Would you attend a "how to become an expat" seminar?

Your author speaking at a
conference in Germany
Photo by Claudio Ramirez

I've been writing this blog for years now. There is a huge amount of information here and it's getting to the point where the would-be expat is going to love the information, but find it very hard to find all of the information that's relevant to their needs. Or maybe they just wouldn't know where to start.

I've been thinking about this problem and I have an idea of how to solve it. Starting in May, I'm going freelance. I already have a nice contract lined up (and working with some awesome people), but I'll have a bit more flexibility in what I do and that gives me an opportunity.


As some of you know, I have fairly extensive public speaking experience. I'm not as gifted a public speaker as, say, President Obama, but I'm a damn sight better than some. I also have a huge amount of knowledge regarding becoming an expat. Thus, I've been thinking about hosting all-day seminars in the US, explaining to people how they can also become expats. It doesn't matter if you're rich, poor, skilled, unskilled, working or retired. Even if you have a criminal record, there are ways you can legally find new countries to move to.

Would you be willing to sit in a hotel conference room for eight hours (with breaks and lunch, of course), to learn strategy after strategy about how you could move abroad? Is it something you'd pay for? What follows is a rough outline of the seminar.

• Introduction
• How the seminar works
• My background
• Why Move Abroad?
• Count von Europe
• The Fantasy
• The Offer
• Objections
• How Immigration Works
• Pull factors
• Push factors
• Economics
• The “right” to citizenship and why you can't have it
• Jus Soli
• Jus Sanguinis
• Lex Sanguinis
• "Unskilled" workers
• Teaching English
• Working holidays
• Volunteer opportunities
• Nanny/Au Pair
• Studying Abroad
• High-skilled workers
• Shortage lists
• STEM Fields
• The Job Hunt
• Preparing your resume/CV
• Conducting the job search
• Interviewing
• Salary Negotiation
• European Blue Cards
• Buying your way in — legally
• Uruguay
• Panama
• Spain
• Latvia
• Hungary
• Retirement
• Finances
• Medical Care
• Real estate
• Legal issues
• Surviving Abroad
• Homesickness
• Culture Shock
• Children
• Language Skills
• Taxes
• Making friends
• Miscellaneous Issues
• Marriage
• Criminal history
• Mean World Syndrome
• Becoming an illegal alien

I've been doing a fair amount of research and the audience appears to be there. The main obstacle appears to be figuring out effective marketing (well, that and actually putting together all of the seminar material). So, would it work? And what stuff am I missing from the above rough draft (such as the rather glaring omission of "learning a foreign language")?

If you would be interested in paying for something like this, let me know where you live. Portland, Oregon would be an obvious first target for me, but who knows?