Eric Siu explains why he paid $25,000 for a conference. The real value isn't the talks or content you can find online. It's the people you meet in person, the unexpected conversations, and the quality of attendees who can actually move your business forward.
My friends think I'm crazy for spending over $25,000 for a single event such as TED, especially because you can watch the talks online for free. But they're missing the point. I remember when I was standing in line to go into the stadium to watch people talk, and one person in front of me, he had a badge on his backpack, and I ended up talking to that person, ended up becoming friends with that person. Turns out that person runs a company called Next Health, and they do a lot of cool things from a health perspective. He also is a fellow YPO member as well, which is another entrepreneur group that I'm a part of. And I met another friend, and we became close friends over the years. And he runs a caviar company in addition to all the real estate stuff that he does. And so ultimately it comes down to the quality of people that you're going to meet when you actually go to these live events, because these are like-minded people that are not only trying to learn, but they're already at a certain level as well.
