Malcolm Levene and myself put on a full day Personal Branding workshop a few weeks ago at the Leonard Hotel in central London. It was a new format and in spite of a few rooms for improvement, I would say it went very well. We were fortunate enough to have a fantastic group of people in the room which made the day very special. The feedback we received at the end was very positive on the whole along with a few constructive recommendations. I wanted to share the five areas that we have highlighted for improvement.
1. Technical hiccups
Imagine plugging in your laptop to a projector (the only projector) and absolutely nothing happens. This is what happened about 20 mintues before the start. We tried every method, cable and prayer but the projector was on strike that day. This meant we couldn't use the massive screen to show our presentation.
Malcolm, to his credit, took it in stride and suggested we just leave the laptop on a table in the center that everyone can see (the attendees were in a semi-circle). This actually worked out really well and made the day more authentic and interactive, relying less on technology.
The lesson learned here is that altough it was fine without the projector, we should have tested it a day before. Then at least we would have known it and I wouldn't have spent 20 minutes panicking and trying to fix the situation.
2. Keep the timings realistic
We had pretty tight timings laid out for the day. Do you think we stuck to the timings? Of course not. And I think we knew we wouldn't, leaving us in trouble towards the end of the day when we had to leave some content out to finish on time.
I think it's realistic to expect to digress a bit and not precisely stick to a rigid structure in any workshop. The wee mistake we made was not building in time bufferts. Next time we'll allot 60 minutes to a session with 40 minutes of content, allowing for questions and digressions along the way.
3. Keep the content manageable
Here's another lesson which ties in with the timings. Don't try to squeeze as much content as possible into a workshop day. It's natural to want to deliver as much valuable information as possible, but it's not always realistic that it will work. On the day we had to leave out a few bits which the attendees probably didn't realize, a shame nevertheless.
For the next time we'll focus on a few main themes and take our time to ensure we get the message across. If there is time left over, we can add the rest as extras.
4. If administration isn't your forte…
Doing it all by yourself is hard work. By 'all' I mean sorting out a suitable venue, creating the event content, marketing and selling tickets, ensuring everything runs smoothly on the day and following up with attendees afterwards. And oh yeah, delivering the workshop!
We have all but agreed to use professional help next time in the shape of an events organizer or virtual PA that really know their stuff. Yes it will cost us a bit but it will also free up our minds to hone in on content and delivery which is the most important bits from our perspective.
5. Event scheduling and lead times
The workshop was held in the middle of January and we announced it in the middle of December, giving us a one month lead time to market and sell tickets. The holiday season wasn't brilliant as people do tend to switch off these things and focus on presents, food and drink – rightly so! Early January is actually a good period for a Personal Branding workshop as lots of people want to kick off the new year with an event like this.
So with the benefit of hindsight, I would say we should give future events a lead time of two months to ensure we get the most out of our marketing activities. We did fill up the room by the way but it took a fair bit of effort on our part during the last week before the date.
Final thoughts
There you have it, five areas of improvement for putting on workshops. I for one will use this blog post as a manual for the next one – we will be announcing the new date soon.
Any other ideas around workshops that are useful to know? Please share your thoughts!
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