[Transcript starts at 1:23]
Hello, hello, hello my podcast people and thank you for joining me for yet another episode of my favorite podcast. So today we are talking about how to run a successful in-person event. So this is coming on the heels of me recently having run a in-person event with my girl JillFit, and I wanted to share just all the things that go into it.
I love live events, I love in-person events. I've been hosting them for years and I've had some clients recently also asking about hosting their own. So I figured let's do an episode. So right off the bat, what we're gonna be talking about today are in-person events or live events kind of on the smaller scale.
So kind of up to, you know, maybe 30 people. Yes, this approach will work for more, but when you're first starting off, smaller is better. Conferences, that's an entirely different beast, and I have yet to put on my own conference with multiple speakers and you know, have a big this hu have it beat this huge ordeal.
Um, I know that I could do it given the experience that I have and a lot of what we're talking about today will be applicable for that. But I'm going to strongly advise you against starting off your live event experience with running a conference. Real talk, you will typically lose money with a conference, just the venue alone and getting the food and marketing for this.
And you have to get enough butts in the seats, and volume is difficult. So if you're looking at that, different episode, I, I would probably bring someone on to talk about that. Um, and I, I do wanna point out that for those bigger events, the goal, in my opinion is largely networking and you just like wanna have people in the room.
It's not cuz you wanna make a million dollars on it cuz you probably will not. Additionally, additionally, retreats are also different. I have yet to host my own retreat. Retreats are gonna be different in that you have to secure lodging and like, where people are gonna sleep and have all the food and things like that.
It's actually like, you know, an event, a big excursion, you're going somewhere far away. I prefer to have my events locally. I will talk about having them in different locations though. Um, but if you're looking at starting or hosting your own retreat, I'm gonna link an episode, thank you Courtney, from my girl, Andrea Classen.
Uh, she, uh, was in Legacy. She's just, just freaking awesome. She is into the whole seasonality thing, into the, Ayurveda, uh, side of things. That's just, you know, her whole shtick. She's brilliant at what she does and she hosts retreats so, retreats. So she actually put out her own podcast episode all about retreats and you know, her, her experience with it.
So we will link that episode from her podcast and we will also link her Instagram. You're welcome.
All right, so just a little bit about my experience, just in case that you listening to this are like, what do you know about this? Although most of you that are listening, you're my people, you probably or possibly attended a live event that I've hosted.
But I first got into this, I was an instructor and went on to become a lead instructor for a company called RockTape. And I traveled actually the entire world teaching for them. Uh, the background that I had or the experience that I gained in teaching with them allowed me to launch my own in-person course Moving with the Maestro, which I ran for two years, and I actually launched that internationally, which was so cool.
So the first event was in New Zealand, and then the second event, uh, for it was in Australia. I did two in Australia, Melbourne and Brisbane. I have a terrible accent when it comes to trying to do any kind of accents, but yes, wanted to throw that out there.
Uh, so running the, or excuse me, working for RockTape basically gave me an inside look as to like, how do you do this? How do you set it up? What's needed in order to make it profitable, in order to make it worth your while? And I realized, you know, I don't wanna say quickly, but I realized over time that based on what RockTape was paying me, I could make that same amount.
I could actually make more if I hosted my own event. And I didn't need that many people to come. It wasn't that I was trying to compete with RockTape or anything like that. It was just like, hey, I have this idea. I want to have this event. I want to teach this content. Could I do this on my own? And what would be required?
And would it be financially feasible? Would it be financially, um, profitable? And the answer is yes. It, it absolutely was. Um, but I wanna share all of that with you.
Now I run live events with Jill. Uh, we've run them largely now as part of our Legacy Mentormind. So, In running them as part of a bigger program it removes the hardest part, which is interest. I already know the people are interested cuz they're part of this bigger program. Uh, but the rest of it remains the same. We also have Sara, um, that's Jill's like right and left hand woman, who sets up all the events and stuff, but. And does like all the logistical tasks I should say.
Um, but Jill and I are then obviously still running it, putting it together, uh, you know, outlining it. And that's what I wanna talk about as well today. Jill and I also ran BossUp. Some of you listening to this went and it was the most magical event that I've ever hosted, and that was my biggest event as well.
We had 75 plus people for that. Um, but I learned in doing that, that it is the same as these smaller ones. And the benefit of having two people is that you can. , I almost said crowd control. It's not about crowd control, it's that you can run the room, you can, you know, curate the experience better. Um, because I have in the past had RockTape events where they didn't limit the spots and we had 60 plus people there and it was just me.
And that was just really, really difficult. Um, those people still got a phenomenal experience, but it's easier, obviously if you have more people that are running it. Um, not just you.
In today's episode, we're going to talk about gauging interest or how to gauge interest, how to secure the location, how to promote the event, how to outline the event, and I think I might actually do like a full episode about kind of outlining and structuring the event at some point.
Because as I was outlining this episode, I was like, dude, I could really speak about this a lot. I, I really take a lot of pride in, in teaching and there's an art to it, there's a science to it, there's uh definitely a specific approach to it. So I'm gonna give you an overview with that, um, as it relates to outlining the event.
And then maybe another episode, we'll go really deep with that. Uh, we're gonna talk about running the event and then the follow up. Again, I am largely talking about in-person events that are small, the smaller side. So max of like 25, 30 people. Yes, this will work for bigger ones, but let's start off smaller.
As per always, let's think about an in-person event like we would any other offer or service, which means that we wanna wait to create. You don't make the thing until you have people have bought it, right? Until you know they're interested. They said, yes, they will go to this thing. Then we can look to say, okay, I'm gonna run this thing.
But if you're like, I just wanna run, I'm just gonna make this thing and if I build it, they will come. No, they won't. No they won't and then you're going to be upset.
Okay, so right off the bat, it's a good segue, gauging interest. How do you know if you should do this thing? I want you to think about conversion rates.
So what I would suggest is, number one, you need to have people asking you questions. You need to have an audience already. If you don't, then you work on building that audience, and I have episodes about that. And maybe I'll do another episode about that. Put a little mental note there. Uh, but we need to have people asking you questions, people that have expressed interest, and then you can specifically ask them, “Hey, I'm thinking about doing this.
If I did this, would you show up? It's just gonna be paid. Would you show up?” And this is exactly how I did it when I was thinking about launching in Australia, I was like, Hey, y'all been asking me, I kinda wanna go to Australia. Would, if I made this thing, would you show up?
I want you to think about a 10% or less conversion rate. Meaning if you have a hundred people that have said, yeah, that sounds really awesome, I'd go. Expect that 10 of them, excuse me, 10% in this case, so yes, 10, would actually say yes and would actually follow through. Take that 10% conversion metric and say, okay, given the peop number of people that I have interested, is this worth it? Is it worth it for me? Is it gonna mean that I have one person that shows up? Is it gonna mean that I have no people that show up? It's the simplest way to gauge interest.
Second part here, we're gonna jump right in, right folks? So get you a little pen and paper. Second part, which is securing a location. So you've decided, okay, I got the interest, it makes sense to do it. Cool. Where am I gonna host this thing?
Number one, what's the vibe or what's the, the niche that you're in. A lot of my events were in gyms because I was in the movement space when I first started hosting it. So it made sense to have it in a location where people could move around and actually do things.
Again, this made sense as a very, you know, very logical progression for things because I wasteaching for RockTape. All of those events, or not all of them, the majority of the RockTape events were held in gyms or movement spaces. When I worked for RockTape and they partnered with this other company called PESI, then we would have them in hotel, um, conference rooms, which I actually hated.
It's not good. The carpets are fucking weird. Like, and they, they do that to hide the stains by the way. Uh, but it wasn't super ideal for me. Um, it was good in terms of the, like the lighting and the sound and the technology component of things, which we'll go into. But in terms of the actual physical location and the vibe didn't live, love it.
So think about what your niche is. Where does it make sense to actually host this thing? If you're movement peeps, it'll probably be on the g at a gym, which means that that will also kind of, dictate the days that you can do it, cuz the gym has to be open at some point. So probably only gonna be on the weekend, which may also make sense for your demographic because they work during the week.
But those are just some things to uh, consider. Like I said a little bit earlier, yes, you could rent a conference room. That's where Jill and I do our business events now. You could rent a hotel suite. Um, Tracy Sher actually did that for her events. If your event is small, you could rent out, it's gonna be expensive, but you could rent out a hotel suite and just do it in there cause sometimes, sometimes they're really, really nice.
You could also try peerspace.com, which is like, um, Airbnb, but, for event spaces. I have not personally run an event through that, but I have attended events, um, some photo shoots and podcast recordings at locations that were rented by the host using peerspace.com. So something to think about.
Next part with this as it relates to securing location is make it convenient. So don't have it in the middle of Bumble Fuck. Like know it'll be cheaper but we are always thinking about the customer, the client experience. And ideally make it a desirable location, like a place that people want to go.
So we can think about seasonality. Like if it's cold right now, and people like going to warm places, cool, then maybe we have it in a warmer place. We have it in Miami, we have it in, you know, SoCal. Although yes, we get seasons here as well. But that does, or maybe you want more of the winter experience. Something to consider.
Although winter experience, bad weather, things sometimes get canceled. So these are just things, moving parts, moving pieces to be thinking about.
As it relates to payment for that space it's gonna be up to you because like I said earlier, if it is a gym space, maybe it's a friend that you know. Ideally it is someone, you know, someone who, you know, you have a reputation in the space and people wanna host it.
That was my experience, where people wanted to host the course. They actually reached out to me. I, I put a thing up on social media. I was like, “Hey, does anyone wanna host this course?” And people reached out. And so when you go to pay them, that's up to you. It could be that you do a profit-share, which can incentivize them to actually promote it.
They could get free seats. You could do free seats and a profit share. It could just be a flat rate. Obviously if you're renting something, then it's just gonna be a flat rate, but you get to choose and yes, it, it's gonna kind of change depending on whether it's you're doing a full day or two days, or you're just doing like a little workshop.
When I did workshops at my CrossFit box, they were free. There was no like payment exchanged. It was just like, “Hey, this is an event that's gonna help your people. Let's put this thing on.” Um, I've also brought in some events and I brought Perry Nickelston's in, and he does like a little bit of, he used to do anyway, a little bit of a profit share model there.
So you get to choose how you run this. Realistically, the story and the story here is that you have a, a course that people actually want to attend and you're someone that people wanna be around, and so those hosts are typically like, yeah, I'd love to do this. Putting that all out there, you get to choose .
The location itself, the actual venue, I should say, itself, needs to be temperature controlled. This was a big issue and something I learned very quickly with RockTape. It can't be too hot, it can't be too cold, right? If you do it in these, some of these gyms, these CrossFit boxes, there's no temperature control, and then it's summertime and it's this fricking sweltering and uncomfortable, or it's in the winter and it's freezing. So it must be temperature controlled.
We also want the te, the setup itself to be conducive to teaching. So, ask them to send you pictures and say like, you know what you're gonna need kind of space-wise, you know, what you're gonna need in terms of technology-wise. Make sure that it's conducive to actually whatever teaching style it is that you are utilizing.
Are there treatment tables? Are we gonna be in the ground? Like what is this going to look like? Again, it depends on what your niche is. And obviously if you're just teaching like business things, that's much easier. Whereas movement, we start to have specific, specific needs.
Buy your own projector. You know you're old, you know, you're a teacher when projectors go on sale on Amazon and you're like, yes. Need it. Must get it. So I uh, got mine on Amazon. It was, I don't even remember. I've had it for years now. They're pretty small and portable now. If you're gonna be teaching, it's super valuable to have your own your own. Yes. I recommend slides cuz it's just how so many of us are used to learning and so it's just something nice to have.
Some locations do have tv. Only downside of a tv is it your laser pointer like doesn't work on the tv. So something to think about. But one less thing for you to bring. You also wanna make sure that you have all of your own cables, your own dongles. Look it up. Look it up, what a dongle is. Um, you wanna have your own power strips, your own extension cord.
Bring all the things so that you're not worried. Yes, you can ask them to have those things there, but it's best if you have your own.
Circling back real quickly to the, um, projector. We wanna make sure that, uh, there's something to project it onto. I had a course one time, and with RockTape, the, the hosts know that they're supposed to have the screen.
There's some sort of mix up with this, and there was no screen and the entire gym was all mirrored. So I couldn't even project it onto a wall. But I had to set up this, I had the jerry rig and put a sheet like attached to one of the functional trainers. It was a whole thing. Uh, so don't let that happen to you.
Get pictures, good correspondence beforehand with the host and make sure that it's conducive to learning.
As it relates to promotion. So those are the logistics for securing the location. Uh, as it relates to actually promoting the event. Again, we said, yes, people want this thing. That's, that's probably the most important part, is that you have something that, you know, people want.
I recommend starting to promote this thing at least six months beforehand because if people have to travel, then they need time to be able to put this on their schedule and actually get there and you know, have things. I mean, people's, yeah, some people are very last minute with things, but we wanna make sure that the majority, the early adopters, the majority of people have the time so they're not like, oh my God, I have to, this is a surprise. I have other stuff going on that weekend.
One of the things you're gonna notice with, um, an event like this is that there's no, like true cart open cart close like a, that puts parameters on this and kind of looks to incentivize action. So what you can do is kind of manufacture that by having an early bird rate that expires at a certain time and try to get people to act during that.
And then you could have your, you know, late bird, regular bird, whatever you wanna call it, rate that continues moving forward. Kind of have the price tier changes with this.
One thing I want you to remember is that, as you know, kind of tying into the promotional side of things is that in the early days of things and just in general as well, because in-person events can be tough, is expect lower numbers.
When I first started my events that were just mine had 10 people, maybe a little bit less, sometimes a little bit more. Uh, there were not like 50 people at an event. So yes, maybe you've attended some bigger events that are run by like bigger companies. My my mind goes to like FRC, they have like, you know, 50, a hundred people at these things.
But if you're a personal brand, expect that it's going to be smaller. And from there, people are gonna follow your lead, right? Given that it is a small, you don't, it is a smaller thing, you don't have a reputation yet, it is going to be a smaller event, so you're gonna have to talk about it and lead from the front.
People will take note of your excitement. They're gonna take or follow your lead. With the kind of promotional set, promotional side of things, yes, you could have dedicated push periods where like this month of the week I am, this month of the week, this week of the month, I am really pushing this thing.
Especially if you have other offers that you are trying to run and sell. Um, but if you're not planning to run and sell anything else, then just promote the shit outta that thing. Right? Talk about it. Talk about it, talk about it. People will take their cues from you.
Continuing the promotion side of it, once people have signed up, make sure you're still corresponding with them.
Cuz people don't know, like it's coming up like, what do I need? Make sure that there is connection. It's not like, okay cool, I've gotten the sale and now adios I'm working on the new people. Make sure there are still touch points with the people that have signed up.
Relating to price. Easiest thing to do, what is the market holding?
Start there. Then I took a little pause, I'm like, which direction I wanna go in. Then we wanna look at how much do you need to charge if you're looking to turn a profit? If you're trying to turn a profit. Some people just wanna break even. That's fine. So then how much you need to charge to break even? When I was using this as like one of my main sources of income, yeah, I needed to turn a profit.
And it was actually very easy to do because I looked at what the market rate was and it's a two, it was a two day course, you know, market rate for those kinds of things. 400, 500 bucks. If I can get 10 people there, that's five grand. I have to subtract my, my travel expenses. But they weren't that much. Uh, and if I, you know, the host has just giving me the space for free. Cause some places, some places do, they're freaking awesome. They just want people there. I'm like, cool. Bring as many people as you want. I don't care. Like, that's awesome.
And so I knew what I needed, how many people I needed to have, and the pricepoint I needed to have in order to make this worth it for me.
But you can decide that, let's say, you know, hosting a retreat or something like that, then yeah, you know, okay, well it costs this to host it based on the venue when the food and things like. And then decide from there.
Good segue there. Food. That's usually the most difficult part of an event. So when you're looking at a hosting space, one, make sure that it's near things and two, I typically don't put the food in as part of the co part of the course, part of the event, unless it's a business event where we are at a hotel. When I'm doing my movement events, yeah, we all went out to lunch and then we went to happy hour afterwards, but that wasn't included in the price of it. It's just dealing with food stuff is very, very, very difficult cause people have, you know, dietary restrictions and things like that. So I wasn't trying to have that rolled in. So something to think about with that.
Um, I will say though, with food, make sure you have snacks. Have snacks that you know, we'll accommodate different people's different food preferences, but bring snacks. People remember that people love food.
Last part with the price, and this is kinda talk about this in general, is when we're setting the price, like what's the goal?
Is it just to get asses in the seat? Cool. Then just make it a, make it a no-brainer price. Is this like, Hey, I got a cover costs, I'm trying to make a profit? Then we look at a higher price point, we see what the market's holding and then we go from there, obviously based on like how long the event is, um, as well.
Alright. Second to last point here, outlining it and running it. So like I said earlier, I will probably do another episode just specifically about how to outline an event and how to outline teaching, because I take it very seriously, very, very seriously. And there is an art and a science and a structure to it.
Um, but the big thing I want you to remember as it relates to outlining and running, a live event is, it's not what you know, it's what they learn. I think, you know, a basketball coach or something like that said that, but super important to remember. It's not what you know, it's what they learn. For the most part, we tend to, we wanna give away so much.
We wanna teach 'em everything. We just wanna help people, which is awesome. But when you're just like drinking from a fire hose, that's not actually very helpful for them. So discernment is going to be just imperative and paramount and one of the hardest things that you have to do. Cause you're like, but I wanna teach everything.
Then you need a second course, you need a different level. Um, I don't really recommend having like pre-reading, like that's an, I'm just thinking as an attendee. I'm like I don't fucking want that. Maybe you as an attendee do. Okay, cool. Then lean into that. But I'm just like, I wanna go to the event, enjoy the event.
I'm not trying to like have a zillion homeworks before and I'm gonna anticipate that people probably won't do it, It's just a lot for people to do. So I'd rather have multiple courses. And I think that that's part of a, a general issue that we have in terms of teaching. Like the days are too long. This, I've learned that a six hour day, a six hour course is phenomenal.
Like people just, they're not like brain dead at the end, they're still excited about it. You as the instructor feel good. Uh, we try to do so much and then it's like, but how much did people actually learn? Yeah, I know that we got this thing like “done” in a sh in a weekend, but can they actually use it? Did they actually learn the things?
So, few bullet points here on how to run it, how to outline it so that people get the most out of it. For starters, repeat yourself a lot. There's a reason that I, when I outline these episodes, there is a lot of redundancy. Cause that's how we as humans, learns, learns. That's how we as humans learn.
Repeat yourself a lot. Give the actual event tons of time for workshops and actually time for people to actually do the thing and implement. Say less. There's a quote from my girl, Rachel Strickland. Courtney, if you could link that episode, that'd be amazing. Something along the line, something along the lines of, “The cutting room floor- the cutting room floor is covered in darlings.” Or the cover room. Oh wow. Or the cutting room floor is littered in darlings. Something like that. Something along the lines of, yeah, you're gonna have to cut good stuff out. That's what she means. And it's hard to do, but it's better for the attendee.
Not everything gets to be important. Jill said that this weekend and I was like, yes. Not everything gets to be imp to be important. Discernment is imperative. And so the best way to do that is to decide what do I want these people to learn? What one thing do I want them to walk away with after this time together?
Whether it's a weekend or you know, an hour long workshop. And then everything is based around that. And the stuff that doesn't directly tie into that, it gets cut and we can put it in another workshop, another event. If people have a good time at this, they will come back for something.
Big point here. Learn how to be okay with silence.
I know that there's not a lot of silence cause this is a podcast, but if I'm teaching or if I'm speaking, I will pause. There will be strategic pauses and there'll be times for people to work. I tend to put music on when people are working, but I'm okay with just it being silent. When we have like drills we want people to do, we tend to rush through it cuz we're just like, oh my God. It's like silent right now. I'm like, ugh. It feels awkward. Learn how to be okay with that.
I personally like to give people breaks. Stru like structured set breaks every 90 minutes. Just longer than that. It's just too much. So their brains at the end, they're like, ah. So obviously people can go and get up and go to the bathroom whenever, but I will have a structured break, you know, usually about every 90 minutes.
Yes, I like slides. I teach from slides. I think it's easier so that people aren't like trying to write down things, you know, a million miles an hour. So I will give out slides. The easiest way to do this, in my opinion, is actually to give them that day. You can send out, you know, the draft if you want beforehand, but I create a QR code.
It goes on the front slide and then everyone can just scan it. I've been doing this for years. Perry Nickelston taught me this. I think it's phenomenal. Um, I create a QR code that links them to the file for the slides so they can just, boom, we're gonna start the presentation. They can put their phone up and they can get the slides, and they're not, they're not like, oh, well worried about it, and they'll get the most recent version of things.
Refine over time, meaning it's great to run the same event multiple times.
This is Jill and I, this is like technically like our fifth time running this. Third to fifth, cuz we run two a year. So it's different content each time. But this is our, we suffice to say we've run it multiple times and that allows us to say, Hey, this is actually better. Cut that out, give more space here, move these things around. So run the same thing multiple times and then refine it. Cut things out that don't directly contribute to the actual objective, right? We said go in, have them, go in having them, go in, having them, they'll say that, go in having them, uh, or go in with a set goal for people. Or go in having a set goal for people.
That's what I'm trying to say. This is the one concrete, tangible thing I want 'em to walk away with. Cool. Then everything gets structured around that.
Beautiful thing about in person, I also do this on Zoom, is look at people's faces. Look at their body language. Are they bored? Are they overwhelmed?
They're not understanding? Slow down. Stop. Ask questions. Call people out. Do it nicely. Do it kindly, and be like, looks like maybe we don't understand. Repeat yourself literally a zillion times.
The general structure that I will use for this is gonna be intro, info, recap, and I'll do that for each section as well.
I'm gonna introduce what we're talking about. I'm gonna give the info and then I'm gonna recap it. And then I will do that again for like the whole overall event, intro, do the whole event, and then recap it. Pull things out for people. And then at the very end, I'm going to have them pick one thing to focus on for when they leave.
It's helpful if you can put a list up on the, you know, the notes or whatever, so that people can see, okay, these are the main things we went over. Here's the one thing, just one to take and focus on. Because people are gonna be like, holy shit, there was just so much here. They're gonna try to do everything and they're gonna get nothing done.
If you can get people wins, they remember that and they will come back for more.
Lastly, within running it, outlining it, making sure people have a good time, is that right there. Make sure people have a good time. The location, the actual venue itself, the temperature, are their snacks, other food. Is there music?
Who are the other people that are there? What's the general ambiance? What's the vibe? Make it good and then make sure your attitude is on point and that you are leading this thing. You're bringing the fire, you're bringing the noise, you're bringing the excitement. People will remember that.
Last part here.
Following up, I know I'm speaking quickly. I love this shit. So one of the coolest parts about, you know, podcasts is you get to teach and talk and share things and you get like feedback and then you're like, oh, I actually really do like this cause I'm just like going. Uh, but the last part here is following up.
What do you do after the event is done? I'm not gonna lie, I don't really ask for feedback a ton. Um, I usually, mainly ask for it for testimonials. I'm not like, Hey, what could be better? Like, yes, that's helpful perhaps, but I also feel very, uh, keen and very perceptive as to like what I would've changed, what would I like as an attendee.
Um, so I don't, I'm gonna be completely honest. I don't tend to ask for a lot of that shit. But I will ask, you know, you can have two questions. Um, just put 'em on a Google Form. One is, you know, what would you change? And then the second one is ask for a testimonial. If you want you can, you know, give them something in exchange for it.
Um, you know, give them access to something in exchange for the testimonial, or you can just ask for it. People wanna be helpful. Um, so I, I will do that. And then the big thing here, in my opinion, when things are done, send out an e a thank you email. Send out an email to everyone thanking them cuz it's a big deal to leave their families, leave their, you know, routines.
Pay money to go and spend time with you. So thank them. Send out that email, make it heartfelt, make it genuine. And bonus if you can put a reminder in there about how to be successful coming out of this event, this course, what's the one thing to implement? The one thing To take away? The one thing to do?
All right. Looking at the time, we're definitely gonna wrap this thing up. I clearly love talking about this. If you got questions. You know where to find me. @themovementmaestro or you can text me 3 1 0 7 3 7 2 3 4 5.
Uh, but in my opinion, live events are magic. Don't expect to have a zillion people show up, but understand that you don't need a zillion people to show up in order for it to be some, you know, incredible, incredible thing.
All right, officially wrapping it up.
As always, endlessly Appreciative for every single one of you. Until next time, friends, Maestro out.
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