I am not sure if I would attend another event like this. For starters I was exhausted with having to pitch my story over and over and over again. I have not idea how Broadway actors are able to perform the same play twice nightly because I found the repetition daunting.

In addition to feeling strained to pitch myself repetitively I had to endure listening to certain attendees whose business is not that they offer a service but that their offering you an “opportunity”.

Quite frankly I am not one to judge but being forced to sit and listen to the opportunity hoppers pitch is time wasted. That being said there were plenty of professionals at this event whom I would have enjoyed speaking with more.

There is a catch-22 when it comes to attending large events. With large events there is an opportunity to speak with a large group of attendees but with a large group many of those attendees can suck much of your time.

We survived and I am please to say the meeting was a success. So much so that a few of us even stuck around after hours & moved to another location because the original place had closed for the evening.

A good portion of our time was spent discussing the aspect of a sales funnel and how when building your business online one must have a solid understanding of these figures in order to quantify & qualify success.

We spent some time reviewing a member’s website and I want to thank our guest member for being so gracious and candid with the group. It truly made for an engaging group event.

One of the main issues this member had with her site was that she was coming into a competitive market and one that has already set the standard for what users would expect of a competitive website.

I feel its key to remember that even though you have ideas that are unique to an industry and your ready to “shake things up” as a way of adding your touch, your website must still provide visitors with something that their expecting.

If everyone in your industry has a corporate looking website and your objective it to go after those same dollars, but your trying to be “creative” with your approach I would recommended to demonstrate creativity but stay within the limits of what’s expected.

If your visitors have become accustomed to standards set by your competitors its okay to mix things up a bit but it’s in your best interest to run with those standards and demonstrate your creativity once you have converted that prospect to a solid qualified lead.

Lots of great information was shared at this past event and I look forward to the next one.

During group time I was able to sense a few members’ awkwardness when pitching their businesses to others. Most people find “pitching themselves” extremely intimidating but I was struck by the way most of my group was very open but then focused on up-selling their resumes and past histories that had no relevance to the services that they were offering. I was even presented with their educational backgrounds that had completely no pertinence to the business they currently worked. I’m not saying that it’s bad a idea to recite your personal accomplishments, I just think it’s important to know who your audience is and to specifically tailor your pitch.

Sure, there are times when I am extremely vague about what it is I do for a living. I may throw a few quick blurbs about how I am involved with Internet Marketing but then I just leave it at that. Then there are other times that I may provide more insight so people truly understand what it is I do. The difference is, I only do the latter if I want people to understand where my “value” lies.

I felt that many people in our group had trouble explaining their importance even when they offered very valuable and much needed services. History can only provide us an understanding but cannot promise us somebody’s valuation. If people focus upon what value they may provide to others and skip elaborating upon their backgrounds then I believe more people would be successful with their business pitches.