In Episode #400, Eric and Neil discuss the pros and cons of hosting your own conference, and why you need to accept the reality that you’re going to lose money at the front-end.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 00:28 – Today’s topic: Should You Host Your Own Conference?
• 00:36 – If you’re just starting out, the best option is to stay away from conferences
  • 00:40 – The conference business is difficult and you’ll probably lose money
• 00:48 – Eric personally thinks that conferences aren’t that valuable
• 00:51 – Eric shares his experience with Treehouse
  • 00:55 – Ryan Carson, CEO, is known for hosting conferences
  • 01:08 – Conferences are a good way to build network
  • 01:19 –Sean Ellis is known for hosting growth hacking conferences too
• 01:27 – Conferences are exceptionally valuable if—and only if—your business is already making money
  • 01:34 – HubSpot has thousands of customers will benefit a lot from holding a conference where they can invite their customers
• 01:56 – Consider hosting a conference only if your business is established and getting $5-6M in ARR
• 02:25 – Alternatively to conferences, you can throw in a dinner or small events
• 03:04 – There are also virtual conferences where you don’t have to spend money on venue and can retail virtual tickets instead
  • 03:22 – With a virtual event, the email list that you build can be repurposed
• 03:45 – When you’re starting out, you don’t necessarily have to pay people
• 04:11 – Marketing School is giving away a free 1 year subscription of Crazy Egg which is a visual analytics tool
  • 04:57 – Go to SingleGrain.com/giveaway for multiple entries
• 05:07 – That’s it for today’s episode!

3 Key Points:

1. If you’re just starting, instead of conferences, try to host dinners or small events.
2. Conferences are beneficial if your business is stable and already earning at least $5M in ARR.
3. Virtual conferences are also a thing – it’s cost efficient and you can use the leads for future use.

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