Yesterday I went to an event in Central London to hear the American professional speaker Topher Morrison. See http://jahanc.wordpress.com/2010/08/31/seminar-in-central-london/. This is my review.
The event cost £57 and was primarily as a promotional event to promote the actual main courses and seminars. Topher did say that he could have done the event for free, but he charges in order to attract a better calibre of audience. I agree with him on this. Often when you charge a low price or give something for free people do not value it. A case in point was a sales seminar I went to earlier this year, when two of the people who were sent there for free by their company clearly did not value it and had a very casual attitude to what was actually very beneficial information. The sort of people that did come to the event were clearly from seeing and speaking to them serious people, some of whom were quite successful.
Content.
I was surprised at how content rich the whole one day event was and for the money being charged people certainly got value for money, in fact more value than the ticket price. Usually speakers divulge some gems here and there and are a reticent about sharing real nitty-gritty details. I didn’t find that in Topher’s event and he was more than happy to share as much information about any question posed to him. In fact at times I felt he – out of courtesy to the questioner – spoke about it a bit more than it needed. Maybe he felt he didn’t want to be cold and just give a very short answer.
He dealt with things such as how to book venues for a far cheaper price, how to organize your whole pricing if you become a speaker, as well as of course how to become a speaker and how to be a good one. He gave lots of examples and the VIPS (people who paid higher prices to have lunch with Topher and sit at the front) would take turns to do things Topher asked them to in front of the audience including things such as the correct body language, use of arms, use of voice and so forth, but it was all good fun and enjoyable to watch and listen to Topher’s very detailed feedback, which was detailed – and when required critical – rather than generic or simply praising the person.
Topher certainly knows what he is talking about and also comes across as very genuine and successful, in that he does not try to push the hard sell too much and insult our intelligence. He was very candid at times.
Event
The whole event was worth going to and was organized by Triumphant Events. The event did end with Topher speaking about the main courses he sells. The price may be out of certain people’s league but I would definitely feel that they would get a very good coach and mentor in Topher.
Daniel Priestley is also part of a programme which helps people to become what is known as a “Key Person of Influence”.
Overall Topher was highly informative, very funny and honest. Though to give a good review I also have to point the bad parts of an event too, I can’t really think of one as much as I am trying to think of one, to seem objective. He was also aware of not being too loud and energetic as Brits are a bit quieter than Americans, something which he was acutely aware of as he mentioned.
A good event and highly useful in the actual content delivered.
- Jahan Choudhry
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