THE ART OF SEMINAR MARKETING.

No question, seminars are an absurdly primitive way to sell technology products. We lure a few dozen people to a windowless hotel room, force them to sit through mind-numbing PowerPoint presentations, and then hope they'll turn into loyal clients. This is a marketing strategy?

Yet surprisingly, seminars do work. In fact, there's probably no other technology marketing tactic that works nearly as well. If the topic and speakers are on target, seminars almost always attract top-quality leads--prospects who are eager to learn about sophisticated, hard-to- explain products, and who are often ready to make buying decisions soon.

The one drawback to seminar marketing, of course, is that even a small event can take a huge amount of effort to organize. The details are endless--promotion, logistics, scripting, rehearsals, budgets, registrations, audio-visual equipment, menus. Worse, a few glitches can make a company look (and feel) like the Keystone Kops.

Still, there are many marketers who've turned seminar production into a near-science. We recently invited Soft-letter subscribers and friends to share their best seminar marketing tips. Here's what they said:

HOW TO ATTRACT A QUALITY AUDIENCE

* Write copy that sells: Often, seminar invitations (especially for free events) sound stuffy and formal. That's a mistake, argues free- lance copywriter Ivan Levison. "Write with enthusiasm," he advises. "Most people are terribly busy. You've got to fire them up and motivate them with sparkling prose." In particular, there are several tried-and- true tactics that Levison recommends for seminar copy:

--"Explain how you'll be teaching as well as what you'll be teaching. Will there be several speakers? Slides? A computer demo for every attendee? Spell it out!"

--"Sell the credentials of the person who's talking. Let readers know that they'll be picking up pearls of wisdom from a true industry leader, a guru, a living legend."

--"If you have the space, include raves from past attendees. Be sure to use full names--initials alone just don't work."

--"Let them know what valuable materials they'll receive free. If they'll be getting $395 worth of information, let them know it."

--"Let them know that your seminar won't be offered again (or soon, anyway). They're in danger of missing out big time if they blow this chance to attend. Tell them seats are available on a first-come, first- served basis and they'd better get moving."

Ivan Levison, principal, Ivan Levison & Associates, 14 Los Cerros Dr., Greenbrae, Calif. 94904; 415/461-0672. E-mail: ivan@levison.com.

* Keep e-mail invitations simple: Laura Biggs of Vocus reports that her company "quadrupled our response rate" for its seminar and open house events just by switching from direct mail to e-mail invitations. Biggs says she deliberately left most of the event details--for instance, directions--on the Vocus Web site. She also carefully streamlined the signup process. "Forms should be as simple as possible," she advises, "and if you can provide a secure connection, processing registrations with credit cards makes everything super easy to track."

Laura Biggs, director of marketing, Vocus, 4296 Forbes Blvd., Lanham, Md. 20706; 301/459-2590. E-mail: lbiggs@vocus.com

* Recruit co-promoters: Joining forces with a sponsor or business partner is often a good way to reach additional seminar prospects at very little cost, says Judd Kessler of Abacus Data Systems, a developer of software for lawyers. "We get great turnout when we offer continuing education credits which lawyers need to renew their law licenses," says Kessler. "We get the credits by having the State Bar co-sponsor the seminar. We give their members a discount, so the Bar gets to provide a member benefit at no effort or cost to them, and we get to use their accreditation at no effort or cost to us."

Judd Kessler, president, Abacus Data Systems, 6725 Mesa Ridge Rd., San Diego, Calif. 92121; 858/452-4280. E-mail: juddk@abacuslaw.com.

* Emphasize "affinity" relationships: "People enjoy being 'members' of an exclusive group, whether that group is defined as subscribers to research, members of an association, or anything similar," PC Data founder Ann Stephens notes. "Addressing them as members encourages their participation in seminars. They'll also provide very good feedback."

Ann Stephens, 11504 Links Dr., Reston, Va. 20190; 703/435-1025. E-mail: annstephen@aol.com.

* Reward early signups: "Offer books as giveaways for early-bird registration," suggests Ian Tang of the Software Productivity Center. "Books tend to be more valuable to attendees than a dollar discount, which just benefits their company."

Ian Tang, training manager, Software Productivity Center, 1122 Mainland St., Vancouver, B.C V6B 5L1; 604/662-8181. E-mail: itang@spc.ca.

* Test a postcard mailing: SoftPro's Tyler Townsend points out that a well-executed postcard campaign is sometimes exactly the right approach to fill seminar seats. "For a new-product seminar at a large industry trade show, I sent a mailer to attendees two weeks prior to the show," he says. "The postcard had fake movie-style 'reviews' of the software, with typical movie jargon (Five Stars! Two Thumbs Up!). The bottom of the software resembled a movie ticket--'Now Showing at a Seminar Near You!'" Townsend says trade show attendees often came to the booth with postcards in their hands, "and we had ample traffic in relation to other vendors."

Tyler Townsend, vice president of marketing, SoftPro Corp., 333 E. Six Forks Rd., Raleigh, N.C. 27609; 800/848-0143; E-mail: tyler@softprocorp.com.

* Make personal contact with attendees: E-mail invitations definitely save money, says Jeff Hunt of OpenAir Corp., an ASP hosting service, "but we found the percentage of people who actually showed up was lower than we wanted. The whole process was anonymous for the registrant, so they could decide at the last minute not to attend without feeling guilty." The solution: "We devoted considerable personal attention to anyone who signed up," says Hunt. "We sent them a personal e-mail and made a follow-up phone call to establish a dialog. This approach increased attendance rates by 15%-20%."

Jeff Hunt, vice president of marketing, OpenAir Corp., 80 Lincoln St., Boston, Mass. 02111; 617/351-0230. E-mail: jeffhunt@openair.com.

* Don't neglect the fun factor: Even for seminars with serious content, attendees are more likely to show up if there's a promise of entertainment. Tucows president Elliot Noss says his company recently hosted a series of Linux seminars with a "Feed the Penguin" theme. The event promotion included photos of Noss feeding live penguins, and Tucows distributed 3,000 chocolate penguins at the trade show where the seminars took place. "Transforming the call to action into a fun and creative idea helped make these seminars some of the best-attended at the entire show," he notes.

Elliot Noss, president, Tucows, 96 Mowat Ave., Toronto, Ont. M6K 3M1; 416/538-5494. E-mail: enoss@tucows.com.

* Get the sales force involved: Icarian's Carl Steffens argues that "the real octane-boost" to getting good turnout is "a strong sense of ownership by the field sales force." Although marketing promotions can generate interest, "the sales force has the direct relationships with customers and prospects, and a personal touch is highly effective at generating interest."

Carl Steffens, vice president of field and partner marketing, Icarian, 555 N. Mathilda Ave., Sunnyvale, Calif. 94086; 408/743-5700. E-mail: csteffens@icarian.com.

* Invest in audience quality: "Reaching the right people is often the hardest part of running a seminar," says WRQ's Scott Merrick. "Magazine lists seldom work. The best formula for us has been to buy a list and then pay good telemarketers to find the real contacts we're trying to reach." In some cases, he adds, "we have our sales reps offer to pick up key prospects with a town car, to make sure they get there and stay."

Scott Merrick, director of integration marketing, WRQ, 1500 Dexter Ave. N., Seattle, Wash. 98109; 206/217-7978. E-mail: scottm@wrq.com.

* Host an awards event: Lee Duffey of Duffey Communications reports that one of his clients, Best Software, presented "Oscar-style" awards as part of a recent conference for resellers. "Categories included 'Best Use of a Celebrity Name,' 'Quickest Sales,' 'Most Innovative,' 'Strangest Sales,' 'Best ROI,' etc.," he says. "Every reseller who registered attended the event, and after the conference, Best followed up with silver trophies incorporating Best's logo."

Lee Duffey, president, Duffey Communications, 3379 Peachtree Rd., NE, Atlanta, Ga. 30326; 404/266-2600. E-mail: lee@duffey.com.

* Be prepared for attendees who don't register: Walk-ins and last- minute signups can be remarkably disruptive, especially if they miss essential information that's been sent to registered attendees. One way to enforce registration, says Jacky Hood of Crescent Project Management, is to publish only the city and date, not the actual location. "Before we came up with this approach, we had a guy show up at a seminar we'd cancelled--he didn't think pre-registration was necessary."

Jacky Hood, president, Crescent Project Management, Box 4217, Mountain View, Calif. 94040; 650/361-0799. E-mail: jacky@crescentproject.com.

HOW TO MAKE PROGRAM CONTENT MEMORABLE

* Showcase independent perspectives: One of the classic models for a half-day seminar is to feature three speakers--an industry analyst or consultant, a local customer, and a company representative. "For our seminars, an analyst/consultant starts by getting the audience to consider the exciting possibilities of where to take their companies in the future," says Justin Phillips of InSystems Technologies. "Then we bring out a customer who discusses how our product is being used and how it lines up with industry trends. Finally, an internal company speaker presents our vision of how the product will help attendees solve their business issues." After the formal presentations, Phillips adds, "we open the floor for questions, and this is typically the most valuable part of the session: A room full of prospects has a chance to ask a satisfied customer how the whole relationship has worked."

Justin Phillips, manager of marketing programs, InSystems Technologies, 19 Allstate Pkwy., Markham, Ont. L3R 5A4; 905/513-1400. E-mail: jphillips@insystems.com.

* Get the audience involved: "Interaction is king," says independent developer Will Fastie, the former editor of PC Tech Journal. "Folks have to feel they're part of the event, not just passive bystanders. That's why we used the Phil Donahue method, with me in the role of Phil. I roamed the floor looking for people who were clearly bursting but were probably too shy to come up to a microphone stand. My coming to them was more personal and made them feel more important," says Fastie. "I also became their advocate, berating the panel if they misunderstood a question or chiding them if their answer was too simplistic. I'd also ask followup questions and then check with the audience member to see if the additional information was helpful."

Will Fastie, consultant, 7110 Sheffield Rd., Baltimore, Md. 21212; 410/340-1049. E-mail: will@fastie.net.

* Encourage fireworks: "Lately, I've become bored with the standard three-panelists-and-a-moderator format," says Michelle Bowman of Bowman Communications Group. "Seminar coordinators need to be more creative about choosing speakers who are charismatic and provocative in their comments. Build a little sensationalism into the format and you'll attract more interest and attendees."

Michelle Bowman, principal, Bowman Communications Group, 1601 114th Ave. SE, Bellevue, Wash. 98004; 425/467-8374. E-mail: mbowman@concentric.net.

* Stress role-playing: Author Godfrey Harris runs seminars on word-of- mouth advertising, and he includes a "hypothetical role-playing situation" near the beginning of each session. Says Harris: "Rather than ask for volunteers, we call on people at random to participate, then ask others in the room to comment on the resulting interaction. My goal is to get everyone involved in participating or commenting." Role- playing loosens up the audience and gets them to pay more attention to the material, Harris points out. "People remember what they said, did, or contributed far more than they remember a slide on the screen."

Godfrey Harris, president, Harris/Ragan Management Group, 9200 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, Calif. 90069; 310/278-8037. E-mail: hrmg@aol.com.

* Showcase the expertise of in-house speakers: It's tempting to make a company's products the centerpiece of a seminar, but it's ultimately better to focus on people, argues Laura Biggs. "Illustrate what a leader you are and demonstrate why attendees would want to work with your company," she says. "We've established our executives as experts on various subjects this way, and we now get requests from across the industry to present at other events."

Laura Biggs, director of marketing, Vocus, 4296 Forbes Blvd., Lanham, Md. 20706; 301/459-2590. E-mail: lbiggs@vocus.com

* Set up special-interest groups: "Seminars are best when people have a chance to feel connected to other participants," says Karen Carnabucci, a professional seminar presenter and trainer. "One way to make this happen (without sounding like a too-happy cruise director) is to set up small groups so people will have a 'home' in a very large group, and to make these groups self-selected based on special interests that link to the larger seminar topic." If possible, she adds, the topics themselves should be "generated from group members themselves, rather than the seminar leader."

Karen Carnabucci, principal, Companions in Healing, 216 Merrie Ln., Racine, Wisc. 53405; 262/633-2645. E-mail: karen@companionsinhealing.com.

* Seed the Q&A segment: One way to reinforce key seminar messages, says publicist Michael Becce, is to "plant a few attendees" who are ready to ask leading questions. "For example, during a seminar on outsourcing back office functions, we had someone ask, 'How do I know if I'm a good outsourcing candidate?' 'I'm glad you asked that,' the speaker answered. 'We have an online calculator that will help you determine...'"

Michael Becce, president, MRB Public Relations, Three East Front St., Red Bank, N.J. 07701; 732/758-1100. E-mail: mbecce@mrb-pr.com.

* Prepare a script: Marketing consultant Jessee Allread says he routinely asks presenters in advance for "a minimum of two and a maximum of five questions they wish to be asked." He then edits the questions and develops a script that he gives to speakers a few weeks before the event. "This method gives the panelists a chance to get their message out in an innocuous way and gives the moderator a chance to weave a larger story together, controlling the content." Just before the session begins, Allread adds, he warns his speakers that he'll probably deviate from the script at several points. "It's important to seem spontaneous and extemporaneous," he says.

Jessee Allread, principal, DX3 Consulting, 1430 Chico Ave., Birdwell, Calif. 95926; 530/891-0557. E-mail: jjallread@aol.com.

* Respect the audience: "Don't approach Fortune 1000 prospects with consumer mass merchandising tactics," warns Mary Driscoll, who oversees CFO Magazine's conference division. "The trick, for a seminar promoter, is that you're competing for the precious time of hard-to-reach execs. Price is not an issue. Rather, they'll attend if you provide real meat, answers to burning questions, and give them a chance to network with their peers. You can't trick them into attending with great brochure copy. Speakers must be admired authorities. The audience must be their peer group. You must optimize their time commitment. Then leave them alone--they get very angry when they attend a seminar, then find themselves deluged with baseball caps, key chains, t-shirts, product brochures, etc. And stay out of their e-mail in-boxes. Some software vendors are currently jazzed by 'e-mail address generator programs.' It's the kiss of death."

Mary Driscoll, president, CFO Enterprises, 253 Summer St., Boston, Mass. 02210; 617/345-9700. E-mail: marydriscoll@cfo.com.

* Get to know the attendees: "We insist that everyone on the program is at the site of the seminar one hour before registration begins," says Godfrey Harris. "We ask that our presenters mingle with participants as they wait to register, as they are having coffee before the room opens, and when they're in their seats before the start." The goal, he says, is "to find out names, companies, interests, needs, and reasons for attending and weave that learning into their presentations. We make partcipants our friends and they become our supporters."

Godfrey Harris, president, Harris/Ragan Management Group, 9200 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, Calif. 90069; 310/278-8037. E-mail: hrmg@aol.com.

HOW TO MANAGE SEMINAR LOGISTICS

* Watch the clock: Timing issues can have a significant impact on the turnout for an event. "Schedule the seminar for 8:30am (not too early, not too late) and be sure to start on time," suggests Muriel Miagoux of NetQuartz. "The presentations should last no longer than three hours so people don't feel they're wasting their full day."

Muriel Miagoux, marketing executive, NetQuartz, 131-151 rue du Premier Mai, Nanterre Cedex, France F-92737; +33 1 56 05 89 89. E-mail: mmiagoux@netquartz.com.

* Be "relentless" about details: Larry Ellis of SoftWright has been running training seminars at the same hotel for the past six years, but he still insists on providing written setup instructions and drawings for virtually every aspect of his events. "We show up the day before and confirm that all arrangements are in place. We check all light levels, Internet access, and everything else that can go wrong," he says. "The arrangements are often not correct, and we have time to make the hotel correct the problems." Except for a few large items, SoftWright also maintains its own audio-visual equipment. "Hotel A-V departments are usually not up to our demands," he notes.

Larry Ellis, president, SoftWright, 1010 S. Joliet St., Aurora, Colo. 80012; 303/344-5486. E-mail: larry.ellis@softwright.com.

* Look for a well-managed meeting site: "Our first priority is to find a brand-name hotel with conference facilities," says Darrell Walker of First Resort Software. "I like Renaissance and Marriott hotels the best--I can count on a conference staff that understands professional meetings." Walker says his company originally held its seminars at client sites, but switched because "our clients have a 'different reality' about how meetings should be run." One client set up seminar space in a very large housekeeping warehouse, he recalls. "It was interesting to have housekeepers pull daily linens while I was speaking," Walker quips.

Darrell Walker, senior software technician, First Resort Software, 155 South Side Dr., Basalt, Colo. 81621; 970/372-7042. E-mail: dwalker@firstres.com.

* Stay in touch with speakers: Presenters are the most critical part of most seminars, and Simone Wolf of Linotype Library says it's important to have "close and permanent contact" with them about the agenda, their equipment needs, and other details. "Have a team ready during the event especially to take care of the lecturers, and also discuss backup possibilities before the event, in case problems occur."

Simone Wolf, director of sales marketing, Linotype Library, Du Pont- Str.1, Bad Homburg, Germany D-61352; +49 6172 4842460. E-mail: swolf@linotypelibrary.com.

* Host a pre-seminar breakfast: Giving speakers some social time before the seminar helps them "get organized and acquainted and relaxed," says publicist Jean Zettler. For the moderator, a breakfast meeting is an especially valuable chance to get to know speakers and "loosen them up," she adds.

Jean Zettler, principal, JZ Communications, 7767 Willow Point Dr., Falls Church, Va. 22042; 703/876-9261. E-mail: jlzettler@erols.com.

* Let there be light: "There's one simple idea that I wish others would use--keep the lights up," says veteran conference producer and speaker Esther Dyson. "It keeps people awake and gets them to know one another as well as the speaker. And it forces the speaker to look at the audience and notice whether they're paying attention."

Esther Dyson, president, EDventure Holdings, 104 Fifth Ave., New York, N.Y. 10011; 212/924-8800. E-mail: edyson@edventure.com

* Negotiate favorable hotel room rates: One touch that never fails to impress attendees, says Larry Ellis, is that "we require the hotel to provide the government rate to all our attendees, even if they are not government employees." This policy is so important that SoftWright will only run events at hotels that agree to this condition, Ellis says. "We feel that the little business owner who comes to the big city from Iowa or Mexico appreciates saving $40-$50 per night on his hotel tab."

Larry Ellis, president, SoftWright, 1010 S. Joliet St., Aurora, Colo. 80012; 303/344-5486. E-mail: larry.ellis@softwright.com.

HOW TO GET BETTER FEEDBACK

* Make a big deal about evaluation: Says Will Fastie: "We literally badgered folks to fill out our evaluation forms, mentioning it after every session to make sure thoughts were recorded when they were fresh. We made sure everyone knew we were serious about their feedback and would act on it in future efforts."

Will Fastie, consultant, 7110 Sheffield Rd., Baltimore, Md. 21212; 410/340-1049. E-mail: will@fastie.net.

* Get feedback as quickly as possible: Judith Coley of FileMaker Inc. reports that during a recent nine-city road show, 75% of attendees filled out score sheets on-site; by comparison, "less than 5%" usually fill out post-event surveys on the Web. Coley adds that it's also important to tabulate and distribute feedback data promptly. "We collated results as we traveled, so I could present the results the following Monday to our executive staff and deal with any special questions with our sales team."

Judith Coley, director of marketing programs, FileMaker Inc., 5201 Patrick Henry Dr., Santa Clara, Calif. 95054; 408/987-3978. E-mail: judith_coley@filemaker.com.

* Ask meaningful questions: Faced with a captive audience, says Matthew Olivier, marketers sometimes try to collect too much data. "Don't make the evaluation form S.A.T.-length--one page is plenty long enough for someone to fill out at the end of the day." Olivier also notes that the questions should tie directly to "pre-event goals," such as education or lead generation, and not to "how many pencils you should have at the seminar."

Matthew Olivier, director of marketing communications, FreeBalance, 55 Metcalfe St., Ottawa, Ont. K1P 6L5; 613/236-8704. E-mail: molivier@freebalance.com.

H Send out a follow-up mailing: Nancy Farrell of InfoGenesis says she likes to mail attendees a post-seminar CD containing copies of all the presentations. "It gives us an opportunity for another customer touch with a reinforcing marketing message," she notes.

Nancy Farrell, marketing manager, InfoGenesis, 1351 Holiday Hill Rd., Santa Barbara, Calif. 93117; 805/681-8600. E-mail: nfarrell@infogenesis.com.