Breaking the Grade
Breaking the Grade is a thought-provoking podcast that follows entrepreneurs in the education space as they make their way to the top. Tune in for stories about breaking norms, introducing new ideas, and shaping our future society through every lesson let out.
Breaking the Grade
The Conference Playbook: How Education Companies Get Conferences Wrong (And How to Fix It)
Does this sound familiar?
You just spent thousands of dollars flying to ANOTHER education conference, setting up a booth, shaking hands with decision-makers. You collected a stack of business cards, had great conversations, and walked away thinking, this was a success.
Two weeks later? It was the kiss of death for their conference strategy—no follow-ups turning into deals, no real sales pipeline, just a stack of business cards from people who seemed interested but have since disappeared.
Here’s the truth: Business cards aren’t contracts.
Education companies do this unsuccessfully for a long time. They go to education conferences expecting immediate ROI, but conferences don’t work that way. They’re a slow burn strategy.
💡 Slow burn strategies are the things businesses know they need to do, but don’t execute well. Like LinkedIn engagement, email outreach, or running a sales pipeline—conferences fall into the same category. They don’t deliver overnight wins, but they are the foundation for building long-term credibility, trust, and business relationships that actually close later.
The companies that win at conferences don’t just show up hoping to make deals. They go in knowing that this is the start of a conversation, not the end of a sale.
That’s exactly what we’re breaking down in this special Coach’s Corner episode, recorded after my time at IFE in Monterrey and ERDI in Palm Springs.
🎙️ Tune in to Hear:
🔥 How education businesses can strategically choose the right conferences.
🔥 Why networking at conferences is about listening, not selling.
🔥 How follow-up and engagement after the event determine ROI.
🔥 Why smaller, targeted conferences are often better than big, crowded ones.
🔥 How clarity in your messaging and ideal client makes conferences more valuable.
💡 If you just listen, people will open up to you. The companies that win at conferences aren’t the ones pushing their product the hardest. They’re the ones who go in with a plan, focus on real conversations, and build relationships that turn into future deals.
#EdSales #LeadGeneration #EducationBusiness #ConferenceStrategy #BreakingTheGrade
Our students are the future. How we advance innovation and impact and approach equity in their classrooms will determine how we thrive as a world community. The status quo just won't cut it. That's why we're here to break the grade. Hello breakers and difference makers. I'm Josh Chernikoff, host of how I broke that. I'm a two time entrepreneur in the education space, and I've successfully exited both of those companies. I've experienced my fair share of breaks in my life, and I'm here to bring my signature approach to my new show, Breaking the grave. I'm embarking on this special journey alongside my good friend and mentor, John gamba, Director of innovative programs, and entrepreneur in residence at Penn GSE, in our podcast, you'll hear from emerging business owners in the education space who are working to transform education as we know it. Tune in as we hear about industry trends, unique principles and practices and the attempts that have and haven't worked for our grade breaking guests. So fellow entrepreneurs and educators, what do you think are you ready to take a hammer to the education space and break the grade. Hello and welcome to another edition of breaking the grade. This one's a little bit different, because it's from a LinkedIn live I did. And this LinkedIn live came after two very successful conferences for me, one if he in Monterrey, Mexico, where I was on a panel. Another Erdi in Palm Springs, California, where I was asked to speak. Both of them went really well, and as I record this right now, I'm headed to South by Southwest edu to speak and host an event next week. Now this LinkedIn live that you're about to listen to is me sharing tips so that you can choose the right events to go, to connect with the right people, and know that there are a few key pillars in your business that will help you ensure conferences are productive, that they're not a waste of time and they don't become a slow burn method for you. So whether you're a conference Pro or new to the circuit, enjoy this episode with my strategies for leveraging conferences to grow your education company. Welcome to breaking the gray as you can tell, I am kind of in a relaxed mode here. Yeah, I've got a hat on. I've got a sweatshirt on. That's because I've been on the road for the last two weeks, and now is the time for me to relax just a little bit. And you know, when you've been on the road for two weeks and you've been at conferences, you deserve a little bit of a break. So I would love everybody who can, who is here to put your name, your company, your LinkedIn, in the chat, so that we can connect. I had a conversation this morning with somebody about this amazing community that we have that's coming together, and so it can only grow if we kind of put information in the chat, in this case, and explain again, who we are, what's our name, what's our LinkedIn. So I'm going to talk a little bit about these conferences that I went to, and then also just talk about conferences, because we do a lot of talking about conferences in the ED, sales, elevation experience, and I think conferences are a phenomenal place to display credibility, to get to meet people in person, because there's so much to be done in person versus online, however, and this is a big however, there's a lot of people in the ED sales, elevation experience and our bigger community who you know, know the feeling of going to a conference, preparing for a conference, spending money to go to a conference, getting to a conference, it not being what you thought that conference was going to be, which happened to one of our clients very recently, not getting the ROI out of a conference, and then only having a stack of business cards that are basically useless when you get home, and then you've got to run your business. And if that's an experience that you've had with conferences, then you're in the right place, because today we're going to talk about conferences and how they can be valuable. So two weeks ago, I was. At IFE in Monterey, Mexico, wonderful conference where I got to interview seven or eight different very influential people in the education space, one of them being Dr Michael golden from Penn's Graduate School of Education, and then some other business owners that I was really had wonderful conversations with, and we will be producing those shows very soon for breaking the grade. I then got back, cleaned my clothes and got back on the road and went to er di in Palm Springs. And Erdi is a fantastic conference, and it's an opportunity for companies in the K 12 space to meet with superintendents at both of those conferences. I was able to speak at both of those conferences. I was able to make very important connections, and at both of those conferences, I was able to walk away with many new opportunities to grow my own business. I didn't go to those conferences with the goal of growing my business. I did go with the goal of making connections, helping people out and boosting my own credibility. You know, because getting an opportunity to speak at IFE and on panel with the group of people I was talking with, getting an opportunity to speak at Erdi and support them, those are, those are honestly opportunities that I didn't even dream about, couldn't even have dreamt about maybe a year ago. And a lot of people are asking me to say, wow, you're going to a lot of conferences. Well, yeah, I am. I'm not only going, but I'm speaking at them. And by the way, my goal this year was to speak at six conferences, was to bring value to six conferences, going to some others. So this year, so far, I've been to IFE in Monterey, Erdi in Palm Springs, John gamba and I are hosting an event at South by Southwest edu, at in Austin. In March, I'll be going to ASU GSV, where I'll be hosting strategy sessions, going to Penn's catalyst event, to one day event. It's wonderful. I believe it's going to be June 5 in Pennsylvania and Philadelphia. Then I will go to Erdi in Baltimore in July. Then I will go to the Penn GSE competition finals, I believe that's in September in New York, and then I'm hoping to go to ed tech week in October with those great folks. So lots of conferences and lots of opportunities to speak and connect and lift them up. Now, why conferences? Conferences can help you with networking, brand awareness, lead gen and thought leadership, absolutely. It can also help you with confidence. They can also hurt your confidence. So if you're not there with a plan, if you're not there with a plan to hopefully boost your credibility, boost up that confidence, boost up other people, then, yeah, I don't think they're going to go the way you think they will. There is a trap though. Okay, the conference trap is that conferences can be a way to waste time and resources if you go to the wrong event, if you have the wrong approach. So let's talk about what the wrong event is. The wrong event is going to an event that is not your ideal clients. Okay, especially as you're getting traction, especially as you're bootstrapping, you want to make sure that you are going to conferences where your ideal clients are where you can reach those people, where you could speak to those people, you can get to know those people. The wrong approach to a conference, well, that's going there thinking you're going to go from conference to contact to contract, no, no, no. What you want to do is go to a conference with the idea that you're just there to listen and ask questions. Very rarely do contracts close at conferences. But if you go and you go with the goal of just listening to your ideal client, you are going to learn so much, and they are going to be so surprised that you are not trying to sell them everything, that when you come back around after the conference and you say, I'd like to follow up on that conversation, ask a few more questions, they're going to be even more surprised. And by the way. Doing that, you are getting closer, potentially, to that contract when that time is right. And I want you to know that there is an illusion of ROI. And the illusion of ROI is that stack of business cards. Those do not equal lead generation. Qualified Leads equal lead generation. So a large stack of business cards, especially ones that aren't your potential clients. Those are time wasters, those are tire kickers. I want you to have a stack of business cards that potentially is much smaller of your ideal client that is ROI on your conference. So again, when you go to a conference, you need to make sure that your ideal client is there, so that you are getting a chance to speak to people who would potentially be clients of yours. I want you to research that conference and again, before you get there, before you sign up, make sure confirm that your ideal client is going to be there. And I want you to think about going beyond the big name conferences. What do I mean by that? I'm actually a much bigger fan of smaller conferences. Look at IFE in Monterey. I got to see the same people over and over again. I truly built relationships over the four days that I was there. Erdi even smaller. And I think I've made some lifelong relationships in education there. So think about conferences that you can go to that aren't, you know, part of the big ones? I would think of the big ones South by Southwest, Edu, ASU, GSV, go to ones that you can really make an impact at, and are going to have a real opportunity for you to talk to your ideal client. And when you do get a chance to talk to maybe a conference organizer, or look through an FAQ, here's some questions you might want to ask. What are the demographics? What are some of the past success stories? So people who have gone to this conference? What have they experienced? And if you really think this is your conference, these are your people. You've got your ideal client down, you've got your credibility down, you've got your messaging down, and there's an opportunity for you to speak. What are your sponsorship opportunities at three of the conferences I'm going to this year, I am sponsoring, so therefore I am paying to be there and paying for the opportunity to speak to those people. In terms of speaking, I want everybody who's in the audience now if you can, if you feel up to it, if you're not driving, a lot of people are driving. Listen to this. I know that. Put your name in the chat. Feel free to hop in with questions that we can answer. I'm going to take a second here to pause and congratulate my my cohort, my colleague, my co host, John gamma on a couple different things. First of all, his Eagles winning the Super Bowl. They did it in convincing fashion. And although I can never root for the Eagles, I can root for my buddies to win. And I do think Jalen Hurts and saquon Barkley seem like really stand up people. And I will always root for stand up people. I want to acknowledge that the finals the deadline to submit your milk and pen GSE, business plan, competition application are it's very soon. I believe there's one week to go, so check me on that. But needless to say, the deadline is coming, and I encourage everybody to apply for that competition. It's it's one of the most important competitions I believe in in the education space. And I also want to put up a QR code here for everybody who potentially wants to join the 3e community, the ED, sales, elevation experience community. By the way, we're going to be adding somebody to our team very soon who's going to focus 100% of her time on building the 3e community. We went over 100 community members, I believe, in the last week. Ken can fact check me on that one. It's not the biggest community. It does not need to be. It does not need to be, it needs to be a strong, supportive community. Community, and that's what it is. So if you want to join the 3e community, go for it. Grab that QR code right there. Now, we've talked about which conferences to go to. We've talked about potentially, what to do before you go to those conferences. Let's talk about post conference follow up, turning connections into potential clients. Timely follow ups are important. I would say 24 to 48 hours is a really good timely follow up, although everybody's kind of getting back home and taking their time. So I would extend that out to a couple days, but prompt follow up does demonstrate professionalism and keeps you top of mind. Another way to stay top of mind, if you're getting yourself organized, is connect with everybody on LinkedIn and then use a tool so that you can comment when they comment. And the reason that's important is that keeps you top of mind and gives you credibility and helps them. I want you to personalize communication that's really important. We heard that a lot at Erdi, the conference I was at in Palm Springs, and one of the members kept saying, don't just follow up with us. Follow up with us with some really important information, or that you saw me speak on this, or that this impacted you, or you'd like to discuss this more, not just a generic follow up. Those things do not work. We've all had them nurture those leads. How can you nurture those leads? LinkedIn is, in my opinion, one of the best places to do that, because if the people who went to the event are posting, then you can comment. You can also ask people who went to the event who you got a chance to talk to, if potentially they could join your newsletter. Don't add them without asking them, but when you do add them, make sure you have a newsletter that gives value, not just a newsletter that pats you on the back in terms of what you have done. There are types of newsletters that should do that, your quarterly update to your investors or to people are interested in the growth of the company. But that is not a place. The the newsletter to potential clients is not a place to do that. Track your results if you ain't tracking it, not sure how you're going to make it better, not sure how you're going to capitalize on what's working. So I want to give you some concrete examples of what has been helpful to me over the last couple of weeks when it comes to conferences. And before I do that, take a little more sip of this espresso. I'm still running on a little bit of coffee energy over the last two weeks, one of the really important connections I made in my own mind was at IFE I got a chance to sit on a panel. And the reason I got a chance to sit on a panel is because the person was supposed to be on that panel was not able to make it to that panel. So they basically called me and said, Hey, can you hop in? And I said, Hey, I'm there because it was an opportunity to be in front of a group of people that I really respected and join a panel kind of something new for me. Also, I had imposter syndrome set in because I got a chance to sit on a panel. It was something new for me. But what did I have to lose? All I had to do was to prepare. So I started preparing for the subject. And let me tell you, that subject was not 100% in my wheelhouse, but I did really think on it. I talked to my mentors, I talked to other people about how I could provide value based on that subject. And I don't know about you guys, but I get into a flow state. The closer that I get to a conference, and the closer to speaking at a conference that I get, I get myself amped up and over prepared, and then everything kind of gets easy. How do I know that because of this ring. Talk about tracking things I know from my ring, my aura ring, and this is not a commercial for our ring, but I know from my aura ring that as I get closer to going on that stage, that my stress levels actually go down because I'm prepared and I'm ready and I know whatever is going to happen is going to happen. Yeah, so that was an interesting experience. And then this panel that I really got to know, they were supportive and wonderful, and we're getting to know each other. One of the coolest parts is that another person was supposed to be on the panel. He's in Sweden. He couldn't make it, and he reached out and said, let's connect. And we talked two days ago, and it potentially has led to an opportunity where I'm hoping the head sales elevation experience is going to be able to go into Europe. Because of this opportunity, we've got some stuff to work out, nothing we can't get over. We're both really excited to do this. So you know, from that opportunity to speak on the panel, there was some growth for me. There was some growth for the company, and I know because of the feedback I got, that I was able to deliver value. Then let's fast forward to Erdi in Palm Springs. This is a conference of cheese, just absolute rock stars in the education space, specifically in K 12, you've got superintendents and district administrators, you've got solution providers who are at the top of their game. And then you've got the expert network. I was part of the expert network so other people can provide value to the solution providers. I was able to meet with probably five or six companies, and, you know, gave them 45 minute to an hour long strategy sessions. I got a chance to watch the panels, and I'll tell you what, I had some real imposter syndrome there. As I looked around the room, there were people who had been in the education space for almost as long as I had been alive. And I'm 45 years old. These people, not only were they still in the education space. Not only were still rocking and rolling, but they were really at the top of their game. They were still the superintendent of the district administrator. But I get reminded by my coach, Tony, that I also am at the top of my game, and my game is developing, and that I can provide value. And so when you look around the room and you you might be intimidated by some of the people, just remember that you are there for a reason. Just remember that reason. So I'm very sure that when you get to a conference, there is potentially some level of imposter syndrome. So I'm here to validate that for you, and I'm also here to tell you that I'm sitting on your shoulder as you walk into that conference, telling you, whispering to you You deserve to be here too. I want you to understand that for many years, I did not like to go to conferences. Why was that? It certainly wasn't the conference's fault. But the reason I didn't like to go to conferences because I wasn't clear on my ideal client. I wasn't clear on my own credibility, I wasn't clear on my messaging, I wasn't clear on my offer, and I wasn't clear what the heck was going to happen if this conference was a success, because my systems weren't good, all of those things will compound and make any experience bad, especially one that you've traveled for and spent money on. But let's work backwards when you do know that this conference is for you, because your ideal clients are there when you have established your credibility on LinkedIn. So when people look you up at that conference, they say, This person can help me when your signature solution is in place. So when people say, talk to me about how you can help me transform my school or my university or my business, and you pull out that signature solution, you say, let me walk you through it in nine steps, when your messaging is on point and your offer is so clear, you can really make a conference great, and you can make up for all those conferences that were not worthwhile at The end of the day, if you go with the attitude to any conference that I am going to just be there to listen to people, you will not lose. It is impossible to lose at a conference. Here, if it's the right conference for you with your ideal client, if you just go and ask questions, just go and ask questions. If it's your ideal client, if you're in the K 12 space, and you serve principles, and you go there and you ask them and tell them, you know, one sentence, this is what I do. How could I help you? What's challenging you, what keeps you up at night, that principle is going to be grateful for a couple things. One, for you, coming up to them and being clear how you can help. Two, for you, listening, and three, potentially giving them advice on how they can turn things around with that specific problem. I want you to think about conferences a little bit differently and know that again, with the right conference, with the right planning, with the right approach, every single conference can be worthwhile. I also want you to remember that walking away with a stack of business cards. Those are not contracts. Those are business cards. Okay? Business cards are not contracts. I would much rather you walk away with a smaller stack of business cards than a large stack with nothing to do with those people. So I wanted to take the time today to talk about conferences, how to approach them, and how to win at conferences. And we did that. And so I'm going to close today with some last advice on a conference that I went to at the end of the day, conferences are just about connections, and conferences are an opportunity to get to meet people, shake hands, sit down with them, have coffee, and if you go to the right conference, and just want to do that, you also will win. It's really nice to be able to go to conferences, to get to meet people. I have some memories that I will never forget from these last two conferences, and I will be back in both next year. So if you go in with the right attitude and the right approach, you will not lose at conferences. And this is coming from somebody who lost at many conferences because I had the wrong attitude and the wrong approach for many years. So I hope this has been helpful to everybody. Lot of C's Coaches Corner with Chernikoff, talking about conferences today and also talking about confidence and communicating. Think that's all the C's I got I will close today with this. Everybody have a great Valentine's Day. My wife, Bettina, is actually out of town, and so our daughter has set up a Valentine's Day sleepover for her and her buddies. She's 10 years old. Three of her buddies are coming over, so we are going to party. In fact, I'm getting manicure and a pedicure, and I think some face mask thing. I'm all for it, because I deserve a little pampering after two weeks on the road. So well deserved, so well worth it, because I had the right attitude and the right approach. When it came to these conferences, there's anything I can do to help. Please let me know. Feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn or my email. Jchrnikoff.com Next week, we'll be right here. John gamble will be here, and we'll talk through some other topics that are relevant to you. I hope this one was very relevant. It's something I wanted to get off my chest after two amazing conferences that I was honored and humbled to be at. Thanks a lot, guys for listening. Hey breakers, thanks for joining us on breaking the grade. If you want to get to know your fellow breakers in education better, please join us in our community in mighty networks. You can also follow us on social media for lead generation tips, information about the community and the social media in the show description. And if you want to help us out, please like and subscribe to the show. Keep on breaking you lead gen legends. You.