Unlike in-person events this won’t take you a year to plan. For some entrepreneurs planning an online conference takes only a matter of weeks plus whatever whatever you think is a good promotional time line to get the word out to prospective attendees.

Once you do your research and pinpoint those business owner experts that you’d like to discuss topics you’ve planned for the program, it won’t take long for them to respond (and trust me many will be interested). As for the whole “execution” part of your online conference, with the turnkey technology solution Lynette Chandler offers, you’ll be up in no time.

Let me know when you’ll be hosting your first online event, I’d love to promote it here.

To your success,

Sharon

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