The Best Ever Conference is the only world-class real estate investing conference built around your goals.
Our speaker selection process isn’t about who we know. It’s about what you want to know!
With over 50 industry influencing speakers and over 1000 attendees from across the globe that last year represented an estimated $20B assets under management and 1.4M monthly podcast downloads, the conference can be overwhelming for a first-time attendee. So, we developed this First Timer’s guide to ease your mind and help you get the most value out of your time at the Best Ever Conference.
1. Preparation
What to Wear: Our advice is to wear whatever you feel most confident in. Want to wear a t-shirt and jeans? No problem. You won’t be alone. Want to ball out in your designer suit? Other’s will as well. And, of course, anything in-between is fair game too.
Dress to impress, but don’t wear a specific outfit because you think you are supposed to look a certain way. Best Ever attendees cover a wide-range of real estate investing niches, so you will fit in no matter what you wear. I would, however, avoid wearing fitness shorts or sweat pants.
Also, keep in mind that the Best Ever Conference is in Denver, CO, at mile-high altitude in February. So make sure you bring your winter gear (or buy winter gear if you are lucky enough to live in a state that doesn’t experience harsh winters) if you are venturing outside the Gaylord Rockies resort.
There are also happy hours and after parties at night, so you may want to bring a change of clothes for the evenings (and your dancing shoes).
Lastly, some Best Ever attendees use the conference as an opportunity to vacation in Colorado either before or after the conference – skiing and snowboarding being the most popular. If this is the case for you, don’t forget to pack your snowboard, skiing, or sledding gear.
What to Bring: In addition to your attire, here are some other items you’ll want to pack:
- Cell phone and charger: I know, this is likely a no brainer and for most of us our phones don’t leave our sides anyways. But your cell phone or tablet will be invaluable during your time at the Best Ever conference. Capturing contact information. Scheduling future meetings. Using the Best Ever Whova app (see below). Taking pictures with your favorite speakers. Etc. While there will be plenty of outlets to use for ongoing charges, I recommend buying one of those portable chargers. You won’t want to miss out on a speaker or networking opportunity because you’re stuck in the lobby charging your phone.
- Recorder: All of the speaker’s presentations are available for download on the Whova app. However, most of the best content provided won’t be in the presentation. A great way to make sure you don’t miss anything and to re-listen to your favorite presentation is to record it. Bring a standalone recorder or use your cell phone.
- Business Cards: While I don’t recommend handing out as many business cards as possible, you’ll still want to bring some to pass out after having an in-depth conversation with someone. Some people only use digital business cards (i.e., saving other’s contact information in their phone), but since the Best Ever conference has a vast diversity of attendees, others still like the old school, tangible business cards. Again: don’t hand out as many business cards as you can! Not an effective strategy (see “One New Relationship Per Day” below)
- Notebook and pen: You will be provided with a notebook and pen at the Best Ever Conference. And you can also take notes in the Whova app. But most of our attendees bring their own personal notebooks and writing utensils anyways. As I will outline below, you will also want to do some reconnaissance prior to attending the conference, so make sure you bring the notebook with your recon notes.
- Extra room in your luggage: Plan to leave extra room in your luggage for free swag you pick up at the booths, items you buy in Denver, and – if you are lucky – the giveaway prize you won!
- Outcome for Attending: This is the most important – make sure you have a specifically defined outcome for attending the conference. By the end of the conference, what do you want to achieve? How many new relationships do you want to form? How many follow-up meetings do you want to schedule? What speaker or attendee do you want to speak with?
- Snow-sport Equipment: If you’re an avid skier or boarder, there will be plenty of rental and demo gear at Keystone mountain or any other mountain in CO. But if you prefer your own set, then bring it along for some epic mountain networking!
Download the Best Ever Whova App: Once you purchase your ticket to the Best Ever Conference, download the Whova application in the app store on your smart phone. The Whova app is where you will find the full agenda for the conference, speaker list, event details, giveaways, everyone else who is attending the conference, and much more.
We will send you the code to join the Best Ever application prior to the conference.
When you download the Best Ever app, you will receive email alerts prior to the conference with important information you need to know. You will receive ongoing alerts during the conference for each session and messages from other attendees. After the conference, you will receive ongoing email alerts with surveys, photos, job openings, and session notes and videos.
Explore the Best Ever app prior to attending the conference so that you are able to effectively use it during and after the conference.
Read Up on the Speakers: The full list of speakers, what they will talk about, and when they will be speaking will be available at BestEverConference.com and on the Whova application. We recommend investigating each of the speakers prior to attending.
Determine which speaker’s sessions you want to attend. Write out a list of questions you want to ask them one-on-one (that’s right, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to speak with each of the presenters). A great way to stand out in the mind of a speaker is to bring up a piece of relevant personal information when talking to them – like something you both have in common. It shows that you were prepared!
Two days may seem like a lot of time, but it will go by faster than you think. The attendees who get the most out of their experience and the Best Ever conference plan their days ahead of time, which requires knowing which sessions to attend based on the speakers, their investment niche, and their outcome for the conference.
2. At the Conference
You’ve made it to Keystone. You’ve set your alarm extra early. You show up to day 1 ready to learn and network. Here are some tips for getting the most out of your time at the Best Ever Conference.
Speakers, Booths, Networking Balance: The three main things you’ll do at the Best Ever Conference are listen to speakers, browse the exhibitor booths, and network with speakers and attendees. All of these are important so you’ll need to focus on how to get the most out of all there.
First, research each of the speakers before the conference. Break the different sessions into three categories: must attend, would like to attend, don’t need to attend. Now, the first part of your schedule is set – you know that you will be listening to the must attend sessions and may be listening to the would like to attend sessions.
Next, take a look at the exhibitors at the Best Ever conference. Which exhibitors do you want to meet? During one of the “don’t need to attend” sessions, try to make your rounds to the exhibitors based on your preparations.
The remaining time should be spent networking with speakers and other attendees. Most likely, you’ll have questions for the “must attend” speakers – either prepared questions from your pre-conference recon or questions that came up during the presentation. Here is an insider tip: don’t try to talk to the speaker immediately after their presentation. That’s when everyone is going to want to talk to them and you’ll spend a lot of time waiting in line or look like a weirdo running up to them to get to the front of the line. Instead, talk to them before their presentation or later on in the day/the next day after they’ve presented.
When it comes to networking with attendees, do your best to research them on the Whova app. As I mentioned in the beginning of this post, there will be over 500 attendees. Rather than only talking to random people (which is still something we recommend), find out who you want to speak to beforehand, message them on the Whova app, and schedule a time to meet. It can be during a session, during breakfast, lunch, or dinner, or at the after-party.
One New Relationship Per Day: Handing out as many business cards is not the most effective use of your time at the Best Ever Conference. Instead, I recommend focusing on creating one new deep relationship each day. Day 1, find someone (ideally someone you’ve researched beforehand and you know you want to meet) and form a relationship with this person throughout the course of the day. Sit next to them during sessions. Grab breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner with them. Form a relationship that is more than just surface level. Learn about their outcome for attending the conference. Learn about their business and goals. Learn about them personally. And most importantly, find out how you can add value to their business. More on this later in the post.
When you form this deeper relationship, you will know how to add more value to their business (and vice versa) compared to speaking with them for a few minutes, handing them a business card, and repeating the process with someone else.
One deeper relationship is better than speaking with tens of people for a few minutes and handing them a business card. Trust me!
Use the Best Ever Whova App: The Whova app is going to be your best friend during the Best Ever conference.
- You can create a profile so other attendees can learn more about you
- You can view the entire agenda for the conference
- You will receive notifications when a new session begins
- You can download the speakers’ presentations, click on their biography, and leave comments on about what you learned.
- You can browse the list of conference attendees
- You can send and receive messages from attendees, speakers, and exhibitors
- You can create a post or browse existing posts in the community forums
- You can browse open job listings
- You can post pictures
- You can participate in giveaways
- You can earn points the more you use the app
- And much more
Download the Whova app prior to the conference and spend a few minutes getting familiar with the app’s functionalities.
Don’t Leave Until Sunday!: If possible, stay for the entire duration of the conference. Most attendees fly in Wednesday night or Thursday morning so they can register early, start attending social events before the conference, and take advantage of the mountain resort while ensuring they are rested and ready to rock-and-roll for the first official event. And most attendees fly out Sunday night or later so they can maximize their time at the conference, attend after-parties for fun, and do even more networking.
I understand that you have a busy business and personal schedule. But by flying out Saturday night, you’ll miss the last few sessions, a chance to win one of the giveaways, the group picture, the after-party, and time to network with attendees and speakers.
3. Post-Conference
The value from the Best Ever Conference doesn’t stop at the end of the after party. Here are some tips to continue to get the most out of the Best Ever Conference after you’ve returned home.
Follow-Up: One of the first things you should do the Monday after the Best Ever conference is to follow-up with all the new people you met. The sooner you follow-up, the better. It will increase your credibility with the other person. Plus, the content of your conversation will be top of mind.
My go to strategy after attending a conference is to send a follow-up message on LinkedIn. In this message, I include a piece of information that was brought up during our conversation. Also, I try to immediately add value to their business. When you spoke with this person, what was their outcome for the conference? What are their grander business goals? How did you determine you could add value to their business? If you can do something for them that helps them achieve their outcome or goals, do so in the message. Offer to help them yourself or provide them with a reference to someone who can.
If you spoke with someone at the conference and made a commitment to them, whether it’s scheduling a meeting, sending them a referral, sending them a piece of content, etc., do so one Monday as well.
Implement Lessons Learned: When you leave the Best Ever Conference, you are going to have a MASSIVE amount of motivation! Don’t let that go to waste.
Immediately start taking steps to implement any lessons or strategies you learned at the conference into your business.
Discount for Future Conferences: An advantage of attending your first conference is the discounted price on next year’s event. Buy your ticket within the defined time frame at a significantly discounted price.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this blog post are provided for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as an offer to buy or sell any securities or to make or consider any investment or course of action.
