Why I hardly go to conferences

Speaking about myself, I have spoken at very different conferences. At a large conference on SMM, my report was recognized as the second among all, and once before me there was an audience of 4 thousand people. Barcamps, trainings, courses, corporate performances, sales of advertising and agency services to clients - the bill goes to exactly hundreds. But for more than a year now, I probably don't want to speak in front of a mass audience and I am very meticulous about any attempt to drag myself to this or that conference. And that's why…

1. The myth of networking. People who sell conferences often say that networking is a must. What exactly at conferences do you contact with the maximum number of useful people. Find partners and investors. I disagree with that. I have not found a single partner of my current and past businesses at conferences. There were a lot of rosy conversations and laughter, bags of business cards and hundreds of handshakes. But then nothing. That is, there are some correspondences, meetings, yes, but for some reason completely different people buy (more on this below). Networking at conferences reminds me of water skiing, which you mistakenly call the study of the sea: you touch hundreds and thousands of waves, but you do not gain knowledge of the sea. Though you are sure you know all about the sea you have glided over.

Yuhu! The confa was cool. They swelled …

Here's another fact: Most really cool investors don't come to startup conferences with Investor badges. On the contrary, they register as Visitor and prefer “skiing” “snorkelling” and maybe “scuba diving” to the topic and projects, independently choosing who to communicate with.

2. Conferences are knowledge from the first place. Another popular myth from conference creators. Do you really believe that the constant guest performers at conferences who have learned to perfectly pour water from the stage want to teach you something? The same people, the same topics, the same jokes. For myself, I realized that it was about the mentality of Ivanushka the fool, who was sitting on the stove, and she brought him where she needed to. He doesn't do anything, he just sits on a chair and at the end of the day he already knows everything!:) I do not believe in this. If I need to understand how Bitcoin works, I go to Google. If I need to figure out how to track email marketing metrics, I go to the MailChimp blog. If I'm interested in monetizing YouTube videos, I go to Moz and other sites. You read, apply, analyze, read further - you get the result. The level of a cool author of a cool website is much cooler than anything you can hear at any conference! Why pay and wait for someone to chew everything for you?

3. Understand BEFORE attending the conference who you are - "sheep" or "shepherd". This is a consequence of p. 2. You should not delude yourself that you are hunting for knowledge, while the hunter is on the scene and is hunting for your budget or attention. If you do not have a clear understanding of who and how you will sell an idea, service or product, then do not go to the conference. Otherwise, you will be tonsured before you even come to check-in.

And history … I used to speak at a conference of "networkers" (network marketing, MLM). Social media was my topic. I was paid a fee to perform, and I knew why I was going. Thought I knew I was a shepherd. I prepared well. I always prepare 2-3 days for any performance, and here I also tried. When I finished my one and a half hour speech, there was a standing ovation. Middle-aged people began to approach me, thank me for the performance, and, strangely enough, took pictures with me. It took half an hour, and I just smiled, shook hands and thought about the fee:)

The next speaker followed me, and he did better than me. Emotions, laughter, going out to the hall - it was cool. And then he did something strange, as it seemed to me then. He ended up halfway through the idea and did what is called "close for sale." He said something like: “It's impossible to tell in an hour and a half, so you can find out the details in my webinar on discs! Only 2995 p. instead of the usual price - 5700 rubles! But only within half an hour after my performance!"

Out of 800 people in the audience, a couple of hundred people bought CDs from him. For cash Right here. Then there was a photo and a handle. And I realized that I was a toothless wolf cub, he is a wolf and a shepherd, and the people in the hall - … hmm, just had fun and generously paid for a couple of hours of their life. It's fair to say that this guru told me at the time that most of these people have racks of these expensive disks at home that they NEVER even unpack.

4. The quality of conferences as such has dropped dramatically. Have you seen this legendary photo?

It features Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Max Planck, Niels Bohr, Erwin Schrödinger, Auguste Piccard and others. It is a conference of equals who share knowledge. They do it in real life only because mail is inconvenient, and the phone is difficult. Today, there are so many channels of first-class information that buying mediocrity at conferences is simply not cost effective.

A friend of mine, a conference organizer, advised me on the economic feasibility of this lesson. He lamented that it was very difficult to make conferences only for the purpose of earning money. When I asked him a question about luxurious food on the tables and suggested that the economy would be "more interesting" without cakes, steaks, rare fruits, water and coffee, I heard a startling answer: "So no one will come then!" Buffet reporters, corporate absentees, students make up a large segment of those who distract you at conferences. By themselves, they dilute the minds, but create mass character. Part of your pay is a lobster claw in the mouth of the person who writes articles that are viewed by a hundred stray readers of his rag.

5. The "expertise" of the experts must be checked by you BEFORE! It's a shame to tell this, but once at one of the conferences in Russia I was dragged to a round table, as one of the talkers disappeared. I learned the topic at the moment when I sat down on the sofa! I knew about the subject of the conversation, but never worked with the product of the discussion. For some reason, it was me who had to speak the most. After the round table - applause and positive feedback from the audience. I just know how to switch attention to topics that are convenient for me. But people went to another and did not learn anything on the topic of the round table. I don't go to such events anymore, because I remembered all those round tables where I was a listener and laughed for half an hour. The matrix opened to me, and it became clear how deeply my predecessors were immersed in the topic:)

What to do?

My son, 7 years old, drew this picture just after spending 2 hours on YouTube.

Before that, he had not done anything like this - so, stick-stick-cucumber. There he also learns to assemble robots from Hero Factory and LEGO.

And also, after watching videos about MindStorm robots, he thinks that we need to spend $ 500 on this constructor and he can easily assemble a robot to help mom in the kitchen:) No courses, personal teaching and conferences.

Now ask yourself a question: How many Coursera courses or others have you taken? We write a lot about this. What's stopping you? Have you worked for 2 days and decided that you need someone to take over you? Do you think you need a teacher? Why can't you program for iOS or Android? Are you waiting for an opportunity to sign up for some courses? What for? There are Stanford and Berkeley courses, there is a Swift tutorial at last!

And if you have a website or blog, what marketing courses do you need if you don't understand Google Analytics reporting? You have dried up all traffic generation channels for your project, what are you going to SEO courses? Is everything OK with the rest of the channels? Understood?:)

All this I mean is that it's time to take off water skis and put on scuba gear. Find an experienced email marketer and you will find out that in this channel alone, they sell 5x more than you with all your social media, Twitter and other channels. All channels are good, don't get me wrong, but just figure out one thing - books, blogs, mailing lists, specialists to help you. When there is nothing more that you do not know, go to the conference and test your knowledge.

There is no need to look for a reason for self-education. There are such tricks in real life. For example, a Beaujolais Nouveau young wine festival, a strawberry festival or a street food festival is just an excuse to sell you some so-so wine, plastic hydroponic berries or sandwiches that you can … eat on the street. It is not necessary to consider the payment for the conference as a reason to start studying. You don't need a reason to learn. Nor is it needed for drinking young wine or eating strawberries. And remember one more proven truth. Personal meetings are always the bestwhat the person you are interested in can give you. On them, people are more frank, more liberated and tell very sensible things. And there is no need to "know in advance that you will be refused." Most people willingly accept an invitation to dine with them, but only on the condition that you have thought out the logistics and will be in the agreed place at the agreed time. No delays, no delays, tuned in to a constructive conversation.

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When is it worth going to conferences?

Only if you are authentic know who will be there and what you will sell to these people.

Only if you are prepared, are confident in themselves and the target of your pursuit is aware that you will catch him at the conference.

If your the employer will pay for your conferences and travel to them, and will also save the salary for these days. Then be sure to go to all conferences around the world - this is the best way to see the world and broaden your horizons without paying a penny!