I went to this year’s Blog World Expo and the overall trip cost was around $1,000 so although it’s not the $6,494.03 that Elite Retreat cost me last year or the free price of SMX Advanced it is still a significant amount of money, so the question becomes – was it worth it?
The short answer is yes, but let me explain why
The Sessions:
I only attended 3 or 4 sessions during the 5 days I was in Vegas and I’ll be honest – I didn’t learn that much. I believe this is because Blog World has more content focused on people that have the passion for blogging but need help with the business end of things. This is exactly why I spent most of my time meeting people instead.
Who I Met At Blog World:
There are numerous advantages of networking in person and that’s why I spent most of my time meeting new people and building relationships that previously existed only in online form.
Here’s who I met in person:
David Risley, Darren Rowse, Daniel Scocco, Jonathan Volk, Pat Flynn, Chris Garrett, Naomi Dunford, Chris Pearson, Dave Navarro, Jade Craven, Jordan Cooper, Leo Babauta, Nathan Hangen, Lisa Morosky, Annabel Candy, Jim Kukral, Corbett Barr, Mary Jaksch, Matt Gartland,
Erica Douglass, Sid Savara, Srinivas Rao, Adam Baker, Johnny B Truant, Ryan Gray, DK, Eric Schechter, Jacob Gall, James Seligman, Logan Thompson, Maren Kate, Tammy Camp and Nadia Giosia
Yah – those are just the ones I remembered to write down.
Why Blog World Was Worth It:
I met dozens of people nearly all of whom I could work with in some capacity – even if it’s just to help their children to improve their Halo: Reach skills – I’m looking at you Leo. The people I listed above are those that I had lengthy conversations with and not just people I said hello to (if I included those people as well the list would grow even larger). It was great to finally meet so many people that I’ve talked with online or had read their blog years before I was able to earn a living online (like Darren).
My opinion? If you decide to go to Blog World next year don’t fill your schedule with too many sessions. Instead be sure to make time to have as many meaningful conversations with new people as possible.
Upcoming: As I alluded to earlier, things are about to drastically change here on this blog so please stay tuned. It’s going to be awesome and better yet you’re going to learn some amazing actionable tactics for earning money online.
Stick around. ๐
Hey Chris,
Sounds like you had a good time there at Blog World. It’s amazing that you’ve met with some well known bloggers. I’ve read a book by Leo Babauta and like his philosophy on business and life.
Looking forward to some more stuff you have coming up!
-Michael
It was all worth it meeting you guys ๐
Yah lunch was fun. Glad I had a chance to meet you and the rest of the crew that showed up.
I am still working on my blog so that I could hang out with the big guys of the blogging world.
$1000 – sounds like a great investment, Chris.
I plan to go next year.
Looking forward to the changes.
Andrew
Yah it was a lot of fun and I have a bunch of follow up projects I’m going to do now (some with the people I met) so I think it was well worth it.
No mention of double fisting slushies while strolling the Vegas strip? ๐
lol, I forgot to mention that I suppose hah hah. I do think I would have liked more free stuff while I was there though.
Next time I think I’m going to try and find sponsors for every meal I eat lol… that’s be funny.
Hi Chris, loved meeting you and hanging out at the poker table with the big $$ boys:) I have a pic but I think you’re focusing on the cards not the camera:)
I agree with what you say here and there’s a lot to be said for not even buying a ticket but just hanging out in the corridors chatting. The 60 tips in 60 seconds talk was fun though, especially watching you zoom up and down to give them our cheeky questions!
The whole trip took a lot out of me – I’ve been tired and am only just starting to feel human again but yes, definitely worth it. You can’t replace human-human interaction with no computers in the way. Next time you come to Austalia though;)
Hey Annabel, yah it was so fun to meet you as well. The poker was a blast! I would love it if you Australian’s put on a big conference. It would give me a nice reason to leave the states ๐
Chris
It was great losing money with you in Vegas. Next time I’ll come more prepared to bring my roulette game.
Hey Chris, it was great meeting you and sitting next to you at the poker table. See you in Vegas in January. Unless of course you make it over to this side of the state before then.
Yah, I’m going to ASW11 (just commented on your blog by the way) I want to go to some of the parties as well since this will be my first Affiliate Summit.