End of Year Rundown | The Conference Connection

End of Year Rundown | The Conference Connection Episode 13

Welcome to The Conference Connection, your guide to navigating the ever-evolving world of legal conferences and mastermind events. In this episode, Paul Faust of RingBoost and Seth Price of BluShark Digital and Price Benowitz, discuss the highlights of the past conference season while offering insights into what’s coming up in 2025. This episode emphasizes the importance of pre-planning your conference strategy. From reviewing agendas to assigning team members to relevant events, Paul and Seth highlight how thoughtful preparation can lead to better ROI. As the 2025 season kicks off with events like NTL in Miami, this discussion is packed with advice on how to approach the growing number of opportunities in the legal industry. Have suggestions for future topics or speakers? Let us know in the comments. And don’t forget to subscribe to stay updated on upcoming episodes of The Conference Connection

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What's in this episode?

Welcome to The Conference Connection (0:00)
Recap of 2024’s Busy Conference Schedule (0:27)
Strategizing Conference Attendance for Your Team (2:50)
Takeaways and ROI: Balancing Mindset and Action Plans (5:55)
Pre-Planning for Conference Success: Agendas & Networking (7:05)
Mastermind Groups: Deep Dives for Real Progress (9:51)
2025 Conference Kickoff: NTL in Miami (11:28)
Final Thoughts: Planning for a Successful 2025 (12:33)

Transcript

BluShark Digital 0:00

Welcome to the conference connection. Your go-to place to get the scoop on what conferences are coming up that you need to know about. Here are your hosts, Paul Faust, President of RingBoost and Seth Price, founder of BluShark digital and managing partner of Price Benowitz.

Paul Faust 0:17

How you guys doing, Paul Faust here with ringboost.com, with, as always, with Seth Price, Price Benowitz and BluShark, here from The Conference Connection to talk about what happened this year and what’s going on next year.

Seth Price 0:27

Paul, it was quite a frenetic fall, wasn’t it? We’ve not seen anything like this in recent memory.

Paul Faust 0:34

No, most of us, you know, had our sort of normal conferences we go to every year. And then, you know, like dandelions up, they pop. Lots of new conferences popped on the schedule, lots of new mastermind groups, lots of new entrants into the space. So you know, more and more, it’s important to really look at the schedule, plot out ahead of time. There’s some negatives to all these new conferences, but some potential positives too. Where as a law firm owner, you could start thinking, hey, I was at that one. Let me send some other people to a different one to start the networking. And, you know, the world, because a lot more than to these conferences, than just who’s speaking, right?

Seth Price 1:14

Right, you know. And I think we’ve seen it, you know, a lot of ups and downs. I mean, you all, some are cyclical, you know, in the mass tort space, for example, across the board, the mass tort conferences, you know, without a particularly exciting mass tort out there right now, without that sort of marquee name, I think that we saw some people taking some time away from that and putting another into other ones. Saw some, you know, I thought PIMcon did a great job as a first-time conference coming out of the gate, whereas some of the legacy conferences, I think, may have been caught with not realizing how busy the schedule is going to be and that there was going to be some some questions of getting butts and seats, for lack of a better term for some of those.

Paul Faust 1:57

Yeah, well, look, that happens. You know, whenever there’s a new shiny object on the circuit. People want to go check it out. And it pops up, you know, in the past, for the people who are on the conference scene, you had your NTL, you had your, you know, the couple mass torts and things like that. Now, all of a sudden we saw, you know, the business of law. We saw the Law Tigers event. We saw this one, we saw that one. And it starts to get tough to plan all these and when you’re going to travel, and you’re home, And then there’s another one a week. But what firms should really think about is, if there’s going to be this many conferences and people don’t want to say, well, I’m not canceling mine. Now is the time to really dig into your firm and say, you know what? Let me get some other people on the circuit. Let me get some other lawyers of mine, paralegals, intake managers, and find out where’s a good spot for them to go, not just for the speakers, but for the networking, to see what the vendors are talking about, to see what the other lawyers are there. And now you can get some other people out of the office.

Seth Price 2:51

But I think it’s more complicated than that, because I live this right. I’m that guy. I don’t want to be on the road all the time, and so when I send people, it’s figuring out what’s right for what people, where a law firm administrator or COO might have one conference that benefits them, your head of marketing, a different, and sometimes it’s not always as intuitive. I mean, really looking at an agenda and figuring out where is that value add, because networking is one thing. But if the substance of that day, you know, some conferences have gone 100% pay to play, which can take, which really can hurt the substance of what’s being done. And I think that that is not, for look, you and I live this. So we’re like, oh yeah, we know this conference is 100% pay to play, or we know this guy really cares about the content and really curates it. But for somebody who’s sort of fresher to this, you know, look, there’s so many factors what, you know, that we’re not even thinking about cost of hotel, travel time, and then you get to the place, is there real value coming? That’s one of the questions.

Paul Faust 3:52

Well look, you know, we’ve seen there’s some there’s some conferences that some of what I call the marketing firms, the non-trial lawyer firms, or the owners of firms that don’t do the trials now, might pull back and say, I don’t need to go to a Lanier. I don’t need to go to a TLU. Let me send my trial lawyers there. And you know, a lot of times you’d see at a Linear or a TLU, or some of these trial lawyer academies, you’d see the trial lawyers in the classes, and the firm owners that run sort of the businesses would be sort of out doing the networking. Well, now maybe they don’t go to those. Or there’s, you know, one of the ones that I really liked that popped up was Law Tigers event, because it was specific to motorcycle law. They talked about the Harley Davidson manual, how to market for those specific cases. It wasn’t sort of a catch-all conference. So maybe you send your trial lawyers, it can focus in your firm on those cases, to those and maybe one of your marketing people to understand how to market for those cases. So you have to get a little bit more. You can’t just buy conferences left and right. You kind of have to start looking at the substance, the attendees. And maybe who else in my firm could start benefiting from these events, because it’s going to be hard to tell new entrants you cannot have a conference. That’s not something the industry can do. So the industry as a group is going to have to look at what value add can we have in our conferences.

Seth Price 5:55

And I think that, like you touched on something pretty, Law Tigers, great example, that as you see some of these niche conferences, that’s where there can be great value, because your foc-, you’re coming away with takeaways. One of the things I’ve always judged an event on is, how many takeaways do I get leaving there, I think there’s a balance between mindset or a motive versus what is going to come back and make you money or have a list of things to make money on Monday. Now both can, a good mindset can revolutionize an organization and help your leadership. At the same time, you know, there are times when you come back and you’re like, you feel ready to take on the world, and that’s great, but what are the steps you’re going to take when you get back? And I think that that’s one of the things that as people are starting conferences, they really need to think about is, what, where are the actionable takeaways going to come from? When somebody gets on a plane, goes there, sits for several days and goes home, what will help them move the needle? It’s different for different people, but if the conference organizers think in those terms, rather than I just need to pay the bills and make sure I get through the event. I think that would, that would serve them well.

Paul Faust 7:05

I agree. I also think that now that there’s, you know, a lot more conferences out there, you know, maybe a little bit more planning by firms and their employees who are going before the conference. What is the agenda? Okay, at this conference, this is where our focus is. Let’s try and take away impact to our intake. Or here’s some specific vendors that we should spend some time with. Or if you’re registered and you get the attendee list, pre-set up some meetings. So instead of just going and going, “aye, I’ll see what happens,” you go with an agenda, you go with a plan. You could always adjust it, but, you know, it’s really hard when you’re gonna hit a conference, you’re not sure what to expect, and all of a sudden, this, and then you you want to go back and implement and then the next week, there’s another conference. So kind of, eh that was, it’s a constantly, kind of moving target.

Seth Price 7:53

When you’re doing that. There are a lot of people that show up, you know, intermittently. And the question is, you know, I think what, your advice is very well taken, right? I know that for early conferences, I didn’t necessarily even do it in advance, but finding those people at an early PILMMA, you know, 12 years ago, sat with a Rick Harris who was just, you know, this, this, you know, was drinking from the fire hose, just hearing how he thinks about law and marketing and the intersection and that there are, and one of the things great coming up will be NTL, because I think that’s probably one of the most accessible conferences out there, in that because of the single hotel format, you have really great accessibility to people and getting quality time, whether it be inside or whether it be outside by the pool, where you actually can, you know, spend time thinking about what you’re doing and getting feedback from people who have been there and done that.

Paul Faust 8:48

Yeah, just, just understand that it’s hard if you’re going to sit in the lobby bar or the cabanas, you know, everybody knows everybody. So if there’s a few people you really want to meet ahead of time, try and schedule some private time, because people get torn there’s multiple dinners. It’s, you know, you can, you and I can try and have a meeting. And as we walk from the hall to the bar, get pulled in nine directions. But look, you can look at it as, “oh my God, there’s too much on the schedule,” or you can look at it as, “there’s so much great stuff out there.” Now you can pick and choose where you think the value is. And it’s not always where you think. Sometimes the conferences. And I kind of thought, “I don’t know,” you know, it’s not about size, ultimately, it’s about content. It’s about quality. It’s about the people putting it on, the agenda, the speakers. But it’s not just about, “well, that one’s going to be big.” I’ve had some of my best conferences, some of the masterminds, like the Direproof or Accelerator, where there’s 50, less than 100 people, I’ve had some of my best success really having connections, because people aren’t pulled in so many different directions.

Seth Price 9:53

You’re right. So we see that, we see proliferation of masterminds. We have the Fireproof one launching. And I think that figuring out that blend between these larger conferences, which are great for networking, it’s great for sort of a variety of different tracks, versus, are you going to get in a room where you’re focused on your issues and actually, you know, move the ball forward on? And frankly, I think that the quality of sharing very often in those smaller environments is excellent, and that there’s a reason there’s been whether it be PILMMA or Fireproof or any of the other Chad Dudley ones, these are incredible opportunities to actually focus on the business, not just get what you get. And I like, I like that a lot. You go with it, if you know that your intake is lacking. It’s one thing to go and listen to a lecture, but it’s another to be able to focus group an issue with a bunch of people in an enclosed environment.

Paul Faust 10:54

I agree with you 100%. I think these mastermind groups, it’s real coaching, it’s real workshops. It’s not just a speaker and then a lunch break. It’s real hardcore work. So with that, please reach out to Seth or I or through this page, or individually, if you have a conference into 2025. If you have a mastermind group, please reach out to us with LinkedIn, personal so we can talk about it. We’d love to even have you on and talk about your event. For most people, the sort of kickoff to the season is NTL, Miami at the Loews. What is it? February? 25th, sixth, seventh. That date?

Seth Price 11:29

No, no, no, January. January.

Paul Faust 11:30

January. I’m sorry you are correct. January. It’s really the kickoff to the season. Everybody comes out. Everybody’s excited to knock off the holiday dust and the New Year’s dust and get back in the game. So that’s a must, a must-see event.

Seth Price 11:43

And by the way, we have this last event of the year in December in Miami, coming up. In the next few days, we’re going to have an SEO for lawyers conference with about five of my compatriots who geek out on SEO. It just does show you that there are these, you know, all these different things popping up. But last of the season that I know of, I believe, is that. And then, you know, kickoff for next year. I mean, NTL, if you haven’t been, and people say, like, if you picked one, the NTL to start the year, you know, Keith Givens is a genius. The fact that he figured out when to do it, left it in Miami to me, you know, unbelievable. And then I still remember there was a Facebook post from a number of years ago where you were, like, early, early Facebook or Instagram, where you have your hands down like this, when you realize you have to be back in Miami, like, a week later for AAJ, and it’s happening again.

Paul Faust 12:33

Yes. Well, for me, thankfully, I don’t have to worry about it, because I live here now. But you know, now is the time there’s some holiday parties that last conference. Take some time with your, you know, your family, your friends, your firm, and then let’s get ready to rock and roll in 2025, NTL. It’s a must-register. Lots of great speakers, lots of great agenda. It gets everybody back in the game. It gets everybody re-energized at The Loews. You can go to NTLevents.com I believe that’s the domain to register, get in, get your rooms, it’s just, everybody’s excited to see each other and get back in the game and, you know, some great dinners, great parties, great speakers, great vendors. That’s the one. Looking forward to see everybody. And please let us know what you want to see, what content you’d like to see, if there’s shows we’re not talking about. If you have a conference, please come on, let’s talk about it. We want to hear about new shows. And the whole point of The Conference Connection is to let the industry, both lawyers and vendors, know what’s going on. To help you plan better. Please ask questions. Let us know how we get help.