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WORKROOM OPERATIONS

Take Your Knowledge on the Road
Part 1 - Through preparation will enable you to reap the rewards of a successful seminar.

by Kitty Stein, CWP, WCAA

Your knowledge is unique and valuable, and it could make a difference if shared with others. Whether it's shared with your peers, a group of clients or potential clients, a successful, well thought-out and skillfully presented seminar could bring many rewards—financially as well as personally.

Sharing information with your friends is one thing, but preparing to present a successful seminar is another. If you want to go beyond your local arena into the national circuits, as many of your peers are doing, preparation and credentials are essential. Anything you do to prepare to reach a regional/national opportunity will more than benefit any local efforts.

BUILDING CREDIBILITY
The more credibility you can present along with your seminar proposal, the greater are your chances of being accepted. Here are some ideas to help you build your credentials:

1. Teach locally. Besides teaching through your local parks departments and community colleges and universities, there also might be opportunities for teaching classes in fabric stores.

If you teach the same class more than once through the same institution, it is a testimony that your presentations must be good, i.e. you are a good speaker.

2. Write. Approach an industry magazine about writing. If an opportunity is not there right now, you could write for any related publication, i.e. home sewing magazines. However, be prepared that your submissions could take a while, even months, to work through the channels to be accepted and printed. There could be two to three months lead-time from acceptance to printing.

3. Get published. Do some research and see what you can do to get your window coverings work published in popular consumer magazines as well as trade magazines. And be sure you are given credit in the publications!

4. Enter competitions and exhibitions. Submit to any organization within the industry that allows your work to be seen or judged. This is a way to gather testimony to your work knowledge and skills.

5. Participate in online forums. This is a way to become active and involved with your peers. If you can offer good insight and advice, the members will remember you and want to attend your seminars. Some vendors participate in the forums and this could open opportunities you had not considered.

6. Publish a book/product. No matter what industry you are in, publishing a book, DVD or other product is automatic clout. However, be aware that that process is a whole different business and can be quite lengthy and expensive in many ways.

One of the most important things you can do as you work on your credentials is to get your photograph included in any printed matter with which you are associated. It’s likely you won’t be asked, so make a point to ask to have your photo included.

FACE-TO-FACE FEAR
While there are some natural born speakers, for most people speaking in front of a group is a very frightening experience. There is help available.

1. Local public speaking classes. Besides colleges, there may be a local business group that offers speaking classes. I once took a public speaking class offered by members of the Business & Professional Women’s organization. It was less intimidating because people I knew were teaching the class and I also knew my fellow students. Being a very small group was also less frightening.

2. Toastmasters. This is a national organization dedicated to helping its members become better speakers.

3. Dale Carnegie class. As I was trying to build my speaking skills, I took a 12-week Dale Carnegie class. Not only did I become a far better speaker, I also became more confident in myself. Even if I had never done any public speaking afterwards, I would consider it the best investment I ever made in myself.

4. Read books. This is a very good way to learn tips for speaking well, but it should not be your only education. It’s important to get more comfortable in front of people and you have to actually do it for that to happen.

5. Take seminars. There are seminars available that teach you how to present, and you learn by watching a professional in action. However, you also must take seminars on other subjects besides speaking so you can judge what you like and what you don’t like about different methods of presentation.

6. Know your topic. This is the easiest part. The better you know your material, the more comfortable you will be. It may be good to do some additional research. There is an old saying, “If you want to learn something, teach it.” Many times, I researched something I didn’t know in order to teach it.

7. Dr. Wayne Dyer’s advice: It’s simply this: “Talk from your heart authentically and be enthusiastic. Passionate, truthful communication is always inspiring.”

CHOOSING A TOPIC
Choose a topic that is of current value in the industry and one with which you have good experience, but also consider what would be required to present it. I was very good at coming up with seminars that required a lot of my time to make samples. However, I loved the topics I was preparing and found making the samples only enhanced my knowledge of what I was going to present.

The down side of having a lot of samples is transporting then to the event, preparing for the presentation (steaming the sample treatments and organizing them on site), packing up after the presentation, transporting everything home and then storing them.

Another thing to consider is how many times you might eventually be repeating your seminar. If it’s a one-time-only deal, then consider how much time and expense it will take and whether it will be worth it. Know what your goals are, i.e. why you want to present in the first place. The notoriety and residual return may more than offset your initial investment.

SPEECH PLAN
The more prepared you are the better are your chances of getting rave reviews of your presentation.

1. Organize what you plan to say. I always use an outline for both writing and speaking. Yours need not be a formal outline. List your main topics and the things you need to cover under each topic.

2. Plan/prepare the physical needs. Know what samples/props you need to take and what equipment you need. What must you furnish and what must the promoter provide?

3. Plan B. Things happen that shouldn’t, so be prepared. Suppose your samples don’t arrive. Suppose you don’t have the equipment the promoter promised. Suppose your computer decides to crash.

The one thing you can count on is you. I always carried my notes with me, although with modern day airport security that may not be possible anymore. Audiences usually are very understanding. If you have your notes, you likely can do a very reasonable presentation.

4. Presentation of samples. You can pass samples around your audience. I’ve seen it done many times and I’ve also done it on a very limited scale. If too many things are being passed while you are talking, the audience is going to miss a lot of what you are saying.

5. Have a handout. There are several thoughts on this. Many believe in not giving out the handout until after the seminar, saying the attendees will be more focused. I only did this once and it made sense for that particular seminar.

As an attendee, I like a handout so I can make notes on it, and I like it to be detailed. Many speakers believe that a detailed handout takes away from the value of what the speaker is offering in the presentation. I do my handouts in great detail because I want that handout to be useful to the attendees many months after the seminar when they finally need that information. By the way, always put your copyright on your handout, i.e. © 2006 Kitty Stein.

Don’t forget to find out who provides the copies of the handout, the deadline to have them submitted, and if there is a restriction on the number of pages you can include.

SPEECH PREP
Your speech is what it is all about. Here are some crucial things I found very important:

1. The main rule of speaking is: Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them, i.e. summary, detail and summary.

2. Your notes. Don’t try to memorize a speech verbatim. Use an outline and ad-lib what you want to say. You should know your topic well enough to be able to do this.

3. Plan to insert occasional diversions such as jokes or visual action to make points. It helps to keep your audience’s attention. Get the audience involved if you can. In one of the first seminars I ever gave, I did a demonstration that required 10 people to assist. Over the years, many people have told me they had never forgotten that demo and what it taught.

4. Practice. A few people are born with speaker’s genes, the rest of us have to practice. I went over and over my presentations, timing everything. I allowed time for questions because they are inevitable. I tried my best to get my timing down so I would end on time, which is essential.

Accept the fact that you may not be able to tell your audience all that you would like to tell them in the allotted time. They will never know what they missed.

5. Tell them when you are finished. The closing is the most important part of your presentation. I memorized what I wanted to say in those last few minutes, because I wanted to be sure they got the point I was trying to make. I also would give them a call to action, i.e. ask them to do a specific thing that would use what I had just told them.

I learned the value of ending properly as an attendee. I once attended a seminar by a renowned speaker. Her delivery was exciting and enthusiastic and she definitely had the audience’s attention throughout. But at the end, she just stopped. There was an awkward silence as the audience began to realize it was over. The speaker said nothing to indicate it was over. The sad part was that the long period of awkwardness made it even more awkward if the audience had wanted to applaud. I would have applauded, but I felt the time for it had passed. While applause is not the main purpose of speaking, it does feel good and it tells you if you did a good job.

Speaking? Maybe it is not something you aspire to and it would really be taking you outside your comfort zone. It will do that and in the process expand your comfort zone and your self-confidence. Anytime you force yourself outside the protection of your box, you grow as a human being. And with each timid step, your personal value grows and you get closer to the reason you are really here: to make a difference.

Speaking is one way to give many others a hand up. It might be a little scary, but the satisfaction of watching others grow because of what you contributed, is beyond description. Now that you know how to get started, think about it. Even if you only do it once, it could be the most joyous soul-growing thing you have ever done.