I was at a client’s event recently. A big one with over 15,000 people in attendance.
After flying in late Friday night, I sat in the restaurant of the hotel and overheard a few people talking about how excited they were to be at the event. They were convinced that the next two days would give them the knowledge to get moving in the right direction in their business.
Apparently, these people had never met and they questioned each other on how long they had been in the business.
Two of the three people answered that they had been in the business less than 2 weeks.
2 WEEKS!!!!????
What happened in the two weeks since they joined the company that convinced them to invest in travel, hotel, registration, time away from work and family — and show up in San Jose, CA?
Clearly, the sponsors / upline of both these people knew the value of the events and had convinced the new recruits to attend.
This was not accidental. It’s part of their system.
I know this company well and they completely believe that getting new reps to their major events (held 4 times per year in the US) can change how someone pursues their business. They even put an “events highlight” video on their prospecting DVD to show prospects / new recruits what they can expect from their first event. Because it’s part of their system, I would guess that the sponsors went through the same process – they signed up and within a month or two, attended their first major event. Or, they attended a local event first – building to the bigger event.
Once inside the event, it was clear that the weekend was geared toward a younger audience that wants to be high achievers. The music they played isn’t on my iPod but the young demographic of the attendees probably recognized most of it. If not, it didn’t matter. It set the tone.
For the next day and half, the event was a frenzy of activity with very limited “down time.” In a full day event, lunch lasted about 90 minutes — about as quickly as you can possibly get 15,000+ people fed and still have time to purchase their new tools.
The rest of the day was jam-packed with content.
GREAT recognition.
OUTSTANDING training.
POWERFUL motivation.
I can guarantee that most attendees got more than they expected out of the event and their belief level in their business increased over the weekend.
Nothing replaces hearing firsthand how to build a business, what tools to use and how to use them, new product / market introductions, and much more.
The vast majority of the reps left the event armed with the right tools and motivated to take action — ready to take on the world. After all, it’s not what happens AT the event that matters – it’s what happens AFTER the event that does.
Of course, you cannot ignore the day to day activities of building a successful business. But, the events drive BIG activities and BIG emotions that people gravitate to.
Are you systematically teaching your reps to use events to drive their businesses?
Are you using your prospecting tools and corporate communications to generate interest in events?
Are you capturing the event on video so you can repurpose the footage throughout the year?
Like “new sign ups” or “kits shipped”, the number of NEW people attending your events can be a real indicator of the path your business is on. Make sure you’re driving attendance and maximizing the event to drive the right behaviors of everyone there.
