How to hold a great patient-education seminar
By Cathie Gharing

Patient education is important. Seminars are a natural marketing strategy and provide helpful information to health-hungry consumers.

But have you ever hosted a patient-education seminar that was attended by only a few? To keep that from happening, here are some tips for putting on a successful seminar:

1. Know the zip codes and income ranges in your area. Knowing who you want to target is 60 percent of your mail success

2. Schedule a ‘night out’ for your prospects. Schedule the seminar on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday evening. Schedule the start time to be between 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

3. Create an incentive for people to come to your seminar. Consumers need a good reason to spend two hours with you to listen to your presentation.

Tip: Offering a dinner as the incentive gets the most number of people to attend.

4. Hire a direct marketing firm to create and send the invitation. Select a firm that specializes in professional invitations and has experience in designing pieces that consumers open up.

5. Make arrangements with a local restaurant. Limit the size of each seminar to 30 or 40 attendees. You can always schedule more nights if you fill up your dates.

6. Choose a great topic for the seminar. Include bullet points in the invitation so your recipients will be enticed to attend. Don’t explain everything about the seminar in the invitation. Include a telephone number for people to conveniently respond and include in the mail piece a reply card for people to RSVP via postal mail.

7. Mail your invitations. Your consultant should be able to advise you on the appropriate number of invitations to mail in your desired zip code and income ranges. Don’t be surprised if it is several thousand! Sound like too many? If you get too many responses, you can schedule additional presentations.

8. Confirm your RSVPs. Call all of them to confirm their attendance. If you don’t have the staff available, your direct marketing firm can offer this service. Follow up on all who have indicated that they will not be able to attend, but would like more information sent to them about your services.

9. Assign staff to register and greet people. Make people feel welcome as they arrive at the seminar.

10. Speak first. Limit your speech to no more than 60 minutes. Do not lecture. You are there to be social and gain credibility. Feed your audience after your presentation.

11. Offer incentives. After your presentation, tell attendees that they will receive incentives that night if they sign up for an appointment that same evening. Incentives can include dinner certificates, movie tickets, or travel certificates. Your direct marketing firm can offer you a complete package that includes the invitation, targeted mailing list, mailing services, RSVP service, and incentives to make appointments that evening.

Cathie Gharing is advertising manager of Seminar Advantage in Tampa, Fla. She can be contacted at 866-801-6593 or by e-mail at info@seminaradvantage.com.