Personal Development

If you are not familiar with the All-In Podcast, it is four friends, investors and operators who sit down each week to debate the most important conversations in business, technology, politics, and science corner.

They don’t always agree, which is the point. You get different viewpoints in one conversation.

Over the years I have listened for free, learned from their debates, and carried many of their conversation conversations into my real life in circles.

Last weekend I went to the “All-in Summit”, an event that gathered 3,500 people at the Shrine Auditorium on the USC campus. The crowd was a mix of futurists, billionaires, students, and entrepreneurs. At night there were topic dinners around the city, and the closing party even had Diplo at Universal Studios.

This week we’re talking about why, when, and how to get the most out of your conference experience.

Agenda

⏳ Estimated Read Time: 7 minutes (of packed jewels)

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IRL - In Real Life

The point of the Summit was not just to sit in a room and hear talks. It was a chance to give back and say thanks for all the countless hours of free entertainment the besties have given me . Yes the price to most would be expensive at US$7500 but what’s the price you can put on a unique connection or a conversation about the future.

I was fortunate to met the head of sponsorships at Tim Hortons, one of the owners of the Dallas Cowboys, a CPA who explained why wealthy investors are buying car washes, and got connected to the investors in MLB Nashville bid.

Met some other really great entrepreneurs with great ideas as well and learned about mortgage investment, corporations, and a lot more about cryptocurrency and stable coins at the booths.

None of that would have happened for me online.

Go in with a few goals.

Decide what you want before you arrive. When you set goals, you filter the noise and know what a win looks like.

Talk to everyone.

Strike up conversations with people sitting alone. Curiosity compounds. I literally go booth to booth. I ask people to “Explain your business to me like I’m a 10 year old”. Have an opening line and meet everyone you can. (I also love grabbing the free merch booths give out, Google was giving away up to $350,000 of AI creditsfor qualifying companies and months of free Google AI pro.

Show up early, stay late.

If you buy a ticket to an event, get there early and stay late. You’re going to want to go home and sleep or stop talking with everyone. Push yourself to stay for the whole day.

When I am behind the booth I make it my job to catch everybody that walks by.

Have a hook ready: I do not wait for them to come to me. I always lead with a hook line like “Have you heard of SAXX?” That quick question gets people to stop and it opens the door to a conversation.

Keep them in your space: Once I have their attention I give them something small. A little bit of swag keeps them around. Pens, sunglasses, water-bottles.

Whatever it is, it helps people pause instead of just walking on.

Create a lineup: The real trick is creating a lineup. As soon as there is a line in front of your booth, everyone else wants to know what is going on. Crowds attract crowds. Free drinks always helps too, if allowed. Oracle sponsored the bar and it was the most popular booth.

If you can give people drinks, whether it is coffee during the day or drinks when the event allows it, people stick around. They linger, they talk, and they give you more time to connect with them. That is a play in the booth playbook.

Digital is not everything.

Being in the room gives you nuance you will never hear online. You spot trends earlier, you hear how leaders frame their answers, and you leave inspired.

Ria always reminds me that it is also a huge social opportunity. Share photos, tag booths, build your web of reference.

The conversations in the hallways, the way a panelist dodges or leans into a tough question, even the tone in the room when a bold prediction is made—those are signals you only catch when you are there.

Ria always reminds me that these gatherings are also a huge social opportunity.

You build your web of reference in real time, and those small posts and tags create compounding digital capital. One post leads to another, one tag creates more tags, and the network effect is strongest when you show up in person.

She also points out that the conference does not have to be in your own industry to have an impact. Some of the best ideas come from sitting in rooms where you are the outsider. It can also just be fun. Gfo to fashion week, go to a car show, go to a tech conference, just keep learning.

That is the real payoff of being in the room. The network builds around you, both online and offline, but only because you first made the effort to show up.

Conferences are personal and career development.

If you have not been to one in the last 24 months, you are not doing continuing education, you are not expanding your network, and you are not putting yourself out there. Don’t forget it’s a business expense!

If I ask you what the big conference in your industry is and you don’t know, you are probably behind.

The downside is not the money. It is showing up and standing on the wall. If you get in the mix, you will walk away with new ideas, new acquaintances, and new momentum.

Question for you:

When was the last time you went to a conference or trade show. What did you learn there that you could not have learned online.

Best talks at All In

I am not a professional speaker, I am a professional doer. I have built and exited multiple companies, navigated setbacks, raised capital, scaled teams, and led through uncertainty. See some highlights here.

My talks come from lived experience: building SAXX, launching new ventures, and showing up in rooms where the odds were not in my favor.

I don’t do fluff. I bring sharp insights, open stories, and a mix of confidence and humility to every stage—whether it’s a keynote, workshop, or fireside chat. A

udiences walk away with real tools, memorable stories, and the reminder that growth comes from stepping into the room, asking questions, and pushing forward when it’s uncomfortable.

If you want to explore bringing me in to speak at your retreat, conference, or company event, let’s connect reply to this email!

Testimonial for you :)

Specific facts I learned talking to people at the the All-In summit:

I should have invested in Oracle on day one.

Sitting in the room you could feel the weight of it. Cathie Wood had just finished presenting her vision of converging technologies driving massive GDP growth, and then Ellison put Oracle right in that current. (Their stock jumped 35% in one day after his forecasts).

It reminded me why being there matters. You do not get insider information, but you do catch the tone and the conviction. You see how leaders frame the future, and sometimes that is enough to spot where the momentum is going before the market reacts.