This is a commentary on an article my friend Harry Brelsford posted in his recent newsletter (subscribe at https://www.smbnation.com/). Harry notes that there appears to be an inverse relationship between attending too many conferences and being financially successful in this industry.
It started with one conversation. Harry thought, “That's an interesting perspective.” Then he did a little bit of research, and talked to some people, and collected some stories. His article mentions three different perspectives. He now has a much stronger opinion that it might not be in your best interest to attend too many industry events.
As you know,
there are hundreds of events in our space, many of them very highly focused on
a specific vendor or a very specific niche within the industry. But it's worth
considering how many events is the right number for you? One of the things Harry
mentioned is that a lot of people, myself included, used to regularly attend
the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference. Well, they got rid of the term “partner”
a long time ago, and I stopped attending when Microsoft stopped actually trying
to engage us, help us, or see us as partners.
Other conferences
are often very specific to a product. For example, DattoCon and IT Nation are
focused on their users and partners. And, of course, on the products and services
they sell. If your company uses one of these as your primary system for running
your business, it's probably in your best interest to attend their event at
least once. But only attend if you focus on educating yourself, improving
yourself, learning the software more thoroughly, learning some new features,
and getting to know people in your industry.
It's
perfectly fine to say, “I attend no conferences in IT,” but my suspicion is
that the people who say that don't define themselves first and foremost as
technology consultants. They define themselves first and foremost as business owners.
And chances are very good that they go to conferences and events that are
focused on learning marketing, learning training, learning sales, improving
their employee relationships, improving their customer relationships, local networking events where they can meet prospective clients, and events that allow
them to get involved with their local community. None of those things has to be
focused on running an IT business, but all assist in running a business
generally.
In my experience,
almost all of the very large MSPs that I've worked with in the U.S. (and there
are some huge exceptions), have an arrogant perspective that they made it on
their own and they don't need the community. They don't need to talk to people
in the industry. Some of them have the ridiculous belief that they have a
secret sauce, and that their secret sauce is part of what makes them
successful.
I've been in
this industry for 30 years, and I've not yet found any secret sauce. I have
found good processes and bad processes; good behavior and bad behavior; hard
workers and not-so-hard workers. I've found all kinds of people and advice, but
I've never found a drop of secret sauce.
I pride
myself in having helped tens of thousands, maybe 100,000 IT consultants to
improve their businesses. But you know what? I don't have any secrets. When I
tell help people or coach people, I’m sharing knowledge and wisdom learned from
my experience – and the experience of those I’ve worked with. Those who study
creativity know one thing above all else: We don’t create new ideas; We combine
ideas. As the Bible reminds us, “There’s nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes
1:9).
There's no
secret to:
- Get up
- Have a great set of processes and procedures
- Have great employees
- Have great clients
- Have a great offering
- Have a bundle that works all together
- Then marketing it, push it, sell it, and
- Providing good service so your clients will stay with you forever
That's it.
Those are the secrets. Execution is the thing that separates one group from
another.
So, How many events should you attend?
There are
certain conferences that I love to attend because they stretch my brain just
a little bit. Either I'm going to learn some technology that I didn't know
before, or a business process or a procedure that I didn't know before, or I
just know that I'm going to engage with really smart people that are going to
help me put some of the puzzle pieces together in a new way.
My favorites
at this time, are the Channel Partners conference and the Xchange events. These
events tend to have larger partners who do pretty well with sales and marketing.
They also face some challenges that I would describe as, “The next set of
problems you’re going to have” as you grow your company.
Back when I
used ConnectWise or Autotask or SolarWinds to run my companies, I attended their conferences.
I do recommend that you attend the conference for your primary tool vendor. As
the business owner, you probably know what you need to know about the product/service.
Your service manager should attend and learn everything they can.
The value
for owners is to engage with people who are helping in the development of the
products. Plus, it’s great to meet people using your toolset to solve problems
you also face with employees, clients, and service delivery. All of those
conferences also give you a very rounded view of what it's like to be in this
industry. And that can be critical to your business.
When you
attend, you should actually attend the sessions. Go to presentations and
workshops. Open your brain and learn a little bit. Note: All of this costs
money, especially the larger conferences. If you're gone from home for three,
four, or five days (when you add travel days), that's time away from the
family. That's time away from your business. Then add hotel charges and expensive
road food. Plus, most of these events also require air fare and other
transportation.
Events like this can cost
you several thousand dollars per person. So, YES, it's legitimate to say, “I
don't have to go every year.” For the most part, I do not encourage you to go every
year. I think you should go to your big conferences about once every three
years.
Regional
events are another story. I think one regional event a year is probably good
for everybody. These include the ASCII forums, the Channel Pro
events, and SMB TechFest. These are each set up in a specific city, and then they
get the local people to come, and maybe a few others.
These events
are great for staying in tune with what’s going on in your chosen profession.
You meet people running a business at least somewhat like yours, facing
challenges like yours. You get introduced to new vendors that you might not
have seen before. And you get to have unhurried conversations with peers to
find out what are they worried about, and what they’re doing about it. If you’re
lucky, you’ll even find yourself in a few strategy sessions.
Some of these conferences have a lot of small IT consultants at them. Some have a lot of very large IT consultants at them. You need a variety. It's like everything else in life. You need to expose yourself to a little bit of everything.
Note: What you see on social media is not real. (Shocking, I know.)
As Harry notes, when you look at all of the hundreds of industry events from the perspective of social media, you quickly see that a lot of people go to many, many events. They are choosing to do that because it’s part of their personal entertainment, or they are vendors and don’t have a choice. Almost everyone who attends "everything" is a vendor of some kind.
All those regular attendees know each other. They see each other in a different city every week. They've got a different life. They've got a different approach. Their industry is not IT consulting. Their industry is selling into IT consultants. You are the client for them. You are the prospect. You are the customer. They're part of the channel, but not necessarily part of the service provider industry.
Remember, in IT Consulting, about 99% of all the IT consultants in the world have ten or fewer employees. This industry is by nature small business! No one of any company size at these events is very much different from anyone else. Really. We all have a great deal in common. So, it’s really good to know the people in your industry. It’s good to know the trends and the challenges.
If you're
new to IT consulting, I would say, pick one event a year. It can be
small. It can be regional or local. That way, you don't have to travel and you won’t
spend more than one night in a hotel. Note: Do not overdo the partying. Spend a
lot of time meeting human beings and talking to them about business. If it all
turns into a big party, you're probably just wasting your money, which is fine.
I'm not going to spend your money.
But if you
go to these events again and again and again and you don't learn anything, and
you don't grow as a business person, as a business owner, or as an IT
consultant, then attending events has become one of your hobbies. Instead of
having a boat, you have IT conferences. I don't judge. Just know what you’re
doing, and don’t fool yourself that it’s all focused on growing your business. Think of this as an investment.
I wrote a book called The IT Consultant's Year of Intention. One of the things I talk about in that book is planning for next year. You should write down which conferences you're going to go to. And you should actually have some goals. Write down your goals. What are your goals for attending each event? For example:
- To meet new people
- To meet a specific vendor
- To learn certain things
- To discover new technology
- To have “this” question answered
- To meet one person who can help me with one topic
Really ask yourself: Why are you going to this conference? Make it measurable. Write it down. And when the conference is over, evaluate yourself. Did I meet those people? Did I find those vendors? Did I get those questions answered? How much did it cost and was it worth it? And would I do it again next year or the year after that?
Having a
three-year rotation of events is probably not a bad idea. You should take these
events seriously – which includes not wasting money going to everything. Have
intentional goals for when you attend conferences or even online webinars. Make
sure that it fits into both your budget and your educational needs, and where
you are in the evolution of yourself as an IT consultant. Don't just go because
people said you should go or it looks fun or it's held in Vegas.
The Book
You don’t
need the book to set goals or have a great year, but it’s only $30, and it
might help. If you’re not a member of the Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community,
you can find it on Amazon or at my store.
If you ARE a member, just put in the keyword “intention” and you can download the book for free. Plus you’ll find a three-part recorded class to watch.
Thank you
for being a member.
(Non-members, find out more at https://www.smallbizthoughts.org.
Give me
feedback! What do you think? How many events do you attend? Do you get significant
value from each of them? And does the value exceed your total “event” expense for
the year? Be honest.
😊
To put this in context, I typically attend 20 events or so per year, and I generally don't travel for work in December or January, so that is about two per month. I get paid (or at least reimbursed for expenses) for many of these (when I do photography, speak, or both), but I would still argue that at least one event per quarter is right if you want to both grow you business and your own expertise.
ReplyDeleteIf you work in multiple geographic markets, six a year is more like it. And memberships groups (such as ASCII and Tech Tribe) can act as real "force multipliers" here, extending your reach. Assuming average costs of $1,200 to $1,800 per trip and another $1,800 for group memberships, and do six shows a year, this come to about $9K to $12K per year, still cheaper most any other real education
And some serious fun.