Every few months someone declares that webinars are dead.

And every few months I run another free online workshop and watch it become one of the biggest revenue generators in my seven-figure business. Again.

So no, free workshops aren’t dead. Bad sales webinars are dead. The 90-minute “masterclass” that teaches nothing for 20 minutes and then spends an hour pitching? People can smell it from a mile away, and they leave.

A real teaching workshop is a completely different thing. You teach something useful, people get an actual result in the session, and by the end they already know who you are, how you teach and what it’s like to learn from you. That’s why they buy.

In this post I’ll walk you through exactly how I run mine, step by step, from choosing the topic to the follow-up email. And I’ll show you how I now get my AI to build the funnel and the workflows for me, so all I really have to do is show up and teach.

TL;DR

• Free workshops still convert because people get a taste of you. I call it edu-marketing.
• Pick a topic your audience really needs, constantly asks you about, and that gives them an instant result.
• Teach, don’t pitch. Give them an actual result. Keep the offer short, at the end, with a genuinely short window.
• Build a three-step funnel with an opt-in form. I use Tekmatix, and I just tell my connected GrokBot to build it.
• Automate the emails: confirmation with the date, time and Zoom link, two reminders, and a follow-up with the review request, offer and replay.
• Promote it everywhere you already are: your email list, your socials, Facebook Events and LinkedIn Events.
• Let AI do the heavy lifting, from your own material and in your voice. Every step below has a prompt you can copy.

What’s in this post

1. Why free online workshops still work: the deli counter
2. Step 1: Choose a topic they constantly ask you about
3. Step 2: Plan a teaching workshop, not a sales webinar
4. Step 3: Decide your offer and a short, genuine window
5. Step 4: Build your three-step funnel and opt-in form
6. Step 5: Automate your confirmation, reminders and follow-up
7. Step 6: Promote it to your list, socials and events
8. Step 7: Teach it live on Zoom and give them a result
9. Step 8: Follow up, share the replay and close the window
10. The one prompt that builds it all for you
11. Your free workshop checklist
12. FAQs

Why free online workshops still work: the deli counter

You know the deli counter at the supermarket? The one where they hand you a little cube of cheese on a toothpick?

Think about the times you’ve tasted the cheese. You end up buying the whole block, don’t you? You weren’t sold to. You just tasted it, liked it, and wanted more.

That’s exactly what a free workshop does for your business. It’s the taste.

A sales page can tell people you know your stuff. A workshop shows them. They see who you are, that you’re who you say you are, how you present, how you teach and the value you give. They’ve experienced you, so a hard sales pitch literally isn’t needed. You sell yourself just by teaching well.

I call this edu-marketing: educating people while you build your business at the same time. Your audience wins because they learn something they can use straight away. You win because the people who loved it come back for more.

And that’s why my free workshops convert so highly. People have already had a taste of me before they ever see the offer.

Step 1: Choose a topic they constantly ask you about

This is the step that makes or breaks the whole thing, so don’t rush it.

I look for a topic that passes three tests:

1. They really need it. It solves a real problem that’s costing them time, money or sleep right now.
2. They constantly ask me how to do it. In my inbox, in the comments, in Facebook groups, on calls. If I’ve answered the same question ten times, it’s a workshop.
3. It gives them an instant result. By the end of the session they’ve done something, made something or fixed something. Not “understood a concept”. Done.

The narrower the better. “How to grow your business” is a semester. “Build your first lead magnet with AI in an hour” is a workshop.

Step 2: Plan a teaching workshop, not a sales webinar

Here’s my hard rule, and I’ll say it as plainly as I can. Never, ever approach a free workshop as a sales webinar.

The moment you turn it into a sales pitch and waste people’s time, you instantly lose the business. Not just that sale. Their trust, their attention and every future email they now won’t open.

So plan it like the teacher you are. Super helpful, practical and educational. Here’s the running order I use as a guide for a 60 to 90 minute session:

1. Welcome and the promise. What they’ll walk away with today, in one sentence.
2. A little about you. Just enough to earn the right to teach. A couple of minutes, not twenty.
3. Teach. The bulk of the session. Step by step, with examples.
4. Do it together. Get them doing the thing live, so they leave with the result.
5. Questions. Answer what’s real for them.
6. The offer. Briefly, at the end. What it is, who it’s for, what it costs and when it closes. Then stop.

Step 3: Decide your offer and a short, genuine window

Yes, you still make an offer. You’ve helped them, and the people who loved it will want to keep going with you. Not telling them how would be a disservice.

Get straight to the point. If you’ve genuinely helped people, they’ll be interested. You don’t need to convince anyone.

• Make the offer the natural next step after what you just taught. If the workshop teaches them to plan their course, the offer helps them build and launch it.
• Give a short window. A few days to get something that is genuinely scarce: a bonus, a live call, a founding price or limited spots.
• Make the scarcity real. If it closes Friday, it closes Friday. Fake countdown timers that reset are the fastest way to lose trust.

Step 4: Build your three-step funnel and opt-in form

Full disclosure: I’m the founder of Tekmatix, the platform I run my whole business on, so yes, I’m a little biased. You can do this with any decent funnel platform. This is simply how I do it in mine.

I use Tekmatix to create the opt-in page and the opt-in form. A simple workshop funnel has three steps:

1. Registration page with the opt-in form: the promise, what they’ll learn, who it’s for, a short bio, the date and time.
2. Thank-you page: “You’re in”, the date, time and time zone, and an add-to-calendar link.
3. Replay page: where the recording and your offer live after the event.

Here’s the bit that’s changed everything for me. I don’t build these by hand any more. Because my GrokBot is connected to my Tekmatix account, I just tell it to go and build it for me. You can do the same with Claude or ChatGPT. It creates my three-step funnel in Tekmatix, with the sales copy written in my branding, and the opt-in form.

And here’s my non-negotiable: my AI works from my original material. My notes, my transcripts, my past workshops, my knowledge, my voice and my branding. Never generic AI content. AI only sounds generic when you give it nothing of you to work with.

Already have a recording from a past workshop? You can turn it into a downloadable lead magnet too. I show you how in how to turn a webinar or video into a lead magnet in minutes.

Step 5: Automate your confirmation, reminders and follow-up

Once the funnel is built, my AI creates the automated workflow that does all the admin for me. When someone fills in the opt-in form, the workflow sends:

1. A registration confirmation email with the date, the time (with the time zone) and the Zoom link.
2. A couple of reminders leading up to it. I like one the day before and one about an hour before.
3. A follow-up email immediately after the workshop that asks how they enjoyed it, asks for a review, presents the offer, and tells them where and how to get the replay.

I use Zoom to present and record the workshop, so the Zoom link goes straight into the confirmation and reminder emails.

If you want the full walkthrough of how opt-in workflows work, triggers, tags and all, I cover it in how to create automated workflows for purchases and opt-ins in Tekmatix.

Step 6: Promote it to your list, socials and events

A brilliant workshop nobody knows about is just a very nice Zoom call with yourself. So I promote it everywhere I already show up:

• My email list. An invitation, then a reminder or two. Your list is your warmest audience.
• My socials. Posts about the problem the workshop solves, with the registration link in the comments.
• Facebook Events. I upload it as an event so people can tap “Going” and get reminded.
• LinkedIn Events. Same again, so my professional network sees it too.

Step 7: Teach it live on Zoom and give them a result

On the day, your only job is to be genuinely helpful.

• Record it in Zoom so you have the replay.
• Keep the promise you made on the registration page. If you said they’d leave with a plan, they leave with a plan.
• Get them doing it, not just watching. A result in the room is what they remember.
• Be yourself. This is the taste of the cheese. Your stories, your humour, your way of explaining things.
• Pitch briefly at the end, then open the floor to questions. Don’t drag it out.

Step 8: Follow up, share the replay and close the window

The follow-up is where a lot of the sales actually happen, and it’s all automated.

• Straight after: the follow-up email goes out asking how they enjoyed it, asking for a review, presenting the offer and sharing the replay.
• During the window: a reminder or two about the offer, with the real closing date.
• When it closes: it closes. Then thank everyone, and invite them to the next one.
• Collect the reviews. They become proof for your next workshop’s registration page.

The one prompt that builds it all for you

You don’t have to know how to do any of the tech yourself. If your AI is connected to your Tekmatix account, you can hand it the whole job in one go. Copy this, fill in the brackets, and let it build:

Go into my Tekmatix account and build me a three-step workshop registration funnel for my free online workshop.

The workshop: [title], on [date] at [time and time zone], live on Zoom. Zoom link: [link]
Who it's for: [your ideal audience]
The result they'll walk away with: [the one result]
My offer at the end: [program / product / service], [price], available until [real closing date]

1. Write the copy from my own material only: [paste your notes, transcript or old post]. Use my voice and my branding (colours, fonts, logo, photos). No generic AI copy.
2. Step 1: a registration page with a clear headline, what they'll learn, who it's for, a short bio and an opt-in form (first name and email).
3. Step 2: a thank-you page that confirms the date, time and time zone, with an add-to-calendar link.
4. Step 3: a replay page where I can add the recording and my offer after the workshop.
5. Fill in the SEO title, description, social image and favicon on every page.
6. Then create the workflow: when the form is submitted, tag them with the workshop name, send a registration confirmation email with the date, time and Zoom link, send two reminders (one the day before and one an hour before), and immediately after the workshop send a follow-up asking how they enjoyed it, asking for a review, presenting my offer and telling them where and how to get the replay.
7. Leave everything in draft, test it with my own email, and show me before anything is published or switched on.

It works from your material, in your voice and branding, and leaves everything in draft so you approve it before anything goes live.

Please use AI safely and only give it the permissions you’re willing to risk. You run your own business and your own AI at your own risk, and you’re responsible for your own accounts and data.

Want to see exactly how I set up my own AI agents, skills and routines to run this kind of work? That’s what my GrokBot Masterclass is for.

Want to build the program your workshop sells?

A free workshop works best when there’s something brilliant for people to buy at the end. If you haven’t built that course, coaching program or membership yet, I’d love you to come along to my live Concept to Course with AI workshop in November.

It teaches exactly this, including creating the programs you might sell afterwards and all of the tech setup, plus the AI prompts to build agents that help you run it all from then on.

Your free workshop checklist

1. Your topic is something they really need, constantly ask you about, and can get an instant result from.
2. Your plan is mostly teaching, with a live “do it together” moment.
3. Your offer is the natural next step, with a short, genuine window.
4. Your three-step funnel is built: registration page with opt-in form, thank-you page, replay page.
5. SEO title, description, social image and favicon are set on every page.
6. Your workflow sends the confirmation with the date, time and Zoom link, two reminders and the follow-up.
7. You’ve tested the whole thing with your own email.
8. It’s promoted to your list, your socials, Facebook Events and LinkedIn Events.
9. You record it in Zoom and keep the promise on the registration page.
10. Your follow-up asks for a review, presents the offer, shares the replay, and the window really closes.

FAQs

Are free online workshops still a good lead magnet?

Yes, when they genuinely teach. A free workshop lets people experience who you are, how you teach and the value you give before they buy, which is why teaching workshops tend to convert so well. What no longer works is the sales webinar that teaches very little and pitches for most of the session.

What's the difference between a free workshop and a sales webinar?

A free workshop is a practical teaching session where attendees walk away with a real result, with a brief offer at the end. A sales webinar uses the session mainly to pitch. People can tell the difference straight away, and wasting their time costs you their trust.

How do I choose a topic for a free workshop?

Pick something your audience really needs, constantly asks you how to do, and can get an instant result from in one session. Look through your emails, comments, DMs and call notes for the questions you answer over and over.

How long should a free online workshop be?

Most of my free workshops run for 60 to 90 minutes. That's long enough to teach something properly and get people a result, and short enough to respect their time. Keep the offer to a few minutes at the end.

How do I make an offer without being salesy?

Make the offer the natural next step after what you taught, keep it brief, be clear about what it is, who it's for, the price and when it closes, and then stop. Give a short, genuine window for something that is actually scarce, and never use fake urgency.

What emails should a free workshop workflow send?

At minimum: a registration confirmation with the date, time, time zone and Zoom link, a couple of reminders before the session, and a follow-up straight after that asks how they enjoyed it, asks for a review, presents your offer and shares the replay.

Can AI build my workshop funnel and emails for me?

Yes. If your AI (such as GrokBot, Claude or ChatGPT) is connected to your Tekmatix account, you can ask it to build a three-step registration funnel with an opt-in form and the workflow with your confirmation, reminder and follow-up emails. Give it your own material so it writes in your voice, and approve everything before it goes live.

Where should I promote my free workshop?

Start with your email list and your social media, then list it on Facebook Events and LinkedIn Events so people can register their interest and get reminded. Put the registration link in the first comment of your social posts rather than in the caption.

Sarah x