6 Powerful Strategies for Hosting a Successful 3-Day Live Event

Now that I’ve had a chance to get some perspective, I wanted to share some valuable lessons learned from my experience hosting our first 3-day live event for women entrepreneurs! Holding the space for a room full of people over the course of a whole weekend is NOT easy (especially for an introvert like me!), but after seeing the impact the event had on attendees, it was so worth it! We had dozens of women (and a few men!) join us from all over the country to learn practical strategies for getting their businesses off the ground.

Here are my 6 best tips for hosting a successful 3-day live event, based on my own experience with our recent Launch Your Business LIVE 3-Day Boot Camp in Atlanta!

1. Get Professional Help with Planning the Event

The best decision I made was hiring a professional to guide me through the process of planning my first 3-day live event. I found the fabulous Jillian Smith from One Touch Events LLC online and I highly recommend her as an event planner. Jillian was a guiding light for me in planning the Boot Camp, from managing the venue negotiations, vendor relationships and banquet orders down to the beautiful details of our linens, florals, signage and more. Everything turned out much better than I ever could have envisioned on my own! There are so many moving parts to planning a 3-day live event and you don’t want to skimp on this investment. It will be worth every penny!

2. Enlist a Support Team

I decided to have my virtual assistant join me in person for administrative support, customer service and social media management during the Boot Camp. As my right-hand woman online and off, she brought a high level of organization to the event. Only a true professional could get off a red eye flight to walk right into an event and start making things happen! I also enlisted the help of two volunteer staff members to manage the registration table, run microphones, do last-minute errands, etc. They were awesome volunteers, but as coaches themselves, they brought even more positive energy to the room. Having a support team made a world of difference, allowing me to shine as the speaker and host for the weekend!

3. Teach Actionable Content

For a 3-day live event, you need to have an entire weekend’s worth of content that you will be teaching and training on. Your attendees came to learn something and they want to learn it from you! It’s nice to have motivational words that inspire people, but it’s even better to have actionable content that helps them move forward and get results. For the Boot Camp, I taught my 5-step Launch Your Business system that can help anyone who sells products or services to get their business off the ground. In a live environment, I was able to take participants through each step of the process with deep training, plus answer their specific questions along the way. I structured my agenda with the intention for everyone to leave with a plan of action to take when they returned home. As a result, we heard from so many attendees who were “on fire” with increased productivity after the event!

4. Invite Great Speakers

I invited my friend, accountability partner and social media marketing expert Kristen Robinson of KR Design to speak at the Boot Camp. The attendees loved her infectious energy and her eye-opening talk on “5 Easy Ways to Create Content: How to Create 30 Days Worth of Engaging Social Media Content.” (When you invest in the Launch Your Business LIVE Deluxe Audio Program, you will receive Kristen’s entire 70-minute presentation and slides.) I also had one of my long-term coaching clients come and share her emotional and financial journey to success in her business. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house! Having great speakers at my event increased the value of the experience and exposed my audience to additional information and inspiration they could use to grow their businesses. Of course, it also gave me a break in the agenda to sit back and rest for a bit!

5. Monetize the Event

With an intense event like this, you will likely be spending thousands of dollars on your venue, food, printing workbooks, hiring AV, etc. So you don’t want to just “break even” after all the time and money you put into planning this amazing experience for your tribe. What I have learned over the years is that the best time to sell your products and services is at a live event! At the event, we gave attendees the opportunity to invest in Happy Black Woman training products and coaching programs, with special pricing that was only available for the duration of the event. We had a sales table set up in the back of the room and there were also a few special offers made from the stage. As a result, we completely surpassed our sales goals and got some wonderful new clients and customers!

6. Capture the Magic

I hired a photographer and videographer to take professional pictures and get some video to capture the highlights of the event for marketing purposes. I went with Lynsey Weatherspoon Photography because I really liked her creative style. I also hired an AV team to record the entire content of the event for resale. The audio turned out beautifully! By having professionals in the room to document the experience, I was able to focus on being present to my attendees and creating an authentic networking environment. Get your piece of the magic with a “virtual seat” to the Boot Camp when you invest in the Launch Your Business LIVE Deluxe Audio Program!

As a result of these 6 strategies, we were able to create a transformative experience for everyone who was in the room that weekend. I couldn’t have done it by myself – I truly had the most amazing support team on the planet!

Rosetta Thurman is a nationally-recognized author, speaker, mentor and coach dedicated to helping women create their ideal lives. She is the creator of 31 Days to Reset Your Life: A Practical Guide to Personal Transformation and the founder of HappyBlackWoman.com, a supportive community for women all over the world. Learn more about Rosetta here.