Get ready to squeeze every last drop of goodness out of the experience…

1) Buddy Up

Consider making happy hour plans or dinner plans with fellow attendees to compare notes and share stories from the day. It can be easier to meet new folks when you’re not flying solo. Get yourself an event buddy. Share your goals and who would be a good contact for you, and then rock that next event as a team!

2) Don’t forget your business cards or…

My newest preferred move is to have a QR code on my physical cards that directs people to your digital business card for the best of both worlds.

3) Prep your ‘One-Liner’

You’ll be memorable, and engaging, and you’ll be giving away your business cards faster than the wait staff can hand out bacon-wrapped dates!

4) Establish your key objectives

Take a few minutes to write down your goals for the event and then share them with your conference buddy so you can both be looking out for each other and helping one another achieve as much as possible and share in the high-five moments!

5) Lean into the social opportunities

You’ll be glad you did, and you can bet opportunities will flourish from the experience if you embrace it with the mentality of a guide looking to help others win the day.

Whether we feel ready or not, conferences are BACK but don’t worry… everyone else feels a little rusty at these too. Embrace the discomfort and the opportunity with these tips in mind and you’ll get the most out of your next conference.

Use story to accomplish your goals

I remember the first time I arrived in the Pacific Northwest as a 20-year-old kid just trying to figure out how to keep himself alive much less run the premiere whitewater extreme race on the West Coast.

One of the many jobs that landed in my lap along with The Oregon Cup, was to kayak to the start line of the Canyon Creek Extreme Race to run timing for the event.  This meant I had to somehow get myself and a synchronized stopwatch not just to the biggest waterfalls on the river, but safely start over 40 racers and then run the course for the first time blind, and solo.

I remember the moment I started the final racer.  I had been too occupied with getting accurate times and managing the event it hadn’t struck me until that moment.  I was going to have to run the biggest waterfall I had ever done for my first time all alone.

Everyone else was well downstream.  I closed my eyes and imagined every stroke.  I imagined the sensations, the timing, the balance and tension I would need inside my boat.  I imagined the mist rising up to hit my face as I fell toward the pool below bracing for impact.  Every. Single. Detail was there with vivid realism, to the point where it felt like I had already run the drop.

At the highest levels of sport, athletes and coaches have long been harnessing the power of the human mind for elite performance. We often hear about athletes visualizing their moves and outcomes before they compete.

Years ago, as a wilderness guide and action sport coach teaching people to run waterfalls in kayaks, I started having my athletes run training sessions in their minds just as I had at the big race. They would ‘practice’ sticking the moves they needed to win, or simply survive.

By creating something the human brain engages with, you create the potential for action. By telling a goal-focused story, you practice sticking the moves you need to win too.

Creating a detailed goal story can help reveal someone’s why, and what truly motivates them. It’s a great tool for strategic planning, and can help bring partners together toward a common goal.  (Even if they never intend on running a waterfall in their lives)

Give it a shot. A simple story could change your course for 2022 or maybe even your whole life!

As for my first big waterfall… each stroke fell into place on the slow approach to the lip.  Soon the stark horizon line sank lower and lower beneath the front of my boat until I could see into the depths below.  With one giant stroke and tightly held breath, I came crashing down into the pool at the bottom of the drop with a victory cry I’m pretty sure they could hear all the way to the finish line!  Phew!  Made it…

Visit: https://mailchi.mp/tributarycoaching/the-goal-story to create your very own Goal Story!

Everyone has heard of the Wright Bros, but very few remember hearing the name “Samuel Pierpont Langley.” The reason why could surprise you. It could also be the thing that helps your business do something you never thought possible. Take flight!

“Public interest was high. Experts were eager to contribute. Money was readily available. Armed with every ingredient for success, Samuel Pierpont Langley set out in the early 1900s to be the first man to pilot an airplane.

Highly regarded, he was a senior officer at the Smithsonian Institution, a mathematics professor who had also worked at Harvard. His friends included some of the most powerful men in government and business, including Andrew Carnegie and Alexander Graham Bell. Langley was given a $50,000 grant from the War Department to fund his project, a tremendous amount of money for the time.

He pulled together the best minds of the day, a veritable dream team of talent and know-how. Langley and his team used the finest materials, and the press followed him everywhere. People all over the country were riveted to the story, waiting to read that he had achieved his goal. With the team he had gathered and ample resources, his success was guaranteed. Or was it?

A few hundred miles away, Wilbur and Orville Wright were working on their own flying machine. Their passion to fly was so intense that it inspired the enthusiasm and commitment of a dedicated group in their hometown of Dayton, Ohio. There was no funding for their venture. No government grants. No high-level connections. Not a single person on the team had an advanced degree or even a college education, not even Wilbur or Orville.

But the team banded together in a humble bicycle shop and made their vision real. On December 17, 1903, a small group witnessed a man take flight for the first time in history.”

So how in the heck did the Wright brothers manage to beat the better equipped, far better funded and even better educated team of Langley’s?

It wasn’t just by chance. The Wright brothers and Langley both were regarded as highly motivated. Both had a robust work ethic. Both had sharp scientific minds. There were in pursuit of precisely the same goal, yet only the Write brothers were able to inspire those around them and truly lead their team to develop a technology that would change the world. Only the Wright brothers chose to coach their team to victory rather than manage them. It’s important to not just lead your team, but inspire them. By framing their interactions as collaborative coaching exchanges and starting with “why” they succeeded where Sam Langley did not.

If you’re interested in learning to coach your team, be it business or sport, rather than simply manage them; reach out for a complimentary free session. We look forward to sharing the key concepts that will change how you look at leading team forever.