The magic of in-person events
The magic of in-person events
Even in the harsh Canadian winters, there's something to be said about meeting up with people in-person...
Happy Monday folks,
I did something crazy this week and - gasp - left my condo! More details below.
Let’s jump in:
Story:
I attended a pretty good event this week at the Mars Discovery District in downtown Toronto (it’s a pretty cool government backed startup hub, more info on their website here if interested).
Decided to attend because the topic was good (more info below), we’re a member of their community of startups, and because I desperately needed to get out of the house.
Most of you know that I work from home, and the combination of cold Canadian winters and being a homebody-to-the-max means I can easily go days without going outside (which made Covid much easier for me than the average Joe/Joette).
But even I get a little stir crazy once in a while, and I thought the event was a great excuse to - gasp - go into the real world and talk to people, in-person.
It also helped that the topic was very interesting to me: “Founder-Led Growth and the Power of Brand Authenticity”.
For those who have been on my email list for a while, it should be no surprise that it piqued my interest!
Anyway, one thing I really liked about the session was that it wasn’t a presentation, it was more of a group conversation. Two tech founders were leading the session, but it was mostly them sharing experiences and asking other founders in attendance to share their thoughts and feedback.
We talked about things like:
our experiences posting on LinkedIn
our best posts and why we thought they did well
how to approach social media and selling online in general
how “salesy” it’s gotten on LinkedIn and why many people avoid it
and much more.
I also learned that becoming a LinkedIn “Top Voice” is not that hard; apparently you just need to contribute to 3-5 posts per month and that can be enough to get/keep the title. Still thinking about whether I care enough to test it out, but it was certainly good info.
Have you been to any good in-person events lately? Overdue to attend one? Let me know!
Key takeaway: there’s some magic to in-person
Maybe this doesn’t apply to you because you leave the house here and there, but for those like me - and especially since the world is a bit different after Covid - don’t forget the added, and sometimes hidden, benefits of going to events in-person.
Sure it might be a commute, and you might have to shower and make yourself look presentable, but I still think there’s something beneficial to shaking hands in-person, sharing ideas, etc., when you’re in a room with other people (and no, not “in a room” virtually on the new Apple headset thingy).
So while I don’t do it as often anymore (early in my career when I was building my first business/law firm, I attended 1-2 events per week!), I still think it’s hugely beneficial.
Content for the week:
Vlog: This week on the vlog/podcast (you can also listen to my vlog on this Substack podcast from the home page) I talked about the pros/cons of having so much content at our fingertips, my product focus from last week, why I do our bookkeeping and more:
Book(s): I’m about 60% of the way through Iacocca: An Autobiography by Lee Iacocca and William Novak. Going through it pretty quick because 1) I’m trying to read more each day and 2) it’s been really good so far.
I didn’t know anything about him before the book, but it’s a great account (from his perspective) about his experience climbing the ladder - and then getting fired from - Ford, and then getting hired by - and trying to rescue - Chrysler.
Also learning a lot about the car industry. Full review next week.
Tiktok: my most viewed Tiktok vid from last week was this clip about one key trait entrepreneurs should have for longterm success.
Thanks as always for following along on my journey and have an awesome week,
- Josh Schachnow
Canadian immigration lawyer, CEO at Visto.ai
If you’re looking for more of my help, you can check out:
My immigration tech platform, Visto, that helps Canadian immigration firms prep and file applications much quicker.
Make sure you’re subscribed on Youtube where I post the weekly vlog and am also posting shorter snippets of my tips/advice as Youtube Shorts!