When I graduated University of Arizona at the ripe old age of 21, I was convinced I knew pretty much everything there was to know. Pretty naive, wouldn’t you say.Decades later, I’ve developed significant expertise, in a number of fields. It has come, in large part, from experience, but it also comes from attending many association meetings, symposiums, conferences and conventions.

A couple of weeks ago, I attended my first meeting at the Las Vegas Chapter of NSA (National Speakers Association). I was reacquainted with my friend, Patricia Fripp, a nationally renowned speaker, who taught the morning session of the full day meeting.I’ve come to understand not to expect ‘life-changing-knowledge’ at every turn. If I come away with one good strategy, or even one reminder of something I already know, but had relegated to the back burner, it’s a successful investment of time and money.

Patricia is always a highly motivating speaker, if for nothing else that her execution and attention to detail clearly show you where you can improve. My biggest ‘reminder takeaway’ was the importance of brevity and clarity. Every word should count, and if your message can be spoken in 5 words rather than 8, then that’s how it should be done.

As I’m giving five presentations this month, attending NSA Las Vegas was the ideal picker-upper for polishing my work. Monday, I’m giving two presentations at a 1-day symposium for Think Tank, an organization of high-end disc jockey entertainment companies. This meeting sits adjacent to the Mobile Beat Magazine Conference & Trade Show, at the Riviera, Las Vegas.What’s interesting about Think Tank is that its participants have surpassed the value of only attending the Mobile Beat Conference. They attend Mobile Beat, too, and still get value from it, but they are looking for even more value, geared specifically to their companies which are generally larger, and have longer industry tenure.

It has become clear to me that wedding industry businesses should attend their own industry-specific conference, and at least one other, such as: The Special Event Show, Event Solutions, NACE, CaterSource, or BizBash. Being exposed to fresh ideas, different seminars, and new people always leads to good things.

What will you be attending to spice up the wedding marketing for your business? And do you already know it all, like I did, when I was 21?

Hopefully, you’ll make a commitment to improve your business, and the marketing of it, by investing in yourself and your professional development.

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written by Andy Ebon \\ tags: Andy Ebon, BizBash, CaterSource, Event Solutions, Mobile Beat, NACE, National Speakers Association, NSA, Patricia Fripp, professional wedding planners conference, The Special Event Show, wedding conference