How to make the most of your workshop that no-one showed up for

No-one showed up for your workshop? Here’s how to make the most of it!

What I’ve noticed among all of the talented praccies joining the Natupreneur Hub is that you have a bucket load of qualifications up your sleeve and you have so much knowledge to share. A side-effect of that, is that we are naturally drawn towards to sharing this knowledge with clients or colleagues in a group setting such as a workshop, program or course.

Now, when I was running my old clinic we had this spare space and I considered how I could make the most of the space I was renting. So we created an amazing workshop space.

The first times I ran workshops in there, I ran them over lunchtimes. I ran “lunchtime lessons and learning”. We tried Smoothie Making workshops, Protein Ball Making workshops, we tried a number of different live classes.

To prepare for these workshops, I would spend HOURS with my books, I would do extra research, and then I would create these AMAZING powerpoint presentations (ones with loads of pretty pictures and animations). Hours and hours would go into preparing for these workshops in an attempt to nail the connection with the local community during the presentation.

On the day I would show up early. I would wear all of my nice professional clinic clothes and prepare the space. Then I would open the door making sure there was an obvious sign out the front for people to see. And then I would stand there at 12 o’clock and wait for people to arrive…..

I would check emails and Facebook to make sure no-one had messaged that they couldn’t find the location. Nothing.

Still waiting….

And then at 12.30pm, even though it was supposed to start at 12, I would stand there in the empty room and present the workshop I had worked so hard to prepare. Silently hoping someone would come in.

Now, I know it’s really common for people to just cancel the event and not do it. It was a no-show after all. But I really loved getting the practice (it paid off in spades later down the track when people did attend my workshops and webinars!).

There were also so many times when I felt the utter heartbreak of not having anybody show up. Because the amount of work that I, and I bet you do the same, put into preparing for these events, both externally and internally, is extraordinary.

The internal work alone is huge, especially when you know that you’ll likely be showing up to an empty room. There’s visibility issues, imposter syndrome, self-esteem issues, self-judgement, fear of failure, fear of public speaking… you know the drill.

Then as you stand there in that empty room the negative self-talk begins to spiral.

“It must be that my marketing stinks, I’m not good at marketing…”
“It must be the copy, I’ll have to rewrite all of that…”
“It must be that I haven’t done enough…”
“I’m not good enough to do this, no one wants to show up and listen to me talk about this…”
“Why did I think this was a good idea???”

There’s so much that happens when you show up to run a workshop (or webinar) and no-one else shows up.

BUT

What I learnt from these experiences is that showing up anyway and having a practice has given me the confidence to apply to speak at events, to get up on stage and talk, to run weekly live trainings on Facebook (check them out here), and to host webinars for hundreds of praccies.

The practice has taught me how to create a conversation and a story that engages people.

Apart from making the most of a no-show workshop by practising, my second biggest tip is make the best use of all of that amazing content you’ve created.

You’ve done all the work. You’ve created the most beautiful slides (even if you think they aren’t perfect). You’ve done so much research. You’ve tried to create an experience to build a connection with people and share your knowledge with them. You might have even created a handout (Yes, I’ve done that and given it to nobody as well). You have invested hours and hours into your presentation and everything that goes along with it. Do not let it go to waste.

So you could store it somewhere on your hard-drive (likely to be lost and forgotten) OR you can create an e-course out of it!

Creating an e-course or an online masterclass creates an opportunity for a whole bunch of people who might not of even know you existed, to learn from you. They are already online now, searching for answers, looking to learn about all kinds of things. Make the most of it. You’ve already created all of the content, so you’ve already done the hardest part.

Re-purpose and make the most of what you have created.

So my question to you now is:

If you’ve created all of the learning, and it’s currently sitting in a folder somewhere on your computer, how helpful is that to people?

It’s ZERO percent helpful.

So let’s turn it into an e-course or masterclass to create opportunities for your content to be shared, read, experienced and learnt from.  

Here are the 4 steps to make the most of your workshop content.

1. Open up the Powerpoint presentation from your computer.
2. Download Loom (useloom.com it’s free) to record what you’re presenting on your screen.
3. Present your presentation while recording with Loom.
4. Download the recording and then upload to your platform of choice to share for free or for payment (website, mailchimp, teachable, youtube, Facebook… whatever you like)

Sharing the content for free will amplify your message. Sharing the content for payment amplifies your finances.

So don’t leave your knowledge hiding in your brain or buried in a folder somewhere on your computer. It’s not helping anyone there.

It’s not helping your clients or community if it’s hiding.
It’s not helping our profession spread the word on natural health.
It’s certainly not helping your bank account.
And it’s not helping the world get healthy.

So if this experience rings true for you, I have been there, that heartbreak is real. The disappoint and negative self-talk of failure and not-enough-ness totally come up. It’s part of the journey. It’s what you make of it that really makes a difference.

Take some time now and dig up those presentations you created that never got the eyes on them that they could and should have. And start creating opportunities to get eyes on them, and to get paid for them.

If you would like to get all of the ins-and-outs on how to turn your content and knowledge into online passive income products, check out my 8 module training on How To Create & Promote An E-Course.

For more tricks and tips for growing your business as a Natural Health Practitioner, subscribe to my Youtube Channel.