The moving trucks and mini-vans clog the streets of Boston, and many other cities, at this time of year. You can tell exactly what is going on: College student move-in time!
Usually accompanied by parents who take turns standing watch over the piles of stuff, while either the student or the other parent goes off on a nearly-fruitless search to find parking, the first-year students look both excited and nervous.
The older students all try to look non-chalant. They have been here before and they know where things are, and whom to ask when they have a question. If they don’t know, they pretend that they do!
Each dorm has a desk in the front lobby, occupied by building staff members whose job is to check names on a list, and give out room keys and other relevant information. After students check in, they are excited about meeting up with last year’s friends, finding their favorite professors, and heading to class.
It is not a huge leap to compare students who register to attend college, with your students who register for your webinar. The difference is that nearly all of the college students actually show up when school starts. When your webinar starts, how many of your registrants show up?
Why students show up
Let’s take a look at one of the reasons college students who have registered for school actually show up, and what this might look like as you bring your students to your webinar.
Students know that they want to have a fulfilling job in a few years. Their problem is that they do not have enough marketable skills yet. They show up at college or university because they trust that they will learn the skills they need to get that job.
Your students know that they have a problem that needs to be solved. Either they want to lose weight, or they are looking for a perfect relationship, or they need to know how to train their dog so he stops jumping on everyone who walks in the door. You know how to help them solve one of these problems.
If a college student doesn’t show up, she doesn’t learn the skills she needs. The same thing can be said for your student. If she doesn’t show up on your webinar, she won’t learn the skills that are necessary to solve her frustrating problem.
Remember, she signed up for the webinar because she admitted to herself that she has a problem. Now she needs to show up in order to begin to solve that problem, and to have an opportunity to work with you further
How do you get them to show up on your webinar?
Just like college students are curious about a favorite topic, you can encourage your students to show up by piquing their curiosity. Do this by sending them a bonus PDF “study guide”.
This guide lists your main points for the webinar, but doesn’t give any of the details. If they want to know how to fill in the blanks, they need to actually show up on the webinar. You can also include a picture of a mindmap, but leave out the labels. Or an incomplete diagram or flow chart.
The reason this works so well is because it not only piques your registrants’ curiosity, but it also leaves an open loop in their brains. Our brains hate open loops, and constantly seek to close them!
It’s your turn! So what are some of the questions you can include in a study guide that you send to your webinar registrants in advance? What blanks would you leave open, creating curiosity? Please share in the comments below!
So if you are ready to shoot your webinar attendance through the roof – it IS time to do that, isn’t it? – then be sure to check out this special advanced, secret sub-sequence known as the Webinar Intensification Process. Try it out for free and see what it does for your business, and for your customers’ problems.
