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Seminar Siring Strategies

by Burt Dubin    

A topic title was assigned to me by the meeting planner. It was within my field of expertise. And I had no seminar outline that would fit this group. So, I had to work from scratch.

Relying on my understanding of the meeting planner's intentions, I mused, entered a reverie-like state -- and dreamed about designing a knock-their-socks-off program. Came out of the dream state gazing at my research library, pulled out this book and that one, started fashioning a framework.

Enraptured by the concept that was coming into being I turned to my research files, was drawn to various folders that, sure enough, held meaningful data. Furiously fleshing out the seminar I wiped off the perspiration, paused, closed my eyes, returned to a reverie state -- and breathed.

Stories and illustrations started coming to me, point-provers I scrawled in where they were needed. My desk was a sea of paper now. Finally I keyed in my notes, drafted the multi-page handout and found myself with a new seminar I could sell (in generic form) again and again. And -- it all started with the state.

First I had the dream. Then the dream had me. Hooked, I had to complete the design of the seminar. It took slightly over 2 weeks of intensive activity to develop a new 3-hour seminar. That's the exact process as I lived it -- and you can do it, too.

2. Communicate authentically:

"What you are, sir, speaks so loudly that I can hardly hear what you say." (Emerson)

Your essential seminar communication is your essence. It's your unwritten message for your world, for the universe of lives you touch. Why does everyone love Rosita? Before she says a word audiences see her glow. They feel the love she radiates. That's her essence. What is yours?

Some speakers are masterful technicians. They know their topic inside out, backward and forward. They can answer just about any question on their specialty. It stops there. There are no core values. There is no soul, no ethos. Years ago there was a great -- a great -- platform performer/Broadway actor. He played lead roles in 2 classics I saw. These shows delighted audiences for years. He had a grand voice. Impressive bearing. Superb timing. He was a masterful technician. Yet, and this is the tragic part, he had no life outside the platform.

Today, by his own arrangement, Zero Mostel is buried in an unmarked grave in a New York borough. Why do I report this? To share this view with you: We who are privileged to stand before audiences are to be more than fine technicians. More than experts at our art form. Aware of our impact, of the accountability that goes with that impact, accountability that follows us as surely as the shadow follows the form, we are to be models of what we advocate.

We are to share more than our expertise and our stories. We are to share our essence, our state of being, our true Selves. We are to touch people's cores. To leave them with a vivid and positive experience they'll never forget. An experience of a subliminal message, an unspoken message, a wordless communication. You see, people rarely show up to get your information. They come to experience you.


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Burt Dubin, a 20 year veteran of the business of speaking, coaches and mentors speakers and wanna-be's working, coaches and mentors speakers and wanna-be's world-wide. Burt works with people who want to be speakers and with speakers who want to be masters