Add Value to Your Conferences with Publications and Instructional Videos

If you find yourself participating often in industryhangings, or quilted garments. Whatever your
conferences, either as an instructor or a vendor,area of expertise you should be able to come up
you may be able to develop an additional incomewith a wealth of ideas to offer your audience.
stream by publishing your own books or producingOne caution: If your business is to offer seminars
DVDs or CDs to supplement the information youin a particular subject or group of subjects on a
provide.regular basis, it would be a mistake to simply
No matter what your industry, chances are yourrecreate your seminar in book form or as a DVD.
customers or students could benefit fromOf course you would want to cover the basics of
additional information in an easily accessible format.your subject, but your goal should be to design
In addition to self-published books or booklets,your seminar and book or DVD so that they
instructional videos featuring creative uses of yourcomplement one another, each offering
products, background information on yourinformation and ideas the other does not, so that
industry, or business advice gained from yourpeople who sign up for your seminar will get
own personal experience all have the potential ofadditional benefit from the book; and of course,
adding value to your seminar or conferencepeople who are exposed to your books will want
participants.to attend one or more of your seminars.
One prominent educational seminar company holdsIt's a simple matter these days to self-publish
workshops, conferences, and conventionsbooks and even to sell them via websites like
throughout the United States for elementaryAmazon.com, for still another income stream.
schoolteachers. At some point the companyMake sure you include contact information and
decided to supply a few books on subjectsmention your seminars so that people intrigued by
relevant to elementary education for sale at theiryour book can contact you for seminar info.
events; eventually they began to publish their ownIf you do decide to create and sell informative
materials, written by their presenters, tobooks, CDs, and DVDs for your seminars, make
supplement the seminar materials. This effortsure you contact the conference center or the
evolved into an entire book division, with thecompany sponsoring the seminars to arrange for
company selling their own publications and thosea display area. Inventory what you need to
of other educational authors at their conferences,create a display, and either provide the materials
through a mail order catalog, and over theand supplies yourself or arrange for it to be
Internet. What began as a small and simpleprovided. And don't forget, if you're at a
addition to their seminars became a major sourceconference or convention that is a day-long or
of income for the company.multi-day affair, make sure to hire or otherwise
So what can you bring to your seminar studentscommandeer someone to man your display during
or customers which enhances your publictimes when you are teaching or are otherwise
presentation? If you sell video equipment for aoccupied.
living, or instruct people on the use of videoOffering the right supplementary materials for
equipment, you can put together a book of basicsale at your seminars or conferences can not
videography techniques; or a simple interactive CDonly provide you with additional income, it can
spreadsheet program which helps create budgetssolidify your reputation as an expert on your
for video projects. If you teach a quilting seminar,subject; it may even expand your influence in
you may be able to assemble a collection of youryour industry well beyond your present student
own designs with instructions for quilts, wallor customer-base.