Darlene Lyons

As the head of an event management company, I review our annual event production calendar regularly.  When looking at the reports this week it struck me that every one of our clients that has independent contractors has reduced their meetings size.  Especially in real estate.  

Just today I had a tough call with a company’s COO, CEO, President, Marketing Director, and CFO on how to reduce their losses based on losing over 500 attendees at this year’s event.   That is a painful conversation, folks. 

Once we had gone over the realistic numbers I asked them just exactly what was in the event for the attendee.  The company had jam-packed the event with announcements, the same-old speakers (yawn!) and the same functions they have year after year.   “But what really  is in it for the attendee?, I asked.  No one understood my point.  Here is what I shared with them:

People attend ‘live’ events for one or more of five reasons:

1.  Food

2. Fun

3. Fame

4. Community

5.  Education

So, I asked them to review their offerings to be absolutely sure they had touched on all five so they could increase their attendance and the overall success of their event.  They wisely added more recognition functions, more fun exercises like a “jeopardy” session in their main session and changed some of their format to encourage more hands on, confidence building training.  They will inevitably see more attendance and a higher satisfaction rate (and a higher return rate) because they refocused the event on their attendees. 

I encourage you to consider those five motivators when planning your next event.  Here is a video piece explaning a little more about the five reasons.  Here’s to your next successful event!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69_PjcrsWQU]

Reading a blog earlier today about Jackie Leavenworth, ABR, CRB, CRS, GRI, I thought, “gee, it’d sure be nice to take a break from all of the social networking hullabaloo”.  I’d like to see more offerings on the basic skill sets so that when you actually do get a live, breathing prospect you have the skills to successfully close the transaction. 

So I asked Jackie if I could tout one of her videos on pricing.  Check out this insight on “The Danger of Overpriced Listings”.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeQ9dOkpBhY]

Verl Workman

When was the last time you made a presentation and were hit by a common objection and you blew the answer?  I know it’s happened to me!  And to all of us.  The follow video by real estate speaker Verl Workman is a perfect example of why you need to be prepared for the main objections you KNOW buyers and sellers throw out.  So you can get the deal!

Check it out:  [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2x4zBSxMx0]