I just made a decision to fly out to a live event in a couple of weeks. It was pretty much a last minute thing, but an opportunity came up for me to save a little bit of money on it so I went for it. I’ll be doing other traveling right before that and leaving my husband (and the cats, LOL) for 4 days so there was a bit of going back and forth about it.
However, the more I thought about the potential benefits involved, the more I knew I wanted to do it. It’s a seminar teaching both business-building strategies as well as personal discovery principles, and the timing is ideal for me to experience something like this.
There are two main upsides I see to investing the time, money and energy on a live learning event such as this one:
1) It is the perfect excuse for me to get out from behind my computer and meet people face to face. 
My business is mainly an online one, and I love that. But there is something to be said for networking in person that just takes relationships to a whole new level. I’ve “met” lots of great contacts via social media, but many of them will be at this event and it will be fantastic to solidify those relationships even more. I expect some exciting joint venture possibilities to take shape!
2) It will be total immersion into learning. Home study courses, calls and webinars are great, but being able to absorb valuable information live over 3 days will be very powerful. This particular event is not going to be a “pitch-a-thon” with multiple speakers hawking their products. It will be content-rich and taught by one person for almost the entire event. I fully intend to learn a ton of strategies that I can take home and begin applying right away.
So, although there was some hand-wringing before I came to my decision, I’m confident I made the right one. I’ve attended several live events in the past (albeit mostly local ones) that have really made an impact in my business.
I enjoy learning this way—do you? Let me know in the comments if you’ve ever attended a live event and what you thought of it.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Live events are definitely my preferred way of learning. Just this past weekend I attended the Enterprising Women’s Conference here in Winnipeg. I debated between attending a session of writers talking inspiration or women managers talking management style. I chose the writers and it made all the difference. I’ve been writing like a maniac ever since! I was so inspired within the first few minutes of this session, I was almost breathless. I felt like I’d come home. Live events definitely make these kinds of experiences possible.
I have really enjoyed the live events that I have gone to. There was a virtual workshop I put on and was able to get a lot of amazing speakers because I had met them in person. They are a blast! But as the same time, they can be information overload, so if there are not recording… you’re in trouble!
So I can honestly say I like both forms of learning.
I hope you have a great time at the event Christine!
Paul Cooley´s last blog ..My Biggest Mistake In Business
@Leanne–that is so cool! I love hearing that.
I really enjoy writing and I know how amazing it is to really get inspired to do it! Glad you had a great event.
@Paul–That’s really true actually. I always take copious notes, and I think one of the keys is to take out those notes and implement, implement, implement once you get home! Otherwise all that info kind of fades away and you can “lose” the inspiration you got at the event.
That’s for sure! Very true! If you’re not going to take action on what you learned, there is no point in going.
Oh by the way… we still need to connect soon!
Paul Cooley´s last blog ..My Biggest Mistake In Business