Why I Stopped Going to Marketing Events
TL;DR — The events were mostly a spectacle of “look at us and what we did” not “look at us, what we did, and how we did it.”
From 2011 to 2015 I went to every marketing event I could find. A speaker here, a workshop there, anything I could get a ticket to. It all came to a screeching halt in 2015 when I went to a fairly large marketing conference.
Time is incredibly important. It’s a humans most important resource. There’s only a finite amount of it, and we don’t know how much there is. And after that conference I had to take a step back and ask, “What am I really taking away from these events?”
They were never a total loss. I built some of my best friendships by networking at these events. I still meet with a lot of those same people today. It’s unfair to call these events a total waste but when it came to actionable takeaways, there were few if any.
Call me crazy, but maybe I’m naive in thinking these events would present ways on how you can incorporate the successful strategy at your place of work. Maybe they don’t want to give away their secret sauce. Maybe the organizations didn’t put an emphasis on presenting angles or ideas on how to incorporate that particular strategy at your place of work. Or maybe I just went into each event too hopeful that it would be better than the last.
If networking is your game, by all means go to as many events in your city as you can fit in your schedule. I can say with one-hundred percent certainty that you will make new friends and new opportunities for yourself.
However, if you want to go to an event where someone you look up to is presenting on a successful campaign — and you’re eager to hear how they did it and how you can use those same strategies, I suggest you look elsewhere.
You’re probably thinking, “Well, Andy, it’s on you to find how you can incorporate this approach in your professional efforts.” And you’d be correct. It is mostly on the attendee to figure that out. However, is it too much to ask that speakers go into their speaking engagement with the attendee in mind?
It’s crazy to me that customer-focused professionals wouldn’t put an emphasis on what the audience member — AKA the customer — might want to take away from what they’re saying.
Look — this isn’t a knock on everyone I’ve ever seen speak, or any organization from which I’ve ever bought a ticket. Far from it. It’s more of a warning — which seems too harsh — for anyone looking to find answers from a speaking event. You’ll create lasting relationships and make introductions you won’t regret, but any actionable takeaways will be very slim. You’ll leave asking, “How can I use what I just listened to?” And, unfortunately, you might not be given an answer. The only answers you’re going to find are the ones you go searching for.
Watch a TED talk. Buy a subscription on Lynda.com or MasterClass. Go into a rabbit hole on Medium. Teach yourself something that the “experts” already know. Teach yourself something someone just presented on.
I can promise you it’ll be time better spent.
