Lessons Learned On Our Conference Spree

00:00:24 - Maelisa Hall
Welcome to season one of the My Biz Bestie podcast. I'm Melissa Hall.

00:00:28 - Amber Hawley
And I'm Amber Hawley.

00:00:30 - Maelisa Hall
And today we are talking about lessons learned on our conference spree. So I know in our last episode, we talked a little bit about some tips for attending live events and how you can make the most of those.
And here we're going to be going a little bit through some of the mistakes we made or things that maybe we could have done a little bit differently and things that we want to try and do a little bit better next time we go to a conference.

So hopefully this will help you out too.

00:00:54 - Amber Hawley
Well, were they all mistakes or were they just learning lessons? Yes. Let's be more positive about that.

00:01:02 - Maelisa Hall
It's okay to make mistakes, though.

00:01:05 - Amber Hawley
Yes. Well, we're good at that.

00:01:08 - Maelisa Hall
True. So first, do you want to explain, Amber, what our conference spree was? Like why I'm saying a conference spree?

00:01:17 - Amber Hawley
Yes. So we had this opportunity. These things kind of came up and this wasn't our intention. But at the end of the day, we ended up having three conferences to attend in a four-week period. And most of them were Wednesday through Sunday. There was one that was just Wednesday through Friday night.
So that was a little bit shorter. But still, you know, it definitely took an impact in having to be away from our homes and our families and our businesses. So it was definitely a conference spree.

00:01:46 - Maelisa Hall
And they were all across the country, literally. We were in Dallas, Atlanta, and Irvine, which is actually where my office is. But that was even... and a trip for you. Yes, yes.

00:01:56 - Amber Hawley
And yeah, and they do say, now that we've been attending all these conferences, I've heard people say, oh yeah, it's conference season, which I had never heard before. So that kind of cracked me up. But it's true because there were so many events and conferences that were so tempting to go to.
I know.

00:02:11 - Maelisa Hall
Well, and I think in therapist world, conference season is spring. That's when all of our conferences are. So apparently in online business world, conference season is fall.

00:02:21 - Amber Hawley
Yeah. Yeah, that's true. Really interesting. And, you know, luckily next year, it seems as though right now all the conferences we're attending are pretty spread out, which feels feels a lot better to me because it was still a lot of fun and I loved it.
But I will say I'm a little I'm a little run down right now. I'm feeling a little exhausted and ready looking for like a couple of days off where I have nothing to do.

00:02:44 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. And I will say one thing. I was talking to someone from our tribe actually a few days ago and she asked like how I was doing after our whole spree. And I was like, you know what? I feel better now even than I did in the middle of it because we did like two conferences back to back where we had, you know, like Wednesday through Sunday or Wednesday through Friday, a couple of days in the middle.
And then we had a week after conferences one and two before we went to conference number three. And that week I thought like, oh, well, that's the week I'm going to get all this other stuff done because I'll have to be catching up. And I had planned ahead and I ended up coming back.
I had like horrible allergies. at conference number two, and I came back and just felt horrible and didn't get much done. And I just felt exhausted the entire week. I was completely unproductive that whole week. So it was kind of like semi-productive three weeks out of the four and totally unproductive one week out of the four.

Yeah.

00:03:37 - Amber Hawley
And I feel you on that. I mean, yeah, you were horribly sick, which really sucked. But I felt similar in the sense that All I feel like I've gotten done in the last month was doing the bare minimum. I barely saw my kids, I felt like. But as far as work goes, I'm always great about seeing my clients because it's scheduled.
And that's what I do. And I can do that. I can always rally for clients. And I was filling clients in every single day. I saw clients every single day that we weren't at a conference. And then that week we were back, I was just packing everyone in. And then my daughter had her Birthday So I had to prep and do that for a couple days, so there was just a lot of things going on.
But other than seeing clients and doing, you know, like, doing the birthday thing for a couple days, I just feel like nothing else got done because it's I was just really, really exhausted.

So I feel super behind right now, which is unfortunate. And I'm looking forward to maybe the extended holiday weekend of taking one day and just kind of getting caught up a little bit more, yeah.

00:04:38 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. And I guess, I mean, that would be maybe our first lesson is I think most people wouldn't sign up for so many conferences all at once, which, like you said, we didn't intend to either. But, you know, if you do that, like planning ahead majorly for that afterwards time.
And I feel like I always, you know, you and I are both a little overly optimistic with things sometimes. And so I feel like that's something I constantly need to remind myself of is even when I do leave, for anything, I'm always overly optimistic about what I'll get done when I get back and how much time I'll need to adjust.
And I didn't think about planning so much extra time because we were gone more than we typically would be back to back.

00:05:20 - Amber Hawley
Yeah. And, you know, like we said, it was happenstance. At first, I felt like it was even a push when we were going to do those two in a row or it was two with a week in between. And so it was a week in between the two that felt different. And then, you know, the other event, we just couldn't pass by.
So we made that one work. But I do think in a way, maybe if I'd held a better boundary and taken like the next day off. After that last Sunday, we got home Sunday night. By the time I got home, my flight was delayed. It was like midnight. I wish I had taken that whole Monday off.
I wish I could have. But what happened is, like I said, I was squeezing in clients and really trying to fit in. And then, of course, we were intending to record more podcast episodes when we were in Atlanta. And we never did that. And because we did that, it put us behind.
So then we had to record. We kept having to fit other things in. So it just...

It's again, just being thoughtful and kind of trying to spread things out, but then making sure there are those few things that you just have to do and you have to hit it. You have to say, okay, I'm going to rally tonight because this is going to help me down the road.
So maybe that's our lesson, but yeah, we are very overly optimistic.

00:06:25 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. And I think that even played in with like one of the big things that we touched on a little bit in our last episode was like underestimating the time zone changes too, because you and I are both night people. And then we were going east, we had a two hour time zone difference and then a three hour time zone difference.
And that meant when it would normally be like eight or 9am at the conference, when things typically start, it It was like 5 or 6 a.m. for us, which you and I typically don't do well with. Right. And if you fly into a conference like the day beforehand, you don't really have time to adjust.
And I feel like we did a better job of that at the last conference we were at in Atlanta, where we finally were like, you know what, we're just never we're not going to plan to do any morning stuff. And we sort of gave up the idea that we were even going to attend things in the morning.

And I feel like it took some pressure off.

00:07:15 - Amber Hawley
Yeah, and I think that was a huge lesson. It's like, you just have to go with the flow, go with what's working and what's not working. And yeah, for me, the pressure of, oh, we're missing out, or we're supposed to be at this, or here's this opportunity, or this learning that we're not going to get.
It's like, Uh, you know what? I just have to allow myself. I will be better for the rest of the conference if I allow myself to just miss that thing. And when we? I think we kept trying for a couple of days. We would set our alarm and then it was like, let's just let this go.
And that was hard. We weren't doing, you know, that was still a struggle for us. But but just understanding after all of the trips that we've been on, I think if it was a one off, it was just one conference. We would rally because we we actually although that was still in our time zone, there were things that podcast movement wasn't.
when we went in August that we're really early and we're not morning people, but we made it happen even though we stayed up till two 30 or three at night.

00:08:06 - Maelisa Hall
So we didn't get much sleep.

00:08:08 - Amber Hawley
Exactly. And even for biz chicks, we, you know, we made all of that stuff happen. And that was the first one of the three in our, in our little spree. But I think the anticipation that it was just going to keep going and going, and then it wasn't like a one-off.
It was like, Oh no, we still have like three more weeks of this or something that made it less like, Oh, I don't think I can. And that also went for when we went to FinCon, we arrived Wednesday and it was, oh, this was the other lesson we learned. Don't schedule early morning flights when you're a serious night owl.

00:08:39 - Maelisa Hall
And I mean serious night owl.

00:08:40 - Amber Hawley
We stayed up till like 4.30 in the morning when we were in Atlanta. But we scheduled these early morning flights so we could get there for the beginning because we didn't want to miss a thing because we hate missing out.

00:08:50 - Maelisa Hall
And it started at what, like 3 p.m. or 1 p.m. or whatever. But since we were traveling so far, we were like, oh, okay, we have to get there in time.

00:08:58 - Amber Hawley
Yes. So what ended up happening is neither of us slept the night before. We got two hours. We traveled all day. We're absolutely exhausted. So then we get there. We finally were like, let's just miss the opening keynote because we're wiped out. And we felt like crap.
And then we had signed up to go to another event. There was a party being hosted by somebody we love. And we were going to go to that. We paid for it. And we finally just said, I don't want to go to that either. So had we just given ourselves a break and came in a little bit later that day or decided, hey, let's come in the night before, we would have been able to make that party thing that we actually really wanted to go to.

00:09:35 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah, I still that was a very strong lesson for me. I was like, I will never, ever book a 530 a.m. flight again unless I like absolutely have to. And if I do, I'll try to do it the day before. I would rather just get there the day beforehand because I just have to be realistic about myself.
And since I am a night person, I'm never going to get to sleep at 9 p.m. That's not going to happen. And I don't really need to or want to make that happen for me. So a 5.30 a.m. flight when you have to be at the airport then at like 3.30, not a good idea.

00:10:10 - Amber Hawley
Yeah. We would have been better off doing the red-eye flight and then just sleeping in the hotel lobby until they gave us a room. That would have been a way better solution. So yes, we did learn that. So go with your own body clock, right? If you're a morning person, God bless, and that's great for you.
But you just got to know yourself and don't fight it and just say, it's also okay to miss some things. If you're feeling Exhausted? Or you know your allergies are kicking in, or you know you have you. You're at the conference and you had like two really great nights, but you connected with people and stayed up way late.
And you're a morning person, then maybe you do need to give yourself a break and skip that third party or whatever. So I guess that's what we're. I guess the lesson is just honoring your energy level at the time and. So finding that balance between making yourself rally and shitting on yourself.

00:10:58 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah, because we did that. We took a little break during the middle of the last conference we went to and we were like, you know what? Instead of going to these sessions in the middle of the day, I went and got a pedicure and you got a massage.

00:11:11 - Amber Hawley
Yes, it was so good. It was so good. Well, we went at the lunch hour, so we really only missed... Yeah, I think we just missed one. Yeah, we just missed one. And it was, so we really didn't miss much, but, but yeah, it was worth it. And that was enough.
And I think after a month of all of the travel and, you know, fitting all the other stuff in when we were away and not being able to do much self-care in that time, in all honesty, I think it was really good to take that time and get a massage. And then the next day when we, the conference was over and I had, I had a really late flight out because of whatever.
And I ended up getting a facial the next day and I will say it was wonderful. So I probably wouldn't have come back as rested if I hadn't done the massage and the facial. And then I did get another little mini massage at the airport too. So you see a theme here.

00:11:58 - Maelisa Hall
Yes. Yes. And I had, I ended up having a really long layover. Which was nice because I went to a nice restaurant in the airport and had some time to just chill in the middle. And then I got some stuff done on the plane, the two plane rides that day. But it was really nice to be like, you know what?
I've been doing a lot of other things and I can just sit here and enjoy this little break.

00:12:21 - Amber Hawley
Yeah.

00:12:21 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah.

00:12:22 - Amber Hawley
And so taking care of yourself, whatever that looks like. That's what you have. That's our big takeaway, hopefully, from that part. So yeah, some of it is allowing yourself that flexibility when you're at a conference or event that it's okay if you don't feel like you can make everything and rally for everything.
I will say it's really nice when you know the event is recording all the sessions so you could listen to them later. That's very helpful. And I think...

00:12:45 - Maelisa Hall
It's something that you have to pay to add on. It's usually when I've seen that it's like $99 more. I think it's totally worth it. So that way you take that pressure off. Exactly. Yes.

00:12:55 - Amber Hawley
And again, it's, you know, we talked a little bit about what is the intention of why you're at the conference if part of it is networking. Sometimes you miss those things for just genuine networking and enjoying people. So whether that's exhaustive. exhaustion or self-care or networking or illness or whatever, whatever the reason, I think it is valuable to know if you're like us and you're kind of information junkies and you love learning, you're not going to miss out.
But we do have some serious FOMO, right? I know.

00:13:20 - Maelisa Hall
But I felt like when we went to podcast movement, which was actually not part of our spree, that was in August. And then especially when we went to the ADHD conference, I felt like The intentions we had before those two were so clear. Like at Podcast Movement, we just really wanted to network and meet people.
And at the ADHD conference, we were there to speak. And so we really wanted to spread the message about women finding support in one another and talking about this podcast and talking about how you can find your support system. So I felt like those two really helped us when we were making decisions about what to do.
That message was so clear in our minds that it was like, oh, okay.

00:13:58 - Amber Hawley
Yes or no, it's very yeah, and that's, and that's when we said, okay, we might miss one of the breakout sessions. But we were absolutely going to prioritize. You know, the the meetups that they had for women to connect, and so because we were hoping to connect with people and and have that.
So, yeah, it was. It's just intentions make a big difference, too, so I think let's see. So we we hit on a couple. of different tips that we have. I think one of our tips was clearly try not to schedule like three giant things in one month. But you don't always have that.
Yeah, I know. And like we said, we were speaking at one. So like that clearly we were going to do that. We'd already committed. But there are just those times you can't control the schedule.

00:14:38 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. And I will say that, like you had mentioned, we'd only planned to do two. One of them we were speaking at. And then we added on BizChicks Live at the front because we got this opportunity and neither of us were planning to go. But then we met Natalie Ekdahl in person and we were like, we have to make this happen no matter what.
And I am so glad that we went to that one.

00:14:59 - Amber Hawley
Absolutely.

00:15:00 - Maelisa Hall
No regrets whatsoever. So I feel like these were great opportunities. I would not plan three in a row again. And yet I would not go back and say, oh, I wouldn't do that.

00:15:09 - Amber Hawley
Yeah. Well, and that's I was kind of just saying that you can't always control the schedule. And I still think it was very valuable. I'm so glad that we went to each and every one of them. my hope would be to be able to spread it out if I had any control over scheduling.
But at the same time, I will say all of this getting away and doing the things that we are doing, I feel very energized and inspired about my business and kind of the direction I'm taking. I've gotten a lot of clarity because we are going, you know, because we did go to all these events in a very short period of time.
I think the Frustrating thing for me, The only frustrating thing, and maybe this is part of why I'm feeling a little wiped out, is. I have all this energy and excitement about planning the next year, but I haven't had a day off to even do that. So, yeah, there's this big part of me that's like, Oh, I want to do this, I want to do the.

Planning for the next year or I want to follow up on these ideas that I came across either at FinCon or BizChicks or even the ADHD conference was very inspiring for me being that I do so much work with couples and individuals with ADHD. It was just really useful, but the frustration of not being able to implement right away is kind of like, ugh, for me.

00:16:19 - Maelisa Hall
And I guess... Yeah. I mean, that's such a good point. I guess that's the last thing I would add is not only thinking about time to catch up because you're ultimately, you're always going to need like a day or two to catch up after you're gone, after you're away from your business for any amount of time.
And then you're going to need some downtime to re-energize or depending on how that works, how long your trip was, etc. But I feel like I never plan for time to implement or review things that I learned. And that's like its own separate thing.

00:16:49 - Amber Hawley
So I think that's a really good point. Yeah. And that's where we'd even talked about that maybe... the next time, the next event we go to, we might actually tack on an extra day just so we can do that because you're already in that mode. And so either whether that's just planning it out and scheduling things or kind of mulling over the stuff that you learned, I think there is a lot of value in that because I could see doing that first and then going back home and having that day of recoup, right?
I think that that is a big piece. And for sure, I think that's one of the big learning lessons. So some of it is giving yourself a break, you know, understanding that, you know, even with your best of intentions, you might just be sick or you might have an off day or you're just kind of wiped out because of the time change or whatever.
And giving yourself that flexibility that it's okay not to go to everything.

The other piece is, you know, I guess giving yourself the downtime afterwards and that time to implement. I think those are kind of the big things that we took away from our little spree.

00:17:47 - Maelisa Hall
Yep. And I don't have anything else to add. I mean, there's a lot we learned, obviously, at these conferences.

00:17:52 - Amber Hawley
Well, that's a whole separate thing, right? I know, even as I was talking, I was like, oh, yeah, maybe it just makes me think about all those ideas. But but yeah, there's only so much you can do. And I know, I think I think maybe the only the final thing I want to say is, I know the piece about, hey, I'm spending a lot of money, I paid a lot of money to travel.
to for the conference and I'm taking time away from my business and my family, I really got to make it count. And we are still supporting that idea. What we're saying is that's why you have to be clear about your intentionality, because sometimes making it count isn't about going to every single last thing.
It's about developing deeper relationships with certain people or being strategic about when and where and what you do. So that just came up to me because I think about how people say that a lot. Like, I really want to make this count. And I think that's what we're saying is sometimes you make it count more by doing less.

Yeah, I agree. Awesome. Well, thank you for, we're going to do, this can be a little bit of a shorter episode because our next episode we know is going to be kind of a bigger one. And so we wanted to- It's going to be epic. And so we just wanted to give you a little bit of our lessons from our post spree.
And as always, if you have questions, visit us over at the mybizbestie.com site or on Facebook, My Biz Bestie. And we would be happy to answer any additional questions or let us know about topics that you're interested in. And don't forget to subscribe.