I’ve just come off the back end of attending a series of conferences around the world and I want to share with you how I get the most out of conferences, along with some of the mistakes I’ve made in the past around my time spent at conferences.
I think this is an important topic to share because when you attend any conference you don’t want to feel like you wasted your money and time. Instead, I want you take the lessons I’ve learnt so that you’ll come away from events feeling like you really got the most out of it!
I’ve done at least five naturopathic conferences this past year, speaking at some of them and as an attendee at others. I’ve also been to 3 or 4 business conferences and 2 personal development conferences. Sometimes, I have been totally present and really gotten the most out of it. And other times I’ve had some. . . other experiences.
It’s important to make sure you get the best from the conferences that you attend because they can be really expensive. It costs you time as well and you obviously have to sort out your life back home. Therefore if you’re investing time, energy, and money in a conference, you want to make sure you get the most out of it. So, I’m sharing with you here my 5 top tips to get the most out of conferences, even if you are shy or don’t think you can afford it!
My 5 top tips for getting the most out of conferences and events
1. If you feel a spark – make it happen
This happened for me with the very first conference I ever went to specifically for my business. I went to a conference called Rich, Happy and Hot, which was run by Marie Foreo who runs B-School. She also has an amazing book that’s just come out at code, Everything Is Figureoutable, and she also has an incredible vlog and YouTube channel. So check her out, if you haven’t already. She used to run this live event, but she doesn’t do that anymore.
I felt this spark! Honestly, I wasn’t in the best place. I had spent way too much money trying to set up my business. My husband had just found out that I had run up a bunch of credit card debt. I had started paying it back as my business started working for me, but this email came out about Marie’s live event. My son was only about 18 months old at the time.
And it was in New York, of all places. But there was this spark inside me. It was one of those intuitively guided moments. I can now recognise it when it happens. You know, there are times when you’ve just got a gut feeling about something and you just know you need to be there.
What will the ROI of this event be for you?
At the time, my hubby taught me a really cool lesson, He asked me,
“If you’re going to invest this much money going to a conference, what’s going to be your return on that investment (“ROI”)? How are you going to make that amount of money back with what you learn at the conference?“
That was a real “Aha!” moment about conferences for me. That was a game-changer for me.
So if you feel the spark, make it happen, and then implement. Actually take action on what you learn from the conference to make back the money, time, and energy that you spent going to the conference in the first place.
The ROI isn’t always money. It could be:
- connections
- an opportunity to speak somewhere else
- money
- an idea that earns you money after you implement
If you’ve attended a game-changing conference and got something out of it (your ROI), share that conference name down in the comments! I’d love to hear where you had a great experience at the conference.
So, I made it happen and I went to that big conference in New York City, it was a very cool thing. I was doing things that were totally outside of my comfort zone.
To get there, I:
- sold programmes for the first time
- made sure I was rebooking my clients
- had a mini sale on initial consultations and follow up consultations, mixing them together
- got rid of any stock I had on my shelves
- made sure everybody knew about all of the things that could help them with, rather than just one thing.
It really changed my mindset because I was doing things to get it.
2. Look for the Gold Nuggets
The biggest thing about conferences is that you have to look for the golden nuggets.
It’s like panning for gold. There’s going to be stuff that isn’t relevant to you right now (or even in the future) or that may not resonate. But somewhere in there is absolute gold. But you have to go looking for it.
They’re not responsible to just hand you all of the gold nuggets on a platter. It’s your job to sit there and take what you can get from each speaker, experience, or conversation that happens on the side with other attendees. Find the gold nuggets that are in there for you.
So, look for gold nuggets, that’s your responsibility at a conference.
Now, I’ve also been to a conference this past year where I was just sitting back thinking, “I don’t think there’s anything in this for me.”
And guess what happened? For that entire day where I wasn’t quite present. There wasn’t anything for me because I didn’t go looking for it.
3. Be open to what you hear (even if you’ve heard it before)
There are some really unhelpful things you might be thinking as you sit in the crowd. If you’re thinking one of these (or something similar), it’s going to keep you from discovering your gold nuggets.
Here are some thoughts to watch out for:
“I already know that. I’ve heard that before. “
Have you ever said that to yourself in a seminar, webinar, or even right now listening to me? Even if you have heard it before, thinking this way shuts down every possibility of learning something new or having an Aha moment. This mindset shuts down any possibility of something that you haven’t heard before coming through.
And the other thing about that is that you haven’t heard it at that moment, in that environment, surrounded by those people, when you’ve travelled out of your current environment to be in this amazing educational space. You’re a different person at that moment than the last time you heard it.
“Repetition is the mother of all knowledge”
~ Tony Robbins
Some of you have experienced this, especially if you work with your partner. I get it all the time. I say stuff to Murray all the time, and he’s saying stuff to me all the time. It only takes one other person outside of our realm to say the exact same thing and I have a light bulb moment. And it can be the same for you.
Instead of, “I’ve heard this before,” try, “How could I apply that?” or, “How is that different from the last time I heard it?”
‘How’ is the antidote to any of these moments.
“That won’t work for me. “
Another thing that you might find yourself sitting in the crowd thinking is, “That won’t work for me, because:”
- I’m still a student
- that’s not the same business model as mine
- I’m a mom
- I don’t serve people with dementia (or diabetes, or heart disease, or whatever)
- I’m skinny (or fat)
- technology doesn’t work for me, I don’t like technology, or I do like technology
Notice that when all of the things come up, you think, “that won’t work for me because…I’m special.”
The fascinating thing about a conference is that everybody is there to actually help you. It’s not about what can’t be done for you. It’s for you to find out how it CAN work for you.
The antidote to sitting in the crowd and saying whatever you say to yourself to excuse you out of actually learning something and finding your gold nugget is to ask “How:”
- can this help me?
- will this work for me?
- does this actually apply to me?
- can I see a way to use this moving forward?
So this one is a biggie.
Even “irrelevant” trainings can yield golden nuggets
When I was first starting to go to business conferences, in particular, I was sitting through days worth of very masculine, tech orientated, salesy stuff. But there were tiny little things on the side that made them worthwhile.
Like the first time that I heard about online bookings and scheduling systems. It was a half conversation that this speaker mentioned as an example of something on the side. It wasn’t even an actual teaching point. There was a whole bunch of stuff that I didn’t resonate with. But look for the Gold Nugget and how you could apply it.
The second I came home from that conference, I went on and got Timely, which was one of the first online scheduling tools available. It saved me so much time on the phone with my clients!
Without that tiny little bit of information, without me sitting there looking for the Golden Nugget in a whole mess of other stuff, grabbing that gold nugget and taking action, I wouldn’t have gotten a receptionist only a few months down the track. Because I wouldn’t have understood what it felt like to actually go do those things and pay for that particular service, and then decide to pay a little bit more for a receptionist. I literally wouldn’t be where I am now if I hadn’t have gone and looked for that tiny little gold nugget.
4. You find gold nuggets are where you least expect them
If you don’t feel like you are getting all of the gold from a particular person on stage, it’s very likely there’s a gold nugget in the sideline conversations. Like when I was just describing that presenter who mentioned the scheduling system. It was an offhand comment, just an example.
These are some of the best moments for me in conferences, the conversations that I have with like-minded people.
A conference brings together like-minded people who are there for the same purpose, to learn very similar things that are probably in the same kind of field.
I’ve been to major supplier conferences this year for naturopathic and complementary health. We are all on the same team. I love going there and learning all of these things about health and wellbeing, how we can use different compounds or apply different research. It’s such a cool space for us to play in.
I can’t just go to a local barbecue and start talking about B12, biochemical pathways, methylation and other things that I really want to talk about. But we can have these awesome sideline conversations at conferences and people just get us because they’re on the same wavelength. It’s one of my favourite things.
This last conference I went to was 9am to 9pm for three whole days. At the end of each day, I went down to the bar. The people that I met there were all digesting and integrating the information we’d learned. And everybody had a different angle and a different spin on it. It was like the different facets of a diamond. So being able to connect with like-minded people, is where you can find the gold nuggets.
You think you’re going there to learn all of the things from the person standing up onstage. But some of the best ones that I’ve ever been are the other sideline conversations and the little extras like the VIP sections. We had this boat party on one of those riverboats that took us over to a place that had bubble soccer, pool tables, and like Jenga. If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen some of those things recently.
The conversations in those places and spaces are irreplaceable because you may not be able to connect with those people online. They’re not people who are in your usual environment. Making the most of that is really, really important.
5. It’s not just about learning a bunch of stuff
You may think, “I’m going to spend this much money and I’ll get this much knowledge, back.”
It’s not about that.
What conferences give me is the experience of being able to take action. There is magic in having so many people around you in the same position as you. There’s a vibe, energy, and a can-do attitude.
For example, at the last supply conference that I was at, I heard about a new product. I was talking to another friend of mine who was there about this new innovative compound that we can get for our clients and we instantly started thinking of clients we could use it for. So we sent them an email right there while we were at that conference. You have the opportunity to change your clients’ lives with the new thing that you’ve just learned. Because you can take action on it right then and there.
At the most recent business conference I attended, I had these amazing moments of understanding and Aha’s that I needed to take action on straightaway. So I emailed my team and we got the ball rolling on some really cool stuff that’s going to be at NatEx. Have you seen the donut wall? We are sourcing gluten-free “pronuts” and we’re gonna have a donut wall at NatEx in February next year!
Conferences inspire action
There are some really amazing things that happen when you’re in that environment taking inspired actions (which is what we call it over in the Natupreneur Journey). Inspired action is a different thing, you wouldn’t come across it usually. And it spurs you into action.
I wouldn’t usually have come across this particular compound unless I was at that conference. And I wouldn’t have taken the action to email that person if I was just given a flyer about it, for instance.
Normally, I wouldn’t have taken the action that I did. But I was so inspired by the experience of seeing this donut wall, I took the action of sending the email to my team who are now sourcing one for us. My event manager is even more excited about some of the other stuff I sent her.
That is the cool thing about a real-life experience such as attending a conference rather than the stuff that we learn in an old-school teacher/student way. Or online, where nobody is actually there experiencing it with you.
Recap
So these are my five tips for making the most out of conferences:
- If you feel the spark, make it happen. Do what it takes to get there. It will always bring you an ROI.
- Look for the gold nuggets. It’s not the responsibility of the event to give you gold nuggets on a platter. You have to sift through and do some work to find the gold nuggets for you (because they’ll be different for everyone).
- Be open to what you hear, even if you’ve heard it before. Thinking you already know it, you’ve heard it before, or that it won’t work for you cuts off your opportunity to learn and find a gold nugget.
- Gold Nuggets are where you least expect them. It might be sideline conversations or other things that come up, but you have to search for them as well.
- It’s not just about learning a bunch of stuff. It’s about being in an environment that inspires action.
Take Action
If you’ve got the spark, if you are a natural health practitioner and you want to come to the conference of the year, consider attending the Natupreneur Experience. NatEx brings together everything I’ve learned over the past plus speakers and workshops and more.
I’ve been going to conferences for nearly a decade. But this year, in particular, I’ve gone to some amazing conferences. I’ve taken all of the best stuff and I’m putting it all into NatEx. It’s three epic days up on the Gold Coast.
The first day is VIP day. It’s special because we’re actually doing experiential workshops such as:
- blending creams as a passive income stream
- blending herbs
- the amazing Carla Wren doing a Vitae Mosaic class
- a Let’s Get Physical class with the amazing Katie Barron
- and more!
We’ve got all these really interactive workshops and we’re doing a live scavenger hunt all around the Gold Coast, where you get to win prizes and be in a team of people you might not have met before. It’s really exciting!
On days two and three, we have 18 speakers in the, in the theme of “Love your work, love yourself, and love your life.” Because there are so many elements of being in practice that can be the opposite. We can create the opposite.
So we get to acknowledge it because it’s actually on the back of Valentine’s Day next year. I’m so pumped about running NatEx next year!
If you haven’t checked it out, you can go to TammyGuest.com/natupreneur-experience and you’ll be able to see all the details.
I would love to see you there if you haven’t got tickets already!
Have an amazing day, people! If you got something out of this or you think somebody else will, please share it.
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