Not many wedding planners are asked to give workshops at wedding fairs and bridal shows. If you are asked, make the most of it! Let brides see you as the expert that you are. I explain how to do this in my Q&A today.
Question
I have been asked to do a workshop at a wedding fair. Could you give me a little bit of advice on what topic to choose? I want the brides to be captivated and interested.
I was thinking a good topic would be, “What questions do I need to ask a prospective vendor?”
Do you think this is a good one?
Answer
Holding a wedding planning workshop at a bridal fair is a great honor and a wonderful opportunity to introduce yourself to new brides!
A workshop about knowing how to work with wedding vendors would be interesting, but I think it would be better to select a topic that affects brides at a more emotional level while also showcasing your expertise. You want brides who attend to be interested in knowing more about you and, eventually, in hiring you.
I’m sure you can’t stand up and just pitch you wedding planning services, in fact most brides wouldn’t stay in the audience if you did that. But you can share information and photographs of experiences that brides have had with you that could help your audience recognize what you can do for them.
Select a topic that you believe is a source of worry for your brides (get ideas from my blog post on what keeps the brides awake at night) then give it an attention-grabbing title.
Consider, for example, “10 Wedding Day Disasters and How to Avoid Them.” Brides want a perfect day and worry about unforeseen emergencies. You could talk about emergencies that could happen on their wedding day and how to plan to make sure these things don’t happen. Give examples from weddings you have planned of disasters that you prevented. Help them see how valuable you are while sharing some information that can help them.
At the end of your presentation, ask them to give you their email address so you can send them the tips from your presentation and add them to your list. Then email them within 24 hours with the tips and ask them to contact you for a free 20 minute consultation. (Free consultations should not be longer than this or you will give too much information away free.) Continue to stay in touch with them by emailing them with additional tips so you stay visible and they think of you when they are ready to hire a wedding planner.
And if you have a pressing question about starting or running your wedding planning business, you can send me an email at [email protected]. I will answer them on this blog or in my ezine, “Wedding Planner Tips,” which you can subscribe to here.
