Ask The Coach

A: Whether via firm-hosted seminars or other, more public, forums, most lawyers will take advantage of the opportunity to showcase their expertise before a group of potential buyers or referral sources. The key to success lies in our ability to control Who, What, Who (again) and How Much, as in:

• Who will attend? Unless it's the right audience, or you are new to public speaking and need the practice, forget it.
• What is the topic? Your topic must be based on a compelling enough business problem to command the right audience, preferably a strategic one that earns the attention of executive decision makers. If it's mostly implementers, think hard.
• Who else must you share the stage with? The more presenters in the same or related fields, the more likely the issue is too broad. An exception is an emerging or global issue that is too new and too large to be controlled.
• How much must you give away? Many for-profit seminars, particularly those billed as professional education, are fool's gold that serve only to educate your competition. Unless you expect to get the majority of your FUTURE work from competitors' conflicts, walk away.

A: There are two keys to education/marketing seminars:

1) The issue must compel attention from a group that you may not ordinarily have access to, eg, senior executives at companies that fall within target parameters you've established.