I never really done in person events like that the up twist, oh, twist up. You're right, I forgot. I used to have an event, dude, that was so long ago. It was and it wasn't really my event. It was me and a few investors event company from a guy named Michael what was his last name, macat In or something like that. Nice guy. We head up to a thousand people at the events, and when we took it over, it had less people and we did a poor job of keeping the culture and the environment of the business that we acquired. He did a much better job than us, and eventually we shut it down.

I never really done in person events like that the up twist, oh, twist up. You're right, I forgot. I used to have an event, dude, that was so long ago. It was and it wasn't really my event. It was me and a few investors event company from a guy named Michael what was his last name, macat In or something like that. Nice guy. We head up to a thousand people at the events, and when we took it over, it had less people and we did a poor job of keeping the culture and the environment of the business that we acquired. He did a much better job than us, and eventually we shut it down.

Got it. So let's go back to the question that you look at dream Forest, you look at funnel Hacking live, is it worth it? Hubstot we're both speaking on Inbound right. We're doing a live podcast together. So, by the way, all of you that are going to HubSpot's Inbound this year, we're doing the marketing school meetup where you can hang out with Neil and I, we'd love to see you, and we're doing a live podcast there, so come join us. But anyway, and by the way, I think you can use the calde marketing school, and then you'll get fifteen percent off or something. They're not paying us to say this. I just remember this. So anyway, is it worth it to do the user conference?

Got it. So let's go back to the question that you look at dream Forest, you look at funnel Hacking live, is it worth it? Hubstot we're both speaking on Inbound right. We're doing a live podcast together. So, by the way, all of you that are going to HubSpot's Inbound this year, we're doing the marketing school meetup where you can hang out with Neil and I, we'd love to see you, and we're doing a live podcast there, so come join us. But anyway, and by the way, I think you can use the calde marketing school, and then you'll get fifteen percent off or something. They're not paying us to say this. I just remember this. So anyway, is it worth it to do the user conference?

I think it is. But I think it's worth it once your company is established and you're big enough, and you have enough customers and you have enough revenue and what is that number? I think it varies per industry, but I would say once you have millions and millions, not like one or two million or five or six. You know, my guess would be if you're a ten plus million dollar company, it could be worth doing it because by then you probably have enough customers. I wouldn't do it if I was starting off and I was small.

I think it is. But I think it's worth it once your company is established and you're big enough, and you have enough customers and you have enough revenue and what is that number? I think it varies per industry, but I would say once you have millions and millions, not like one or two million or five or six. You know, my guess would be if you're a ten plus million dollar company, it could be worth doing it because by then you probably have enough customers. I wouldn't do it if I was starting off and I was small.

Yeah, you know why the bill on that point? It's because it's a completely different business. There are a lot of moving parts. When you do an event, it's a logistical nightmare, and even though you hire other people to help you with it, you still have to like be in it doing the work. You are very immersed and I mean take it from me, like I still do the leveling up Mastermind right, Like, even though that's not a big conference, it still takes up mind share for me. I like doing it. But let's just look at these bigger events, right, Let's look at Dreamforce we're talking. I think it's like a couple like one hundred thousand people or so that come through in a span of a couple of days. And you look at Hubspots Inbound. I think last year was like ten thousand people or so eight thousand that came through, and so it's a lot. You're getting people to uproot their lives to come. But at the end of the day, the relationships that are built, it's like, oh, yeah, I met up with this person. The hubspots inbou ub Spots inbount What happens is a lot of word of mouth happens because people share their experiences from these events.

Yeah, you know why the bill on that point? It's because it's a completely different business. There are a lot of moving parts. When you do an event, it's a logistical nightmare, and even though you hire other people to help you with it, you still have to like be in it doing the work. You are very immersed and I mean take it from me, like I still do the leveling up Mastermind right, Like, even though that's not a big conference, it still takes up mind share for me. I like doing it. But let's just look at these bigger events, right, Let's look at Dreamforce we're talking. I think it's like a couple like one hundred thousand people or so that come through in a span of a couple of days. And you look at Hubspots Inbound. I think last year was like ten thousand people or so eight thousand that came through, and so it's a lot. You're getting people to uproot their lives to come. But at the end of the day, the relationships that are built, it's like, oh, yeah, I met up with this person. The hubspots inbou ub Spots inbount What happens is a lot of word of mouth happens because people share their experiences from these events.

Yeah, dude, I think overalls we're doing. Did you know that HubSpot had city or local meetups. So let's say if someone was in San Diego they wanted to throw a HubSpot event, Hubstot would help pay for the expenses and they would help support it and bring more people together to talk about HubSpot. This was I believe before they went to public smart strategy as well, and help grow the ecosystem quite a bit.

Yeah, dude, I think overalls we're doing. Did you know that HubSpot had city or local meetups. So let's say if someone was in San Diego they wanted to throw a HubSpot event, Hubstot would help pay for the expenses and they would help support it and bring more people together to talk about HubSpot. This was I believe before they went to public smart strategy as well, and help grow the ecosystem quite a bit.

Yeah, I'm just trying to remember. I mean, these aren't necessarily user conferences, but some of my best experiences, some of my best friends have came from meeting people at these events. Right, for example, like our mutual friends I Ed, I met him because I went to Digital Marketer's Mastermind right war room. And so I think there's a time and place and just keep in mind, like if you are going to take some time and attention away, I do agree. I think you should maybe hit eight figures or so before you start to do this, and then it's worth Actually, I see a lot of agency owners doing this right now, where it's like a mistake I've made in the past. They have they start like a couple other agencies, and then they start an education thing, and then they also start a conference at the same time, and then they're also like doing all this other stuff. Right, that is a recipe for making your business go backwards.

Yeah, I'm just trying to remember. I mean, these aren't necessarily user conferences, but some of my best experiences, some of my best friends have came from meeting people at these events. Right, for example, like our mutual friends I Ed, I met him because I went to Digital Marketer's Mastermind right war room. And so I think there's a time and place and just keep in mind, like if you are going to take some time and attention away, I do agree. I think you should maybe hit eight figures or so before you start to do this, and then it's worth Actually, I see a lot of agency owners doing this right now, where it's like a mistake I've made in the past. They have they start like a couple other agencies, and then they start an education thing, and then they also start a conference at the same time, and then they're also like doing all this other stuff. Right, that is a recipe for making your business go backwards.

So I remember my CEO Mike Gullickson was telling me like a year ago or so when he worked at Iprospect, which is a density company. I think they have I don't know, sixty thousand, one hundred thousand employees, is something large like that. I think Eye prospect somewhere between five or four and seven thousand, somewhere in that range of employees. They would do events. And when they did events, what would end up happening is for their customers and users, they would end up generating a lot of revenue, upsells, renewals, and it was one of the best times for them to generate more income as a business. And then they would get companies to also sponsor it, which would then make their cost on it pretty much close to zero, if not profitable.

So I remember my CEO Mike Gullickson was telling me like a year ago or so when he worked at Iprospect, which is a density company. I think they have I don't know, sixty thousand, one hundred thousand employees, is something large like that. I think Eye prospect somewhere between five or four and seven thousand, somewhere in that range of employees. They would do events. And when they did events, what would end up happening is for their customers and users, they would end up generating a lot of revenue, upsells, renewals, and it was one of the best times for them to generate more income as a business. And then they would get companies to also sponsor it, which would then make their cost on it pretty much close to zero, if not profitable.

You know who does this, WPP. I think I kind of talked about this a little bit before, but WPP they have this conference called Stream and it is the WPPO conference, right which is I would consider leveling up Mastermind almost like an unconference because it's not traditional and so what they do is it's invite only and I'm just reading their FAQ right now on their websites, wppstream dot com. So what is Stream, okay? Stream is the WPPO conference that brings together WPP agencies, clients, and partners debate the future of technology and creativity. Over the last ten years, it has gained a reputation as the world's best technology conferences by wire or as tedmates Tech by sab Miller. And then final thing I'll say is when you attend an unconference, none of the usual rules apply. Crowdsourcing determines the content of the event, which begins with the empty whiteboard to be filled by attendees with ideas for discussions. Everyone expected to participate and contribute. Tim O'Reilly, one of the pioneers of the format through fu friends of O'Reilly camp, describes it as the Wiki of conferences. It's democratic at times. I can't read that word and everything your standard speeches followed by drinks and networking. It's not a standard conference, is the point. So it's kind of chaotic, is what they're trying to say. Anyway, if you're going to do it, just follow the rules that we said. We listened to this podcast, Please don't forget to rate, review, subscribe five stars please, and we'll see you tomorrow.

You know who does this, WPP. I think I kind of talked about this a little bit before, but WPP they have this conference called Stream and it is the WPPO conference, right which is I would consider leveling up Mastermind almost like an unconference because it's not traditional and so what they do is it's invite only and I'm just reading their FAQ right now on their websites, wppstream dot com. So what is Stream, okay? Stream is the WPPO conference that brings together WPP agencies, clients, and partners debate the future of technology and creativity. Over the last ten years, it has gained a reputation as the world's best technology conferences by wire or as tedmates Tech by sab Miller. And then final thing I'll say is when you attend an unconference, none of the usual rules apply. Crowdsourcing determines the content of the event, which begins with the empty whiteboard to be filled by attendees with ideas for discussions. Everyone expected to participate and contribute. Tim O'Reilly, one of the pioneers of the format through fu friends of O'Reilly camp, describes it as the Wiki of conferences. It's democratic at times. I can't read that word and everything your standard speeches followed by drinks and networking. It's not a standard conference, is the point. So it's kind of chaotic, is what they're trying to say. Anyway, if you're going to do it, just follow the rules that we said. We listened to this podcast, Please don't forget to rate, review, subscribe five stars please, and we'll see you tomorrow.