How to Use Conferences to Grow your Online Business (Even If You Don’t Go)

Is going to a conference really worth it?

The travel, the cost, the time away from your business—it adds up fast.

But after attending Podcast Movement last week, I walked away with three big takeaways that could change how you grow your online business this year—whether you attend events or not.

In this episode, I’m breaking down how to use conferences and communities to build a smarter online business, gain clarity, and make your next 90 days more profitable—without adding more to your plate.

And at the end, I’ll share a bonus way to get major value from conferences you don’t even attend.

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Hey, it’s Carrie here with a quick update - eCommerce Made Easy is now Smarter Online Business!

Same practical tips you love, just a clearer name for coaches, course creators, and online business owners. You’re still in the right place to learn how to turn your website into your smartest sales tool. 

Find our show notes at our new domain

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Chapters

• 0:00 Is Attending Conferences Worth It?
• 2:09 Shift Your Conference Mindset
• 3:59 Meaningful Connections Over Quantity
• 6:11 Learning From Speakers
• 6:58 Get Conference Value Without Attending
• 8:17 Make Adventures Out Of Events

Transcript

Carrie Saunders: 0:27

Is going to a conference really worth it to grow your online business. You have the travel, you have the cost of the conference, you have food, it's your time away from your business. It all can really add up fast. But after attending Podcast Movement the other week, I walked away with three big takeaways that could change how you grow your online business this year, whether you attend events or not. In this episode, I'm breaking down how to use conferences and communities to build a smarter online business, gain clarity and make your next 90 days more profitable without adding more to your plate, and at the end, I will share a bonus takeaway where you can get major value from a conference that you don't even attend. So let's get started Struggling to turn website traffic into real sales. You're not alone and you don't have to figure it out all yourself. Welcome to Smarter Online Business, the podcast. For course creators, coaches and e-commerce entrepreneurs who want their websites to convert visitors into buyers without the tech overwhelm. I'm your host, keri Saunders, a website strategist and conversion expert with over 20 years of experience. Each episode delivers simple, proven strategies to help you generate more revenue and make your website your smartest sales tool.

Carrie Saunders: 1:43

So I used to go to conferences to just learn something new or to stay current with current trends. But now I go with a sharper question what am I building next, and what kind of insight relationships would make that easier? I go more for the networking than the learning and if you're building an online course, refining your offers, revising your website or trying to grow faster without burning out events can give you the clarity you didn't know you were missing. And at Podcast Movement I walked away with ideas for content, messaging and partnerships, not just information. The ROI isn't really in the session notes, it's in the implementation clarity afterwards. So when I was done with the podcast a couple of days later, I look through my notes and look through what am I going to implement? How can I do that more clear and get that done? So most people approach conferences of what can I learn. And the real shift happens when you show up as a creator or a connector. Like I was hinting earlier, we want to be networking, we want to be learning how to create and connect.

Carrie Saunders: 2:55

So whether you're walking up to a meeting, a Zoom call or an expo hall, have one clear goal in mind. Ask yourself what is the one thing I need feedback on? What is the one thing I want to test or validate? What do I need to walk away with clarity on? Have a purpose before you attend a Zoom meeting, an event or something like that. And at Podcast Movement I had two to three focus questions that helped me have better conversations and better takeaways. You don't need to network harder, you just need to be more intentional harder, you just need to be more intentional.

Carrie Saunders: 3:33

I kind of let the people around me fall into my circle when it seemed my instinct seemed to make sense for them too. I didn't just make sure I talked to every single person. It was kind of more of an intuition and more of a go with the flow type of thing, and that actually worked out really well. I had one short conversation the other week that completely reframed how I was thinking about a key piece of my business and it reminded me that some of the best growth isn't a blog post or webinars. It's in real time feedback from smart people who actually really get it.

Carrie Saunders: 4:07

You don't need to meet everyone. You need to connect meaningfully with one or two people. Who opens up that new door, think about it. Who could be a collaboration with you, who can help cross promotions, who can help you with content partnership, who can partner with you there, who can guest on someone else's podcast or newsletter or maybe in your business?

Carrie Saunders: 4:29

Conferences aren't just about consuming content. They're about activating connections. One of the connections that I activated is I got to meet my podcast mentor, crystal Prophet. She's been a guest on our show before. She is an excellent speaker and an excellent human being and it was so wonderful to meet her in actual person and we could brainstorm on some things. You know, things she needed help with, things I needed help with, and she was actually one of the speakers at the conference and it was wonderful to see her in live action and how she delivers her speech. This is also great if you're considering doing some sort of speaking, whether it's on a podcast or at a conference or a virtual conference. It's a great way to see how others deliver their speech, to get a better idea of how to do your own speech, because doing speeches like this we've talked about this on the podcast and other podcast episodes can really help you grow your business and grow your connections.

Carrie Saunders: 5:24

If you're speaking in front of the right people and again, it could be little small groups too it doesn't have to be a huge stage, so don't feel like you have to get too overwhelmed or scared there. And if you aren't already on a newsletter to learn tips like this in your inbox, head on over to smarteronlinebusinesscom and click on sign up a newsletter over there so you can get tips right to your inbox too. And bonus tip, you don't actually have to attend a big event or to get major value out of it. This is something I hadn't really thought about until I was building this podcast episode. You can follow the event hashtags on LinkedIn, on Facebook, on Instagram, wherever it would be appropriate for that event. You can search for the speaker list and follow three to five of the top people you would be interested in listening to at that event.

Carrie Saunders: 6:13

You can also direct message one speaker with a kind note or takeaway from their clip or their quote that they might share, and this is a really great way to like think about how can you, you know, have that action implementation without even going to the conference? I know there's other conferences I'd love to go to, but you know the time and the money is just not there to go to all the conferences I want to go to, and so this is going to be a strategy I'm going to employ here, probably in about a month, because there's a conference coming up that I kind of really wanted to go to, and I'm going to see how this works out, and I'd love to hear from you. Does this work out for you? Have you ever tried this bonus tip before of gathering the information you know, the top key highlights via, you know, just following the event online? Sometimes you can even find the replays. There can be virtual ticket access sometimes, which is also a lot cheaper and a bit less time consuming, because then you can watch things on your own time and on fast speed. If you'd like, you can also look for social clips from the sessions and use them to spark your next piece of content blog posts, client conversation or your next step in your online business. You can still grow your visibility and influence without necessarily booking a flight or like we did I didn't even talk about that we road tripped from Southeastern Ohio to Dallas, texas, which was actually kind of fun and an adventure in and of itself, and then I want to give you an additional bonus trip when you do go in person to a conference like this, make an adventure out of it.

Carrie Saunders: 7:51

It is our time to step away from the normal day-to-day of our businesses. It's time to reflect on what's working and what's not, and my husband and I went to the podcast and we have a conference together. He's also my business partner at Beasys Engineering and we decided to make a road trip out of it. We drove from Athens, ohio, to Dallas, texas. It's about 17 hours without stops.

Carrie Saunders: 8:16

One way, when we made an adventure out of it, we made it time for us to reflect, relax and just enjoy time together in the car to really think through what's working and what's not working in the business. Can you surround the beginning and the end of that conference with some space, with some reflection time, so that you can one process what you want to learn first at the conference and then post-process what you learned and who you met and the connections you made after the conference? Hopefully, this is a great episode for you to really rethink about. How can I use conferences to make my business smarter? How can I have a smarter online business with conferences, whether I attend or don't attend, and we will see you next week.