Ep. 243 What Do You Do After? PART 2

Hey there, Mark Brown. So last week we talked episode 242 about what do you do after you present, after you speak. If you haven't checked that out, please go check it out. This week, you as the student, you go to a seminar. Look, we're all in self development. There's a reason we love what we do. But what do you do as a student after you go to a seminar? After you go to a workshop? We just came off the heels of Game Changers, our best event ever. I got the testimonials to prove it. So fun, so transformational, and, man, so cool. And for you listening to this, if you ever have events, I hope you get the feeling that we have right now that we made that impact. We want you to have that feeling whether you run an event or deliver a speech. But as a student, if you want to be unforgettable, what do you need to do after you attend a seminar to be unforgettable?

Let's find out.

Anyone can give a presentation. Few deliver unforgettable presentations. What's the difference? You're about to find out. Welcome to the Unforgettable presentations podcast with your hosts, world champion speakers and coaches, Mark Brown.

Mark Brown, your life tells a story, and there's someone out there who needs to hear it.

And Darren Lacroix. And Darren Lacroix.

Stage time. Stage time. Stage time.

Ready for some powerful presentation? Ahas. Let's dive right in.

All right, Mark, if we truly want to be unforgettable, we've got to, as you know, be a sponge. I got to get my little sponge out.

That's it. Be a sponge. What are you sponging? What are you sponging? There you go. Be a sponge.

Sponge. Look, it matters how you show up to the seminar, so I want to focus on what you do after, but how you show up. The intensity, not the. I know it all. I know how to write an introduction. Ugh. Why are they doing this subject? Well, maybe you could write a better introduction. Maybe you could make one that connects more deeply. We've got to stop and re evaluate what we're doing and how we're doing it. Otherwise, we're never going to get to that unforgettable level.

Yeah. And if we walk in with one question, what can I learn today? I may have. I may be familiar with the topic, but always ask, what can I learn today? And I'll tell you what I presented last week. We were involved in planning last week, but I remember one particular session. I walked away going, mind Blown, because I was prepared. Amidst all that I was doing, I was willing and ready to learn. So first of all, going in, be prepared to learn. Be a sponge. And when you get the information, then we begin to talk about what do we do after with what we have learned.

Yeah. So when we run our trainings, if you've ever been to them, you know, we do sections just before lunch and just before the end of the day. Keepers and action items. Update your keepers. Take that time to go through your notes and see what are the real gems and. And consolidate them on one page. Now, if you've been to our live events, you know that we do this virtually as well. We have keepers and action items, and you type into them and they're blue and gold. So in the live event, they're blue and gold, but they're on cardstock paper, giving that subtle reminder, this is important. This is thicker paper than that. This is colored paper than the regular. So we're showing that importance. And, hey, we gotta give Ed Tate credit for helping us understand the importance of that. But that helps set up the trajectory change. Because you went to the seminar, because you went to the presentation, because you went to the training, we go to change our trajectory. But here's a big mistake that most people make is they go, they network, they take notes, and they go back to life as it was. They missed the critical part, which is after.

Yeah. And Darren, I'm glad you mentioned our keepers and action items. That's what we use at state time. You may call it something different where you are. But first of all, we highly recommend you take these two pieces of cardstock paper seriously. Review your keepers, review your action items. I've had keepers that have become punishmental phrases, and I keep a file with those. With those in them, I can go back and recall them. But review your keepers. A keeper in some way resonated with you for a reason. Not only review them, go back to why that was important to you and then think, how can apply. How can. How can I apply this particular keeper to my business, to my presentation, to my process, to my workshop? You kept them for a reason. That's good. But what's gooder, Pardon my bad grammar, Darren, is the action items. When we structure these, we give you a room to list several of them. We also allow you to determine for yourself and your business and your goal which is the highest priority of your action items. And we use the phrase action items for a reason, because after you attend an event, you should take action. You've invested two Three days invested money and time away from your family and from your business to develop and grow your business. So we say take action. And the key is this. We ask you to prioritize your action items, 1 through X, Y or Z, or 1 through 23. But look at number one. You decide. That's my number one action item. We strongly recommend take action on your first priority action item. Don't make the mistake of thinking, oh, my Gosh, I've got 23 things to do. What am I going to do? Breathe and say, okay, I decided that was my number one action item, small though it may be. Pursue that action item and pursue it consistently until you get the result you need.

Yeah. And the problem with 23 is then we look at it, we're overwhelmed, and we got regular business to do, regular meetings, regular zooms, and then we don't do any of them. So if you choose one, get what Mark is saying. If you choose one, this is one that I am going to apply and turn into, let's say, a habit. Or check it off your list. If it's something that can be. I need to update my website. Boom. That is something you could check off. Habits like what I'm taking from Game Changers is instilling the habits of reaching out to three new people a day for event planners. Because I am. My big, crazy, ridiculous dream is to be the number one book speaker in Vegas. I moved here to speak in my backyard, and I just showed up and thought, here I am. And challenge is nobody knows me. Maybe in ToastMasters, maybe in NSA, but they're not the event planners. They're not the event planners with the big budgets. I have to create awareness. So I'm using Sam's tool. I'm also going old school and sending out lumpy mail with handwritten notes, but I'm doing three a day. So, Mark, I started on Tuesday and I did three on Tuesday. I did four yesterday. So I'm at seven now. That might not seem like a lot, but if I develop the habit and I'm using Sam Richter's tool, if you're not familiar with us, reach out, ask us. But Sam Richter's tool to do that research and find those clients. He showed me how to find conventions coming to Vegas. So not just the people in Vegas, but the conventions coming to Vegas, that if I can get ahead of the curve and send lumpy mail, send emails, reach out on LinkedIn as well, come at them from different directions. So here's what I'm gonna tell you, Mark. I'm gonna declare this on our podcast.

Okay.

That next year I'm gonna have seven times as many Vegas paid speeches as I had last year. I'm just throwing out a random number, but it seems reasonable, but is in Vegas. So I know that the work I'm doing now, the work you do now sets the trajectory change for having a better, let's say, second half of this year and all of next year is going to be better because I'm going to develop this habit now. I've been timing it too, mark. I did 37 minutes yesterday, so I literally time it. You know me, I'm a spreadsheet numbers guy.

Yeah.

When I can see that adding up, it's like, yeah, I'm going to create that awareness. And Sam Richter's idea, this is what I'm doing and where it came from, is reaching out to three event planners a day, five days a week. He calls it his three by five method. That's the one. Just like we're talking about. That's the one thing that I am. I have other ideas, but that's the one thing that I am adamant about, will change my trajectory. And I'm all in.

And here's an idea. Now, friends, in the middle of the podcast, perhaps you're saying, okay, that's a good idea. I challenge you. I dare. No, I triple dog dare you. Whoa. If you triple. That's right, triple dog dare you. If you have ever attended an event and been one of the people like me who. Who collects copious notes, brings them home and. And puts them in a drawer in your desk because you've been busy and they've sat there for a while. Guilty as charged. I triple dog. Thank you, Darren. I triple dog dare you right now to open that file cabinet, get your feather duster out, blow the dust off, fish out some of the notes you took at the most recent event you attended and find the project, the assignment, the task you said you were going to do but didn't revisit, the list of tasks you were going to do from the last event. It could have been two years ago. I don't care. I'm not going to judge you on that. I simply want to prod you, poke you, and challenge you. That right now, today, before you, before this day is over, you find that one item, that one task, that one habit you said you were going to take up last week, last month, last year, or pre pandemic, I don't care. But act on it today, prioritize one action item and do it consistently. Ooh, took a while to cover one point there, Darren.

But it's critical and I'm going to give them even a simple step to start that. You said it. But I want to make sure I hold it up to show its importance. Grab your notes from the last conference, NSA meeting, convention, conference that you went to training, even if it was an online training. Look at your notes, make it convenient that you have to look at them, pull it out. And there's probably one thing that you need to make less convenient. Like Mark, I moved. I realized last year I was spending a little falling asleep to the TV in my bedroom, like just to kind of help me wind down, to shut off my entrepreneurial brain. So I was like, you know what? I do it because it's convenient. I'm tired, I'll do it. And so I had my buddy Dawson, who works for me, move my television down to the guest room. So now I made it less convenient to do a bad habit. So is there a bad habit you could make less convenient that would give you more time to be able to implement this one. Game changer, if you will. Man, Mark, I like that this is a better podcast.

Habits less convenient, make bad habits inconvenient. I like that. Like that a lot. Yeah, that's true. You know, also, we attend these events and very often, what do we do? We network in the hallway, we meet the speaker, we meet other attendees. What we may not realize, Darren, is that other attendees who are eagerly as enthusiastic as we are in the moment, they may have gained a perspective because we get so much information that is a little different from ours. What if we decide to establish a connection with other attendees? Maybe get in touch. Look, we'll get together once every two weeks and review our notes. You could in effect be collaborating. You, you, you could be creating an accountability partner because we at States have found our. Our attendees at our events have done just that. I forget what the event was, Darren, but we have had individuals who've literally gotten together, collaborated, and begin to create their own events. But if after an event you are inspired, get an accountability buddy who, who has attended. And maybe you may also consider building your own mastermind with other individuals who have attended the event. And you could together really create something valuable and worthwhile. So basically I tossed two and a half ideas out there by just talking, but one, establish a connection with somebody else who was there. Become a. Become fellow accountability partners and if necessary, even create a mini mastermind of attendees. You never know where that and lead.

Yeah, if you don't Already have the habit of reaching out to everybody you met on LinkedIn. Start that and send. Look at their website, look at their LinkedIn profile and send a sincere compliment. Mark, I kid you not. I got one of those spam emails yesterday. Somebody reaching me out, trying to. Reaching out to me, trying to get me to hire their publicity company. This is not a publicity company I do work with. There are some that I do. I love them, they work hard. But they said, hey, congratulations, like in the little email to get me to call them. Let's just have a quick call. In the little email there's a. P.S. congratulations on your success of your book Laugh and Get Rich.

Oh, how old is that book?

That's like 30 years old and it's out of print. Like I don't even know if you can buy it or not. And so that just told me their research was off. They're like, they didn't sincerely look into ahead of time. And Mark, I replied and I got to let go of this. This is something I'm working on. And they came back to me and they said, you know what, we're not a good match because of your tone. I was like, you're told. Yeah. And they're not incorrect. They said that's the most authentic thing you said so far.

I guess you not built a new relate, Darren. You didn't build a new relationship. I'll let that one go.

Yeah, well, and. And honestly, all they. If they just said, hey, you know what, you're right. If they acknowledged it. But I even said that book is 30 years old and out of print. Consider, you know, doing a little bit better research. So they're hurting their relationship now I gotta let go of being right. And that's something I'm getting better at but struggling with anyway. Reach out and sincerely give a sincere compliment on something that is real. Don't just ask ChatGPT. Hey, go find something like, no, this is. Take a couple minutes because you're trying to create that relationship. As we say, referrals come as a result of people who know what you talk about, seeing you speak and want to refer you because it's their reputation. So get to know the person, build the relationship. You reach out first. And going along the lines of what you're saying there, Mark, get accountable. Who will keep you accountable to work on that one thing. Who will keep you accountable? We started the 30 day get paid to Speak challenge because I knew at Game Changers Sam was going to introduce this tool and this method researching. So I looked at what would I want? You know, I want to do this. And I say I'm going to do it. And I've been saying I'm going to do it. And I've been paying for his tool for a year. And I used it in spurts, in little spurts here and there. I was like, you know what if I create this workshop, a four week course, 30 day challenge right after Game changers. And guess what? I'm not alone. This was like one of the big signups, biggest signups I've ever had for that four week workshop.

Oh, wow.

Which was cool because people get it, but I get that they get it, which is why I put the timing of it right after to continue. So who is it that you could be? Whether you, if you start a mastermind with some like minded people. Sweet. Be careful who's in your mastermind. If you haven't, go back to the Napoleon Hill think and grow rich and read the chapter again on Masterminds. He talks about it. As far as I know, he's one of the ones who made it famous back in the day when he wrote that book. He may not have originated it, but he kind of made it famous. But review what's important in a mastermind. Don't just call some of your buddies because one bad apple can upset the whole mastermind. Be super careful. Set up some guidelines and you got to be willing to like, I don't even want, maybe we'll do another one on Masterminds. But be willing to kick people out because if it's not, if it's not that uncomfortable environment where people can be transparent and open, it just won't work as well. But find that, that those people. And maybe it's just a friend who's going to ask you every day, did you do your three today? Or whatever that idea is you're going to work on and mark you know, the game changers. I show this for our, I will verbalize for our audio listeners. This is the theme because we see so many people buying wisdom going to a seminar and they miss, miss that important point. So this is the little trailer for our event. More bookings, higher fees, Wisdom. Buy it and apply it. Buy it and apply it. And I think a lot of people are missing out on that apply it part.

That's right.

That's what we're talking about. That's what this podcast is about. You invested in it, you went there, you met people, you paid for the hotel room as well as the seminar as well as the flight. So why Would you not multiply your investment by at least one. Hey, if you're an overachiever, two or three things. But if you get that one habit rolling, that one plate spinning, then you can maybe look at, okay, what would be number two or three and some of them are maybe just a check mark that you're done, but there's that ongoing habit or those big three that maybe you could check off.

Definitely one more thought for you. You know, when you go to an event, you might be overwhelmed. You get a lot of information, but don't be. Hopefully the speakers are open, having conversations with you. Don't be afraid to talk to the speaker. I love the fact that we, we set a program up a couple years ago, Darren, with Game Changers where attendees virtually had a breakout room to have conversations with the speakers during our physical break on location. And sometimes after you have you attended an event, something a speaker says resonates and when you get to talk with them, there seems to be some kind of connection where you can begin to establish a relationship with them. I'm not saying they're going to be your mentor, your coach or your trainer, but they're often willing to answer a couple of questions and offer you guidance on the spot. So don't think, okay, I've got my notes, I'm going to walk out. Maybe I can have coffee with the speaker at the airport before we leave. I don't know. Also, if you are able to get hold of the meeting planner, I recommend you thank them for the program they provided for you. You let them know how much you appreciate what the work they have done to create it. And if you are a presenter who they may not even know about, they get talking with you. They may ask you, so what do you do? And you can then share. I'm not saying to force yourself on them, hey, book me next year. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying establish rapport and the relationship. Let them know you appreciate what they have done because trust me, you have no idea the amount of stress a meeting planner goes through to make sure everything works. This past weekend we were had a, a challenge with technology while we were there trying to get everything to work. But when you let them know you appreciate the program they put together, you appreciate the presenters they brought you appreciate the experience that you received at their hand, they will remember you because you let them know that that to you, to you what they provided was valuable. And you never know. At some point as you build and grow your business, you that meeting Planner who you were kind to will say, oh, Darren Lacroix. I remember I met him. He was pretty awesome. Oh, he does this. I didn't know. And they may just want to reconnect with you. What are your thoughts, Darren?

Yeah, Mark, I literally have two emails up. I think I get three or four of just that. So really picture this. I'm for this event. I'm also the event planner. So I got an email. I won't read the whole thing, but one came from Elisa Schneider. You know her?

Yes.

And she said, I was truly blown away last week when I received my life changer award at the summit. She said, I can't wait to travel. She's got some health challenges. So she zoomed in for Game Changers and the summit. Thank you so much for everything you do. And you put in so much work and effort to make Stu Stagetime University an unbelievable, amazing place. You're making an incredible difference. So think of it for me as an event planner, I'm gonna remember the people who reached out to me after, and that's what Mark's saying. But I just want to give you some examples. Dale Wetmore from Colorado said, thank you for truly an amazing game changer seminar last week. It was clear that you put a great deal of effort into the conference. The quality was absolutely first rate. My mind is still reeling from all the learning that happened in that little space between my ears during the last two days. You and your team literally gave me hundreds of takeaways. This week, I'm traveling to Denver, to Las Vegas. So he's coming here for another one. Accept my deepest gratitude. I thank God for the work you're doing, and I will stay in touch. I'm gonna remember Dale. I'm gonna smile next time I shake Dale's hand. When I see Elisa again, I'm gonna remember them. So taking that time, obviously you want to be sincere and authentic. If you hated the seminar, find something that was sincere that you could appreciate from it. The chicken was warm, you know?

Yeah. You know, we may laugh about that, Darren, but if. If the meeting planner knows you could find something positive to offer them, it's easy to complain about. What went wr was too hot, it was too cool. I couldn't see around the column. I mean, we get that. It happens. And as event planners, Darren more than me because he really spirited the whole thing. We don't catch everything. We try to. And he assembles a team to take care of all of that. When a meeting planner knows you appreciate the effort they put in the team that they have assembled to provide the value that you received, that goes a long way. And so I'm going to invite you as an attending an event. As easy as it is to realize the room was too cold, the chicken was not hot, it was warm. It's easy to see all of that. The elevators were taking a long time to get. I understand that. But I'm going to ask you to seek out positive thoughts and value that you receive to share that. Because you know what? When you win covers of meeting planner, they'll make extra effort to do even better the next time. How do I know that? I've known Darren LaCour for 23 years and I know his heart, okay? And most meeting panels want to put on a good program to benefit you because they can get stressed about it. So trust me, it's been not seen to apply so much to being a better speaker, but it applies to the idea and the concept of building rapport and relationships with individuals in the speaking business. Say thank you to the sound crew, the light crew, the person up front to do registration. Tell them thank you for what they're doing. They got those badges, those books, the pencils, the pens, all the material out there. Say thank you to them. You know, let leave with. Let people know the kind of experience you had. And when you do that, they're more open to any suggestions you may offer them to improve the program the next time they put it on. But approach positive first and then share your thoughts in a respectful, meaningful, and loving way. It can go a long way for a meeting planner to and the team. Definitely.

And my last big thought, Mark, if you want to recap after this one big mistake, the worst thing you could probably do after is in the moment, not a week later, but in the moment, give critical feedback to the speaker while they're in the speaker's high. Like, look, they may have been great, they may not have been great, but if you want to cement your relationship into the negative, give some critical feedback right there at the moment. I love when Patricia Fripp tells the story when someone came up to her and she was getting off stage and she was about to go. She was getting off the main stage and about to go deliver a breakout session. So not only was she still in the speaker's high, she was on the anticipatory speakers.

You form mindset.

Get a mindset, mindset. And so the person said, do you mind if I give you a little, you know, a little criticism or feedback? And she said no and walked away. As a speaker, know that you have the right to say no or email me or give like it's okay to get the feedback, but not there, not in that moment. You know, I love Toastmasters and we do that cushion, critical cushion for feedback, but it's still not the time or place later on if you want to do that. But remember, 99% of event planners, their intention is great. They want to serve you, but they're putting out so many fires in the background. Their brains looking like a chicken on each shoulder while they're talking to you. They're like trying to make eye contact with you, be kind to you. But in the background they're putting out 12 fires. How am I going to solve this problem? Problem. Barbara is upset about this. Tom's upset about this. Their intentions are good. Give grace because guess what? You're going to need it someday.

Yeah, what goes around does come around. We hope that these ideas have been helpful to you. Please don't forget, prioritize one task, one objective and pursue that consistently. It's important, you know, reach out to other attendees, establish relationships, sincerely compliment people on LinkedIn as helpful. Use the tools that you're given and apply the principles you know that you've learned. Get accountable. So build an accountability relationship. If you can also build a mastermind, that'll help you. But don't let your key person accident items sit in a drawer gathering dust. I offered a challenge earlier, I'm going to say it again. Go back into your desk drawer, your cabinet, wherever you put stuff in a box somewhere to your most recent event and review. Identify the action item you promised to fulfill. If you've not done so, start working on that today. And by all means, please remove every obstacle that facilitates bad habits and it will change the trajectory of of your career. Darren, take us home.

We'll see you next week when we're going to dive into the advice you don't want to hear. Join us. Pass this along. If this was good, pass it along.

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