[Transcript starts at 1:23]
Hello, hello, hello my podcast people and thank you for joining me for yet another episode of my favorite podcast. So today we are talking about how to get the most out of a live event. Maybe this is a question that you haven't necessarily asked yourself, but given that Monday's episode was all about how to successful, successfully wow tongue twister, or how to successfully host a bomb-ass live event, I figured we flip the script a little bit and talk about how to get the most out of attending one of these events.
Now, a little disclaimer, I guess that's the word I'm gonna use, is, one, I don't go to a ton. So I'm saying this as someone who doesn't go to a ton of events. I'm saying this as someone who is hugely introverted.
Some of you don't know that. Now you do. I prefer to be alone, quite frankly, but smaller groups is great. Um, I don't like going to big, massive events. I'm not recharged by big groups. I know how to run a room. I love leading a conversation. I love teaching, but I am absolutely an introvert through and through.
Additionally, I live in a place where people come to vacation. So I'm not trying to, what I'm saying with that is I'm not trying to like run, run away to go to, uh, to go to events. And lastly, I have very, very, very high standards for speakers. So all those, I just want you to put that, you know, set the stage for, I am giving you advice as someone with all of those traits.
Uh, for those wondering, the conferences that I've gone to and some that I would recommend, uh, first is ConvertKit's Craft and Commerce event. I actually it's called a conference; ConvertKit's Craft + Commerce Conference. I attended that two or three times and then I spoke at it. I think it's the third or fourth time; Covid hit in the middle of there and made things weird.
Obviously we didn't have it. Um, but that's my, my favorite conference, hands down. Um, especially if you are a creator of any kind, you're looking to do online business. It is a phenomenal, phenomenal, phenomenal conference and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
I've gone to Podcast Movement. I thought that was very weird. I will never go back to it. It was good to learn. Uh, last year I went to HubSpot's, um, conference called Inbound. I will not go back to that, but I wanted to know what it was about. I wanted to see is there something here for me? There wasn't. Um, but that's a good lesson as well.
I never went to a ton of physical therapy conferences, mainly cuz I was speaking at most of them because I was working for RockTape.
And so any of the bigger conferences that we see with physical therapy, CSM, um, Next, NSC, if you're a PT, you know, the acronyms. Um, I didn't go to attend. I went and taught, um, which, and I was down on the floor, the, like, the, I can't remember the name of it, like the exhibit hall kind of. So never went to a ton of them.
Wasn't really my shtick either way. Um, although the new, when they had CSM in New Orleans, that was pretty dope. Uh, and I, I did go to the Fascia Congress which was in Berlin, and I throw that in there because I went, because it was in Berlin. The topic as well was cool to me. I was like, oh, cool. This is a little bit outside of my, it's not a little bit, it's a lot outside of it.
A lot outside of my expertise. But it was relevant to what I was doing with teaching at the time, working within movement, the movement world. Uh, and it was in Berlin and I was like, cool, this is gonna be pretty dope. And I went with a bunch of RockTape instructors. Um, not a bunch. Ethan was there. And, um, Capo was there and it was a really cool event.
So that, that's kind of to set the stage as it relates to live events. I am not some like super huge live event attender, although I think perhaps it almost, I, in my opinion, almost gives me a little bit more weight here because I don't love going to them. So I'm gonna be a bit more prudent and cautious and discerning in what I pick.
Um, and you know, it's not like just a default or just a given that I'm gonna have a good time. There are things that I will put in place, and that's what I'm gonna talk about. Uh, that will let you, um, help you, not let you, that will help you ideally get the most outta this conference.
So, my overview, I have like, I dunno, four or five points here. They're just overview advice in order to get the most outta these events and, and really enjoy them.
Number one, go to live events for the magic of being in the room. It's simply that. Always understand that being in person, being live, being at the actual event will be better than the live, excuse me, than will- that will be better than the streamed version of it, the online version of it. And we're really looking to go for the experience, not the information, because you can get the information anywhere. You can 100% get that information. I don't care where the speakers are. You can get it anywhere we are going for the experience. Part of it is the experience of hearing that speaker deliver that inform.
Second part, accept that you will probably have buyer's remorse as the date gets closer, especially if it's travel. Cause you're like, ah, I gotta get out of my routine. I gotta like go to this thing. Or maybe the weather isn't super agreeable. So just accept it. If you don't have that buyer's remorse, awesome. But just accept it going in and just prepare for it and get over it.
Next part here, be okay going alone. So for my first ConvertKit, I went alone. Um, actually for my second one, as well. Uh, for Podcast Movement, I went alone. Be okay. Going alone.
It may be hard to find somebody that's interested in the same thing or has the same kind of flexibility in their schedule. Uh, and also there's a lot of benefit there because, uh, when you go with somebody, maybe you just hang out with them. When you go alone, you're like, well, you have the choice if you wanna make new friends. But it forces you to not just hang out with that one person that you went with.
Speaking of forcing it, don't force it. If you're at the event and you don't like, leave. You don't have to be like, I gotta get the most out of it. The what you got out of it, that you don't like it. Leave. Um, actually at HubSpot's uh, Inbound event, I left one of the sessions cause I was like, this is actually just a pitch and no, I'm not spending my time doing this. So if you're just like, I'm not feeling it, it ain't for me. Don't make it bad for other people. Don't be all grouchy. Just leave.
And then circling back one more time. Remember, the magic is in being in the room. The magic is the people. We are going for the experience, not for the infor, the information.
So what conferences soon you pick, obviously, number one, things that interest you.
There's so much, I'll use the word again, magic and being around people that have the same interests. And you're learning about the same- the thing that you like, with people who have similar interests and oftentimes similar values, it's just an exceptional experience. So right off the bat, go to something that you're interested in, not cuz you think you're supposed to go to it. Because it's interesting to you.
Maybe it's a hobby you have. That's dope. That's super dope. Cuz that means that you're actually truly gonna enjoy all the parts. Cause you're like, this is for fun. Not cuz like, my boss made me go. Go to things that people who you respect have recommended. And, and when I say people you respect, people that you respect and you're like, yeah, I wanna do what they're doing.
I wanna, you know, experience things the way they're experiencing things. I want the life, you know, similar life that they have. Then yeah, go to that. If you're just like, I respect them, but like, they like different things in you, then that's not necessarily super helpful.
Big one here. Go to things outside of your niche.
Niche, niche, however do you wanna say it? Uh, this year I am looking to try and go to some, um, regenerative agriculture, at least one regenerative agriculture, um, event. Um, I'm looking at my girl, Stephanie Hine uh, I would say I'm looking at my girl, Laura Jean, but she's in Australia. I'm not ready to go all over there for a regenerative agriculture conference.
Um, but if I do plan a trip over there and it happens to coincide, dope. Um, go to things that are outside of your niche, go to things that are just fun. Meet people that have shared interests and, and get that excitement about just, you know, doing things and being alive.
Tying into what I just said, like a few minutes, a few seconds ago.
Yes. Go to locations that are fun. Like if it's in Podunk, like, ew, fuck that. Like, what's it, what is it? Um, Perform Better. They always host it in Rhode Island, and I'm like, ew. Put it somewhere fun. Actually said this on Monday's episode, when you're hosting it, host it in somewhere fun or at somewhere fun, a location that's fun. And if you're attending, go to a place that's fun.
So maybe if you are like, oh yeah, I wanna go to Germany. I've never been there. Cool. It corresponds with this thing. Yeah, let's, let's do that. Australia or you know, some part of the United States. United States is dope. Um, but just go to locations that are fun.
All right. Next part of this, setting yourself up for success. There are a few things that you can do both before, and this is like outside of the actual event, that will just set you, set yourself up. Um, I shouldn't say both before. There are things that you can do before the event, kind of outside of the event that will set you up to enjoy the event, event more, and get more out of it, and just have more fun at the event.
Number one, I don't think you're even ready for this. Get yourself some home cameras for your pets. It has been a game changer for me. I have, I don't know, eight or nine cameras now, cuz you'll learn once you have one, you're like, well, there's so many blind spots, but, definitely if you have a cat, especially, like you leave them at home. I have a cat sitter that comes in, but she just changes the litter, feeds him cuz he's scared of everything.
So he hides when she's here. But this way I can see what he's doing and it gives me such peace of mind to have that. Um, I have also like the lights at my house so I can control them when I'm not at home. So that just makes that me happy. I can turn the lights on for Rupert, I can see what he's doing. Like I know that it's ok.
Next part here. Yes, I, I said it. Cameras.
Next part here. Consider either going early or staying late so that you have some decompression time so that you're not just like, ah, super frantic. Cuz we know, especially if you're going like, on a longer trip, that there's time differences and things like that. So give yourself some time to just chill, to chill out, to ease into this, uh, so that you're not super stressed out around the event.
Travel tip here. Bring a carry on. I know some people like to pack a ton, but realistically, you're not gonna be doing that much at the event. You just go to the event. You're just gonna go and sit there and learn.
Um, I am all about carry-ons. I, when I went to Australia for three weeks, I took a carry-on. I say bring a carryon because this way you don't have to worry about your luggage getting lost. Cuz imagine you get to the new place, maybe you haven't traveled a lot, and then your luggage is gone. That would stress me out. So, you know, know yourself and if that's gonna stress you out, bring the carry on. Super easy.
Another travel tip here of travel suggestion. Try to create comfort and ease regarding your travel and your hotel accommodations. So don't make flights that are at super shitty times and I get it. This is like privileged statements.
It is what? It's okay. This is what it's, try not to take super shitty times where you're like, oh, I'm flying through the night, or I get in super late, or I have to like wake up super, super early and I'm not a morning person and I'm worried I'm gonna oversleep. Make travel so that it actually feels better.
I, y y'all probably know by now, I hate a connecting flight. That's a little bit, you know, maybe more bougie, but these are just little things that you can do to make the experience better. Same with the hotel, obviously, like, don't get the shittiest hotel, but, um, the biggest thing with the hotel is try to have it be close to the location.
This way you're not worried about having to get there, having to take an Uber, things like that. If you can walk to the venue, so, so helpful. A lot of these big, big conferences, they have like hotel po like partners, and they'll have some that are like actually like inside of the venue depending on how big the venue is. If it's like a huge, massive conference center, book it. So much easier.
Next part. Don't stress yourself out about trying to work out when you're there. I gotta say it, a bunch of you folks are movement people. Don't, don't kill yourself and stress out trying to f you know, um, maintain the same routine. Yes, it is nice if there's a hotel gym, so you can look at that for sure when you're looking at what hotel to stay at. But accept that you will likely fall out of routine with things and it's not gonna be forever. And that's okay. So one less thing to stress about.
Go in with just a general intention. And things that I've used historically is this: I just want exposure to this thing. I just want to interact with people or be around other people that are doing this. I just wanna see what this thing is about. That's why I went to Podcast Movement.
I was like, all right, lemme just see. And part of the reason I also went, which is the next point here, which is you can go in with this one specific question that you ideally will get answered. And that's why another part that I went to podcast movement was, uh, ConverKit was hosting a pre-con event where they were gonna like show you how to use ConvertKit, and I was like, I want that, so I'm gonna go to that and learn from that.
But then as it relates to Podcast Movement, I was like, I don't know. I'm just going to go and see what it's about. I didn't have any expectations and this way I, you know, couldn't get let down with it. I was just like, let me go experience it. Let me see what it's about. Lemme see what other people are doing. Let me see what it means to be in this world. Let me see what it means to be at this event. And that's it.
Next part here is about self-awareness. Know where you are in your career. If you're way in your career, many, many years in, understand that you're not gonna go to a conference and like have your mind blown.
You're not gonna go and be like, I've never heard any of this before. Wow. If you can walk away with one salient point, that's amazing. And to me that makes it 100% worth the trip. The thing that you walk away with might be that, yeah, you know all of this and you're headed in the right direction. That doesn't mean it's a bad conference, it means that you're doing really well. Flip the script on it.
If you're at the beginning of your career, you're at the beginning of your, you know, journey into doing whatever this thing is about, then anticipate overwhelm. I think back to when I went to ConvertKit's, uh, Craft and Commerce and I was like, the first year, and I was like, holy shit.
Just like. Oh my God. Everything was overwhelming. Everything was so much, everything was a million steps and I was just like, wow. So if that's you, go in expecting that and then don't try to memorize it all. Just expose yourself. See what sticks. See what's interesting. See what keeps resonating with you.
Write down what you want. I never go back to my notes, but you know, write it down anyway. See like what is resonating with you. Feel free to cut it off to cut out when it gets to be too much. If you're like, I am overwhelmed, I'm overstimulated. I can't. Then just leave. It's okay. That's one of the coolest parts about going to conferences is that you're an adult.
You're not like with your parents, you're like, I gotta fucking sit here now. Like you could leave. So if you're like, it's too much, can't handle it, just leave.
And then the last part with this, uh, if you're in the beginning and you're anticipating that overwhelm, understand that all the stuff that's being taught works, that's why those people are speakers.
Some may work better than others, but it all works. And so the goal is just to expose yourself and figure out over time what works best for you.
Last two parts here about kind of around the event, setting yourself up for success. Big one here, folks. Bring snacks and warm clothes. Gotta do it. So maybe you also fly in early and you go to a, a grocery store that's nearby.
This makes a difference because oftentimes, like the events, they don't have the best kind of food. If we're gonna try and maintain some form of, um, familiarity or some part of our traditional, our routine, food is an easy thing to do. So bring snacks that you know are gonna be agreeable with you and bring warm clothes.
Always easier to take layers off, but most of the time these conference rooms, these conference centers are freezing. Just objectively cold. So bring things to stay warm. It's huge. It's huge.
And last part here, register early. So I'm, I'm really largely speaking, um, based on experience with podcast, excuse me, HubSpot's Inbound event.
They get like a like, some, I don't know, 30,000 people at this thing. It's a huge event. And keep an eye on your email and if they ask you to register, pre-register for events, do it. Cuz otherwise you can't get into events. You gotta wait in line. Some of them get locked out because even though these people have been running these things for multiple years, they still seem to mess up and it's easier to take that stress off of you.
That's the common theme here, right? Like remove stress. Register early for any events that have, you have the ability to register early.
All right, let's move to the end of this and then we're gonna cut this off. How to set yourself up for success and get the most out of this after the event, because it's not just about, you know, setting up for it, going into it, experiencing it.
What about afterwards?
So, number one, implement one thing. One thing that you learn. Like I said, if you're a pro, and you've been doing this forever, if you can take away one salient point, that's amazing. And if it's that, the salient point is that you're doing the right stuff, then cool. The thing you're implementing is continue to double down on the stuff that you're doing.
Otherwise, take away one, look at all the takeaways and one thing from there. You know, maybe go to a conference and it's like all this different software you could try, pick one. One thing. The rest of it's still gonna be there. Nothing changes if nothing changes. So pick one thing, do that, complete it, build the momentum, and then we can look to go and move on to the next thing.
Last part here is be a be a repeat offender. If you liked it, go back. If you're like, I got something outta that, consider going back. Uh, you can meet people, it can kind of become a thing. Like I'm thinking about ConvertKit, where like, I went back and hung out with Claire Pelletreau. Courtney can link that episode that I, maybe, I think I did two with Claire. Um, if you can link those, amazing.
Um, but you get to hang out with people in this really dope environment. And I know that a lot of people are not as fortunate as I am. Like, you know, my best friend Jill, she lives down the street. And everyone in my ecosystem is like, entrepreneurial, is business oriented.
And I know not everyone has that. And so if you find that these events become this kind of respite safe haven for you, go to them more than once. Um, the flip side, or maybe the continuation of that is that there's also a lot of value in outgrowing things and being like, wow, this is holding up a mirror
and like, I'm good here. Um, that's kind of what I'm feeling right now about ConvertKit. Like I loved it and, you know, I got my, my goal was to speak at it. The very first time I went, I was like, I'm gonna be on that stage. And last summer I was on that stage and I, I feel very content, um, as it relates to the content, the actual event, I'm like, I'm good. I know this stuff. And I would rather stay here during the summer, during June than fly to Boise. Boise's dope though. Um, great people there as well, but I'm like, I'd rather, think I'd rather stay here. Um, and there's a lot of value in recognizing that you have outgrown something and that, you know, just how far you've come.
Okay, so that's all I got for you. If you're thinking about going to a live event, do it. I laid out some kind of tactical things to help you, in my opinion, get the most out of it. But I think the big, really salient point here that I want you to take away is understand that when we go to live events, when we go to in-person events, we are going for the experience.
We're not going for the information. So go set yourself up for that. Be open for that, open to that, be receptive to that, and just look to enjoy the experience.
Alright. That's good. That was a good timing for this episode. Emma, you're welcome. I know I've been a little bit longest in the episodes, uh, but that, that's looking like a good time there. Uh, as always, you know, I'm so freaking grateful for each and every single one of you. Uh, I don't have a call to action, specific call to action lined up so why don't I throw out, if you like it, if you love it, if you're picking down -picking down, picking up what I'm putting down, would love a review.
I, we actually just got a new one from Blair. Blair, you the real MVP. Uh, I love reading them. You wanna drop some stars? Amazing. You wanna take an extra, you know, however many minutes or moments and actually write some stuff out double amazing.
Either way, I am incredibly, incredibly grateful that you listen. I'm incredibly grateful that you give me your time, so thank you. All right. Officially wrapping it up.
Until next time, friends, Maestro out.
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