Why Conferences Matter
for Speakers and Authors

Transcript from the episode recording, with speaker names added and paragraphs formatted for readability. Automated transcription may contain errors; the audio is the original record.

Brad Hauck 00:14

Welcome to The Experts Journey. Today we're going to recap the power of going to conferences and being involved in speaking associations. So recently, Dixie and I have been to the Global Speaker Summit in Cairns, Australia, where we met with speakers from all around the world, caught up with them, learned a lot, did a lot, saw a lot, and had a fantastic time. So we're going to go through some of those things today to explain to you and I suppose dig into why it's important to be involved in organizations if you're going to be a speaker or an author, where you've got the option to share your expertise with others.

Good morning, Dixie.

Dixie Carlton 00:52

Good morning, Brad. It's great to see you and I trust you had a good safe journey home.

Brad Hauck 00:58

Yep, good trip home, which was nice.

Dixie Carlton 01:01

We just before we started the recording, we just touched on the fact that sometimes the best conversations that you can have at these events is at the airports and traveling en masse with various people that you see either when you're going to the conference or when you are then finishing and leaving and the buzz that you get as you're sitting around in the airport lounges and the coffee bars and recapping on all the great things and the new people you meet. And what was the highlight for you uh as far as the start and the end?

Let's come back to the beginning or the middle of the main event. Getting there and getting home, what's the bonus things for you?

Brad Hauck 01:36

Yeah, look, for me, I love flying, always have. So that's always a bonus. I just like going on airplanes. But also when you get on the plane and you're walking down the aisle. Now, I generally fly economy, sadly. But quite frankly, I'd you know rather spend my money elsewhere, especially on a one and a half hour plane trip. But as it come past and you see all the people as you go down the hall and you're like, How are you going? How are you going? And it's really cool, fun, because you know you're all going to the other end and you're going to be that together.

So I always find that exciting. If you don't run into them at the airport when you're actually waiting, seeing them when you're on the plane, and then of course, they get out at the other end and oh, are you getting a taxi or are you getting an Uber or you jump in together? And there's that little bit of excitement because being a speaker, you're on your own a lot. And so to be able to jump in with other people, reconnect with them and catch up with them is fantastic. And then obviously, after I ended up at the airport, had about an hour and a half to kill, and just spent it talking to some of the other speakers, and it was a lot of fun just to have a chat before we all jumped on planes and headed our own ways again for another year.

Dixie Carlton 02:42

And I think that's one of the value points of it being in a reasonably smallish regional airport or a regional city was the fact so the conference was in Cairns. So even people who were flying in from overseas had to either go through Sydney or Brisbane to get there. And so I flew in from Brisbane. And so a lot of people were flying into and back out to Brisbane. And so we had some amazing conversations and clogged up the airways talking to people that you knew. And it again, it's a surreal feeling because you don't normally see other people that you know en masse at an airport.

And we are at airports all the time in our business. So it was great.

Brad Hauck 03:23

Yeah, and you're often in different parts of the world. It doesn't matter whether you're an author or a speaker, but anyone who's an expert in their area that is traveling and doing events or going to visit clients or whatever, you're on your own a lot of the time. So these sort of events where you get everybody together in your industry is a great opportunity to actually just have fun, share, tell war stories, as they say. And everybody understands what you're going through because they go through it as well. And that's unusual. And certainly for speakers, it's a very unique profession.

So speakers know what speakers go through.

Dixie Carlton 04:00

Excuse me. Sorry, clearing my throat. Sorry, yes, exactly. And like I met two people at the airport as I was leaving, who were both also flying back to Sydney, sorry, back to Brisbane on the same flight. And I had not met them at all at the conference. But because at the conference you're busy often saying, I want to just pause and have a conversation with you, and then someone else comes up, I got to sit down and meet and really get to know these two women, Anshu and Mel. Shout out to them if I'm listening, because we had the time and we had the energy and we had the space to be able to just sit around a table for 30 minutes or so and just talk to each other and really get to know each other.

And we wouldn't have had that had we met briefly in passing at the conference. So that was a real bonus for me. And even if we then start to look at what happens when you do get to the conference, the people who have known each other for a number of years, it's all hi, hi, hi, an ADHD person's either best dream or worst nightmare of constantly feeling like you're swiveling your head and either interrupting or being interrupted, but in such a positive, beautiful way. So lots of reunions, lots of great conversations, but many of them quite short and not necessarily long enough at the event.

But the hugs and the connections and the meeting new people and being able to be on the ground and live with people was fantastic.

Brad Hauck 05:22

Yeah, and the atmosphere's different too, because as a speaker, you go to a conference and you're the center of attention in a lot of ways. When you come up the escalators, like in the can center, you walk in the front, you're up the escalators, and you come up and suddenly you're in the room and everybody's there. It's almost daunting again to be, oh, I'm just I'm just one of the small people in this room. Whereas normally you come up and you're kind of like, okay, let's see where's the conference organizer, I need to do this, need to do that.

Then you shake hands and catch up with a few people and introduce yourself. Oh, you're the speaker, oh, you're the presenter for this, or whatever it is. It's very much a change of perspective, which I really enjoy because suddenly there's no pressure on you. Um enjoy yourself, go around and talk to the different booths uh there and see what new toys are available. And then you see people, of course, that you haven't seen in a while. So in the case of the Global Speaker Summit, we had speakers coming in from Germany and all over the world.

Some of them came five flights to get there. It was really hard to make it thanks to things going on in the Middle East.

Dixie Carlton 06:24

We were literally in from Israel and they only just managed to get in.

Brad Hauck 06:28

Yeah, yeah. And the fact that they made it there was amazing. But some of those people I saw last in Bali, certainly one of the Israelis I saw last in Bali in back then it was 2023, I think. Um 24. 24, that's right. And so it was like he's oh, how are you going? And I'm like, How are you going? It's a bit of fun to catch up again because you do talk a little bit online, but everyone's busy in that. So yeah, building those friendships and catching up with people in your own industry is so important.

And conferences are often the only place you can do that, and you can't do it on virtual conferences.

Dixie Carlton 07:05

No, you can't. But you also hit on something which is particularly relevant for you, and that you were also a speaker at this event. So you were, yes, one of the regular people, but you were also one of the stars of the show, as it turned out, because your event was on the main stage. It was absolutely brilliant. I was fortunate enough to sit in and be there and observe you in action. And you had a great room, you had very good feedback, and so you were also you actually got to ride both sides of the wheel for this event.

What was that like?

Brad Hauck 07:38

Yeah, so it was a great honor. I got chosen to be one of the speakers. And I must admit, I thought I was going to be in a breakout room. And when I found out I was in the plenary room first, I was a bit shocked, but I'm totally stoked to get the opportunity. When you speak to your own industry, it's about giving back. It's about they help you, you help them by giving back on stage. So I did my speech about AI and some of the opportunities for people to use AI to grow their business, not just the usual how to use ChatGPT, but we're talking about developing AI-power training systems and things like that.

So it was a little bit mind-expanding. I went the futurist sort of way, but it was fantastic to get up there and give something back to people who I know have given so much also to the organization, and also to get some really nice feedback. It's not often I would stand in front of a room of those people. And so the feedback was really good for my soul, and uh it made me feel that I'm on the right track and I did the right thing. And yeah, so when you do get that opportunity to present for your own organizations, it's well and truly worth applying for because you won't get chosen every time.

And it sometimes that's disappointing because you think I know what I know, but there's lots of other people who are trying for those opportunities as well. So it's definitely a little daunting. I did a lot of practice beforehand to make sure I was on par and I I knew what I was doing because it was a one-off speech. I may never do that exact speech again because I wrote it for the audience in this case, which is not a normal thing, I think, for speakers. We tend to have set speeches in a way that we roll around in.

But yeah, great opportunity. And I always do look forward to presenting to fellow speakers or other experts in my area.

Dixie Carlton 09:24

Yeah. Now, we also got to sit in on the awards sessions and see the people who are being acknowledged and appreciated for their service that they've put in over the years. And I think it's really interesting to note that the people that you see that are the long haul people in this association are the ones who have consistently stood there in some form of office. They've served in some way. And one of the first things that I learned when I first got, I think I went to my first association meeting or conference 24 years ago.

And the first thing that was said to me was, if you want to get ahead in this association, you've got to stand for your committee or you've got to put your hand up. And I know a number of people have repeated that in my presence a number of times over the years. And I've also said to people, if you want to really make the most out of this association, stand for something, be part of it. And so it was really great to see some of the people that we have now known for so many years be acknowledged and be awarded in this way.

And again, this is a fantastic way of seeing just how far you can go in an association like this. And the professionalism that comes through with awards that really mean something. They're not just something that is handed out for participation, but the people who were made to feel valued because of the value that they bought over the years were in fact very integral to the success of the association, the industry as a whole. It was wonderful to see that.

Brad Hauck 11:01

Yeah, you're absolutely correct. I've served myself for the organization along the way. And I think that if you want to be involved in an organization and you want recognition in your life, even a background role will help you gain more recognition within your industry. Because no matter what you do, they're always looking for people to help, because most of those roles are volunteer, of course. And so by doing them, you connect you with other people and you get to know other people better. So while you might say, Why should I put all this time in?

It pays off in getting to know people who down the track, if you need something or need a hand or you've got a question, you can just pick up the phone and call them. Aside from the actual gift of giving your time and helping the organization grow, because without volunteers, I'm a volunteer firefighter, without volunteers, things just don't move forward. The world runs on volunteers, not on paid people. There's a lot more of us. So it's really important to give back. But you talk about awards, and I must say, yeah, I seem to remember you getting up on stage to pick up a rather large audience to the code speaker professional, which is a major award in our organization.

And it's really the top award for speakers to go for. So it was really nice to see you up there having your two minutes of fame, doing a shout-out. It was really lovely to see you recognized, and I'm sure being the recipient must have been produced.

Dixie Carlton 12:26

It was amazing, and I think it opened things up for me in ways that I hadn't anticipated, and it meant more than what I had anticipated. I think it it was like I I felt like I had finally grown up and graduated and finally got to university out of spending such a long time in high school. And so the conversations were often at a different level, and the connection with people that I it's like getting the key to the big cupboard. And so that was amazing. But one of the funniest things is that you've got this, you were, I think, 20, 18 or 20 people getting their CSPs that day.

And then at the end of it, you go through this tunnel of all of the previous CS who have ever who are in the room all kind of form like a tunnel guard of honor. And you run through it and they're chanting and all that sort of thing. And it goes by so fast, but it's so incredible. So that was a real highlight. But also you are limited when you get an award or you get your CSP or any kind of award, you are limited to one to two minutes. We were told one minute, and then afterwards the uh the music would be turned up loud, as it was.

I've timed mine from the videos and still had a minute and a half, which was great. It went really fast. But it's really hard doing a minute, or in my case, 90 seconds. When you are used to speaking for a minimum of 15, 20 to 30 minutes, breaking down everything into just a really short couple of sentences was not easy for professional speakers. But we all did it and we had a great time. But yeah, I can highly recommend anyone listening to this that's thinking about going for their CSP. I took years to get there, but oh it was ultimately so worth it in the end.

And I wish I had done it years ago.

Brad Hauck 14:12

Yeah, absolutely. So one of the other things I really enjoyed conference was we had quite a few sponsors and different booths around the outside, and it was a really good chance to have a chat with people and catch up and find out what's going on in the industry, but also to catch up with some of the vendors who I actually know are speaking well and see them again. So that was good. And then of course you've got all the the lunch times, so you know, everyone clusters around tables and eats and tries to balance their plate on their lap and all that sort of stuff.

Uh so I've had some really good conversations in those. But the one thing I always say is that the best conference is in the hallways, and that's the times between speeches or when a speech is going on that you don't want to go to. So one of the options is that you've got four rooms running at once sometimes, and you can choose any one of those four topics, of course, but sometimes none of them really appealed to me. So I what I would do is go down to the central area where everybody else was, there was cold water and benders and things like that, and just wander around and catch up with people who were just sitting there and just go and sit down and have a chat.

And I got some great advice. I was really stoked with some of the advice I got. And I met some really nice people who really helped me nut through some of my thinking. And so that's the other thing. You can often find some really nice mentors who they're having fun, they're happy to give advice, just like you are when you're there.

Dixie Carlton 15:36

Yeah. Look, I you and I are both, we've been going to these events for years now. You when you are when you are new to these conferences, and I've just got to say, a GSS or a PSA conference is a professional speaking association conference, is usually so dynamic because every speaker is great. You haven't got Bob from the accounts department just running through the death by PowerPoint reports. So these particular events are incredibly high, high value, sophisticated in the extreme in terms of the quality of the content in the speakers, right? When you first go to one of these events, oh I've got to s I've got to attend everything.

I've just got to get in there and suck it up and wow. And I spoke to a few people who were in that zone throughout the week. But when you've been going to these things a lot, there is a reasonable amount of I don't need to attend everything, I'll just look after my feet and rest up a bit and make sure I have some more hallway conversations. And then you know you do get selective about which events you'll attend. You do sit back and think, Do I need to? Do I need to rush there? Do I need to be in on everything?

So you do approach it differently. And I think that's one of the advantages of having attended a number of years now, where you get to give yourself a pat on the back for looking after yourself and sustaining the massive momentum that that these events are.

Brad Hauck 17:00

So Yeah, I was talking to a couple of new people and they're obviously getting overwhelmed pretty quickly. I remember back at my first conference, I think I lasted half a day before I became overwhelmed. And I end up spending the second half of the day just sitting in the open area just talking to people. And then I went to my room and made some notes because I actually need to clear my head. And as I said to them, you don't feel guilty if you've got to take a bit of time out and actually process what you've been through so far and then come back again and get another dose because that's okay.

We all do that. So sometimes people go to conferences and they're like, I've got a lot of money. I need to be in every session. The real question is where are you going to get your most value from the conference? And if you've gone to a session that blew your brain and made you realize that you need to do something about this particular area of whatever you do, you know, taking time out to actually make notes about that while it's fresh in your head and what you want to change in your life or whatever is really important.

So you're better to stop and do that because that's your value right there, then to keep going and forget it and then it's gone and you've wasted that money in a way because that was what you needed to be there to hear.

Dixie Carlton 18:09

Yes, exactly. That's such great advice. And when you're talking about taking time out to then process everything, it is we are recording this on a Tuesday, so it's a week now since we were all leaving the event. Because it went from Thursday to Monday night. So we arrived on the Thursday, but many of us were connecting up with people on the Thursday.

Brad Hauck 18:30

So we kicked off Friday afternoon.

Dixie Carlton 18:31

Officially kicked off Friday. So that's four full days of conference time plus two days of travel for many people. And so I found for me it was really good coming back to Bali because the next day after I arrived back here was a day of absolute silence. It's called Nippy. And it's a day where they honour just silence and they ever like the airport shuts down, no one's allowed to really walk out and do walking, uh, everything, the whole country just totally shuts down. You couldn't even hear the neighbors because what people are supposed to do here is reflect and pray and pray for more goodness and ban the bad energies.

So it's really great because I got to come back here and I just had a day of calm, quiet, all by myself, and I didn't even feel the urge to get on a Zoom call and talk to anyone. And so I had a full day of completely unpacking my brain and going through some of my notes and just resting into the divide between the big energy of the conference and the travel into then coming back to my office and getting ready for work the next day. And I highly recommend in hindsight that when you do come back from something as big as a conference like that, that you do just shut yourself away, that you do allow an extra day to just, you know, ease back into or go through your notes and reflect on what you've done.

Because this was a real gift from my point of view when I sat and thought about it the next day. I couldn't have wished for a better way to get back and transition back to normal over the rest of the next few days. And an interesting insight for me at the end where I thought, wow, all that big energy, and now I've got a full day to just slowly quietly process. That was great.

Brad Hauck 20:24

Yeah, it must have been I always decompress when I come back. So I'll always take a day off normal stuff. So I won't do client work or anything like that the next day and just take my time. I was pretty exhausted, so I slept a bit. And then I updated my website and started doing some stuff that I needed to do, but it was my stuff that I did while I was fresh in my head, while I had good, clear thinking based on what I'd discovered when I was there, and that allowed me to make some changes that otherwise would be pushed back.

And that's probably the thing is I needed to update those things, I needed to update my topics and my wording and a few things like that. But by doing it straight away, it meant that was then done. And then when I get caught up in the real world clients and the authority multiplier, mastermind group, and all those sorts of things I need to do. Yes, my stuff's still out there and it's live and it's still okay, rather than being outdated and needed fixing. Even I think I filled out a couple of there was a couple of speakers' bureaus, I went and filled my profile out on their websites and things like that that I needed to do.

So yeah, definitely it's worth taking time no matter what conference it is afterwards, just to take a little bit of time. I know you've been away for well, in my case, five or six days.

Dixie Carlton 21:41

Yeah.

Brad Hauck 21:42

But it'll pay off long term if you do.

Dixie Carlton 21:44

That decompression day is so important, absolutely. That was a fantastic recap of such a great conference. And one week on, I'm still buzzing, I'm still processing some of the content and the connections that I've made. And I just can't wait to get there for the next one. So yeah, it's a brilliant way. I think whatever the industry you are in, if you can make time to go and connect with other people who are part of your tribe, it is definitely something that pays off in spades.

Brad Hauck 22:15

So absolutely. If this episode has you thinking about writing a book, but you're not sure how to shape your ideas, reach out to Dixie via indiexpertspublishing.com. She'll help you turn what's in your head into a clear, compelling book that builds authority. And if you're doing the work but not getting enough clients, start with the clarity. If you want to help sharpen your positioning and build marketing with AI that actually converts, join me in my authority, multiplier, and mastermind community at bradhauck.com. Take the step that fits with your stuff right now, and we'll catch you in the next episode.

Dixie Carlton 22:49

Fantastic. Thanks, Brent. Talk soon.