Do you know the differences between useful and useless seminars?
A gentleman went twice to our Property Club Singapore seminars. I told him it is more worthwhile to sign up as a lifetime member for $99 and pay member fee to attend all the events.
“Better not. I already joined a few property groups and spent a few thousand dollars every time to attend their seminars. They were not as useful as I thought. I would see whether I should join your club later.”
I was puzzled.
How is it possible for someone to have no clue in telling good seminars from bad ones, after already spent thousands to learn his lessons?
Didn’t he read in our website that we do not promote thousand-dollar seminars, get-rich-quick programs, crowd funding overseas projects; that we do not allow sales pitch in our events?
People like him should get some hints from what MJ DeMarco says about seminars in his book The Millionaire Fastlane.
What idiot would pay $50,000 to attend a seminar? Many do. This is a common question at the Fastlane Forum. So-and-so is offering a three-day seminar on real estate investment for $50,000. Should I buy it? What? Are you a smoking crack? Do you know what you’re buying? Let me tell you. You’re paying $50,000 for someone to explain a book that’s found at the bookstore for 19 bucks.
People who have attended bad seminars before should notice that these events all share four distinctive traits:
Trait #1 – It is a thousand-dollar or a FREE seminar.
It’s all in the price.
How can organizers ask participants to pay thousands of dollars for a 3-day course? Because those so-called “experts” are more interested in making money than education. Actually, they make more money out of organizing seminars than investing in, say, properties.
The opposite, a 2 or 3-hour free seminar, is no better.
The trainer is going to give you 15 minutes of free education, while wasting the rest of your time up-selling you a thousand-dollar seminar or a ten-thousand-dollar product.
Who is paying for the venue, F&B and the trainer’s time in a free seminar? You are.
A member of the Fastlane Forum reflected on her recent seminar experience with a popular book guru: First, you won’t be allowed to network. If you were allowed to network then people would find out quicker that the seminar is just one giant sales pitch for a larger, more expensive seminar to the tune of $50,000.
Trait #2 – It is funded by all the speakers there.
How many times you went to seminars and ended up learning nothing but products and services advertised by the speakers? They said nothing new but repeatedly reinforced the message that “It is a promising investment. I need my paycheck so don’t wait and buy it now”.
That’s exactly the purpose of the organizer. The speakers are paying thousands or more to sponsor the show. What do you expect?
Second, you won’t learn a damn thing, except that you should have listened to your gut and not gone. There really is a sucker born every minute. Amazing how people have nothing in the bank but can come up with $50k just for the hope of something better.
Trait #3 – It is delivered by a public speaker rather than a practitioner.
Most of the unreasonably-priced seminars are given by celebrity-style professional public speakers. Do they really practice what they preach? Who knows?
Read the fine print. “Johnny Guru’s strategies have made millions!” and then the fine print says, “Johnny Guru will not be in attendance.” Huh? Would you allow an acting surrogate to perform surgery on you if the real surgeon wasn’t available?
Seminars can be great for education, but it has to be the right seminar; which is affordable and given by producers and experienced experts, not by professional, career public speakers. Most high-dollar seminars are well-orchestrated marketing machines tailored to extract every dollar from your wallet. Most cheap seminars are daylong up-sells to a more expensive seminar. And those well-suited presenters? They suffer the typical Paradox of Practice: rich from public speaking to millions but not rich from what they teach.
Trait #4 – It makes you feel great while there.
Bad seminars aim to get you excited and entertained with all the “feel good” “get high” factors in the room.
How about some exhilarating pop music to introduce the speakers to the stage? Want to see some flashy dance moves? How about throwing in theatrical effects with smoke and fireworks?
The impressive gimmicks are successful to wow the audience. But what did the audience learn? Nothing.
The opposite, asking the audience to do something, is no better.
When you are feeling great and getting high at the seminar, a pricey product or service always pops up right at the point of climax.
This is a chance in a million! Take charge of your own destiny! Act now!
And finally, there is a segment in the seminar where they have you increase the balance on your credit cards, because after all, the rich make money and the poor earn it. So then everyone goes and increases their balances, and then guess what – they hit you with the purchase price of anywhere from $16k to $50k, depending on how “serious” you are. Ridiculous? Apparently not, because people go rushing to the back of the room like cattle to slaughter, credit cards in hand. They leave with a nervous sense of self-satisfaction and a cute little sticker on their shirt that says “I invest in myself”.
In a nutshell
Still don’t get it?
Let the author summarize his points for you.
Good seminars are under $1,000 and are given by respectable experts, practitioners, and seminar firms. Good seminars are educational and don’t come at the price of a new Cadillac Esalade. Bad seminars are hyped, high-pressure, and exploitative. Bad seminars are about making money and not about helping you.
I like what John Maxwell said: Don’t go to a seminar to have a temporary surge of motivation. Go back and revisit what you heard, reflect on it, put it into an action that can help your decision and change your life.
We are running Reading Property Signs In the Year of the Dog seminar this Saturday (Jan 13).
1. We charge a fee to attract audience with better profile and minimize no-show.
2. You are paying for the F&B and expenses of the event.
3. You can definitely learn something from the sales-pitch-free presentations and roundtable discussions with the speakers.
4. You won’t get high there. I promise.
I applaud you for being so ‘straight up’ n up front. Being in marketing n sales in senior position for ‘donkey’ years. Knowing all the gimmicks sales presentation or other advertising ‘cons’ that all these speakers pull during a presentation. Always targeting human weakness like fear of losing out,greed, temptation, hope etc. Many ordinary working folks get sway momentarily n just like impulse buying coupled with high pressure tactics. I think many people don’t realize they are actually making big bucks out of you. Honestly if I am making millions whether it’s e-commerce mktg thru’ Facebook, Amazon or t likes.Why would I go to teach someone to steal my golden goose unless otherwise? But of course there are genuine gurus out there who don’t overcharge you n you can only use your own cow sense to assess what he is saying is t truth or not. Nevermind there always painful lessons some people have to go thru’. Or u could stay calm during t presentation, go back n analyse yourself or log in many social media forums and see what t past students said about t lecturer. I bet there’s a lot of cursing n swearing with some of them. Two cents worth of my opinion. Cheers.
Hey, thanks for your feedback. I agree with you totally.
Besides greed and the fear of losing out, many people simply lack individual judgment. Maybe it’s the way we are brought up – we are taught to conform rather than to challenge.
And many don’t even care to validate what they are told before they are being sold.