Mistakes People Make When Going To A Conference

Eric Beer 00:00

Everybody just shows up. But, the right way to do this is to reach out to people ahead of time and set up meetings. Make sure that the people that you want to get in touch with know that you’re going and try to set up some sort of meeting before you get there. So, it’s scheduled so that you can get your best bang for your buck.

I spent the last 17 years building my eight-figure performance business without using any of my own money, working with some of the most brilliant direct response marketers in the world today. Now I’m looking for entrepreneurs to join my affiliawte army built on ethics, transparency, and good old hard work. Join me to change the perception of how people view the greatest business in the world, affiliate marketing, and follow along as I learn, apply, and share performance marketing strategies, working with some of the brightest people on the planet. My name is Eric Beer, and welcome to the Performance Marketer Podcast.

Hey, what’s up, everybody? Welcome to the Performance Marketer podcast. I’m Eric Beer, the host. And I want to talk to you guys today about Funnel Hacking Live and conferences overall. I just went to Funnel Hacking Live last week in Orlando, for a long, five days of just value, after value, after value. And it was an amazing event. This is my second one going. And it’s been a while since I’ve been to one of these events. So, it was good to be there just from a mindset perspective. Just getting out and seeing more of the people you’ve worked with, or you’ve become friendly with, but only through business. And you only see them when you’re at these conferences. And it really just helps with energy for your own business that just gets, you know, fired up, you know. It’s just an amazing thing. So, if you guys don’t go to any of these conferences, I really recommend that you do. I know it costs a lot of money at times. And the value is there. If you do it the right way, the value is there. I mean from this event, I mean from just everything that went down… I’m just, you know, kind of reviewing this book here, of, you know, the speakers that… There’s just so much value, man. I mean, day one was, you know, Russell… I always love when Russell talks. He just… Even when he’s speaking about things that I know everything about - while I’m sitting there, and I’m listening, and we’re just kind of reviewing for me, ideas just start pouring out of my head. And it’s just… It’s so powerful that when I go to this, for some reason, I just feel like I have no distractions around me. And it’s like, all I do is have time that I’m able to just take that concept, walk out, go by myself, and then just start writing down and mapping out some thoughts that I have for a business that I want to get involved in or, or different things that I want to change within my organization. And without being at these events and just letting things be triggered by just listening to other people that are just pumping value out into the world, then I likely wouldn’t have ever come up with that idea. So, it’s, it’s just one simple thing that can change your direction, in where you are right now today versus where you can be. It’s just so much information, man. I mean, they were powerful speakers. I mean, Kaylin Poland was there and she’s done really well she’s follow Russell’s stuff. And you know, it’s funny, like she she was all around, asking their audience, you know what they want. And people started pinging my phone all over the place. Because she’s talking about serving people, you know, asking people questions, and trying to understand her audience identifying who they are so she can give them what they they want. Right? It’s so simple. That’s the same, the same core concept of what we’re doing with SurveyDetective. So, it was great to see her do that, you know, they built the business close to 100 million dollars and they’re using the same strategy that I’m trying to teach all of you so I mean if that’s not just no proof enough, I mean, you got to just just got to try it man. You gotta come to me and hope you would definitely it was just cool man.
Day two is like a lot of speakers. I got so much value and I met this kid Jason Harwood which is pretty cool because he’s, he’s a racecar driver man. He’s done really well online, but like What I got out of it when I was hanging with him was that he’s just driving race cars, like, he’s done so well online, that he’s given him an opportunity to go and have fun with him. And, and race cars. I want to say for a living, I don’t think that’s what he’s relying on for his, for his life to pay bills, right, he’s got a massive e commerce business. But what it does is this lifestyle, being an entrepreneur, it affords you the opportunity to, to do anything you want. That was in your wildest dreams, you become financially stable, financially independent. And then what happens, when that happens, you you have so much opportunity to do whatever you want. And that’s the most important thing, you know, people that are just stuck in a rut and don’t get to do what they want. It said, and we got to figure out a way to get you out of that what you started with was he’s racing cars, and I’m just, you know, it’s kind of close to my heart, because I just bought a little toy for myself, hasn’t come yet. It’s coming in December, but um, he’s telling me that it’s fast, and I’m a racer, but I might take this bad boy to, to the track. We’ll see once I get it, but there’s no way I’m gonna race, like competitively. It’s just too scary, you know, you can get hurt. And it’s not my thing. But in any event, I mean, there were so many other people here that were just talking.
And I think, you know, as I’m talking to people that were at the event, it just seemed like, no one really does the conference, the right way to get as much value as possible. So, what I’m going to do is I want to talk about, wrote down some notes here, of just some things that you want to do when you go to a conference. So, you can get as much value as you possibly can, out of being there. Every time I go to an event, the cost of the ticket to get there, then you got to fly, that’s going to cost some money. So, you know, Funnel Hacking Live is anywhere from like, $800-$1,000. To get there, you got to fly, right? I live in New York, and it was in Orlando, so there’s a plane ticket, then there’s the cost of a hotel, and eating and anything else that you’re doing. So, you know, you can round up and assume that it’s going to cost $3,000, $4,000, or $5,000 for the trip, right, depending on the days you stay there. Everyday, you stay there cost money for the hotel, plus it costs money for you to eat, do all all the things that you want to do with just, you know, entertainment. So, you got to spend money. And what I like to look at when I go to these conferences is you know, what’s my cost per hour? Right? What’s my cost per minute, when I’m spending my time at these events. But before I get to that event, right? When I make a decision that I’m going, the first thing I want to do is I want to understand what this events all about, I want to understand who’s going to this event, right? I want to be around people that I could do business with, or I can learn from, right. So, I need to make sure that there’s a goal in mind of when I’m going to this event of what I’m going to get out of it. I’m just not going to an event to go, right. And maybe I get some value, there’s got to be a reason why I’m attending this event, right? Our time is valuable. We have a cost per minute, cost per hour, cost per day. And for me, I have to make sure that if I’m going to go to these things, that there’s something that I need to do that’s going to make it valuable for me. So, I want to figure out, what is the event all about? Is there going to be value.
Then I figure out who’s going right and want to figure out who’s going. Everybody just shows up. But, the right way to do this is reach out to people ahead of time and set up meetings. Make sure that the people that you want to get in touch with know that you’re going and try to set up some sort of meeting before you get there. So, it’s scheduled so that you can get your best bang for your buck. When you’re at these events. You can make an argument there’s billions of dollars to be had, right? All the people you want to do business with are in one place, right? It’s not like you have to fly to somebody’s office. Right? If you want to talk to five clients, one’s in Austin ones in California ones in Florida, you got to fly to Austin, you got to fly to California, you got to fly to Florida, right? They’re all coming to one place, you have the opportunity to speak to all of them all at one time. So, you want to set up meetings, and you want to be prepared with the conversation that you’re going to have. So, if there’s anything that you need, that you need to show them, put together a deck. If there’s things that you’re looking for, that may need to be explained in more detail, then maybe a demo, or have something that you can be with them, explain it to them right there. So, that now you can bring whatever it is you’re talking about to the next level. Don’t wait to get back, right, you’re in front of them, you’re gonna make a huge impression. So, that’s important, right? So, all these things that you’re doing before it starts are powerful. Buddy, you know, so like, you got to prepare, and the more you prepare, the better, you’re going to do at the shows. So, make sure that you know that the attendee list, make sure that you know what you want to talk about, and get those set up, so that you have meetings, so that you can now execute on what you want.
When you’re at the conference, figure out what sessions are the most important to you, OK? For Funnel Hacking Live, I mean, it was probably 20-30-40 different speakers. And from when I went to the one in Nashville versus this one, how I did it very different was, when I was in Nashville, I stayed inside for every single one. And I literally listen to everybody. And one of the things that that hurt me from doing that was, whenever I had some sort of idea or something that I can use, then I would listen to the next speaker, and they would get into my mind, and then I would just lose all of the amazingness that I got out of that speaker talking to me. So, this time I looked in and decided on who do I really want to listen to, that will be a value to me. Now, there’s always surprises because you don’t know. But if you look and read about what these people do, and what they’re going to talk about how they’ve earned what their value is, you can figure out where it makes more sense for you and your business today. So, what I do is I make sure that I’m in those sessions. And when that session is done, I leave the session and go and jot down everything on my notebook that I had, yes, I’m taking notes during this session. But they’re not notes one by one, because they go too fast. And I like to be able to look at the slides. So, what I’ll do is I’ll take my phone, I’ll take pictures of the slides. So, that then I can go over that again. And it’ll trigger some of the thoughts with my notes. So, I’ll write something in my notes that’s triggered to a specific slide that will allow me then, to know Oh, yeah, that’s exactly what I was thinking when I when I saw that slide, and then it kind of helps me with coming back to that idea that I had, and then I jot that all down. And then I try to apply that to my business to make sure it’s documented. Therefore, I have something that I’m going home with that I won’t forget. Because when you’re at these events, 2-3-4 days, and from the sessions, to meetings, to bumping into different people along the way. I mean, it’s so much information, it’s like information overload, you really have to figure out how to just, you know, tackle some of the ideas you have, put them in some sort of box of yours, that’s going to be able to be taken home, so that you now can execute on that, so that you can make this show worth your time. Right. So, for me, I didn’t stay in everyone I left from our stand, someone takes notes, and you can buy them, I’ll find out about that. But I’m really just looking for one major takeaway. Anything else is massive, right?
You know, when you’re at these events, seeing a load of people, putting a face to a name is powerful, right? It builds your relationship for the next time that you see them at another show, maybe in a year. I know you don’t want to think that far ahead. But you know, you got to start planting seeds. So, just by breaking down that barrier of meeting somebody, I will tell you over the years of my career, doing that, where I meet somebody on this trip in a year, two years, three years, now I’m going to do business with them in some capacity, or they’re going to help me or I’m going to help them or you know, a combo of both. But networking is a huge thing at these events. So, don’t just like put yourself into your computer and sit on the side and be afraid to walk up to people. People want to meet other people, put yourself out there. I’m not saying put yourself in an uncomfortable situation. But if you did a good job of figuring out who’s going to be there and you set up some meet and greets, then you don’t have to just walk up to somebody like, Hi, they’re really cool. Hello. How are you? You know, it’s like it’s hard to do that. You know, a lot of people don’t like to do that. And I get that. And that’s why you want to prepare ahead of time so that you can now meet people and go to certain events, maybe people with own little drink parties. and things of that nature so that you can start to meet other people.
You know, and I’ll say, at the post, part of this conference, you went there, you had a great time, you know, a bunch of days, you know, you’re on your way home, and you have all this energy and you’re all psyched up, right? It’s really important that you follow up with the people that you had a conversation with, right, you need to take action, you need to prioritize all of the things that you did at this event, and you want to now start to plant emails into their inbox, maybe reach out to them through social media, if you’re not connected, definitely shoot a Connect, right? Anybody that you’ve met, at these conferences that you’re not connected with, you should be connecting with on social, alright, you know, there’s going to be some value added, they may be follow you, you follow them, and it’s just gonna, you know, increase your relationship with them, TEDx. And I’ll tell you, no speakers, if there’s big-time influencers at these events, OK? Now, it may be hard for you to go and meet them. And I get that, right. But if you heard them speak, this is a great time for you to follow up with them. And let them know that you were there live, and you heard what they said. And if something made an impact on you, tell them, let them know that that made an impact on you, maybe you’re going to connect with someone who’s super powerful, that would never take your message and ignore it. When now you have something that’s real, if they were at the event, and you were able to say hello to them and introduce yourself, I mean, now you really want to, you know, connect with them, you know, that’s huge. And build on that, don’t just start asking them for things, but build on that.
But most importantly, at the end of this is make sure that you summarize the entire show on what you did prioritize what’s most important to you, so that you can put some focus and try to see if you can knock out one by one, all the items you have on your list. Because at the end of the day, you had a cost to get to this place, now you’re going to look for a return on that investment. Yes, you want to see more money coming in, than you pumped out. There’s no doubt about that. But there’s also something to be said about when you’re, when you’re somebody who just struggling at home from Covid. And now, from a mindset perspective, you you’re refreshed, that’s powerful, that’s gonna lead to you being more productive. And then you’re gonna be able to have an ROI from that specific thing. But so make sure that you follow up on these things and then keep that going. And, you know, have at it. And take the energy. Don’t lose that energy. And just go after, man. I mean, these events are great. Going to these events is awesome. We have, you know, all this energy, now you want to keep that momentum up. So, make sure when you get home that you do that immediately. Don’t sit on this stuff. Because if you sit on it, it’s going to be gone. And you’re never going to do anything with it. I mean, I have notebooks of notes from previous conferences that, I mean, I probably never opened up. But if I can get one thing done from that event that can pay for it - that’s powerful. One client pays for that event. So, that’s all I got for this. I mean, good event. I’m excited. I got a lot of things to do. I’ve so many ideas, like too many ideas. So, I really have to prioritize where my focus is going to be. (And that’s a good thing, right? It’s a great thing.) But I got home in and figured out how I’m going to execute, you know... They put on such an event. It’s unbelievable, you know. Russell’s done such a good job of just building this community of people that are just so nice, you know. There’re all these entrepreneurs. They’re all, like, really good people. And it’s so much fun to be there and watch him talking to them and seeing, you know, all these people with the excitement and energy they have. It’s just really something that is really special to build. When you build something like that, and you have a community that’s behind you, anything is possible. Once you build up trust with people, and they’re there, you really can do anything as long as you don’t break their trust and you’re good to them. You really could do anything, and you have a very good chance of that being successful. So, you know, with that said, that was it. I’m back. I’m excited to be back. I’m energized with some new things that I’m going to be working on. And yeah, I just wanted to kind of review, like, the steps that you do when you go to a conference because I see a lot of people that don’t do it. And, you know, I want you to be successful. Your next one (I want you to go to that next one), I want you to think that it’s a return on your investment. So, with that said, if you were there, I hope you kick butt. And I didn’t see this time. Maybe next time, if you were there and you want to connect, reach out through one of the social channels. Otherwise, you know, I’m off to hustling and working my butt off. And I hope that this helped you guys for the next conference that you attend to. So, with that said, be good, have a good night, and be blessed.

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