How to Use Conferences to Grow your Online Business (Even If You Don’t Go)

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Is going to a conference really worth it?

The travel, the cost, the time away from your business—it adds up fast.

But after attending Podcast Movement last week, I walked away with three big takeaways that could change how you grow your online business this year—whether you attend events or not.

In this episode, I’m breaking down how to use conferences and communities to build a smarter online business, gain clarity, and make your next 90 days more profitable—without adding more to your plate.

And at the end, I’ll share a bonus way to get major value from conferences you don’t even attend.

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Episode Transcript

Carrie Saunders (00:00):
Is going to a conference really worth it to
grow your online business.
You have the travel, you havethe cost of the conference, you
have food, it's your time awayfrom your business.
It all can really add up fast.
But after attending PodcastMovement the other week, I
walked away with three bigtakeaways that could change how
you grow your online businessthis year, whether you attend

(00:23):
events or not.
In this episode, I'm breakingdown how to use conferences and
communities to build a smarteronline business, gain clarity
and make your next 90 days moreprofitable without adding more
to your plate, and at the end, Iwill share a bonus takeaway
where you can get major valuefrom a conference that you don't

(00:43):
even attend.
So let's get started Strugglingto turn website traffic into
real sales.
You're not alone and you don'thave to figure it out all
yourself.
Welcome to Smarter OnlineBusiness, the podcast.
For course creators, coachesand e-commerce entrepreneurs who
want their websites to convertvisitors into buyers without the
tech overwhelm.
I'm your host, keri Saunders, awebsite strategist and

(01:06):
conversion expert with over 20years of experience.
Each episode delivers simple,proven strategies to help you
generate more revenue and makeyour website your smartest sales
tool.
So I used to go to conferencesto just learn something new or
to stay current with currenttrends.
But now I go with a sharperquestion what am I building next

(01:27):
, and what kind of insightrelationships would make that
easier?
I go more for the networkingthan the learning and if you're
building an online course,refining your offers, revising
your website or trying to growfaster without burning out
events can give you the clarityyou didn't know you were missing
.
And at Podcast Movement Iwalked away with ideas for

(01:50):
content, messaging andpartnerships, not just
information.
The ROI isn't really in thesession notes, it's in the
implementation clarityafterwards.
So when I was done with thepodcast a couple of days later,
I look through my notes and lookthrough what am I going to
implement?
How can I do that more clearand get that done?

(02:12):
So most people approachconferences of what can I learn.
And the real shift happens whenyou show up as a creator or a
connector.
Like I was hinting earlier, wewant to be networking, we want
to be learning how to create andconnect.
So whether you're walking up toa meeting, a Zoom call or an

(02:33):
expo hall, have one clear goalin mind.
Ask yourself what is the onething I need feedback on?
What is the one thing I want totest or validate?
What do I need to walk awaywith clarity on?
Have a purpose before youattend a Zoom meeting, an event
or something like that.
And at Podcast Movement I hadtwo to three focus questions

(02:55):
that helped me have betterconversations and better
takeaways.
You don't need to networkharder, you just need to be more
intentional harder, you justneed to be more intentional.
I kind of let the people aroundme fall into my circle when it
seemed my instinct seemed tomake sense for them too.
I didn't just make sure Italked to every single person.
It was kind of more of anintuition and more of a go with

(03:19):
the flow type of thing, and thatactually worked out really well
.
I had one short conversationthe other week that completely
reframed how I was thinkingabout a key piece of my business
and it reminded me that some ofthe best growth isn't a blog
post or webinars.
It's in real time feedback fromsmart people who actually
really get it.

(03:40):
You don't need to meet everyone.
You need to connectmeaningfully with one or two
people.
Who opens up that new door,think about it.
Who could be a collaborationwith you, who can help cross
promotions, who can help youwith content partnership, who
can partner with you there, whocan guest on someone else's
podcast or newsletter or maybein your business?

(04:03):
Conferences aren't just aboutconsuming content.
They're about activatingconnections.
One of the connections that Iactivated is I got to meet my
podcast mentor, crystal Prophet.
She's been a guest on our showbefore.
She is an excellent speaker andan excellent human being and it
was so wonderful to meet her inactual person and we could
brainstorm on some things.

(04:24):
You know, things she neededhelp with, things I needed help
with, and she was actually oneof the speakers at the
conference and it was wonderfulto see her in live action and
how she delivers her speech.
This is also great if you'reconsidering doing some sort of
speaking, whether it's on apodcast or at a conference or a
virtual conference.
It's a great way to see howothers deliver their speech, to

(04:48):
get a better idea of how to doyour own speech, because doing
speeches like this we've talkedabout this on the podcast and
other podcast episodes canreally help you grow your
business and grow yourconnections.
If you're speaking in front ofthe right people and again, it
could be little small groups tooit doesn't have to be a huge
stage, so don't feel like youhave to get too overwhelmed or
scared there.
And if you aren't already on anewsletter to learn tips like

(05:11):
this in your inbox, head on overto smarteronlinebusinesscom and
click on sign up a newsletterover there so you can get tips
right to your inbox too.
And bonus tip, you don'tactually have to attend a big
event or to get major value outof it.
This is something I hadn'treally thought about until I was
building this podcast episode.
You can follow the eventhashtags on LinkedIn, on

(05:35):
Facebook, on Instagram, whereverit would be appropriate for
that event.
You can search for the speakerlist and follow three to five of
the top people you would beinterested in listening to at
that event.
You can also direct message onespeaker with a kind note or
takeaway from their clip ortheir quote that they might
share, and this is a reallygreat way to like think about

(05:58):
how can you, you know, have thataction implementation without
even going to the conference?
I know there's otherconferences I'd love to go to,
but you know the time and themoney is just not there to go to
all the conferences I want togo to, and so this is going to
be a strategy I'm going toemploy here, probably in about a
month, because there's aconference coming up that I kind

(06:20):
of really wanted to go to, andI'm going to see how this works
out, and I'd love to hear fromyou.
Does this work out for you?
Have you ever tried this bonustip before of gathering the
information you know, the topkey highlights via, you know,
just following the event online?
Sometimes you can even find thereplays.
There can be virtual ticketaccess sometimes, which is also

(06:43):
a lot cheaper and a bit lesstime consuming, because then you
can watch things on your owntime and on fast speed.
If you'd like, you can alsolook for social clips from the
sessions and use them to sparkyour next piece of content blog
posts, client conversation oryour next step in your online
business.
You can still grow yourvisibility and influence without

(07:04):
necessarily booking a flight orlike we did I didn't even talk
about that we road tripped fromSoutheastern Ohio to Dallas,
texas, which was actually kindof fun and an adventure in and
of itself, and then I want togive you an additional bonus
trip when you do go in person toa conference like this, make an
adventure out of it.

(07:25):
It is our time to step away fromthe normal day-to-day of our
businesses.
It's time to reflect on what'sworking and what's not, and my
husband and I went to thepodcast and we have a conference
together.
He's also my business partnerat Beasys Engineering and we
decided to make a road trip outof it.
We drove from Athens, ohio, toDallas, texas.

(07:48):
It's about 17 hours withoutstops.
One way, when we made anadventure out of it, we made it
time for us to reflect, relaxand just enjoy time together in
the car to really think throughwhat's working and what's not
working in the business.

(08:10):
Can you surround the beginningand the end of that conference
with some space, with somereflection time, so that you can
one process what you want tolearn first at the conference
and then post-process what youlearned and who you met and the
connections you made after theconference?
Hopefully, this is a greatepisode for you to really

(08:32):
rethink about.
How can I use conferences tomake my business smarter?
How can I have a smarter onlinebusiness with conferences,
whether I attend or don't attend, and we will see you next week.