Ep. 001 How to Get Better Results From A Conference
I just returned from Podfest Multimedia Expo in Orlando, FL. This was another incredible gathering of friends and associates who are passionate about bringing their message to the masses through the use of podcasting. This year even included a good amount of teaching and training on the video side of things, making it a true “Multimedia Expo.” I was honored to emcee the Podcast Launch & Grow Workshop on Thursday where we had close to 100 people, most of whom had never done a podcast but were eager to launch one of their own very soon. We even had a celebrity podcaster who is hosting his own show called From Fear to Courage, American Idol season 3 contestant William Hung. He was very engaged the entire event and incredibly serious about impacting lives as he teaches us to go for our dreams regardless of what others may think. I do plan on having William on an episode of this show very soon. Going from Consumer to Creator Being an attendee at any conference is incredibly easy. Just pay the registration fee, show up, sit in the presentations which interest you and take a few notes. Maybe get involved in a few of the social events and trade a business card or two. These kinds of events are incredibly easy for a misfit like me. Most sessions are about 45 minutes max and then it’s off to learn something new. My short attention span loves this kind of set up as it never leaves me bored. I even enjoy the vendor area with all sorts of products and services to potentially distract me during my work days. This year I wanted to make sure I maximized my conference experience so I took the time to go around to a few of the veterans who were at least somewhat more successful with their businesses than I had been up to this point. I wanted to know if they did something different than I do once a conference is over. What were their immediate actions and were these strategies something I could use to go from Misfit to Millionaire? Here’s what I learned: Find Some Solitude Thanks, Jaime "Jemmy" Legagneur: Co-Host Finding Florida Podcast Jemmy first said this in jest (I think) as it was near the end of the conference and about the 37th time, I had come up to talk to her. But as we explored this a bit more we realized this was actually really good advice especially for someone who is normally an introvert like me. Misfits like me are drained in these crowded situations and need some alone time to decompress and re-energize. Thankfully I had a 2-hour drive home alone which gave me some time to listen to a few of the podcasts I had discovered at Podfest and spend some of it driving in silence. Scientific studies have shown that excessive noise can raise our blood pressure and increase our stress levels and the inverse is true for silence. Just a few minutes of silence will help you decrease stress and lower your blood pressure. These moments of silence also allow us to go deeper into our thoughts beyond the most surface level ideas to something we may have forgotten from the first few sessions of the conference. Some scientific research is indicating our brain cells are regenerated in the hippocampus region of our brain where most learning takes place. Having just left a conference, you’ve likely overtaxed this region and could use a good amount of regeneration. A pair of noise-canceling headphones on a flight home or turning off your radio for a portion of your drive home can do a lot to help regenerate your brain and help get your ready to execute on the ideas which are liking overflowing in your conference notebook. Sleep On It Thanks, Glenn “The Geek” Hebert: Horse Radio Network I can’t tell you how grateful I am for this gem. I'll be honest, I had a bias; I was looking for some sort of action item, not an INaction item, but this is exactly what a Misfit like me has to do in these situations or we’ll quickly find ourselves overloaded with tasks coming out of the all the things we want to immediately implement from each of the speakers. Phew! This was gold for me and Glenn said it was the same way for him. In fact, Glenn said he won’t take action on any item for at least a week after a conference just to make sure it’s something he really wants to implement into his business or life. I have to admit (and maybe it’s a flaw of mine) there’s no way I can go a week without taking action, but I can certainly take a few days on the ideas before I start filling up my task list. So, figure out what’s best for you and your existing list to determine how long you should be waiting. Because we Misfits can be quite forgetful people, it’s important you write down all the ideas you would like to implement before giving yourself that downtime to digest it all. Otherwise, you’ll end up coming back after a week and not remembering a thing about what you wanted to do, which wasn’t the intended idea. Organize Your Notes Thanks, John Dennis: Co-Organizer for Podfest Multimedia Expo I’m a Misfit, my notes can sometimes be on the back of a vendor brochure or written across 17 different types of paper and using at least 4 pens, a pencil, and sometimes a crayon. This means I get home with a “pile” of notes rather than a binder full of them. The only thing less organized are my receipts from my expenses. In fact, the receipts from Podfest 2017 last year are still among all of the other receipts from last year in a ziplock back inside the cabinet in my desk (at least I haven't lost them). John Dennis suggests getting those notes organized while they're still fresh in your mind so you can see if something needs to be clarified. Remember, most of these won’t be looked at for quite some time, if ever. The “if ever” part is exactly why John followed that up with the idea to pull out the most important action items from your notes and putting them onto a separate list so you can get them onto your calendar or into your task manager (hopefully you didn’t just say “my what?”). I do realize this may contradict what Glenn Hebert suggestion above in regard to sleeping on any action items. Truthfully it doesn’t need to be because simply organizing those ideas doesn’t mean you’re reprioritizing projects in your life based on your enthusiasm for these ideas. You can and should still sleep on these ideas first. Follow Up Immediately and Follow Through Thanks, Chris Krimitsos: Founder and Co-Organizer for Podfest Multimedia Expo Even before you leave the conference set aside 30-90 minutes to write an individual email to each person you made a connection with and swapped contact info. PLEASE NOTE: This does NOT mean add them to your email marketing list. In fact, that’s the very last thing you should do, in fact… I’ll go further, it’s not even the last thing, it’s not a thing. You should NEVER do that. Chris suggests being specific in your response, making sure you mention any details you may have discussed together so they know you have a genuine interest in what they have going on in their life. This can make a world of difference and set you apart from all of the other copy-n-paste emails they’re going to get over the next few days. To follow-through on these connection set up a call, Zoom, or Skype session with anyone who gets back to you after your initial contact. Chris reminded me to not take it personally if it’s a few days before I hear back from some people as they’re likely traveling, reorganizing themselves, and getting back into the flow of things in their businesses. That can take a few days and even up to a week. When you do connect, don’t make this a sales call or think of it as an opportunity to pitch your services to them. Instead, find out how you can help them grow their business, launch their podcast, or increase their number of listeners. If you do that, you’ll create so much loyalty you won’t have to pitch anything. They’ll be asking how they can return the favor and even if your service isn’t right for them, they’ll go out of their way to find someone who needs what you have to offer. Be a Matchmaker Thanks, James Van Prooyen: The Ragnar Life Podcast I didn't expect this response, but knowing James, it fits his heart perfectly. He suggesting looking through your list of contacts in order to find out who you can connect based on need. Hopefully, you spent some of the time asking others what they need in their business to help them reach their goals. Take that knowledge and match them up with someone who could potentially address it. When you do something of this nature, you not only earn uber karma points, you exponentially increase the power of the community. There's no way you or any other single individual can engage with everyone in attendance, but if we're all looking for opportunities to find people who may be able to help each other, we'll increase the chances for success. This was an amazing suggestion. Thanks again James. Had I Done This Right As I was standing talking to Glenn Hebert, it dawned on me that I was at a podcasting conference talking to podcasters about the content I wanted for my next podcast and I didn’t have a microphone in my hand. Doh! Had I not already packed up everything I would have taken a moment to grab that equipment and included their actual voices explaining things rather than relying on my Misfit memory to do the job. [tweetthis display_mode="box"]If you’re a podcaster, take the time to create a mobile podcasting “jump kit.” That’s something you always have ready so you can just grab it and go without giving it much thought. Always be ready for a great interview.[/tweetthis] My First Alcohol-Free Conference This is the very first conference I’ve attended where I wasn’t at the bar just about every evening after the day’s sessions. This was a game-changer for me, but I realize it’s not something everyone would want to do. So why did I do it? In 2016, while attending Cole Hatter’s Thrive: M
