How to Successfully Host a Live Event

Hey hey! Welcome to episode 214 of Life on Fire. I’m so fired up for this episode - we’re talking about how to host a live event and how to do it the right way. Live events have been key for Life on Fire and I’ve learned a lot with each event I’ve hosted. 

On this episode I’ll share with you the inner workings and behind the scenes of what makes a live event great (and what doesn’t) and why events are phenomenal in growing your brand, your audience and your bottom line.

In this episode you’ll hear:

• What does experience have to do with a live event? (0:50)
• Why a high ticket price for your live event isn't a good profitability strategy. (1:30)
• Should you have other people speak at your event? (2:40)
• Why my live events without Gary Vaynerchuk and Daymond John were twice as profitable! (3:00)
• The irresponsible and responsible ways to host a live event. (4:45)
• And so much more!

More About This Show

The first thing to know about hosting an event is that it’s all about the experience. You want to take the time to build an experience for people, come up with a plan and a vision of how to do so. It’s important to know the theme and the purpose of the event you are hosting, and to know that in advance.

I see a lot of entrepreneurs miss this critical piece. They spend six months working on the details of the event without having first created an outcome for it! And part of that outcome needs to be profit. Yes you want to use live events to build your brand, your community but profitability needs to be in there too.

This is where I also see people make mistakes. They go for high-priced tickets and try to make all their money on the sale of tickets. This strategy doesn’t work, especially if you don’t have a big list and are using media buys (like Facebook ads) to get butts in the seats! It's your responsibility to have a profitable live event so think through the end game of the event: map out ticket prices, your offers you will have at the event, and your overall onsite experience for your attendees.

Part of that overall experience may include other speakers. This is ultimately up to you, I think you should because it’s great for networking and connecting with people. But there are some pitfalls to watch out for, some that I have learned the hard way myself.

If you feature someone as the big speaker and the highlight of your event you are taking away from you. For example when we've brought in a big gun like Gary Vaynerchuk or Daymond John then the focus was on them and not on the Life on Fire brand. So Bbe careful not to take away from yourself in the process of having other speakers there.

Having big names is tempting for a few reasons: you'll get more people in the room and you may also be afraid that people won’t show up just for you, you may feel like you need a big name or two so people have a reason to be there. 

While you may get more attendees with big names, I have found they weren't as inclined to do business with us, they were there for other reasons. In fact, at Life on Fire we have found that our events without the big names are twice as profitable! The bottom line is big names build your brand, but they don't grow your business in the long-term.

And if you are worried about no one showing up just for you - stop it! Stop thinking people won't come just for you! That's a limiting belief, and you don’t need it any more. If you are doing a live event it's because you have a passion and a mission, so let that be the focal point.

Bring in speakers who complement that mission and what you are about, but do so without you being pushed to the back of the stage at your own event.

Also on this episode, I’ll share what to keep in mind when building out the experience of the event, what not to do when hosting an event and what I’ll be doing for everyone who attends my upcoming Life on Fire event in early December. Tune in to hear it all on the 214th edition of Life on Fire!

 

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