Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO)’s Post

As we gear up for registration in one month, we'd like to answer some questions you might have before joining us. What is the main focus of The Biz Huddle? 1. The Biz Huddle is a unique, intimate event designed specifically for travel advisors serious about scaling their business. We focus on actionable business strategies, personal development, and deep conversations about the core areas of running a successful travel business—marketing, sales, operations, finance, client experience, and technology. 2. What makes The Biz Huddle different from other industry conferences? The Biz Huddle isn’t your typical conference. There are no keynotes or trade shows. Instead, we focus on curated, intimate experiences like hotseats, round tables, and workshops. It’s more like a mastermind—designed for deep, personal connections and real-time problem-solving for your business. We don’t do fluff, just actionable takeaways you can implement immediately. 3. How many attendees will there be? We are keeping the event small and intimate, with around 50 attendees. This allows for more personalized attention, deeper conversations, and stronger participant connections. 4. What topics will be covered at The Biz Huddle? We’ll dive deep into essential areas like mindset, operations, creating a standout client experience, marketing strategies, boosting sales, optimizing finances, and leveraging technology for growth. 5. Will there be networking opportunities? Absolutely, but not the awkward ballroom reception kind, lol!!! The Biz Huddle is designed to foster meaningful connections. We’ve created an intimate format that ensures you’ll have time for one-on-one conversations with peers and speakers throughout the event. 6. How can I make the most out of this event? Come prepared to actively participate! Bring your current business challenges and goals, and be ready to engage in roundtable discussions, ask questions, and share your experiences. The more you put into the event, the more you’ll get out of it. 7. How do I register and secure my spot? Registration will go live on Friday, November 1st. However, you can sign up to receive emails on our website now.

Learn together: If you have a major account and want to build a stronger bond with the key people, consider inviting them to conferences, seminar or meetups you go to. It's not about offering a free trip – they're often OK with paying for it – it's about connecting yourself with value. — 👍 Please LIKE the post if you found it valuable. 💡 Follow us for ideas and tips. 💎 We help agencies and consultancies succeed by creating and pricing client value.

Does anyone really enjoy going to conferences? I used to enjoy speaking and hearing others speak -- it was always good to get out of the office, meet peers and brag a little bit about your own work, but the quality of speakers and content was always mixed and the pressure to strike up conversations with other attendees was always a bit daunting. As I've aged I've become more comfortable with networking but what makes it easier is attending the right sort of conferences. Yesterday I was lucky enough to host three roundtables at the Subscription X Autumn Festival hosted by InternetRetailing. Katie Searles and Nina Harman really know how to put on a great event. Subscription X was easily one of the best conferences I ever attended for the sheer quality of speakers, pacing of the event and the venues. At the Festival yesterday, we had a rapid fire morning focused on customer lifetime value with the great and the good from some innovative companies including Abel & Cole | B Corp™, The Times, Freddie's Flowers, and Gumtree Group. Balancing acquisition and retention, the customer experience with LTV and the long and the short of performance targets were all discussed. What's remarkable is how retention--and by extension profitability--are now being taken just as seriously as acqusition. My key takeaway: "sustainable growth" is no longer synonymous with volume, but is more likely to include volume and profit in an equal, sometimes tense balance. It's fantastic to see as someone who has been banging this drum for nearly 15 years. #subscriptions #retention #customerlifetimevalue

Conferences can be a gamble 🎲 Anytime I attend a conference for the first time I’m always worried that it’ll be a dud. The planning, the money, the travel… when all is said and done all you can hope for is that the event goes well. And that's not always the case. However, the past couple of days in Vegas at #FintechMeetup has been truly incredible. Not only was I able to catch up with Tim Hsia, Amarildo Gjondrekaj, Zachary Pardey, Santiago Rodriguez Lebrija, and Gracie Zaro which is always fun to do, but I also got link up with new people. Notably, I had the pleasure of meeting Ian Tan, Brock Bontrager, Jennifer Lowe, and Diego Represas—I’m 100% missing out on some other notable people as well, but I’m writing all of this quick. After events like this I always think about ROI. And usually it’s never straight forward—personally I’m not selling a product to individuals in attendance. Sure, it was a fun event and I inherently enjoy networking. But I also recognize the immense value of face-to-face interactions. ⭐️ → So much of business is just liking the people you’re around and getting along with them. ⭐️ → It’s harder to BS in real life, I believe in-person meetings result in more “genuine" interactions. ⭐️ → Conferences increases the chances of the intersection of hard-work and serendipity. I'm looking forward to the next conference and hope to see everyone I met in the near future.

Virtual events is a $4 Billion industry. Isn’t that incredible! Based on this, if you don’t already, having a virtual event as part of your launch is a great way to increase your business revenue and help more people. Here are some different types of virtual events you have can: Workshop Masterclass Webinar Summit Bootcamp 1-3 day event Each of these are delivered in different ways and provide different value. Therefore they all require different planning and tasks as part of your launch. For example with a 60-minute workshop, you only need 5-14 days of a promotional period. For a 3-day event, you would need a longer lead time for promotions because people need advance warning so they can clear their calendars for the full 3 days. If you want to learn more about how to plan for your program launch and your virtual event, join me for my workshop on August 28th at 11am PT / 2pm ET. Link in comments to register for free.

Heading back to NYC after a week in Dublin for the best SaaS Conference in the world hosted by Alexander Theuma and team. Sorry not sorry Jason Lem*in. I've been to all 7 annual SaaStock conferences and they keep getting better. SaaStock itself has nearly 5000 attendees. What most people don't know is there is a mastermind event straight after with 50 of the most successful founders in SaaS. The room has founders representing billions of dollars of combined company valuations. Unfortunately, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, so I can't say much. Here are a few quick things I learned that I can share from just a few of the people I met (can't tag everyone, flight to catch!): - everybody is using AI to improve their businesses. Embrace it or fall behind. - deals happen in person. Get out from behind your laptop and meet people. - over the last 3 years, there has been a noticeable shift in focus on ROI of marketing channels from all founders. Profitability is more important than ever - Alexandru Stan is a ChatGPT (and golf) pro - airpods are hot commodity, Jonny White - Nathan Latka should run a poker room on the side (you should also borrow from FounderPath to grow your business without giving up equity) - don't play poker with Franco Caporale - he will hustle you - I'm embracing product-led. Wes Bush taught me. - speak to Dee Coakley if you need to figure out how to hire/pay people around the world - Radka Jančíková organizes the best events. Alexander Theuma just provides the pretty face - Mark Organ has the best book recommendations. Will keep me busy for a year - Stefan Smulders needs to spend more time in the gym :) That's all I've got without breaching NDA and getting arrested at the airport.

Putting this event on my SaaS network's radar for future opportunities. Seems like a neat set of events. A few things stand out to me: 🎯 Product-led strategy is an emerging theme and has never been more important. When there are so many options to choose from and companies are reliant upon software products to drive better profits, faster - building a stellar product that solves a real problem and is sticky with the right price is what you need to stand out from your competition. 🤖 Embracing AI has been the center piece of 2024. Although which direction AI is going and how fast that adoption and the impact is still not so certain, understanding where AI fits into your product strategy and how to leverage it can be a game changer. Many founders don't have a clear strategy around this and it can cost them millions of lost revenue and opportunity. 🤝 In-person is back. Several of my SaaS Founder clients are attending key events to get exposure and build relationships with current/potential clients. 💰 ***Earning new business almost every time. *** 💰 What are some of your recommendations for implementation of AI into your startup? Comment below 👇 #startups #startup #saas #Entrepreneurship

How much does it cost Jack to speak at a conference? £50 on train or petrol. Add parking or taxis. Coffee and lunch. Jack blinks, and it's at least £100. Jack is not paying for a conference ticket (£50-£200), but he's not being paid to speak....yet. Plus, these costs don't include the time spent NOT running his business. Or the time preparing his talk content. And those check-ins with the event organizer. A day out of the office. Following up with connections made at the conference. Missing his kid's school play. It soon adds up in time and expenses. It's ok if there is ROI... Back at the event, he has a 20-minute speaking slot. If the event starts at 9am and ends at 3pm. His 20 minutes is less than 6% of the event. Speaking at events is expensive. Take a step back, and don't think about his talk for a moment. Think about the audience experience. What do people remember from Jack's 6% of the day? Well, Jack is like most speakers and shares the same thing. A List of tips. The 4 things the audience needs to do to achieve success. Or the 6 things. The 8 things. 12 things. A flood of actionable insights in 20 minutes. And then the next speaker does the same. After three speakers, the audience may remember 1 or 2 things in total. All the talks start to blur into each other. Then after the networking conversations, what do attendees remember at the end of a long day? What do they remember the day after? A week later? So Jack spent £100. A whole day in time at the event. Plus all the prep before, 3-8 hours. The catch-up after 10 hours. And because he shared a list of things, his 6% of the time on stage was forgettable. Jack's ROI is not looking great. But Jack has an incredible opportunity. Continued in the comments..... #eventspeaker #conferencespeaker #keynotespeaker #csuite

The events and conferences season is in full swing and it can be overwhelming, especially if you suffer from FOMO like me. But, as someone who has worked in a startup for the past two years, I've learned that there will always be a lot to do, but never enough time to do it. That's why I'm learning to gain more from events by going to less of them. Here are some key points I try to follow when making a go/no go decision: 👯♀️ Audience: I invest time in understanding the audience and attendees. Am I just catching up with my existing #finfriends or am I creating new connections? Curiosity and a professional network should never stop growing 🚀 . 🎯 The Why : If I was paying for the ticket with my own money, would I really go? And if yes, how would I ensure the return on that investment 💸 ? I set myself two Whys for each event and I use those as a benchmark for investing my time in a meaningful way. Or not 🤷♀️ . 📚 Content: Can I be a meaningful contributor or learn something new from the presentations, talks, expo stands and materials? I try to go to the less “obvious” sessions these days . Being intrigued leads to new discoveries and interactions. I also try to put my hand up as much as possible when the audience is prompted to interact. There are no stupid questions, only awkward silences 🤔. 👻 Attention: Most of the conference rooms look the same. There is somebody on the stage sharing their knowledge, ideas and time. And there is an audience looking down on their devices and answering their emails/Slack notifications 🤳. I was no exception to this and it is one of the main things which I am trying to do differently. If I invest my time (and my employer’s money) into attending an event, I want to ensure that I am present. The other alternative? Don’t go. Remember, there will always be more events to attend, but it's important to select the ones that are the best use of your limited time 🤸♀️ . See you in the conference room 🙋♀️ ! #events #network #creatingopportunities

It's quite simple really. You want to go to the conference. Everyone is going. You're getting FOMO. But something is holding you back. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘹𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘯𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘴? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨? F*ck it. FOMO is getting too much. You're going. Whilst it's not your first rodeo, as a fellow introvert, you're still a bit nervous about networking. Fundamentally, all that doubt stems from one thing: not being able to BD as much as you want. Going up to individuals is easy. Even VCs. "Nice watch." Conversation started. But there aren't many people of value standing on their own. Most event attendees congregate into small groups of 2-4, often seemingly in deep conversation. You don't want to interrupt. That's rude. But you need to approach them, otherwise this is all pointless. How? Here's the best line I learned after 18 conferences and 100s of events: 💡 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝘂𝗽, 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗮𝘆, "𝗛𝗲𝘆 𝗴𝘂𝘆𝘀, 𝘀𝗼𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗿𝘂𝗽𝘁, 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝗜 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝗻?" 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗴𝗮𝘇𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿. What happens: 𝟭. They say, "Yes of course," and ask you what you do. This means they were just chatting, not in any meaningful conversation. Your turn. 𝟮. They say, "Yes of course," and continue the conversation amongst themselves without looking at you. Don't interrupt it. Just listen in, and leave if it's taking too long. Wait for an end of a sentence and say, genuinely, "I'm gonna run, let's catch up later though!" They're just in conversation, and don't have social skills. Save face. Don't get salty. 𝟯. They say, "Sorry can you give us a minute?" They're in very deep conversation. "Of course, no problems, let's catch up later." Keep an eye on when they're finished, approach one of them, "That sounded intimate haha." It's quite simple really. ___ Here's how to approach VCs at events: https://lnkd.in/gsQfpSg2 Simplicity Group