BackYard Seminars

John established his BackYard Seminar program in the early 1990s and, since then, has led hundreds of seminars for thousands of people in the U.S., Canada, and abroad. Here are thumbnails that describe each of the BackYard Seminars John leads. Note that he can modify any one of them to meet your needs in terms of content and length.

For more details about seminar management (how to obtain space, layout required, and so on), seminar content, pricing, promotional activities you can perform, and more, just review the kits John has prepared for each course, bearing in mind, again, that John can modify the content and length of each seminar to meet your specific needs.

Write Right (Full Day)

The emphasis is on writing fundamentals: understanding the “five C’s” of effective communication, sentence structures, key elements of the parts of speech, obtaining full information, and, time permitting, issues related to e-mails and preparing lists.
UPCOMING SESSIONS.


Contract Fundamentals for Project Managers (Full Day)

Project managers need to understand certain fundamentals about contracts, at least so they are in a position to explain key issues to their clients’ representatives. And that’s what this full-day seminar provides: Overview information about contracts, with special emphasis on issues such as indemnities and limitation of liability, and managing subcontracts.


Fundamentals of Field Representation (Full Day)

This is somewhat of an amalgam of “Professional Practice 101” and “Write Right,” but with a heavy emphasis on issues and case histories related specifically to field representatives. They need to understand professional issues because, when they are on site, they represent the professionals to whom they report. Those professionals are responsible for everything said and done by their representatives. And because field representatives write so much, a writing review is appropriate, too.



Professional Practice 101: The Essentials of Risk Management and Profitability (Full Day)

This full-day seminar focuses on issues such as the standard of care, professional-liability-loss prevention, what clients really want from their consultants, the many hats worn by professionals in private practice, some key contract issues, and professional-liability insurance. John developed the course for just about all technical and managerial personnel in engineering, environmental, and architectural firms.


Hassle-Free Selling for Project Managers (Full Day)

Project managers often report an aversion to selling, principally because they do not understand what effective selling really involves…and that they already possess the skills and attitude required. In this seminar, John discusses selling and marketing from project managers’ point of view, stressing the need to establish bonds of trust between themselves and client representatives. John showcases techniques for initiating and maintaining conversation and reinforces them via exercises, along with methods for obtaining referrals and demonstrating client concern while not investing significant amounts of time in doing so.