Wining and Dining

Do you serve food during a seminar? Giving your audience something to munch on is a good idea particularly if your seminar takes a while to complete. But how do you go about it and when should you offer a full luncheon? Here's a guide on the wining and dining aspect of conducting seminars.



Providing food and drinks

If your seminar is short, say 2 to 3 hours, it's a thoughtful gesture to provide something for your audience to drink like water, coffee, tea or fruit juice. Imagine if you were a seminar attendee yourself. Sitting there for a good 3 to 4 hours with your throat getting drier by the minute is not fun at all.



Generally, the shorter the seminar, the less likely you'll be expected to serve food. However, if it's a long one; say an event that will last for a full day, you better give something for your audience to eat and drink.



Now the next question is: what do you serve? Short seminars do fine with drinks (one serving or bottomless will depend on your budget) and something that's easy and convenient to eat like open faced sandwiches, cookies and small pastries. Nothing messy or difficult to eat as to distract your audience.



Serving a luncheon seminar

Before you decide to offer a luncheon seminar, find out whether it's advantageous to you. Most seminars you conduct, particularly when you're just starting out, don't really have to be served with a full lunch. A one-day seminar, for example, will do well with simple drinks and probably a sandwich at most.



However, for seminars that are considerably longer or are held at locations that are far from major city areas or those held at hotels, it's often a good idea to serve lunch. Food and drinks may also be served as part of a demo or product promotion. If your seminar is about food processing, for example, you could offer your audience an actual taste.



Negotiating with caterers

Once you decide to include wining and dining, get in touch with a caterer. Caterers are more than willing to provide you with a set menu that you can choose from, which lets you decide on the food that will be served depending on your budget. Talk to at least three caterers to make sure you get the best deal.



Most caterers will offer you a menu with standard pricing, something that you generally cannot negotiate with if you have a fewer number of participants. Caterers will be using the same equipment and facilities whether you'll have 50 attendees or 200. However, you could get a good discount if you have more seminar attendees.



Caterers will also put into account the location and venue. If you will be renting a hotel room and hiring a caterer, the hotel might be charging certain fees for bringing in a third party. The caterer will not be paying these charges; you will.



If your venue is a hotel, check with their own catering service. Most hotels will offer a discount for using their facilities. Or, they could go the other way around and offer you a free rental of the room if you order enough on the food and drinks. Hiring the hotel's kitchen service is sometimes convenient and if you choose well, it could prove to be cheaper. Just make sure to consider this option when you do shop for caterers for your event.



Can your budget afford wining and dining?

When you decide to wine and dine your seminar participants, remember that the cost of the food and drinks will be carried over by your ticket prices. A $20 ticket, for example, can go up by as little as $15 to as much as $75 per person. As a result, you will be charging more -- $35 to $95 per ticket. For high ticket events, that could go to several hundred dollars; depending of course on your rep and popularity as a seminar speaker and on your subject.



Although robust ticket sales will mean you will be able to cover the extra expense, remember that when you do get food catered, you need to shell out money in advance. Caterers generally ask for a 15% to 30% deposit. Depending on the number of participants you expect, you could pay plenty. However, if you determine that offering a luncheon seminar is well worth the effort and the expense, it could be a good step for you.