Last weekend I hosted my fourth Million Dollar Message workshop in Toronto.
I have hosted close to 25 live events over the last 4 years. Each has been magical and impactful in its own way. Yet there was something undeniably powerful about this workshop.
So I thought I’d take you behind the scenes of the event and share some key learnings and insights about hosting and leading live events, and my own evolution as a leader and event host.
1. Be Willing To Experiment Courageously
Here’s the thing. Hosting an event is a TREMENDOUS amount of work and a huge investment of time, energy and money on the part of the event host and team. For this reason, hosting an event is a risk.
When we as entrepreneurs choose to take a risk (i.e. host an event), we’ll often try to mitigate that risk by eliminating as much additional risk as possible.
One way an event host mitigates risk is to lean on formulas to “fill” their events. In my industry, there are a number of tried and true tactics events hosts use to fill events:
- Giving subsidized tickets to past clients in order to incent them to attend (also known as “bonus tickets”) The subsidized pricing ranges anywhere from a 50% to 80% discount.
- Providing reduced “bring a friend” pricing to incent attendees to invite their friends to attend.
- Giving away lots of free tickets at the last minute to make the room look “full”.
What this means is that in the end, it’s not uncommon to have anywhere from 10-20% of attendees paying full price, while the vast majority is attending at a discount.
This is a common practice for event organizers, and in the past I have employed tactics #1 and #2.
And while I’m so proud of decisions I have made in the past to build my business, this time around, I made different choices:
- I raised the prices of the event tickets by 76% to better reflect the true value of the experience.
- I eliminated all bonus tickets, bring a friends and other reduced pricing strategies.
Everyone who was in that room invested a significant amount of time, energy and money to be there. They weren’t “testing us out” – they were bought in.
The result was that we had fewer overall attendees than in previous events but generated more overall profit.
What’s more, the people who attended were fully committed to the experience they were about to have, and this contributed to making it one of the best events I have ever hosted.
In the beginning, you may choose to employ common industry practices to “fill” your events and programs. Awesome. But as your business matures, don’t be afraid to go rogue, stand in your power and buck business as usual.
2. Transformation AND Information.
Getting the mix of teaching and transformation correct in an event is a tricky art.
I’ve attended information-rich events where I have felt like I was drinking from a fire hose.
I have also attended transformation-heavy events that fell woefully short of delivering real insight or tangible takeaways.
For this event, I reduced my overall teaching material by about 50%, and made much more room for discussion, laser coaching and implementation.
As a host, this allowed me to be powerful and present with my attendees because I wasn’t worried about “covering everything”. And for the attendees, this gave space to think, reflect and engage with the material.
The takeaway: there’s a sweet spot that marries the need to present actual teachings with the desire and space for participants to think and reflect. The gateway that allows you as the event host to access this sweet spot is your ability to balance these two things:
- Your confidence in your material and facilitation ability
- Your willingness to actually prepare and teach powerful material
Both are needed.
3. It is totally, 100% NOT about you.
My events last 2.5 days. This is a LOT of time to be in front of a room, leading discussions, teaching, keeping the trains running on time, providing laser coaching and looking fabulous while doing all of the above. ☺
For this reason, I’m often EXHAUSTED after hosting an event.
But not this time. I actually feel MORE energized than I normally would. (I’m writing this epic debrief, after all.)
My abundance of energy comes down to a profound realization I made in my business over the last year: It’s not about me.
I, like all entrepreneurs experience pain on a weekly basis: a marketing campaign didn’t work as expected. A vendor hasn’t provided what they said they would. A location we wanted for an event isn’t available the week we want it. A sale we thought would close didn’t. Etc.
Pain is unavoidable.
Suffering, on the other hand, is totally optional.
And here’s the thing: most of the suffering that I experience in my business comes from making things about me that are not actually about me.
Example: it wasn’t uncommon for me to feel nervous before an event in the past. I’d stress over questions like: Will people like it? Will they be comfortable?
But those questions were questions pretending to be about others that were actually about ME. Will people like it and what will that mean about their impression of ME? Will they be comfortable and what will that say about ME?
Me, me, me.
Can you relate? Have you ever allowed insecurity to make things about you that are not, in fact, about you at all?
This time, I took myself out of the equation and focused my intention and energy on THEM.
Ironically, by making the event 100% about MY CLIENTS, I actually enforced stronger boundaries and self-care than ever before. I dressed myself beautifully. I ate power food for my body. I fully rested during breaks. I hired a massage therapist to come to my hotel in the evening. I worked out in the mornings.
By not making stuff about me, I was able to find the energy to a) take exquisite care of myself and b) provide a magnificent experience for my clients.
Hosting a sacred space for your people to come together is a privilege and an opportunity that comes with huge risk and devotion. I hope you find these insights useful in preparing to host your own event.
PS. Our next event happens October 24-26, 2019 in Toronto, Canada. Click here to get on the priority notification list for when tickets go on sale!