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Full
Review
A
New Breed Of Seminars
There's a new breed of seminars that targets a potent and hungry
niche: Women. These seminars provide a safe and open
learning environment for women who might be intimidated at other
"gung ho" male-dominated seminars. They give wonderful
woman trainers a venue to shape other women's lives. And allow women attendees to
learn from powerful female role models. The Women's Web Workshop
is the first internet seminar I know of that targets the increasing number of
women
(from housewives to hardened business women) who are looking to take
advantage of the internet and the opportunities it offers.
A
Great Place For The Beginner To Start
Unlike many traditional internet "super" seminars (such as
Carl Galletti's 4 Star Internet Marketing Superconference), the
Women's Web Workshop doesn't dig deep into intense technical
computer techniques. This workshop is designed for the beginner
- for women who are new to marketing (on the internet or
otherwise) and want to know what's out there and where to
begin. If you're already an internet marketing expert (male or
female), you won't find a lot of technical information that takes you to the next level
(sorry, no multiple regression search engine optimization analysis
here). But if you're a beginner, this seminar may be just the
place to get started.
A
Mixed But Powerful Bag Of Trainers
While the trainers were generally more polished
and interesting than some of the "computer geeks" who speak
at other high-end internet seminars, some were pretty uneven and
unpolished. Still, most of the presentations were very good and
the weekend did bring some wonderful surprises, including 2 or 3 of
the best speakers (man or woman) that I've seen. My favorite was
a wonderful, empowering and inspiring presentation by financial
strategy guru Loral Langemeier about launching your finances and your
future (I loved her presentation so much that I plan to personally
work closely with her in the future.
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To
read more about Loral Langemeier
and her powerful training and
coaching programs, click
here
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Another favorite, Stephanie Frank, gave a professional, rock solid
presentation that clearly showed she knows her business and how to
teach it on stage. Finally, the biggest surprise of the weekend
was Lynn Klippel, who came out of nowhere to capture the audience's
hearts and imagination with her "Prairie Home Companion"
down-home style networking and personality profiling exercises.
(We later learned that the Women's Web Workshop was Lynn's first
ever professional training, which made her presentation that much more
amazing - look out for her in the future).
Add
½ Star If You're a woman
One of the best things about women only seminars
is the safety, camaraderie and bonds that form among the
participants. Many of the women I spoke with loved having a room
full of women, with common experiences and without the competitiveness
and testosterone that often comes in other male dominated rooms.
And the promoter played up this women only theme, creating a
comfortable and inviting feminine environment. From flowers and
potpourri on the tables, to women's music, to chocolates on the
seats when the participants returned from lunch. All nice
touches that made the room warm and inviting. So add ½ star if
you're a woman, because chances are you'll enjoy these feminine
extras.
So
What's A Man Doing in the Room?
Helping mostly. And trying to be as quiet as possible.
Despite the fact that it was a 'women only' event, there were a
few individual men in the room - including me, obviously.
However, the few men who were allowed in were all there as helpers,
serving in quiet supporting roles (running the audio, the cameras,
etc.) - and no, they didn't make us wear drag. I was there
because the owner of Wealth Promotion LLC, Barbara Drazga, is actually
a friend of mine and asked me to serve as cameraman for the weekend
(so if you buy the event DVD and don't like the camera angles, you
know who to blame). Of the handful of men allowed in the room,
the fan favorite seemed to be Andrew, a professional massage therapist
hired to give free chair massages to the participants whenever they
felt achy or stiff (a very nice touch - no pun intended).
Otherwise, with the exception of one minor 5-minute announcement, all
of the trainers were women and only women were allowed to
attend. (So subtract 3 stars if you're a man - because
chances are you won't be attending anyway).
It's
The Extras That Make The Difference.
Barbara has an expression for her business. It's "the
difference between ordinary and extraordinary is the little 'extra'."
And the Women's Web Workshop is proof of just that. Throughout
the entire weekend, the extras were evident. From the flowers
and chocolates and on-site massage therapist, to beaded nametag
holders, there were lots of fun and useful feminine touches that
created a great event atmosphere and seemed to be a hit. Some of
my favorite extras were the raffle prize drawings held throughout the
weekend, with attendees winning everything from tickets to Brian Tracy's
upcoming seminar (raffled away by the man on stage mentioned above),
to custom jewelry, to one lucky attendee who went home with the grand
prize - a brand new laptop computer.
More
Internet Please
The extras even went beyond decorations and
designs. Though the Women's Web Workshop was a "buffet"
style event - with multiple speakers giving 2-hour presentations on
their specialty topics - even the buffet was coordinated and planned
well in advance. From the start, the event was designed to walk
attendees through the process of learning to do business, not just
create a website. Topics were created first and then trainers
found to teach each topic (some even created entirely new
presentations just for this seminar). But while some
presentations did walk attendees through the process of creating
internet products, building a website and marketing online, only about
30% of the weekend specifically focused on "internet"
related business. The rest focused on marketing, finance and
other general business related topics. And while each
presentation was well thought out and strategically planned - and
probably "just right" for the level of many attendees in the
room - I would have liked more of the event to cover the nuts and
bolts of internet marketing.
Looking
forward to the future.
Overall, I would say that the first ever Women's Web Workshop was a
great success. Sure there were a few bumps and adjustments that
need to be made - like a schedule that started at 8am every day (too
early) and ran late into the evening, which squeezed in as many
trainers
as possible but wore out some of the attendees. Still, if I
know the promoter (and I do), I'm sure these problems will be
smoothed out at future events in the years to come. And luckily
it looks like more events will come (including talks of a possible
international tour), because overall the Women's Web Workshop was a
great place for women to come together and learn important information
- in a safe, warm and inviting environment.
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By Seminar Ted
September
24, 2004
P.S.
If you missed this year's Women's Web Workshop, but feel
inspired to learn more, Barbara has created audio and video recordings
of the entire conference. If you're a woman (or a man) and want
your own copy, or just want learn more about the event, click
here.
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