Networking and getting deals done face to face.

What do you dislike?

Panelists being so agreeable. “I agree with Barry and would like to add XXX…”

We need more of “I like Barry but here is why he is wrong XXXX…”

What was the best conference you ever attended?

The one in which I walked away with the greatest number of deals.

What would you do to improve any future conferences you were to attend?

Bring in speakers and panelists that have completely opposing points of view. Have them debate and then have audience chime in until the best possible decision/conclusion is derived.

How would you run a conference?

I believe people show up to conferences to network and obtain great information. Unfortunately, conferences tend to create cliques (how many new people truly meet outside of a hello at lunch or in a hallway) and vanilla information (“love in” panels).

Solution?

1] Attendees must make themselves available to meet at least 3 new people for 15 minutes each in a 1-1 meeting.

2] Instead of panels, create debates. Audience can participate in the debate and/or introduce a smartphone app in which audience can vote for panelist views in real time.

Regards,
George

30 years ago that might have been true. They have security that checks credentials now.

Other big issue. You can be the smartest person in the world but if you don’t know how to present your thesis, you are useless to a conference. Pick speakers based on their ability to present their topic, not on whether they are the worlds leading expert.

On conferences, which I believe are different from seminars, one in which I’ve always wanted to go to was a Tony Robbins type seminar or conference, depending on your definition. Have no interest in anything put on by the Learning Annex.

Now to conferences. Mostly snoozers although I’ve been to the odd good one and occasionally there has been a speaker who really knows his stuff who makes you look at things in a different way. They are not a total waste of time however in that they provide a break from routine if you have a demanding job. You get out of the office for a couple of days, get a bit of thinking time, harder now of course with the old BB, meet some different people. It is a bit like coming up for air even if most of the speakers are boring and it’s a bit of junket.

Notable attributes that contribute to its excellence:
a) Overall conference size is limited to 99 people.
b) Sessions are experiential; if there’s a formula it’s:
1) short introduction to the topic
2) break into small groups for an exercise illustrating some principle
3) discuss results of the exercise
4) repeat steps 2 and 3, once or twice
5) wrap-up covering main ideas and references for further exploration
c) Sessions run ~3 hours, and run in morning and afternoon blocks… so there’s always time to decompress and reflect immediately after a given session
d) Lunch is served to facilitate hanging around with ‘birds of a feather’
e) Attendees all stay in the hotel where the conference is held; this takes a lot of logistics out of the equation, and makes it easier to find ‘birds of a feather’.

In my experience, when I’ve been glad I went to a conference it’s usually because of the people I’ve met and hallway conversations I’ve had with them. AYE makes that the centerpiece of the conference, a place where you confer.

Good luck in planning your conference!

With all the trillions of CDS and other derivatives out there why haven’t we seen lawsuits filed from the party that was suppose to get the pay off from the derivative seller?

There has been enough foreclosures and defaults so these contracts had to settle out. There has only been 350 of tarp money paid out but the supposedly problem was in the mega trillions. We have been in this mess for around a year now, it just seems by now we would be hearing from those who are owed this money that the banks supposedly owe.

How can you solve a problem when you don’t know all the facts? I don’t think they know but they’re taking the cautious route.

This whole affair smells and no way to run a country, throwing money at the boogie man when none may exist.

I don’t pretend I know what’s going on but I was a businessman and if somebody didn’t pay I sued them. This thing just doesn’t pass the smell test. Am I nutz or does anybody else have a problem with this whole scenario they cooked up.

Any comments would be appreciated.

That is hysterical. Reminds me of my college dorm gambling days when we would joke with each other (the whole floor was gambling with a small-time campus bookie) to “go opposite” of one particular guy who got smoked all the time. Of course, I eventually got smoked as well and had to quit that nasty habit, but that’s a story for another day. Part of me wonders if it wouldn’t be a wiser use of our money to gamble on sports again. Seems less rigged than the markets these days, actually by far.

Barry- the worst conference /meeting for high net worth investors I ever attended was one put on by the Merrill Lynch circa 2000. This was done in a very lovely estate in Villanova, PA (Mainline for all your fellow PA folk). Up until 2 years ago, I had the program for it as I figured it’d be worth a laugh years later. They had some of their top analysts (cannot remember if Henry Blodget was one of them at that meeting or another I went to) and more “famous” stock pickers who were regularly on CNBC. They were to present their 10 best stock picks for the next 10 years. Among the picks included such winners as AOL, Yahoo, Cisco, AIG, GE, RedHat, JDSU, and a few other “winners”.

The best part of that was that I was a 23 year old grad student at the time with not a dime to my name who was invited to attend by some broker who mistook me for a potential client he had just met 2 days prior. The food was exceptionally good- never tasted caviar before that day, and I was drinking 100 dollar wines. Talked to a butler on staff who told me “whatever these people recommend doing, do the exact opposite”.

The MoneyShow puts on a great dog and pony show, but if you REALLY wanna see SuckerVille, please go attend some “Get Rich in Real Estate” Conferences. Besides skimping on the truth, these gurus will have you laughing and howling with delight at some of their stories and how they can make you rich in just 3 months using no money and no time of your own. All available today for $899, but wait, we’ll throw in another free CD and lower the price to $699. Plus you can attend our 3 day bootcamp for an additional 5 grand.