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Three Tips for Networking at Conferences.

It’s funny to imagine now, since I’m often the guy who’s on stage, but it wasn’t all that long ago that I hated going to conferences. Meeting lots of new people? Lots of small talk? Breakfast in a hotel conference room? No, thanks!

But I have learned a few things about conferences along the way. Here are three that have made conferences about 1000x better for me.

1.) Literally always introduce yourself, even if it’s someone you’ve met a few times before, and even if you’re wearing a name tag. At these conferences, you meet so many people — half the time, I can barely remember my own name by the end! Introduce yourself and you’ll avoid that awkward moment in the conversation when you realize that the other person is making the “Where do I know this person from?” face.

2.) Have an icebreaker question ready for everyone. I was just talking with one of my public media clients about this — they’re going to a conference soon with lots of other small public media outlets. They could start each conversation with, “So where do you work?” or “How do you like living in Springfield?”, but honestly, how many great conversations have started with a question like that? Instead, they’re going in with a different icebreaker: “What’s the most successful fundraising drive you’ve done recently, and why do you think it worked so well?” If they ask a dozen people that, they’ll start a dozen interesting conversations — and probably walk away with at least 2-3 ideas they can try out for themselves!

3.) Always be the person who says hi to the speaker afterwards. Stop by, say thank you, and ask your one extra question. These speakers usually traveled a ways to be there — they’re happy to talk! (They just spent 45 minutes talking about that topic anyway!) Maybe you’re looking for an example or an idea. Ask them, and more often than not, they’ll be happy to send you one after the event is over. Just this morning, I got an email from someone I met after a session I hosted last week. I was delighted they actually followed up — more often than not, people don’t!

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That’s me on stage at Email Summit DK in Odense, Denmark, in January. It’s still funny to me that a guy who didn’t love conferences now speaks on stage at them.

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Small, Baby Goals.

I published this interview today with Alisha Ramos. She founded a newsletter called Girls’ Night In that grew to 180,000 subscribers and $2 million per year in revenue — and then she decided to downsize and start over as a one-person operation. I’ve been thinking a lot about her story — how she realized that what she’d built wasn’t working anymore for her and that she needed to start over. In an age where it feels like everyone is about being as big as possible, Alisha’s story is a reminder that it’s OK to build something that fits with your life — even if that’s something small.

And I especially loved this one thing Alisha told me at the end of our conversations:

I’m at this phase where I’m very content with where I’m at and what I have, and not having the drive or the desire to grow, grow, grow is actually nice. I have small, baby goals this year.

It’s such a wonderful way to think about things. Not everything has to be big. Sometimes, a few small, baby goals are all you really need.

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That’s a screenshot from Alisha’s wonderful newsletter, Downtime.

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An Idea for Your Ideas.

A few years ago, I created a text doc where I drop in my ideas. Whenever I have an interesting conversation or come up with a big question, I add it to the doc. It might be a few words or a sentence — just enough for me to know what I was thinking about when I revisit the doc later on.

And then I’ll come back to the doc every week or so. Some of the ideas turn into blog posts or new products. Some turn into nothing. (Not every idea is a good idea!)

I’ve always got more ideas than I can actually take on. There’s always new stuff for me to work on later.

So create your own doc with ideas. It can be a text doc, a notebook, a series of voice memos on your phone. You never know which ones might turn into something great.

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That photo of a series of lights comes via Unsplash and photographer Jean-Philippe Delberghe.

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Roll With It.

It’s Wednesday morning, about 7:20 a.m. Central time. I’m in row 13 of a flight from Chicago back home to Salt Lake City. I don’t love flying that early in the morning, but I’ve got calls later that morning and then a kiddo to pick up in the afternoon. The early flight makes the most sense. I’ve checked the stats, too — in the past 60 days, this flight’s been early or on time nearly 90% of the time. We’re all set for an on-time departure, and my flight tracker app says we’ll arrive 20 minutes early, with plenty of time to make it home for the first call.

Which is exactly what does not happen.

There’s a plane stuck behind us at O’Hare, and it doesn’t move for about 40 minutes. Instead of an on-time departure, we end up with a very-not-on-time departure. I land in Salt Lake with just enough time to know that I won’t have enough time to make it home for the calls.

There would’ve been a moment when this would’ve really upset me and probably screwed up my day. But I’ve been through stuff like this before.

So I find a gate where the plane is just about to depart — it’ll be empty for an hour or two — and set up there. I take my calls. I apologize to my clients for talking to them from an unusual spot. No one really seems to mind. When the calls are over, I get a Lyft to take me home.

Things happen. It’s up to you to roll with the changes.

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I took that selfie at the gate just before my flight. Was I tired? Sure. Would I have been happier taking the call at home? Absolutely. But things happen.

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A Trick for Prioritization.

a yellow legal bad with sections for NEED and LIKE written out.

Here’s little trick I like to use when I’ve got way too many tasks on my to-do list and can’t figure out what to prioritize.

Open up a spreadsheet and type out all the tasks you’ve got on your list. Then create three columns, and put these headers at the top:

• What you NEED to do this quarter
• What you WANT to do this quarter
• What you’d LIKE to do this quarter

NEED is the stuff that 100% absolutely must get done.

WANT is the next bucket of tasks you’re most excited about.

LIKE are things you’re interested in… but you can’t quite make a priority.

I know I’m guilty of focusing on stuff that isn’t in those “Need” or “Want” buckets. Sometimes, just seeing everything laid out like this helps me refocus on what’s most important.

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That’s a sketch that Canva’s AI tool created for me. It’s a decent example of what this exercise might look like if you did it on a yellow legal pad.

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Inches, Not Miles.

Something I’ve been telling my teams a lot lately: Growth comes in inches, not miles.

I’m seven years into running my business, and more than a dozen years into working my field, and it feels like I’m just starting to get to a place where I can do the work I’m most excited about.

Everyone wants to move quickly, but the good stuff takes time.

You don’t always move as fast as you want to. Celebrate the little wins. Take the inches when you can.

They all add up.

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That’s a a phot of a biker pedaling forward on a bike path, surrounded by green grass and blooming trees. It comes via Unsplash.

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Don’t Overthink This.

a brown chair, a white table, a simple fern, up against a white wall.

90% of my advice to clients is boils down to three words:

“Don’t overthink this.”

People get into their heads when it comes to tweaking their strategy or tactics. They get caught up thinking that there are a series of three-dimensional chess moves that will fix what’s wrong.

But usually, the fixes are simpler than that: Your positioning is unclear. You’re not targeting the right audience. You’re doing too many things at once.

My job is often to tell teams: You’re overthinking things! Let’s simplify and get back to the core of what you do well.

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That’s not the fanciest desk set up in the world, but it’d work just fine? Why? It’s so darn simple. Thanks to Unsplash for the photo.

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Stay Right Here.

As silver DeLorean, like the one seen in “Back to the Future,” as photographed from behind.

I keep thinking about this line from poet Andrea Gibson in their book, “You Better Be Lightning”:

Regret is a time machine to the past
Worry is a time machine to the future

I’m as guilty as any of having my head somewhere else. Sometimes that means thinking about mistakes I’ve made or things I could have done better. Sometimes that means spending too much time thinking about all the stuff I have to do in the weeks and months ahead.

Gibson’s lines are a reminder: Wherever your feet are, keep your head there. There’s work to do right here, right now. That’s where your mind needs to be, too.

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Feels like the only appropriate photo for a post like this is of a DeLorean. That photo comes via Unsplash.

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Enjoy Where You Are.

Lots of white snow — and mountainous peaks behind — at Alta Ski Resort.

We went skiing at Alta today. Alta is a special place. You’re up in the mountains, a 20-minute drive away from anywhere. From the top, you won’t see homes or hotels or any sort of city — just snow and trees and mountains — and the skiing is fantastic.

We rode up one chair with someone from Pittsburgh, and we asked him if he did a lot of skiing back east. “Oh, tons,” he said, before listing off the mountains he’ll ski within a few hours of his home. Some of the mountains he mentioned are tiny, one-chairlift kind of mountains. But he said he loved skiing them just as much as he enjoyed skiing out west.

“Any day I have my ski boots on is a good day,” he said.

It’s such a wonderful sentiment, and it really stuck with me throughout the day. I grew up skiing tiny mountains in Maryland and Pennsylvania, and now I’m lucky to live just minutes from world-class ski resorts. I’m not going to try to convince anyone that the quality of skiing is as good at Whitetail as it is at Deer Valley — it isn’t.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy those mountains. I’ve had amazing days skiing at tiny resorts. 

The conversation on the chairlift today was a reminder that no matter what you’re doing, you can make the most of the experience. It’s up to you to stay in the moment and to find the little things that make that experience special.

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I took that photo while riding up the Sugarloaf chair at Alta today. Tough to complain about blue skies and plenty of snow — in April!

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It’s OK to Ask the Question.

A white question mark painted on a faded brick wall.

Something I tell at least one client every week: There are no dumb questions.

I’ve been helping clients since 2019, and working in my field since 2012. It feels like I’ve heard it all — and yet, every week, someone on a Zoom call starts off with “I know this is a dumb question…” and then asks something really interesting or something that I’ve never been asked before.

You don’t need to be an expert in everything. You don’t need to have all the answers.

But don’t underestimate your instincts. Give yourself a little credit — you know more than you think.

Just ask the question.

I promise — it’s a lot smarter than you realize.

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That photo of a question mark against a brick wall — taken along Smith Street in an English village called Cheadle — comes via photographer Matt Walsh and Unsplash.

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