Our Elite Retreat Event is only 3 weeks away. I am really getting pumped up for this year’s event. It’s the 5th time we have had the Elite Retreat and the first time ever in New York City.
The challenge for me every year gets a little bigger. I want the event to have the same business impact for new as well as returning attendees. For this event we have over 65% returning members. 30% of which have been to 2 previous Elite Retreat events or more. Some have even come to all 5 Elite Retreat events.
Here are some quotes from previous attendees and speakers:
Darren Rowse – Problogger.net
In 2007 I spoke at this event in San Francisco (although got as much out of it as any of the attendees) and it was a fantastic experience. A very small group of attendees and some true experts in a variety of different online disciplines.
Justin Goff – justingoff.com
Was the conference worth $5,000+? Absolutely. There’s tons of single ideas that I got from Elite Retreat that will make up $5k in no time. The overall business models that I learned will pay dividends for a long time, and the contacts I’ll have to network with now are all willing to help each other out.
Wendy Piersall – Sparkplugging
The experience brought more than just learning and increase revenue for this site. It also gave me the chance to meet some really amazing people, including Jeremy Schoemaker, Lee Dodd, Darren Rowse, Guy Kawasaki, Aaron Wall, Kris Jones, & Neil Patel. I’m still friends with all of them today, and they have helped to open some amazing doors for me since that time.
Jay Yukes – yukes.com
Check this — the 26yo kid sitting next to me (in the back row holla!) is a multi-millionaire… We became good friends… and jumped head first into a project together right after the event!
A great measurement of an event — is how many repeat attendees there are — and here you will find a bunch! I wanted to go again this year — but had already booked a trip to Brazil when the dates were announced.
John Hasson – John Hasson
Excellent speakers. Excellent. Having things “off the record” really opened things up. We were sharing our ideas and suggestions pretty openly. I am sure we all held something back–there really isn’t enough time to share everything I can’t provide details on what we learned since we had a NDA and it was all off the record. I can say that I will be going again and that I learned a lot, made some new friends and was very impressed by the whole event.
Jeremy and crew did an excellent job putting this event together. They deserve a lot of credit for making this happen.
Scott Hendison – Search Commander
We were able to sit down face-to-face while each presenter had a laptop in front of him, and show specific websites, ask specific questions, and solve specific problems. These one-on-one sessions when on past the 5 p.m. closing time, and ultimately, even though the room closed, never really stopped the entire two days.
Barbara Boser – SEO Wife
If you’ve considered attending Elite Retreat, but were unsure of what to expect, I hope you attend next time it’s offered.
I left there with knowledge, new friends, new opportunities, amazingly cool shwag (ipod nano loaded with some of the greatest marketing books eva) and an experience I’ll never forget.
Thanks to all the people that put this together and to all the speakers that took their time to give something back to the industry.
And the list goes on and on. If you search around the web a bit you will find a lot of attendee reviews.
I have been getting a lot of questions from people new to the industry wondering if they should attend the event. The answer is no. This is not for people curious about how running a online business works. The event is for people who have had some success and are looking to take their business to the next level. These can be offline business owners, affiliates, SEO’s you name it.
If you are wondering if the event is for you shoot us a message using the contact us link and let us know what you do and the goals you are looking to accomplish and we will get right back to you.
This year we have an amazing lineup of speakers led by Seth Godin.
We only have a few spots left so act now and don’t let this one go by! This is most likely going to be the last Elite Retreat event we will ever have.
September 10, 2009 at 10:31 am
The elite retreat sounds great. I have got to change this site up. I wonder where the next level is for it
September 10, 2009 at 10:35 am
Seth Godin speaking is pretty impressive….
Should be the best ER yet!
September 10, 2009 at 11:05 am
I think Seth is a Genius. I don’t know of a better speaker.
September 10, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Looks AWESOME,
wish I could attend. Best of luck, and I like the new theme! (You must be getting paid big time from Chitika)
September 10, 2009 at 12:28 pm
I really like and respect Scott Hendison’s work in SEO, kudos for getting him involved.
I’m applying to attend the first one of these I can plow my profits back into! Not this year, targeting next year.
September 10, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Considering going just to meet Seth Godin…
September 10, 2009 at 12:39 pm
I think its gonna be a great event again and i hope everything goes in the direction as planned. Best of luck with this big event.
September 10, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Great opportunity. Well as I read from the post itself the ideas we receive from there could be worth millions. Just thinking about attending such an event to learn more about online business.
September 10, 2009 at 2:10 pm
What do you mean by the last elite treat ?
September 10, 2009 at 2:16 pm
This event sounds absolutely awesome. If you do decide to hold more of them in the future I’d love to be at a level where I could attend.
September 10, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Why last? You plan to shut it?
September 10, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Looks awesome!
September 10, 2009 at 3:56 pm
cool event but I can`t go there too far and too expensive If I go from Indonesia
September 10, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Awesome. I wish I could spend 5K to attend it, but I guess I am not at that level yet… Maybe some time in the future…
P.S. Your new theme looks great, but broken in IE7 in many places, elements go out of borders and such… needs a few “clear:both;” properties set and a few other fixes…
September 11, 2009 at 2:17 am
Money is secondary next to the ability to hear from and network with individuals who’ve mastered online revenue and marketing strategies.
The other very-crucial component that Elite Retreat provides, as pointed out in Des Walsh’s post about this event, is the follow-up mastermind calls that keep you on track. That’s gold on its own.
I may or may not qualify to attend, but I won’t know this time around since I have an engagement during that time.
September 10, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Wrong area to post this question, but when will you be doing a Q&A/Ask Jeremy on your site again?
September 10, 2009 at 7:23 pm
probably the week after next. I will be out of town next week
September 10, 2009 at 7:29 pm
I can’t pump up the Elite Retreat enough. It is the event that really launched my online career.
First off, the guy sitting next to me was Matt Mullenweg, the creating force behind wordpress.
Then I got to hear Aaron Wall speak, whose SEO knowledge was just comepletely insane.
Then I hung out that night with Jay Yukes, Neil Patel, Andy Liu, and Dave Dellanave, and for the first time ever really understood what went on “behind the scenes” in the big internet companies, and how the big money was made.
Just the contacts alone were easily worth 10X the cost of the Elite Retreat. In fact if I had not gone, and just went to the regular conferences, it would have taken me 10 years to create the contacts and connections I made.
Am I just saying this because Jeremy helps me so much? YES! And I got to know Jeremy at the Elite Retreat!
So if you are wondering if you should go, then GO!!!!!
September 10, 2009 at 8:19 pm
The lineup of speakers is an online marketing dream team: Seth Godin, Aaron Wall, Neil Patel, Jeremy!
Unfortunately the costs of international travel from Australia + event + accomm are prohibitive /cries.
September 10, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Hey Jeremy
Its nice to see that you are keep changing and keep doing experiment with the layout of your blog.
But what is this Votes … This one is really looking nice and we expect that this will help us to spend more and more time on your blog.
September 11, 2009 at 1:35 am
Really awesome. I wish i could attend it especially to meet Seth Godin.
September 11, 2009 at 2:16 am
I am familiar with the Elite Retreat after reading about it earlier this year and already knew that it was pricey. I have film and video budgets that cost less than this retreat. Maybe one day I’ll get there…maybe one day…!
September 11, 2009 at 10:20 am
Legend has it that Pablo Picasso was sketching in the park when a bold woman approached him.
“It’s you — Picasso, the great artist! Oh, you must sketch my portrait! I insist.”
So Picasso agreed to sketch her. After studying her for a moment, he used a single pencil stroke to create her portrait. He handed the women his work of art.
“It’s perfect!” she gushed. “You managed to capture my essence with one stroke, in one moment. Thank you! How much do I owe you?”
“Five thousand dollars,” the artist replied.
“B-b-but, what?” the woman sputtered. “How could you want so much money for this picture? It only took you a second to draw it!”
To which Picasso responded, “Madame, it took me my entire life.”
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The value you gain from Elite Retreat will continue throughout your lifetime. If you are looking at the cost as an expense for a 2 day conference you have missed the point. Thus endeth sermon.
September 11, 2009 at 10:20 am
Unfortunately, I think for those of us just starting out, something like this is just a dream, but I cannot wait till I can attend!
September 11, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Considering you’re the man organizing this I’m sure it will be an awesome experience for all the attendee.
The “65% returning members” speaks volumes itself about the value of ER.
September 17, 2009 at 9:29 am
best of luck with the events