Define Your Audience

There is a wealth of knowledge out there that you can tap into and turn into a highly valuable seminar. However, knowing whom to share this knowledge with is critical to the success of your efforts. Giving out a seminar without knowing and understanding who your audience will be is a careless step. Put some thought into learning how to define your audience and establish your target market. Who Is Your Audience? Theoretically, virtually every person who wishes to learn more insights and improve their skills can be part of your audience. If you take a closer look at your potential market, you will find the following: Small And Medium-Sized Businesses This group is traditionally the largest and most active audience in the industry, bringing in millions of dollars in revenue for seminar providers. They often send their representatives to participate in seminars as a means to help assimilate their skills into the organization, improve their processes and learn about updated set of skills and information. Corporations This is another group that could form part of your audience. Although more seasoned, this group generally sends participants to seminars in order to help their employees learn more and bring that learning back to be used within the organization. Sometimes, if they don't have in-house training resources, corporations will even hire a speaker to conduct a specific seminar on-site. Small Groups, Clubs And Associations This group periodically sends members to seminars to help them learn new skills and update new ones. Some groups, especially those composed of professionals, often have to go to seminars in order to comply with requirements for certain certifications related to their profession. They will also be interested in seminars that have topics related to the main theme of their annual meetings and conventions. Individuals This group has all sorts of reasons to attend seminars, which means that their demographics can vary greatly. Other than general interest seminars, individuals often pay for specialized trainings usually as a means for self-improvement, supplement their basic knowledge or to use for their business. Meeting A Need When you go into the seminar business, you'll find out that oftentimes, your audience is already there. Their needs are already present, their requirements are already set and all you have to do is provide something to fill the gap. When you seek out to define your audience, find out what exactly your goal is. What do you want to lecture on? What CAN you lecture on? What can your audience get out of your seminar? What is it in your seminar that will be of interest to your target audience? Who will be willing to pay for a seminar such as yours? Once you have answers to these questions, it will be easy for you to define your audience. Location, Location And More Location Sometimes, knowing where you will be conducting your seminar can help you define who your audience will be. Ask yourself: who will be willing to come to this seminar? Do they have the means and resources to do so? Who will have the time and interest to become a participant at a specific time and place? Seminar Topics And Their Audience You can also define your audience by taking a look at your seminar topics. Common offerings such as motivation, organization, goal-achievement and time and office management, for example, are big successes with small, medium and large businesses and corporations. Self-improvement topics such as positive thinking, self-esteem and even goal achievement are favorites among individuals. Building self-confidence, improving relationships and good communication are very popular among married couples, single parents, women's clubs and even singles' groups. Specific topics also help you define your audience. If you can lecture about topics such as creative writing, better grammar, new trends in publishing and networking, you can attract groups of writers, would-be writers, book clubs and small publishers. Topics about new techniques in holistic, massage therapy and aromatherapy will attract masseuses, practitioners of holistic medicine, caregivers, spa owners and even hobbyists. Lecturing in a seminar about the art of fundraising and networking will interest non-profit groups, professional fundraisers, volunteers, civic clubs and even temple and church groups. As you can see, with a little creativity, you will be able to define your audience and set your sights on a ready target market. Define your goals as a seminar speaker and assess what you have to offer. This will help simplify your search for participants who will be willing to learn from you.