How To Tuesday: Teaching a Seminar to Brand Yourself

Written on November 17, 2009 by Susan Payton

Regular readers know I’ve been working to brand myself as of late. That has included being a marketing resource online (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook), developing online courses on marketing, and of course, blogging.

One thing I swore I’d never do is teach. Blame it on my stint working as a preschool teacher. There’s just something about getting in front of a group of people (potty trained or otherwise) and claiming to be the expert that never appealed to me. Until I became the Marketing Eggspert. And basically, that’s what I’m doing. Standing up and saying “I’m the expert. Listen to me.”

And so lately, I have gotten into teaching seminars. I’ve done this online over the past few years, but never in person until recently. I was fortunate enough to participate with Microsoft Office Live and Kirtsy’s Hands on Small Business events, where I got a taste of in-person teaching.

Teaching a seminar or course is a great way to show your stuff, to establish yourself as an expert.

How you can teach a course:

1. Decide what you want to teach. It should be something you know intimately, and that provides others benefits. For me, it was using internet marketing to grow a business.

2. Find a venue. It may be the local university or community college (I went through Continuing Education). It might be the library or small business resource center. Ask your Chamber of Commerce if you don’t know where to start.

3. Introduce yourself. Send a brief email introducing yourself, mentioning your experience (again, briefly) and your interest in teaching a seminar on X. Ask if this is of interest.

4. Follow up. If you don’t hear back in a week, call the contact. They’re busy. Follow up to see if it’s possible to work with this venue to offer a course. It may be next semester before they can fit you in.

5. Start planning. Once you get your course set up, plan your seminar with a syllabus or outline. Market it. Reach out to the Chamber and any business organizations (the venue may also have a database of contacts they can tell), and invite them to your course.  Promote it up through the date. Facebook has a good tool called Eventbrite that you can use to get people to register.

FAQs

Should I charge for the course?

• This may depend on the venue. Most non-profit and government agencies (read: universities) won’t let you charge or promote yourself. You may just do it out of the goodness of your heart and then follow up with participants via email after. Your students will be impressed with you and will be more inclined to buy whatever it is you’re selling.

How long should my course be?

• Don’t keep participants longer than their attention spans can handle. I suggest 2 to 3 hours, with breaks. Provide refreshments to keep people happy.

What time of day should my seminar be?

• I held mine in the morning and had about 10 students. Many people expressed a wish that it was in the evening after work. Determine who your audience is and what their availability is. Or do 2 classes.

Posted in Branding

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