The Marketing With Alex Live event was held at the Renaissance Hotel in Heathrow last weekend. After literally being guided in a never-ending loop by my satnav I arrived late on Friday evening and wandered down to the bar.

If you believe the hype that you find on the worst IM sales pages this should have been when I would have met a guru at the bar where we got chatting and he revealed exclusively to me a no-effort push-button secret to make millions online.

But this is the real world and instead I ran into Chris Freville and Malcolm Simmonds who I have known for several years and worked with when I was in Chris’s mastermind group. We caught up on the latest news and shared information about our current projects. Then I discovered I was sitting opposite someone who lives about 4 miles away from me! It seems unlikely things can happen in bars at IM seminars.

After breakfast on Saturday morning I made my way to the small lecture theatre in the hotel basement. Here Charlotte, Alex Jeffey’s PA, was organising registration. With my newly acquired ID card dangling from its lanyard I made my way to the lecture theatre.

Being in Alex’s Inner Circle put me in the front two rows of the theatre and with further opportunities to network.

The first day was a general overview of the type of business Alex recommends having, with a number of gems thrown in. He shared a number of worksheets that help keep himself and his team focused and organised. As a member of his Inner Circle I had seen these before, so they acted as a valuable reminder, but it would have been a priceless glimpse behind the scenes for those who are not members. I must admit I was surprised and impressed Alex was sharing such valuable information to those outside his Inner Circle.

A lot of Alex’s teaching included examples of his own success or those of his students. His most recent success story, Joey Xoto, was in the room and hearing his experiences of a successful first product launch was very inspirational.

Working through the notes from that first day means I will now check and improve my weekly organisation, my long-term planning and my 21 day reviews will be more focused and result in better action plans to address issues that arise.

Saturday evening was the VIP dinner for members of Alex’s Inner Circle. A black-tie event that was another great opportunity to network and share experiences.

Sunday’s topics included how to set up and run membership sites. Again there were some gems and great insights to help us, including how to create content and grow the membership. The last presentation of the day was a frank and open Q & A session.

This weekend has reminded me that you should not just focus on what happens on stage. You can also learn from other members of the audience. I particularly remember Devon Brown leaping to his feet at the end of one presentation as the audience shuffled towards the theatre exit and giving an unscripted summary to his Flip camera.

There were also the attendees doing short on-camera interviews with their fellow attendees during breaks between the presentations. If you are well organised these events are excellent opportunities to create some valuable content.

So, a great weekend with plenty of invaluable teaching, networking and socialising.

I would like to thank Charlotte, Adam, Ben and the other members of Alex’s team who’s hard work made this weekend possible and ensured it went so well. If you can get along to any of Alex’s events, or if you can get hold of the recordings I recommend you make the most of the opportunity.