I think I’ve said this in the past but having just got back from Robert Puddy’s UK IM conference, I’m going to say it again.

There is nothing quite like going to one of these conferences in person. I still haven’t been to one of the mad ones in the States yet, so this was the biggest show so far and I’m just starting to understand fully why everyone says the deals are done in the bar!

So, short and sweet as conference reviews go. I’ve finally got to the point where I feel like I know a bit of every technique and I just have to get down to doing only one of them until I make some money!

Standout sessions included Jonny Andrews – not sure if telling him he’s as mad as a box of frogs really translates across the Atlantic divide, but a great exposition on using “The hero’s story” in selling. One of the 7 stories that go back through all of human history, Jonny spoke about how it has changed hs own approach to the sales offer process.

Second up for comment was Sterling Valentine. He came across as very “sensible and understated” but was an excellent speaker…I’m still not sure if the comment about his slide being in the wrong currency was planted in the audience (it was in dollars at a UK conference) but his reaction – just flipping the $ to a £ on the pre-prepared slide – was one of the finest bits of showmanship I’ve seen for ages! Not only that, but his “change the offer in order to change the price” gambit at the end of the pitch was something I’ve already made a note of for my own use.

Finally, there was Ambar Hamid. He spoke about taking your offer to the world of B2B deals rather than B2C. This has been an area that I’ve felt for some time that the IM world is missing out on. My old life in corporate IT left me very comfortable in that world so I’ve signed up for Ambar’s UK training on all of his techniques…..feels like a good investment.

So, plenty of material and even more making of new friends and generally drinking until ridiculous times. I really felt like I was involved with it all this time….

What can I say, make it happen for you too….you just need to find something going on nearby and treat the travel and accomodation as an expense item for your new business. Let the tax man take some of the strain of making new partners.

One of the challenges to your early life in the IM world is just how you get to meet some of these “greats” that you hear so much about. These are the marketers that have made it already, whose names you see all the time in your email.

Well, I’ll tell you one way that works. (Disclaimer here, there may be others!)

Are you ready?

Pay them!

There, that seems simple-minded doesn’t it, but actually one of the things it does is signal that you are prepared to invest in yourself as much as you are in their product. If you are in a coaching program for 8 weeks and you have a chance to make a face-to-face meeting then you have earned that right – so do it!

Don’t back out at that point, making excuses about the time it will take because, like it or not, this industry runs on relationships as much as any other business.

So, what am I getting at here. Well, on a personal level, I’ve just signed up for a 6 month Mastermind group with Chris Freville here in the UK that I am really looking forward to. Apart from the pressure to perform and actually get on with it, I’m going to find meeting up with like-minded internet marketers a great way to break out of the “working alone in a bedroom” syndrome that this business brings.

What’s just as awesome is that I’m also off to the Philippines for John Jonas’ outsourcing retreat in March. I spent some time in September last year working with someone out there after signing up for his “outsource myself” program. I’m hoping to find someone more appropriate to work with me this time round, but again, I’m looking to meet folk from around the world who are going to the event….

….oh yes. I’m also going to enjoy a bit of a holiday!

If you’re stuck in London as an Internet Marketer, thinking that you never get to see others doing the same as you…let me know…I’m easily convinced that a chat over a beer is a good thing .

Alright, I confess. I was at another free pitch-fest over the weekend. Are these things on all the time? I missed a seminar about public-speaking that I would have chosen in preference (but didn’t hear about until it had already started).

This time it was the World Internet Summit down at Heathrow. I say Heathrow when what I actually mean is “in a hotel down a little alley, hidden off a side street, near Heathrow”. The Thistle Hotel Heathrow, really has to work on its image somewhat! As a result, this felt low-key in some ways and yet all the usual names were there.

I went down on Thursday and Friday before getting twitchy about actually doing some work and making money rather than listen to others tell me how/sell me their scheme.

Having said that, the chance to talk to others in the UK who are in the same position as me is always useful and I’ll follow up a couple of them with some ideas, so the time I spent wasn’t wasted.

Of all the speakers, two stood out for me. I think I have written about Steven Essa before, an Aussie who has really taken on webinars as a means to making money. This still piques my interest, even now, after several days of cooling down, as I used to do so many in the corporate world. I have at least identified a final goal of being back on the stage using my speaking skills and webinars come a close second to that. I may still follow up with Steven, he seemed like a genuine character.

The other speaker of note was a guy from the UK who I have not seen before. By trade Andy Harrington is a motivational speaker and his talk fell very much into that category on day 1 of the show. He delivered a great talk to motivate people out of their inactivity but what I liked about his talk (as I say as an ex-speaker myself) was his ability to lead folk down a path in his talk to the point where they were about to fill in his next sentence – and then come out with something at right-angles to that!  So, for example, while talking about fears, he talked about babies only knowing a fear of falling and being isolated at birth (I think…eek where are my notes?) He went on to list something like 10-12 other fears (failure, looking stupid etc etc) and then asked “Do you think these are fears we are born with?….No, they are…” and you could hear the audience say the word “learned”. Andy, on the other hand, didn’t say that, he finished his sentence with the word “Bollocks” – completely breaking the flow of people’s thoughts.   Quite Brilliant!  He did a few other things that left me in no doubt that these were all planned. I will be making sure I don’t miss him if he’s on again.

So, what are your thoughts on all this? Do these seminars serve a purpose for the man in the street? Once again I was staggered by just how low the low end of knowledge really is. People wanting to get into Internet Marketing with almost no knowledge of computers? Wow, that market is just open for training!

I could probably have come up with 7 things that are bad about IM conferences but since I am a glutton for sales pitches, I’m back off to Earl’s Court for more of the Speedcashseminar that I mentioned in my last post.

So, let’s get down to it. 3 things that fill us with joy at these events!

• Waiting at the end of each session for anything up to 30 minutes for the pitch to finish
• Sitting in fluorescent lighting all day when it’s sunny outside (and that’s rare for London!)
• Knowing there is no real food anywhere nearby even when the short lunch break arrives

On the flip side, maybe I should balance those out with some reasons to be cheerful. How about:

• Talking to some great people and finding the glimmerings of a cool joint venture
• The speakers that really work for the audience. Steven Essa, hats off to you sir!
• Realising that life can never be as hard as it seems to have been to every IM speaker

What do you love about internet marketing conferences? Add a comment and let me know. This could run and run!

I’m headed off to Mark Anastasi’s London internet marketing event at Earl’s Court tomorrow, so I hope to bring you news of what goes on as it happens. If you are there, ping me on twitter.com/martinpercival I will be taking beer vouchers just in case!