Feb. 9, 2026

481: Own Conference w/ 4 Goal Buckets

CMAA World Conference is like the Super Bowl for club professionals, positions get earned and lost, deals get made and quietly die, and reputations get built in hallways and at dinner, not just in ballrooms. In this quick episode, We share four simple goal buckets to help you stop gliding through conference and start coming home with real, tangible wins you can use right away. You will learn how to set friend goals, professional friend goals, club goals, and vendor and expo goals, plus smart questions to ask, how to take notes in the moment, and why one hallway conversation can save months of trial and error.

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00:00 - Welcome And Stakes Of Conference

00:51 - Why Conference Is A Career Catalyst

02:36 - Avoiding The Glide And Empty Notes

03:11 - Four Goal Buckets Overview

04:38 - Friend Goals That Fuel You

06:29 - Be More Interested Than Interesting

06:56 - Professional Friends And Big Questions

08:41 - Club Goals: From Inspiration To Instructions

10:34 - Vendor Hall Strategy And Relationships

12:38 - Meet At Booth 403 And Giveaway

13:20 - Stay Intentional And Adapt Goals

14:11 - Monday Meetup And Booking CTA

14:54 - Signoff And Closing

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Welcome to the Private Club Radio Show, the show where you get the scoop on life inside private golf and country clubs.

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I'm your host, Danny Corby, and each episode is a real conversation with club leaders, the pros, the people, and partners who help clubs thrive.

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We talk leadership, culture, food and beverage, member experiences, member engagement, marketing governance, and so much more.

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If you want practical ideas, better teams, and a club experience members actually feel and talk about, you're in the right place.

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Now, welcome to the show.

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In this episode, we are talking about how you can own conference, because conference is just a week away, or maybe sooner, or it's past, depending on when you've listened to this.

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But this is one week out of the year where you can walk into an elevator and accidentally learn a better way to run the club.

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It's crazy.

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And for some people, World Conference is like the Super Bowl.

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Positions get earned and lost, deals get made and quietly die.

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Partnerships start from just that one.

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Hey, I've heard your name.

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And reputations get built at dinners in hallways and not just in ballrooms.

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A lot happens fast.

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And if you're not careful, you can glide through the week.

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If you're not careful, you can just be chilling, having a great time, which you should.

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But next thing you know, you're flying home going, Oh, what just happened?

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Club pros from all over the world, not just the country, from all over the world, who have seen it all, survived it all, and have fixed it all.

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And it's easy to go to things like this and to go to conference and educational things.

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And next thing you know, it's on the way home and time slips, and you barely have any notes, you feel like you didn't accomplish anything.

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Now you're back home, you're talking to your staff, your members, your board, and you're like, it was amazing.

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And there's no real tangible takeaways.

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So I want to talk to you about four goal buckets that I have that I want to share with you that maybe you can have as well.

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And to take and really own and get the most out of conference because there's so much to do and so little time.

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And there's so many people, so many connections, and so much to be had.

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And I want you to have just as good of an experience.

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And we're doing all of these goals to keep us on track, and so you can go back to your club with real tangible things.

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So today isn't, I don't want to say a playbook, but it's just a way for you not to glide through the week because I've been there, I've done it, some of us have done it, some of you have done it.

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You know who you are.

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You need to go home with wins, real wins, practical wins, stuff you can use the next week, the next day, or that you can start to implement or getting the ball rolling, or to have ready for that next meeting or that next committee.

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And one of the things should be get rid of that committee.

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So in this episode, I'm also gonna share how you can win a pair of metaglasses from me at conference.

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I'm giving away a pair of metaglasses to one of you who comes up to me at conference, listening for more.

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So here's the move four goal buckets.

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I'm gonna tell you what they are and then I'm gonna break it down briefly.

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Quick episode.

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And if you can have a goal or two per bucket, that's eight goals for the entire week, you are so much more ahead of most people going.

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Because the hardest thing about going to conference is showing up for conference.

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You did the work.

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You showed up.

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That's 90% of the battle.

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The rest of the 10% of the battle is going to things on time, saying you're gonna be somewhere and actually being there, taking notes, learning, networking, educating, sharing, communicating, and bringing it all back.

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We are prepping in private to win in public.

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So we are gonna have our friend bucket, our professional friend bucket, our club bucket, and our vendorslash expo bucket.

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This is not about being busy.

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This is about being intentional.

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Because when you have a goal and there's things that you're trying to do and trying to accomplish, when you have that in the back of your mind, conference is that rare place where you know that you have this question and one hallway conversation can save you months of trial and error.

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It's crazy.

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So here's the play.

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If you want to play along right now, hopefully if you're driving, whatever, maybe, maybe not.

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But it is a quick episode.

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If you want to play along, you can open up uh your notes app and or just write write down something quick.

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Four areas friend, professional friends, club, and vendors.

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Now we're gonna fill in the buckets.

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Bucket one is friend goal, and this is your people bucket, the people who make you feel normal, the ones you laugh with, the ones you can vent with.

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And these are friends you maybe have connected with at BMIs, some previous things.

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Ideally, you know, it could be people from your area, but this is a time we have people from all over the world here.

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Stretch your comfort zone, meet some new people.

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So, or ones that you have, you know, friendships with but are different parts of the world now, spend some time with them.

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Spend some time with those people who bring you joy and you haven't spent much quality time with.

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If you want to be a true pro, if you're not so much caring about having that one-on-one exclusive time, use that time to connect maybe them with another friend that you have, that maybe now the three of you have this really cool common connection now.

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You know, someone who you think can benefit from knowing each each each other.

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So just have some sort of friend goal.

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So, whatever that looks like for you, having some sort of friend goals.

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Because friend time is not a luxury.

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This this is fuel.

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And good people give you good fuel, especially at conference when when we are there for many, many days.

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A great way to do this is for meals, breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

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Uh, great book uh is Keith Farazzi, Never Eat Alone.

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And it talks just about this is hey, you can maximize time by doing things that you would normally do alone, doing it with somebody else.

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It helps you kill two birds with one stone.

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Check, check a check a couple boxes.

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But I also totally get it.

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This is very exhausting.

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This is very energy depleting.

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So sometimes you need those meals or that time for yourself.

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So if you need those two, totally get it.

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So have some friend has have some friend goals, connect some people, be a connector, be valuable.

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And another quick little note I will add for this, and this is just a side note for the rest of conference.

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One of my favorite phrases, be more interested than interesting.

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That line right there should be your motto for going through conference.

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Be more interested than interesting.

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Let's let's let's open up our our ears a little bit more for conference.

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Let's ask better questions, engage better people, and listen more.

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Connect awesome people together because half the wins at conference happen through one introduction.

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So write down a friend goal.

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Next is a professional friend goal.

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Now, these are your more professional business-y friends, mentors, mentees, peers who you respect on a different level.

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Um, ones that you maybe don't send unhinged memes to.

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You know what I'm saying?

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These are a little bit more higher level, the conversations that can change your year, that can change your month.

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Because the right question to the right person can save you months.

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Months of trial and error, months of drama, much of doing things the hard way because you do you didn't know the shortcut.

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And for some people, these two buckets might be the same bucket.

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And that's totally cool too.

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This is all just about going to conference with intention.

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So the professional goals or the professional bucket is the professional friends.

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A great question to ask people in this professional goal and just in general, too, is you know, what are you seeing in the next 12 months that I'm not seeing yet?

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I saw that was a really great question.

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I heard somebody else say recently and thought that that was also just a great question.

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Like, what are you seeing that I'm I'm not seeing?

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With that, it also reminds me of a really cool idea.

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I don't know if I did an episode on it or dropped it somewhere, but basically it was as just a cool perspective test, why not give a like toddler, like a five-year-old or like an eight-year-old or like a 10-year-old to give them like go buy those, like go get like a little GoPro or like a DJI, like little, like, you know, like one of those little small GoPro-y style cameras and like give it to them, like hook it up to them, put it on like a chest strap or like something, and just let it record just to see their perspective, just to see that footage.

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What do they see?

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What do they see from their perspective that you're not seeing from yours?

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What do they see from below looking up that you don't see from up looking down?

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Bucket three is your club goal bucket.

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This is mission bucket because your club is attending conference through you.

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So treat yourself like an ambassador, not a tourist.

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Because you, if you float through conference, you will come home with inspiration.

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And inspiration is cute, but your club needs implementation.

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So here in this bucket, we're gonna look for things you are trying to do, issues you're having at your club.

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It could be behavioral, it could be technical, it could be vendor, it could be whatever it is.

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Put down some of those things, some of the club, just anything brain dump into this.

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And don't forget, as you're going through conference, as you're knocking some of these off off and you know, striking them through or putting the, you know, making sure you're putting the answers underneath, make sure you write it down as you go.

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Take a second, write it down.

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Don't do it later.

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You're gonna say that was good.

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I'll write it down later.

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Don't do it later.

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Trust me.

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Trust me, trust me.

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Don't do it later.

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You will forget.

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You will forget.

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Write it down as quick as you can.

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Give yourself a voice note, do uh whatever to remind yourself later, send an email, just put it down.

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And just some more quick, great questions you can ask or just question starters, because that's all this is, too, is just a starter question, right?

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Things just to get the ball rolling.

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How are you recruiting right now and what is actually working?

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Any new standards you put into place or enforce that protects your team's energy?

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Anything you did in F and B that improved speed and quality.

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This is a big one for a lot of people going on right now is renovation.

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So something, if you know, you're about to go through it, a lot of people are doing some master planning now, doing, you know, stuff is coming up on the horizon the next two, three, four, five years.

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You know, someone who just did it, hey, if you can go back, you know, six months before your renovation, a year before you start the process, what would you do different?

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Do not come home with inspiration, come home with instructions.

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Come home with real-world situational data that has happened that you can use to make informed decisions.

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And the final bucket is your vendor expo hall bucket.

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And this and three kind of go hand in hand.

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This bucket and the club bucket usually go hand in hand also, uh, because a lot of those things happen, you know, to be the uh to be things you can deal with and solutions you can find in the expo hall.

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This is also a big relationship bucket, too.

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Not the not the grab a pen and the stress ball and the whatever tchotchkis they they got, the swag they got going.

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This is because this is the best time to start relationships, is before you need something urgently, because panic buying is very expensive, it's stressful, and it makes you say yes to things you might normally laugh at or wouldn't spend money on or that amount of money on.

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So having just vendor goals, going in there with the mindset of like, okay, I need at least one or two, three connections, relationships, friendships, just getting the ball rolling or started, or just finding what solutions are available, what possibilities are available for me, my club, my budget, whatever have you.

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Um, and being honest and talking with those specific vendors.

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And when you do have questions, like, hey, we just signed up for a similar service, but how do you differ?

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Maybe when our contract is up.

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And even if you have somebody that you use for something, it's okay to go and talk with other people in that space, also, right?

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It's about connections, it's about relationships, it's about seeing what's available, what is going on.

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Information is knowledge.

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And ask better questions than just what do you do and how are you different?

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Because what do you do?

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Like that question, it just gets you a brochure.

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It gets you that 30,000 foot view answer.

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But when you ask better questions, right, we get better clarity.

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When you get better clarity, you get the real results and the real answers that you're looking for.

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And speaking of being in the vendor hall, I will be in the vendor hall for two hours a day.

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Come visit me.

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I'll be hanging out with the gang at Club Data Services booth 403.

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I'm hanging out, doing some fun content for here on Private Club Radio.

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So come check me out.

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And if you do, this is your chance to win a pair of Megaglasses.

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This is not through Club Data Services.

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This is me saying hello and thanking you all, the listeners and friends, coming to see me, hanging out with the gang at Club Data Services.

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I'm giving away out of my own pocket a pair, brand new pair of meta glasses.

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So come see me at the booth and you'll be in the running to win a pair of meta glasses.

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That's it.

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Super quick, just take it for what it is, go into this comp have some goals, accomplish those goals.

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And then if you do, make more goals as you go along.

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And that's the fun part is this whole thing is adaptable.

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You can make more goals daily, you can change things, you can move it around.

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But it's just going into it with a mindset, with intention, with curiosity.

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Right?

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Curiosity solves most problems.

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Great quote I got from Ed Chapman, which was a quote from something else that I can't remember right now.

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But be curious, be more interested than interesting.

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Ask amazing questions, have some goals, come see me at conference.

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We're gonna have fun.

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You're gonna have fun.

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Conference is always so much fun.

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I am so stoked to see all of you there.

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And if you made it this far and you're listening and you're coming in on Monday night, the 16th, I'm hosting, just getting some friends, some clients, some just a bunch of club DGs together.

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Your vibe attracts your tribe.

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So uh just getting a bunch of bunch of people together.

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If you want to uh come hang out with us, uh shoot me a message and I will give you the details.

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And also, shameless plug.

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If your you or your club is looking for a really fun member event night, we got the Denny Corby experience, magic, mind reading, and comedy, a ton of laughs, gasps, and holy craps.

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Done over 350 clubs to great success.

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If you want to learn more, head on over to dennycorby.com.

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Now booking the rest of 2026 into 2027, uh, some into 2028.

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Enough about that though.

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That was this episode.

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I'm your host, Denny Corby.

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Until next time, catch y'all on the flippity flip.