PRESENTATIONS AND SEMINARS

Presentations and seminars are very effective in terms of promoting expensive academic and highly specialized professional programmes.

An average presentation may attract from 10 to 100 participants, depending on the advertising budget and venue. A presentation may be held in a rented conference-room (usually in local business-centres or hotels), or at the premises of an educational institution or a company.

Organization of a seminar must be supported by advertising in local media, direct mail etc.

A presentation budget depends on the type of courses promoted and on the expected number of participants – for example, a small conference-room for 10-15 participants in a business centre may cost 50$ or more, a bigger room in a luxurious 5-star hotel costs from 300$ (30-40 participants) to 600$ (70-100 participants).

Advertising budget may vary from 300$ to 1000$ or even more.

We have good experience in organizing presentations of any scale – sometimes even a low-budget presentation may bring good results. One British boarding school had only 8 participants at their presentation held in a small conference-room, nevertheless they received 2 students enrolled to their academic programmes as a result. The advertising campaign included extensive articles in local newspapers describing British educational system and boarding schools (and foundation courses) as part of this system leading foreign students to university entry.

However, in order to get tangible results, educational institutions must be prepared to have considerable advertising budgets. One of the biggest Swiss hotel management schools arranges 3 presentations in St. Petersburg per year, each worth 1500-1800$, renting the best conference-rooms in a 5-star hotel. They get 4-5 new students annually and consider it a good result – each student pays 17-18 000$ per year within 2-3 years of their chosen course.

Advertising does not cost – it pays.

 Sample budgets:

  Low-budget seminar (10-20 participants) - from 700$

• Small conference-room in a business-centre
• promotional flyers (invitations), 2 000 copies
• distribution of invitations (including direct mail)
• 3 small ads in local newspapers

 Full scale presentation (70-100 participants) – from 1700$

• Spacious conference-room in a 5-star hotel, allowing the use of an overhead   projector etc.
• promotional flyers, 5 000 copies
• distribution of flyers
• advertising in local newspapers

 Presentations of specialized courses in local companies’ premises or educational institutions

 These cost almost nothing, however they require a lot of organizational work and good preparation.