I love attending conferences and other industry events. These community experiences have been a key part of how I’ve grown personally, professionally and built my brand expertise in the online spaces that I show up in. However, in recent years I haven’t attended as many events as before because they’ve become increasingly underwhelming. Events are ridiculously hard to host, wildly expensive and post-COVID, a bit frightening to host because what if something happens like a global pandemic and you can’t get your deposits back? I’ve hosted hundreds of events in my previous role at a university and smaller events as part of my brand building efforts. I have some thoughts about what attendees are getting from a time, cost and overall experience perspective. Let’s talk.
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Listen to the Episode
Conferences Are Too Big
Seriously, it’s ok to size down the event. To lower your carrying costs for hosting it and rethink the experience. I’m an extrovert and there’s no way that I’m trying to meet thousands of people over 4 days. I want to be able to hear my brain and actually slow down the experience enough so that I can really meet people and then continue to connect with them after the event.
Be Creative
I’m finding myself bored at conferences because it’s the same thing every time. Here are some suggestions to help you break out of the boring conference design funk.
- Video Conference-Have the guests design or record videos at the event with a specific theme as the focus. Then the top 3 videos win something. In order to watch the videos there’s a cool town hall experience. Casual and fun. You could even do this at a brewery.
- Podcast Conference-Create an opportunity for shows to pitch to be acquired at the event. Or, design podcast content for a sponsor to sponsor the show. All submissions earn money with the winner earning an ongoing sponsorship (they would have to meet certain criteria prior to the event)
- Bring in well-known hosts in 3 different genres and winner attendees in the same genre can record an episode with that host, celebrity or VIP
What About Experiences
There are so many cool things to do and I’ve only attended a few conferences with cool experiences that I still talk about. Such as the time I went surfing in San Diego at FinCon. I’m pretty sure that attendees set up the experience-this is your clue to do the same. Don’t wait for attendees to do the cool shit. Build it into your program.
- Host a Trust Exercise like going to a ropes course-Here in south Denver there is a MASSIVE jungle gym that I’ve been wanted to experience and I plan on hosting an event there with the meetup group that I’m launching in 2026.
- Spicy Knitting Circles-These just seem wildly fun
- Roller Derby or a Roller Skating Experience
- Learn and perform a dance-Participants would sign up to do this before the event, learn the choreography and perform at the event.
- Massage tables and puppies always do well.
The important thing is to incorporate these experiences into the core teachings of the event. Again, if it’s a video conference how can you help attendees produce a cool piece of video content using skills that they’ve learned at your event.
Conferences are Expensive
- Have the Community Crowdfund a full ride experience for a beloved member of the community. Pay for their attendance, plane ticket, fun money and hotel
- Provide a few other creators with scholarships, partial or otherwise with the money remaining in the fund.
Hospitality
This is the areal that I bitch about a lot when it comes to events. Double-down on what it means to provide a welcoming space to your community guests.
- Send Thank You cards after the event (can be pre-printed) or digital for overseas guests
- Provide food, snacks and enough time to eat when you do. You DO NOT have to provide all the meals. At least one an event-get it sponsored by multiple companies so that you don’t have to deal with the cost.
- Provide coffee onsite and partner with at least one offsite coffee/tea shop for an event
- Instead of only providing replays-host one or two live workshops after the event. Pay the creator who gave the original talk. This incentivizes better content quality.
- Provide gift cards for drinks, snacks or experiences in partnership with a local chain-Again, avoiding taking on that cost as a creator. I loved going to see the Savannah Bananas and getting a gift card after the event.
I’m saying “no” to a lot of events because of location, cost and more. Make your event an unforgettable experience for your attendees and YOU.
The Creator Income Collective
At the end of 2025 I quietly launched my new membership “The Creator Income Collective” the goal? Help creators make more money by being in community and learning how to better grow and monetize their lists. Members of The Creator Income Collective also gain access to the following resource: SUBSCRIBED-a growing list of creator newsletter or email lists that you can reach out to collaborate with if they say “yes” and your communities and projects align. Head to creatorsgettingpaid.com/membership to become a part of the community today. It’s purposely priced at $9 a month because I want this to be the easiest “Yes” you’ve said to a professional development tool for your online brand this year. Looking forward to meeting you!
