I spent this past Saturday at an Internet marketing seminar on the Gold Coast, Australia. I’ve been to a couple of Internet marketing seminars/conferences now, and this was a refreshing change from the usual pitch-fest. So what happened and why was everyone buzzing before, during and after the event?

Well, I helped make the event happen of course! Okay, let’s not exaggerate. I played my part in sending out emails, organizing accommodation, and speaking, but hats must go off to Peter Drew for hosting the event and Michael Silvester for organizing the event. And then there was our great group of talented speakers (James Schramko, Graeme Salter, Josh Uebergang and Quentin Brown) who, along with myself, Michael and Peter, shared some fabulous content.

And that’s not to mention our audience of enthusiastic, motivated Internet marketers. All helped to make it a great day of educational content, networking and fun.

Okay, but what exactly DID this event deliver and more to the point… why did it deliver when so many other seminars don’t?

Firstly, each speaker delivered solid, detailed content and didn’t hold back on the details. Not just during their presentations or when answering questions, but during the breaks too. None of the presentations were obvious presales to some kind of product or service. And there was no pitching at any point during the event.

Now, from a marketing perspective I’m not against pitch fests. If the model works, it works. But someone very close to the Internet marketing / business opportunity seminar business tells me that attendance at big pitch-fests – where the model is ‘tell-as-little-as-possible-then-pitch-as-much-as-possible’ – is declining. At least in Australia.

Maybe people are tiring of seeing the same old faces selling the same old things… and are discovering that what they’re paying for just isn’t delivering on its promise.

Now, we all know there’s a limit to what you can share in a 45-60 minute presentation, so I’m not sure why some speakers are worried about giving away too much information when they talk. And if the content is good… chances are they’ll end up getting quite a few sales out of it. I suspect that some of our speakers did, indeed, acquire a few clients based on their presentations. Probably long-term, loyal customers at that (what’s the bet their average lifetime value beats that of customers acquired at traditional pitch-fests?).

So there’s no reason to believe that Internet marketing seminars – like other seminars – can’t still be a vehicle for speakers to sell their wares. Or even that there can’t be any kind of pitching or “selling at the back of the room”. But I think we’re all realizing that “education sells”… which means there has to be education, not just selling!

The Gold Coast seminar was also small, which was invaluable in helping people get to know – and learn from – each other. That’s not to say that an event with a few hundred people can’t work. It’s just that a more intimate gathering – where you spend a whole day i.e. from 9am to after dinner and break bread with 20 or so others – gives you a real chance to forge true relationships. Future events are unlikely to be so small, but there is probably a “magic number” where having any more people will detract from the value everyone gets out of the event.

All in all, it was a fantastic day and I look forward to being part of future such events. Want to be there too? Don’t worry, just keep reading this newsletter and you’ll be the first to know. (Hint: if you live overseas, consider scheduling a trip to Australia next year).

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 20th, 2008 at 4:32 am and is filed under Feature, Internet Marketing Niche. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.