Why Most Seminars Have No Lasting Impact

I don’t know how many “motivational” speeches are delivered in America every single day. It’s a very large number though. One speakers bureau has over 4000 motivational speakers. Fees range from $2000 to well over $20,000 for a single speech. And that’s just one speaking bureau. I can’t even count how many bureaus there are, much less how many speakers there are. Or how many speeches they’re delivering every year.

I’m a reader. Business is a game that I find particularly intriguing. So, I read a lot of business books each year. My library, which gets purged pretty regularly, consists of thousands of volumes of books about business. Many of the authors of those books are also speakers. Their books gave them credibility and propelled them onto the stage to deliver speeches about their books - or the subject matter of their books. Many are better at writing than speaking. Many shouldn’t be tossed into that “motivational” genre. For example, Stephens Levitt and Dubner co-wrote “Freakonimics.” It’s a terrific thought-provoking books. They’re on the speaking circuit, but it’s more of a lecture than a seminar and it’s certainly isn’t of the motivational ilk. Tom Peters is another business guru who conveys his latest observations in lectures or speeches. I exclude these types of speakers from what I consider the more traditional business or personal development seminars. They convey information and provoke thought. Sometimes that leads to changes in behavior, but sometimes the content of the speech or lecture is the reward.

Seminars are given on just about everything imaginable. How to seminars teach us about Excel, PowerPoint or other computer programs. They show us how to sew, make home repairs, lay carpet, build cabinets, fix cars, write books, and give speeches. Some teach us how to sell, how to manage, how to make better use of our time, how to resolve conflict, how to argue, how to negotiate, how to hire, how to fire, or how to create teamwork. Some teach us how to be happy, live more fulfilling lives, be productively angry, find inner peace, have a happier marriage, how to pick up women, how to interpret our dreams and how to be a better lover.

Whatever you think you need - I assure you there are many seminars or speakers who can tell you what you should do. Many choices. And most, have little or no lasting impact. If they did, the need would dwindle. And it doesn’t appear to be slowing. If anything, the growth of training, education and motivation seems to be growing rapidly as people continue to search for answers to their problems.

Reason 1 Why Most Seminars Have No Lasting Impact

People are looking for easy answers.

Some problems are complex and require more work than most people want to admit. Seminars about weight control are popular. Enter a guy who tips the scales at 400 pounds. He’s 5′ - 8″. He’s 42 years old. He’s looking for a fast, easy way to loose 150 pounds. He’s dreaming. His expectations are unrealistic. He’s overweight because of lifelong bad habits and poor choices. No seminar is going to give him the oomph to make those changes. There are no easy answers for him, but he’ll throw $99 at a speaker to listen for a few hours on how he too can one day be thin. He’s only lighter by $99.

Reason 2 Why Most Seminars Have No Lasting Impact

Most speakers have nothing important to convey.

Most speakers who I’ve listened to over the years have little or no substantial content. The better ones are talented in delivering a speech, regardless of content. Platform performance skills bring in the crowds. Catchy, unique phrases get attention. But boil down the messages and they’re typical of the funny photo of the motivational poster. It’s a public speech about the little engine that could. Without concrete action steps or planned methods of changing behavior - most of us just keep doing what we’ve always done. Collectively, we’re nuts because we often expect different (better) results by doing exactly what we’ve always done.

Besides, content is hard. Most speakers are too lazy to have great content. And those with great content tend to be too cerebral to be dynamic platform performers. Sometimes, they’re riveting - but most times, they’re not. And this fits in nicely with the first reason. We don’t want it to be hard to understand. We don’t want it to be terribly fact-filled. We want it to be easy and fun. So what if it took us 20 years to gain 150 pounds of fat. We want to be thin tomorrow - without sacrificing. Speakers tend to deliver what we pay them to deliver - easy, soft answers.

Reason 3 Why Most Seminars Have No Lasting Impact

People are unwilling to change.

Habits are hard to break. Bad habits seem impossible to break. The smoker who attends a seminar on how to stop smoking must really want to stop smoking. The family has bugged her to attend this seminar, so she attends. The speaker is engaging and entertaining. There are a few concrete action steps suggested. There are CD’s and DVD’s for sale in the lobby during the break. She invests a few hundred dollars in them, plus the $149 she paid to attend the seminar. Leaving the seminar she pulls a smoke out of her purse and lights up. Even good intentions do not a change in behavior make. No intention to change will result only in lost time and money to attend the seminar.

Reason 4 Why Most Seminars Have No Lasting Impact

This is a double-edged sword: 1) speakers don’t teach us specific things we can change, and 2) we don’t learn what or how to change. Additionally, it could be that the speaker and listener don’t connect. The exact same information from a different source might connect, but this speaker and this listener have no connection.

More often than not speakers don’t address specifics because they’re attempting to appeal to the largest number of people possible. And, giving specifics is much harder than giving generic advice. Many speakers are ill-equipped to give specific advice because many of them have never done it. They’re only able to tell you how to do it, unable to do it themselves.

Years ago I attended a sales seminar by a talented speaker. It was full of the old-school steps of selling, something I never much believed in because I never found them real-world. I was making my living in sales and marketing. I followed one basic philosophy - be helpful. It worked for me. I was always at the top of the heap because of my strong work ethic and my spirit of service. But I went to hear this guy’s advice. Within moments I knew he had never done it himself. I looked around the room though and people were feverishly taking notes and soaking it all in. He even role played with a few people prompting them to say what he wanted to say. One word summed up my feelings that day - contrived. He gave me contrived information. And there wasn’t one thing I could do with it except endure the seminar and make note that this guy wasn’t credible. Like most successful salespeople, I was always willing to try new things if they fit my philosophy.

I’ve attended some seminars that were so content heavy you couldn’t get your arms around the process. Where do I begin? How do I go about this? No answers is the result when there are too many answers. Pages of notes resulted in no concrete steps that can help you. Been there, done that.

But more frequently, at least for me, are the seminars full of verbiage, but no substance. There are many highly paid motivational type speakers who ramble on for hours in an entertaining way - but at the end of the seminar you can boil down their message to the one on that poster at the top of this post. People line up to shake their hand and tell them how wonderful the day was. I leave shaking my head wondering why I was so stupid to think this person could benefit my life.

People sometimes leave seminars inspired and built up, but unable to figure out how to put what they’ve learned into action. The speaker never told them how to do it. All hat, no cattle. All cheer, no play. It happens every day, somewhere.

There are other reasons why seminars fail to have a lasting impact on people, but these are just 4 main ones that come to my mind. I’ve heard some great speakers and attended some wonderful seminars. They’re memorable. They provoke thought. They alter opinions. They change behaviors. Most do not. That makes the ones that do memorable.

Tom Peters. Jeffrey Gitomer. Seth Godin. Guy Kawasaki. Bob Sutton. Jim Karger. Stephen Berlin Johnson. These are tops in my opinion. There are others, but these come to mind right now. Ironically enough, each of them are creative, intelligent, engaging and substantial. I’ve learned things from each of them.

I’ll keep reading. I’ll keep buying tickets to hear various speakers. I’ll attend my share of seminars. I’ll enjoy all of them, to varying degrees. I’ll learn something in most of them. But only a select few will alter my life in any meaningful way. And part of it will be my fault.

I won’t quit because winners never quit.