Top 5 Mistakes When Creating And Selling A Live Event

0:02Mazda has been named Consumer Reports' safest new car brand. It starts with our approach. Every Mazda comes standard with proactive safety features. So you're more aware of what's around you, more focused on the road ahead, and ready before problems ever start. Mazda. More of what matters most to you. Go to mazdausa.com to learn more. Consumer Reports does not endorse or promote any product. You know that moment when a meeting ends and someone says, let's circle back on that next week. Everyone nods, but no one actually writes it down. The next week rolls around and it's radio silence. Nobody remembers because nobody took a note.

0:44That's why Granola exists. We love Granola in our business. We use Granola in every single meeting. And let me tell you why. Granola is an AI-powered notepad built for the way real people actually meet. Here's how it works. You take rough notes like you normally would, and in the background, Granola securely transcribes the meeting. Then it turns everything into clean, structured, actually useful notes when your meeting ends. I just came out of a meeting where we were discussing events that we're going to be planning for this year here at the$100 MBA, and Granola wrote meticulous notes for us so that afterwards, we know who's doing what.

1:20So zero balls are dropped. And here's an amazing feature that I absolutely love about Granola. You can ask any questions about anything that happened during any meeting you're using Granola with. And in fact, it's so powerful, it caused me to start thinking about our next hire. I actually asked Granola, hey, what's a reoccurring challenge that keeps coming up in all our meetings? Granola told me straight out that I was the bottleneck when it came to scripting episodes. So guess what? We made a hire and now Molly helps us out with scripting. Thank you, Molly and Granola. If meetings are eating up your day, granola is a no-brainer.

1:56You can try it totally free. Just head to granola.ai slash MBA. That's granola.ai slash MBA to get your time back. Try it for free at granola.ai slash MBA. I love running live events, whether it's a dinner, a workshop, a retreat, a Christmas party, a multi-day conference, a mastermind weekend. I've run all those. And in those experiences of running all those events, I've learned what to do and what not to do, how to be as successful as possible. So today, I want to share with you the five critical mistakes you want to avoid when it comes to running a live event. And by the way, if you run a business, you're going to run a live event, whether it's a professional development day to train your team or a Christmas party for your team to celebrate at the end of the year.

2:45You're going to have to do it. So you might as well do it right. And listen, I know the five most critical mistakes because I made all those mistakes. I did every single one of them. And I want to share with you what to do instead so that you are successful. I also believe that running live events is a great way to earn money for your business. It's actually a really good product to sell. But the number one mistake, and I'll talk about this in detail, is that most people don't charge enough for their paid live events so that they can be able to spend enough to make an exceptional experience for the attendees.

3:19It's counterintuitive, but it's actually easier to sell an expensive event that is a wow, exceptional event because you have the money to be able to do that versus a mediocre event that is affordable. So whatever kind of event you want to run, whether it's a small one, a big one, Nicole and I have done all the types of events on the spectrum, whether it was just like a few hour event, like a dinner, or even like a five, six day retreat that we did for entrepreneurs where we traveled to New Zealand and went skiing all together. It was a lot of work, but you learn a lot in that process. So I could tell you what to do, whether it's a small one-day event or a multi-day event.

3:59Let's go.

4:05Welcome back to the$100 MBA show. I'm your host, Omar Zinhome, where I deliver practical business lessons three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to help you start, grow and scale your business. Hey, if this show has helped you in any way, leave me a quick review wherever you listen to podcasts. This helps us reach even more people who need the same no fluff practical business advice. It literally takes a few seconds, but it makes a huge difference. Thanks for being a part of our journey to help others on their journey. So like I mentioned, mistake number one is not charging enough to deliver an exceptional experience.

4:42You need to charge a reasonable amount, right? Why? Because you're going to need to spend to create something that people feel like it's worth their dollar, okay? And that is very counterintuitive. People don't understand that like, hey, am I going to be able to sell this thing if it's expensive? Yes, if you're delivering exceptional value. People are happy to spend money if they know they're going to get something in return that's going to make them feel like, hey, this was great. The bottom line is that people will pay for something remarkable. They don't hesitate to buy something that feels like it's going to be worth their money, okay?

5:17Underpriced events traps you, right? You can't actually make the event good enough for them to feel like is worth buying. Let me show you how this works, right? You underprice your event, right? You can't afford to make it great because you're not making enough profit. So the event is mediocre. So then it's hard to sell because it's kind of blah. So you raise prices and then you have a death strap, right? Because now your reputation is damaged. So it's better for you to go in with a little bit of a higher price product because then you have a margin to be able to deliver an exceptional event that you can market, that you can really show people that they're really going to love what they experience.

5:58Now, like I mentioned, all five of these mistakes I'm going to be mentioning, I made them. And I made this mistake the first time we ran our retreat for entrepreneurs called OzCon. It's called OzCon because we cater to Australian entrepreneurs, okay? The first year we ran this event, we had a three-day event. I believe it was three or four nights, sorry. It was probably four nights, three days from my memory. And we only charged$2 ,000 for a ticket. We barely broke even. It was like me running a group trip, a holiday for my friends, right? and I wasn't able to be able to create the experience I really wanted for my attendees.

6:38Now, lucky enough that the experience was still good enough for people to be like, hey, we can't wait for next year because just people had a lot of fun and for them, it was like$2 ,000 was nothing. Again, I'm catering the event to very successful entrepreneurs where they have the money to spend. So after that mistake, after we broke even and realized, okay, this is actually not even worth our time and energy. It's a lot of work to plan and run a multi-day event. So we decided to double our price every single year we ran that event. So the next year, it was a little over$4 ,000. The year after that, it was closer to like$7 ,500.

7:13And every year, we just started to increase the price. And then we also upped the ante and increased the experience, right? The next year, we had it in Australia again, but we had a better experience, better accommodation, better food. and then the year after that, we went to New Zealand and went to like a five-star type of resort and had private transfers and even better dinners. The point is that like it was actually easier to sell that event, the one that was super expensive at a five-star resort because it was really, really amazing. People wanted to be a part of it. People saw the sales page and started to have FOMO already.

7:48Oh man, I gotta go to this event. This is amazing. The lesson learned here is that you have to charge enough to be exceptional. And exceptional sells itself. Mistake number two, selling to the wrong people. Listen, you can have a great event and still fail if you're marketing it to the wrong audience. You want to sell your event to the people who will get the most value from your event. The people that feel like, wow, this was tremendous value. The people that actually care about what you're doing. That's not the same people that are willing to pay for the event. Some people can afford something, but just don't see the value.

8:23Two awful things happen when you sell to people who don't really deeply value what you're offering, the event itself, the experience. One, they either don't buy because they're like, oh, this is not something that's in my wheelhouse or something that I enjoy or something I value. Or worse, they do buy. And then they go to the event and they're like, oh, this is not what I was expecting. This is not something I actually like. I don't actually enjoy these types of activities. And they tell other people and it kind of ruins the reputation of the event and your reputation. and they don't come back next year.

8:55It's just a lose-lose. But when you sell to the people it was built for, the price never becomes an objection. When I sold OzCon to the right people, it was so easy to sell because they're like, I don't even need to see the price. This is incredible. This is a great idea. I can't pull this off on my own. And we'll talk about that later. So before you sell a single ticket, get crystal clear. Who is genuinely going to love this event? Then go find those people. So with our multi-day retreat for entrepreneurs, I knew the people that would really get the value from OSCON because OSCON is really about meeting new people, having fun with other entrepreneurs, sharing ideas, masterminding, and having a curation of people that they can't easily put together.

9:44So the people that would really value that are really busy entrepreneurs that never carve out time for themselves, that never carve out time to meet people at their level. So I really pitched it to those people and they really saw the value. Like, yeah, this is great because I'll never do this on my own. I'll never find a way to get these people together and go skiing together and have those conversations on the lift, right? I create an experience they just can't buy anywhere else. I love learning Italian, especially because I like to connect with my in-laws, particularly my mother-in-law who has us over every week for pasta.

10:17And I want to ask for extra helpings in Italian It's kind of fun. That's why I'm excited to have Rosetta Stone as today's sponsor. Rosetta Stone just came out with Rosetta Stone Sapphire, their biggest launch in over a decade. It uses the research-backed method Rosetta Stone is known for with cutting-edge features that makes it easy to speak confidently about topics you care about. One of those features is Sapphire Studio, which lets you personalize your language learning based on what you actually care about right now. Say you want to be able to discuss your business in Italian. This actually happened to me.

10:48Nicole and I were in Italy. we were having some drinks with her cousin, Manuela. And I was trying to describe to her in Italian what we do, podcasting, blogging, business education. And I got to say, it was pretty challenging. I'm for sure going to use Sapphire Studio to create vocabulary cards so I can know how to discuss business with Manuela the next time we meet. I also like to shop for clothes when I go to Italy. And I want to learn a little bit more about how to say specific words when it comes to fashion, like shoe size and can I try this on? What I love about Rosetta Stone is that you're not just sitting there memorizing vocabulary.

11:23You're learning entirely in your new language through visuals, through audio, which helps you pick it up naturally. You're learning your new language the same way you learned your first language as a kid. If you want to take your language skills to the next level, don't wait to try Rosetta Stone Sapphire. The$100 MBA show listeners can get 20 % off the Rosetta Stone Sapphire subscription when they sign up today. This gets you access to Rosetta Stone Sapphire in 25 languages. Visit rosettastone.com slash MBA to redeem your 20 % off. That's rosettastone.com slash MBA. Think about the last time you called a business and nobody picked up.

12:02What did you do? You called the next one, the next business. Well, guess what? Your customers do the exact same thing. That's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo. spelled Q-U-O, the business phone system built so you never miss a call. With Quo, all your calls, texts, and voicemails live in one place so anyone on your team can pick up a conversation, see the full history, and respond fast. You can set up in minutes on any device, keeping your existing number, and add teammates as you grow. No IT, no hassle. Plus, Quo's optional built-in AI agent handles after-hour calls, answers questions, and even books appointments so you never miss a lead even when your team is offline.

12:43I'm going to tell you, just from experience, the lowest effort activity that you could do in your business with the highest impact is improving your customer support and your service. And Quo does exactly that. Money's on the line. Always say hello with Quo. Try Quo for free plus get 20 % off your first six months when you go to Quo.com slash MBA. That's Quo.com slash MBA. Mistake number three, having the wrong people in the room. Your job as somebody who is running an event is to curate the room, is to curate the people that are going to be attending this event, because that is actually the value of the event.

13:26Now, the difference between mistake number two is quite subtle, but it makes a massive difference. Mistake number two, you are selling to these people. This is who you actually let in. Number three, the people that actually you allow to be a part of this group, a part of this event, whether this event is 12 people, 30 people, 500 people, it doesn't matter. Here's something that you learn the hard way through running events. The group, the crowd, the people that attend is the experience. One of the reasons why like OzCon was so successful is because people can't do this on their own. It's very hard to curate highly successful entrepreneurs and do this by yourself.

14:07Like, think about it. Like, in order for me to do this, I have to contact really successful entrepreneurs, people I don't know, right? And I have to convince them to go on a trip with me. And I have to convince them to, you know, kind of have the discussions I want to have and allow time and space for them to be able to open up and be personal and share wins and losses. It's very hard to do. So the curation of the group is actually the value you're offering. And by the way, when I say in the room, I'm talking about everybody. I'm not just talking about the attendees. If you have speakers at your event, the speakers have to be aligned with the attendees.

14:41It has to be on the same wavelength, the same vibe, right? If you have sponsors, right, the sponsors have to resonate with the audience. It's going to feel weird. What I learned through running events is the reason why people come to my events. The reason why when I send an invite, they're like, hell yeah, is because they trust my taste. They trust my taste in curating the group. They know that when they go to the event, because they've been to other events or they heard about my events, they know that it's going to be good because the people are all kind of cool people, people that they want to spend time with.

15:09We don't have anybody who's a jerk or, you know, you know, I use the word vibe, but also just, you know, the wrong fit for the group. You know, we want to make sure people are humble, people are willing to share, people are willing to be vulnerable, because that's where the value is. That's where you actually learn and actually grow in that kind of setting. Now, this is most important when you have a long event, like a multi-day event where people are going to spend a lot of time together. You need to highly curate the group. Now, if you have a smaller event, like a dinner, or even just like a one-day event, it's not as critical, okay?

15:40But for example, with OSCON, where we had five days on the slopes, it was invite only. We sought out after the people that we wanted to have in that group. And that's why we wanted to handpick that kind of collection of different types of people that had the same intention, the same type of drive, the same type of ambition in business, the same type of mentality in terms of how they treat their customers, all that kind of stuff. But we also wanna curate, so it's actually interesting conversation that's happening always. What do I mean by that? Well, everybody in the group are the same. They do the same thing.

16:16They look the same. They're from the same background. You know, they live in the same place, all that kind of stuff. It's not going to be that interesting, right? It's not going to be that fun. You're going to have the same conversations over and over, and it's going to get boring, right? You want to have a nuanced group. And this is why we made a lot of effort to make sure that there's a good balance between men and women, that we had diversity of lifestyle, we had diversity of background, of race, different types of entrepreneurs, different types of businesses. So somebody who's in e-commerce, somebody that is in software, somebody that's selling coffees, a chain of coffee shops, all types of businesses.

16:49You want to make sure that there is variety so that people feel like there's other things to talk about and to learn from the group. And what I learned is that people sign up because of the locations, because of the activities, because of the fun they're going to have, because of the value that they perceive they're going to get from whatever's on the sales page, but what they actually remember and what they love and with a comment when we do like a feedback form after the event is about the group, is about the people that were in the room. Now, I got this wrong in other past events where I had a wrong person in a small group or a small event.

17:26And that one person actually changed the whole chemistry of the room. They were quite negative. They were not very productive. They were not very vulnerable without sharing any experiences or even mistakes they made in their career. And it kind of brought the whole tone down. And I realized, oh, I got to be more selective. I got to make sure that not only am I curating the group based on who they are and what they do and their job and their career and all that kind of stuff, but also who they are as a person. Are they somebody that has the same spirit, the same attitude that we want to have in the room?

17:59So just to wrap up this mistake, curate ruthlessly because that is the product. I hope you're getting a lot of value from today's episode, make sure you hit subscribe so you don't miss any episode that comes out, especially one that we're working on right now, which is called How to Become the Best Version of Yourself. It's a must-read episode where I go deep in this book that I recently read called Start With Yourself with Emma Greed. Emma Greed is a very successful entrepreneur, the founder of Skims, and I want to share with you how this book really changed the way I approach my business today, how you really are playing two games in business, the game of business itself, the business you're running, but the game that you're playing within yourself so that you can show up as your best self for your business, for your team, for what you do.

18:44Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss it. Mistake number four, not having a run sheet. We're going to get tactical here, okay? We're going to geek out a little bit because a run sheet is going to save your life and save your event, okay? What is a run sheet? Well, basically, it's just like a spreadsheet, right? It's a way for you to make sure you're planning for every contingency. A run sheet is a minute-by-minute plan for the entire event. Now, this is not the schedule of the event only, okay? It's, okay, this is what's happening every hour in the event for the attendees, but what are you doing and your team, what are they doing to fulfill each part of the event?

19:23I'm talking about every moment, every detail, every transaction, who does what, when, where. I'm not joking, okay? Why? Because all that pre-planning is going to allow you to relax during the event because you know exactly what to do. I'm going to give you a very perfect example. We played some games at OSCON and the winner of the game or the team that won the game, one of the games, would get a prize. OK, sounds great, right? But we wrote down in detail. So what happens exactly? How do you win? OK, what are the rules of the game? And then when they do win, how are the awards given? Who's going to get the award?

20:00Where's the word hidden? Where are the prizes in the room? Do we go into the closet? Is it easy to find? Who's handing it to somebody? Are we taking pictures when it's happening? All of that needs to be planned so that you're not fumbling when it's actually happening. The funny thing is that you think this doesn't really matter. I'll figure it out at the time. No, it does matter. Why? Because the details make all the difference. And when you nail the details beforehand and you actually just implement during the time of the event, everybody in the room are so surprised. The number one feedback we got from all our attendees from any event we run is like, everything is so seamless.

20:38Everything seems like it's just like flows and it's easy and it just is graceful. And it's not because we're like some sort of elegant, you know, person or people that just comes natural to us. It's because we planned it. It's because we know exactly what to do, who's going to do it, who's responsible for that task so that when the time comes, we're not fumbling, we're not nervous, it's just implement time. I always say that improvisation is for amateurs when it comes to events, okay? You wanna plan, so you're not improvising, you know exactly what to do, and you just execute. Now, there's a difference between a one-day event and a multi-day event, and I'm gonna give you some examples.

21:15Here are two events, and we're gonna contrast them. The first one is the Crazy Ones Christmas Party. This is a Christmas party we run every year for entrepreneurs that are busy that never get a Christmas party for themselves. You know, they run a Christmas party for their team, but they don't get a Christmas party because they're the leaders and they never get to, you know, let their hair down and have some fun. So we have a big party for all these entrepreneurs that we know. We go go-karting, we play mini golf, we do bowling, we have lunch, video games. Basically, we get to be a kid again. But this is a one-day event.

21:47There's lower stakes because people are not spending that much time together and there's a lot less to worry about. much easier to deliver value. Something that goes a little bit off, no big deal. We still have a wrenchie for a crazy one's Christmas party, so we know what everybody's doing. But the exact detail of every little thing is not that important because the stakes are not that high. So we kind of take it with a grain of salt. It's okay if something doesn't go exactly as to plan. Opposed to a five-day event like OSCON, where you're going abroad like New Zealand and you're dealing with flights and transfers and hotels and lift tickets and meals and sessions and boat trips, all kinds of stuff, right?

22:30And you want to make sure timing is right. And there's no room for error because a mistake with somebody not getting picked up from the airport is a big deal, right? It's going to ruin the whole tone of the event for them. I'm going to give you the big difference. The run sheet is on a spreadsheet on our phone in a one-day event, right? I can open up my phone real quick just to remind myself what I'm supposed to be doing. It's very easy and it's kind of low pressure. With OSCON, a five-day event, international, a lot of logistics. I have a clipboard with a bunch of papers, schedules, phone numbers, all kinds of things I got to do, to-do lists, things I got to check off.

23:06That thing doesn't leave my hand, right? Because the stakes are higher. Now, what's the payoff? Well, OSCON is a bigger event. We charge more. We make more profit on that one. And because we go so deep in the nitty gritty of all the details, it creates a better experience for the attendees, which makes it easier to sell next year around. In fact, about 60 to 70 percent of our attendees come back the next year because it's just a great experience. And we actually have to say no to them and say, hey, we know you want to come back and you're amazing and we love you. And these are my friends. Right.

23:38But we got to say no. Why? Because it's going to be the same group over and over again. Right. We have to mix it up. So again, the group is dynamic and that the people that actually have a chance to go, they have a different experience than the people that had it last year. Mistake number five, huge mistake, okay? Not documenting the event. This is the final mistake, the final boss of mistakes, okay? And this is the one that people always get wrong. They either don't do it or don't do it enough. You have to, have to, have to document the event so that you can have an easier job next year in so many ways.