Top 3 things to consider before saying yes to the next conference

Three critical factors real estate professionals should consider before committing to their next conference: goal alignment, genuine value versus FOMO, and energy investment. Making strategic choices about professional development opportunities ensures you're growing your business rather than collecting unused notes or attending events that drain your resources without adequate return.

• Assess whether conferences align with your current goals: seeking inspiration, accountability, connections, or specific content
• Consider your implementation habits—do you actively use what you learn or file notes away never to be seen again?
• Create an active implementation system like using your phone's reminders app to track and complete conference takeaways
• Evaluate if you're attending for genuine value or just fear of missing out (FOMO)
• Remember that even familiar content can provide new insights as you hear it in different stages of your business and life
• Strategic rotation of conferences (attending major events every 2-3 years) can optimize your professional development
• Your reception of content changes based on your current circumstances and mindset
• Implementation is the true measure of a conference's value to your business

I'd love to hear your thoughts! Are you someone who loves events, hates events? Maybe you've got a favorite event that you'd like to share? Let me know your thoughts and patterns when it comes to your personal development.

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Chapters

• 1:01 Welcome & Topic Introduction
• 1:54 Aligning Conferences with Goals
• 4:09 FOMO vs. Genuine Value
• 6:00 Energy In vs Energy Out
• 6:51 Conference Attendance Strategy
• 8:27 Content Reception Changes Over Time
• 10:02 Final Thoughts & Feedback Request

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:33

Welcome back to the PM Collective podcast, and I'm excited about this topic because it was on our Facebook page Some of you may have seen it and it was someone asking do I want to go to this conference that is happening, and it was really interesting to get some feedback from people about whether that person should go or not go to one of the bigger conferences that we had coming up. So I thought what a great topic to talk about, with three things that real estate professionals should consider before saying yes to your next conference. Now, those that did see the post I was trying to get my friend Sharon on it. I thought it'd be a great bit of healthy debate, but I have just quickly decided to record this podcast, so I haven't had time to invite her on. So if you're wondering why she's not here, that is why I'm just being unorganized, so we're going to get straight into it. So there's three things that we need to consider before saying yes to the next event, the first one being does it align with our current goals? Are we looking for inspiration and accountability? Are we looking for connection? Are we actually learning, wanting to actually get some, you know, are we in growth mode? Are we actually wanting to get some really important content to help build our businesses.

Speaker 1: 1:50

Now, when we're taking this into account, there's a couple of things that I want you to think about, and that is sort of what type of attendee are you at some of these conferences? So you might be someone who writes lots of notes in an exercise book and then goes and tucks that away underneath your filing the next day and doesn't implement anything. Or you could be someone that writes notes and implements straight away. Maybe you put those notes in a book, maybe you put those notes in your phone. I found like the best way for me managing it is the reminders app in my phone, where I just put all my things that I learned at the conferences into that and then, as the year goes on, I just continue completing them and adding new things. I like doing that because my to-do list is active constantly year round, and not just at that one point and that one pinnacle of having that event where I'm motivated for about five minutes and then that motivation goes down. So I feel like my to-do list that's on my phone is very easy to keep in active mode all year round, and if my list is getting a little bit too low. You know, conferences are great for me to add things to it, which is really good.

Speaker 1: 3:03

If you have so much on your to-do list and when I mean your to-do list, I mean your inspo list if you have too much on there and you're just not getting through it, you probably don't need to go to another course, because it's just going to add overwhelm. You're going to be adding more things to the list which you're not even getting to in the first place. So you've got to question yourself, you know, do I really generally need this? So there are a couple of things that you might want to consider. With your current growth mode and how you reacted to that content from the last event that you went to, did you action or did you not? It's really, really important to reflect on that before signing up for the next one.

Speaker 1: 3:46

The next thing you need to think about is are you going because you genuinely believe the speaker list and the event is going to give you some genuine value, or are you just going to get FOMO? Now, we've all been through it, me included. We get FOMO when we don't go to events, and it's very normal. Yeah, I don't know how to resolve that, apart from just, you know, getting over it. But it is true and it is a good reminder just to reflect on that Quite often some of these events, you know we've got our friends, our industry colleagues there and you know we want to catch up with them. Of course we do. So just keep that in mind. You know, are you actually needing that genuine value or are you just going to get FOMO? That will probably help you decide the next step whether you're needing to book in or not and that genuine value, I think you know. Going back to that first point, how are you using that genuine value you're getting? Are you actually utilizing it, acting on it? Um, it's really coming back to that, to be honest, whether you're just wasting your time. So really good question to ask yourself you are going to get FOMO? Let's not, you know, muck around about it. You will. It's really coming down to that, that genuine value. And I think as well, like sometimes I've seen speaker announcements where I actually haven't heard them speak and I'm like you know what I actually really would love to hear, what that person has to say, or I've heard good things about them. So there's definitely times where I have gone to events because of that speaker lineup and wanting to hear from them when I haven't heard from them before. So it's a good way of doing that.

Speaker 1: 5:29

The third thing is looking at your energy. So your energy in versus energy out, and events can be quite draining for a lot of people. So your energy in versus energy out, and events can be quite draining for a lot of people. So I guess you know, looking at the effort of going to the events in terms of do you need to fly there? Do you need to get accommodation? Do you need to get your kids looked after? Is all of that energy worth spending on going to the conference or not? Something just to keep in mind? And you know what. It still all comes back to that value. How did you deal with your last venue and with your last event? Did you feel drained? Was it worth leaving the kids for a few days to fly out to do it? Did you action the steps of the course? It all comes back to that first point. So they're my three things that I think people should really reflect on before deciding if they want to go to the next conference or not.

Speaker 1: 6:23

Do I believe that you should go to conferences? Absolutely. I think it's arrogant for anyone to think that they don't need conferences and they're not going to learn anything from it. Everybody learns things from conferences, even if it's just one little tiny thing. So I absolutely agree that you need to be going to them. Do you need to go to everyone? No, of course you don't.

Speaker 1: 6:45

There are some events where I call them like the Royal Show. They're great to go to every couple of years. Do I go to them every year? No, aric is probably a great example of that. I don't go to AR to every couple of years. Do I go to them every year? No, aric is probably a great example of that. I don't go to Aric every year. When I'm at Aric, yes, I love it, but for me it's quite a bit of effort because I've got to fly over. So for me it's one of those things that I'll go to probably every three years. Do I get FOMO from all my friends going over? Absolutely, but I also have a very active list of things that I'm constantly working on on my business all year round. So I know that. The value yeah, I mean absolutely. I don't want to say there wouldn't be any value going, because there would be, but I already still have so much value in my phone that I'm still implementing as well. So I don't feel like I'm like wasting time or falling behind either, but you know, that's a good example of one that I go to every two or three years.

Speaker 1: 7:40

The last and final thing that I want to touch on about events is something that I did mention in this post, and that is that the content for some trainers is the same, and we see them and it's the same stuff, and that's absolutely fine, because there's a lot of people that haven't heard it. However, what I would also say is that you, as a property manager, you as a business owner, are in a different frame of mind every single time you hear that person speak. So just because you've heard that person speak two years ago doesn't mean that you're not going to take away something different two years later listening to them, because your business is different, your attitude is different, your staffing might be different, your business is different, and you are going to only ever take what you need to get at that time in your life. Only ever take what you need to get at that time in your life. Maybe you've gone through a breakup. Maybe you are having problems at home, maybe you're super happy at home. So many variables and you will always just take something different away. And I just want you to remember that because I do strongly believe that you can't say, oh, I saw them two years ago and it's exactly the same. It's the same shit different time. It is different because you're going to receive it differently.

Speaker 1: 9:03

So that's like my biggest sort of thoughts on events and that's the reason why, every two or three years, going to some of these same bigger ones I do highly recommend. So that's my little thoughts on events. How to know whether you should go to one or not. I love events. I mean, if I could go to every single one, I would do it as a full-time job because I do get so much out of it, but I'm also an implementer, so I do absolutely put stuff inside my business every single time I go to it. So I would love to have your thoughts. Send me some fan mail, let me know. Are you someone who loves events, hates events? Maybe you've got a favorite event that you've gone to before that you'd like to share? I'd love to find out a little bit more about your thoughts and patterns when it comes to your personal development. And I will see you next week. See you later.