026- 2020 Conferences
Have you thought about attending a pet care conference this year? Or maybe you don't even know where to begin. On this week's bonus episode, we bring on the CEOs and organizers from three of the largest conferences taking place this year. We can't wait for you to hear from them and what they have in store.
International Boarding & Pet Services Association: https://www.ibpsa.com/pet-care-business-events/
Texas Pet Sitters Conference: https://www.txpetsitters.com
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
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Collin 0:15
I'm Collin
Unknown Speaker 0:16
and I'm Meghan. And this is pet sitter confessional, and open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter, brought to you
Collin 0:23
by time to pet. Have you thought about attending a pet care conference this year? Or maybe you don't even know where to begin? On this week's bonus episode, we bring on the CEOs and organizers from three of the largest conferences taking place this year. We can't wait for you to hear from them and what they have in store. First, let's hear from Carmen from international boarding and pet Services Association.
Carmen 0:47
Hello, everyone. My name is Carmen restin. Beck. I'm the founder and CEO of international boarding and pet Services Association, otherwise known as ibps A
Collin 0:59
and you have a copy conference coming up this year. Could you tell us about that?
Carmen 1:03
I do. So we have an annual conference every year around the first of October. This year, our conference is September 27. Through the first of October, that's a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. We usually have pre conference on Sunday, Monday. And at the pre conference, we do things like a pricing for profit, which is a two day 16 hour class where we walk through a small business and how they price their pet care services. And then on Mondays we usually do pet CPR first aid. And then for those individuals who are looking to come into the industry and actually work in the industry, in a facility environment, we usually provide a full day of all the things they need to know if they want to convert a commercial building into a facility or if they want to build from the ground up.
Collin 1:54
Wow, that sounds like an awful lot. How How did this all get started?
Carmen 2:00
Well, 10 years ago, the association was started to help facility owners specifically start thinking about how pet care services were changing, and to help them and the small business life cycle. So I think this is how we ended up started reaching out beyond facility owners. We started having vets come talk to us. And then we started having dog walkers and pet sitters and other people who were running small businesses and they needed that small business help. So then our eight years ago, we started having a conference It was very, very small, with less than 100 people. And everybody was in the same room and we ran for a couple of days. Well, as the conference grew first we had to grow. And so the conference has gone through many, many changes over the years. This year, we're expecting 750 to 1000 people and we have space for 75 exhibitors and we can double that space. if we need to. For the exhibitors, so this year, our eighth year, it's just getting bigger and bigger.
Collin 3:05
That's, that's really cool. Why do you think conferences like this are important for pet sitters and pet care providers?
Carmen 3:13
I think that it's really important from a business perspective. For pet sitters and other pet care providers who do this for this is their life. This is what they're doing. They believe that this is their calling, to come together at a conference situation and learn about what other small business owners are doing. And if they want to expand on the type of services they that they offer, this is an opportunity for them to sit with other people who have maybe tried to expand into other services, and it failed, or they found a perfect way to implement another service or maybe they found a new app that really helped their business. So this is a perfect opportunity to sit in in a room with people from literally all over the world to talk about how they run their business. And what kind of services they have for their pets. The other thing is, is for those small business owners who have employees, this is a time to say, Hey, you know what, I'm having this problem with my employees, as anybody else had this problem, and sort of tried to use the community to help with problems that otherwise you're sort of struggling to solve on your own. And then another reason why is that because it is a conference, we bring in professional speakers. This year, we're looking at a minimum of 32 speakers. And so you don't get to attend every class you have to pick and choose. But we want you to have a professional in their field coming to give you education and help you increase your knowledge so that you go back and you can look at your business and say, Okay, I have three things from conference I can implement, and I can implement that January 1 to 2021. And that's our goal
Collin 4:56
with almost 1000 participants and vendors and all These concurrent sessions that are going on, how would you recommend somebody prepare to come to your conference?
Carmen 5:07
I have to say I have to do the same thing when I go to conferences. So as, as an association executive, I attend about five conferences a year. And so I myself have to look at what is the conference offering? And what is it that I really need to get nailed down this year for, for the association. So I read every page of the conference catalog or online, I go through who all the speakers are, what exactly they're offering, what the goal of that session is. And then once I've read through all the sessions, then I pick at least the top three that are important to me and then I go down from there until I have a full schedule. I'm also if there's an exhibitor I want to meet, I make sure I know where they are on the exhibit floor, and if it's possible to reach out to them before I get to conference, I'll reach out to them and say, I'm going to be at this conference. I've got this time allotted, can you meet me at that time I have these things I need to discuss with you. And so I'm very forward planning on that. And so for me, I usually do that about 30 to 60 days before the conference starts. So I know exactly what I'm doing.
Collin 6:19
Yeah, just a little bit of prep time can really help you get the most out of out of the conference, so that you know where things are, when they are and who you want to talk to.
Carmen 6:29
Exactly. And then and then if you find that, you know what, I'm going to have this hour and a half or two hours of time, where there's not really a classes being offered, and there's not an exhibitor out there, that's when you can find out who else is going to conference. And you can start doing some meetups with other people that may be going to the same conference that you know in your circle. So that is important to do those meetups also or set time aside to just sit and contemplate what you've just been in an obsession so you know, you're going to eight hours a day training every day, I think it's okay for you to say, you know what, I've done four hours of training, I need 45 minutes where I can just sit down and think about what I would I need to do next because ours is a lot of information, right. So. So I think it's good also to plan some rest time in some fun time because most most of the time picker service providers, they're going 24, seven 365 days a year, and the only time they get any time to themselves is when they go to a conference. So I think it's also important that they plan some downtime so they can think about what they're learning, and just have a moment to relax.
Collin 7:38
Yeah, don't discount how powerful having that downtime can be at a conference like this. And then as you mentioned, the community time going to meetups and connecting with other people outside of those trainings, can really help you get the best and the most out of this kind of conference.
Carmen 7:55
Absolutely. Absolutely. And this year, we've changed our conference up we To run our conference, so a vendor trade show from 730 in the morning to 730 and evening, this year, we've changed it up. We're going to start at 730 in the morning, but we're going to 5pm and the reason for that is that allows more in the evenings for people to get together with each other, and do meetups and go out special places this year or conferences in Orlando, Florida. And we're going to be at the Rosen Shingle Creek. It's a beautiful facility has swimming pools golf course right downtown in Orlando. So lots of activities for you to get away from the conference site and go away with friends and have some downtime and him said that community communication in the evenings
Collin 8:40
what would you say sets this conference apart from others this year?
Carmen 8:45
I think this year probably the thing that's going to set it apart is how many different speakers we've brought on and how many tracks we brought on. So for this year. I think right now we're up to 10 different tracks and those tracks sort of look Are you? Are you coming into the industry? And what things you need to know to come in? Are you getting ready to retire out of the industry? So what is your succession plan or your exit plan look like? Then we have a whole new section that we were adding this year, which is our wellness section where we're going to talk about suicide and things that you need to do for mental health either for yourself or for your employees. And it sounds like a horrible issue to address but really, in just the boarding industry in the last four months, I've had many facilities call me and either they've had a suicide by an employee of their facility or they have employees that are in stress. And so I think that this wellness section that we've added this year is going to be really really helpful for small business owners to understand what there's it may be experiencing themselves, or what their employees are experienced and helping get ahead of the game before it gets too late, most tragic event happens also, we're doing operations. We're doing things like do you have a safety plan? What happens if you are taking care of pets and you have a tornado or a flood, you have everything in place that you need protection of your, your staff or your software, the information that you're using to communicate to the pet owners about the state of their pets that are in your care. So we've got a lot of different things going on, to where we hope that we've met at least three or four needs for every person who attends.
Collin 10:33
Yeah, I'd say given the amount that you're offering, it'd be hard not to and I hope, I hope people don't discount that, that wellness and that mental health section and that track because that, that doesn't get talked an awful lot about especially in this industry, where we tend to be either by ourselves or so busy, that we don't really take time. So I hope that if people are listening to this and they say that's, oh, that that wouldn't be for me. Trust me. It's for you and everybody. Whether it's for you directly or people around you so that you know how to help her warning signs to look out for?
Carmen 11:06
Yes, absolutely. Because when I think one of the top things that I get concerned about in the industry when I talk to facility owners and and small business owners in general, is that I'm tired, I never get a break. I never get arrested that burnout can happen. And that's a very dangerous place to be when you as the business owner, use the pick your source provider get to the point to burn out. That's when silly stuff happens in your life that you don't really need. So we really we this year, our focus is let's let's be healthy, be healthy starting 2021.
Collin 11:36
So apps. Absolutely. Could you remind us again of the date, location and where people can go to get registered.
Carmen 11:44
So the date is September 27. through October 1. That's a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. We're going to be at the Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, Florida. And the website for registration is not yet up, but when it goes up, it'll be posted. Care conference.com. And you will be able to see every speaker, their bio, their picture, and what they'll be discussing and the top three points that you'll get from that class. So you'll be able to view all the classes, you'll be able to view where all the exhibitors will be on the trade show floor. And you'll be able This year, we're going to ask people to register for each class so we can see what classes are filling up quickly. And if we have a class that's not filling up at all, then we'll switch out that class to offer a different a different subject matter that might be of more interest. So pet care conference calm, and that September 27, through October 1 this year.
Collin 12:41
Carmen, thank you so much for coming on and sharing that with us today. And I hope that sellers can start scheduling that in and looking at those those tracks and those things that resources that are there and plan on attending.
Unknown Speaker 12:52
Thank you calling. It was great to speak with you and your audience today.
Collin 12:55
And now Kathy with the Texas pet sitters conference.
Cathy 12:58
Hi, I'm Kathy Vaughn. I own and operate Cathy's critter care professional pet sitting services in San Antonio, Texas and surrounding areas. And I'm also one of the co founders of the Texas pet sitters conference.
Unknown Speaker 13:13
Tell us about the pet sitters conference.
Cathy 13:16
So it's called the Texas pet sitters conference simply because it's in Texas, but it's not just for Texas pet sitters. We have pet sitters that come from all over the place. And we This will be our fifth conference that we're doing in February, the 23rd and 24th of February will be doing year number
Unknown Speaker 13:35
five. How did it get started?
Cathy 13:39
2015. My other co founder, Michelle Romano, and I were talking about going to another conference and how expensive it was the tickets alone were over $400 at that time, hadn't taken advantage of the early bird pricing and we were just looking at it and I was like, you know, I was in business at that time. Probably the would have been around 17 years at that point. So for me, it was expensive. It was challenging, but it was doable. But I knew the people needing this information, maybe brand new, how are they going to afford a $400 conference, a weekend away from their business, potentially earning income, you know, that weekend, so they would miss out on that. They'd have to pay for a hotel, they'd have to pay for an airfare. We started adding it up, and it was upwards of 1500 dollars, that it would cost people to go. And Michelle looked at me and she said, we should do a conference here and just keep it low costs. And I do you think we could and she said, Why currently? These are people doing conferences, right? Why couldn't wait. She said, I don't care if two people show up on whatever, but let's just try it. Okay, let's do it. And so that idea that was August of 2015. And that was our springboard for our first conference in February of 2016.
Collin 14:59
Wow. Why do you think conferences like this are so important to the pet care professional?
Cathy 15:05
I think it's super important to open yourself up to learning opportunities. Um, both online conferences and in person conferences are important just for education and staying at the top of your games staying forefront of what's going on in the industry. Things change so rapidly with what medications are out there what is, you know, the best new harness and what's, you know, there's, there's things are always changing. So when you go to these conferences, you'll realize, Oh, my gosh, I didn't even know that I didn't know that. And it just opens up your mind to a whole other avenue and then also, the in person conferences are just great to meet people. People that are doing the same thing you are day in and day out, bounce ideas off of people. How did you really how did you shift from all pets to just that there? How did you shift vacation care to just dog walks and things like that or how did you Expand from just you to a staff of five. And so bouncing ideas face to face off of people are so much more organic and it feels right then possibly online.
Collin 16:14
So if someone's considering going, how should they prepare beforehand to for the conference,
Cathy 16:21
and be ready to learn, be ready for your brain to be full. No matter how many conferences I've been to, and I go to two or three a year, I leave and I feel like I'm just mentally exhausted because there's so much information. So chances are, you're probably going to get, you know writing instruments and paper and things like that. So you probably don't need to bring that try to connect with people ahead of time. If there's a Facebook group or anything like that, that's part of the conference, try to connect with people and see where they're staying, you know, and then meet them face to face. So that's kind of a soft introduction before you meet them at the conference. Like that, preparing for the speakers, you can look at where the speakers are from, what their history is and kind of see what they bring to the table as well.
Collin 17:11
What would you say makes the Texas pet sitter conference so unique?
Cathy 17:15
Well, we are grassroots. We are low cost. So we, our mission at the beginning was to provide a high quality conference that was low cost for attendees. So our registration costs even not early bird for a full day and a half of conference, launch t shirt, swag bag is 149. Now I do have a coupon code for listeners that are confessional. So it's not for that, but we're super low cost and we're not as big as some of the national conferences can be we do we are well attended. So there are going to be a lot of people there and they're going to be from year one to year 20 too. I know a couple customers who've been in business longer than I have and they're going to be there too. So I have in place some don't some never want employees. So we're just a grassroots low cost, high quality. Come as you are. A lot of people call it their family reunion of pet sitters. In Texas, for people who don't know that the state motto of Texas is where the friendly state. Our conference is super friendly.
Collin 18:33
Can you remind us of the date location and where people can go to register with that discount?
Cathy 18:39
Absolutely. Um, the day is the actual conference is the 23rd and 24th of February. We are having a kickoff party this Saturday night before so Saturday night, the 22nd if you kind of want to come in and have a couple drinks and meet a couple pet sitters, and then the actual conference 23rd 24th of February. We are in schertz, Texas SAS ch er TZ, we're on the northeast side of San Antonio this year. And the website is www Of course, whoever has to say that. The pet sitters.com. And there you can find the schedule, you can find the speakers, registration info, everything is there on the website.
Collin 19:25
M and what was that code people could enter for a discount when they're
Unknown Speaker 19:28
registered? So it's p. s, c, for professional 22. Zero.
Collin 19:36
Awesome. Wonderful. Well, it sounds like it's gonna be
Cathy 19:39
$20. So it's $129. I mean, even if you can only come for a day or whatever. Yeah.
Collin 19:46
Yeah, sounds like it's gonna be a great time. There's a lot going on there. Some great speakers. And definitely people should look into that one to go. It's gonna be it's gonna be a lot of fun.
Cathy 19:55
Yeah, we hope to see y'all there.
Collin 20:00
You heard about time to pack. Doug from back to the bone Petcare has this to say time to pay his maid managing my team and clients so much easier. Our clients love the easy to use app and scheduling features and our sitters love being able to have all of their information organized and easily accessible. My favorite feature is the instant messaging by keeping conversations on time to pet we are able to monitor our team and ensure nothing ever falls through the cracks. If you are looking for new pet sitting software for your business, give time to pet a try as a listener of pet sitter confessional, you'll get 50% off your first three months when you sign up at time to pet.com slash confessional. Next, we'll hear from Beth with pet sitters International.
Beth 20:43
I'm Beth stills, Houston. I'm president of pet sitters International. And for those who may not be familiar, pet sitters international is the largest Educational Association for professional pet sitting and dog walking business owners. I
Collin 20:57
know you have a couple different conferences coming up this year to tell us about those
Beth 21:02
we do. We actually have two annual conferences. Our first conference is an online conference. And this year that's scheduled for Wednesday, March 4, and that is our pet sitter world online conference. And then in the fall, we have an annual in person conference. And this year, our pet sitter world educational conference, which is in person is being held in St. Louis, Missouri, and that's taking place October 2 through fourth.
Collin 21:26
How did these get started?
Beth 21:28
psi was actually founded in 1994 by Patty Moran, he hosted the first psi conference that very next year 1995. And so from the very beginning, having that in person, a networking and learning opportunity for members was very important to her. So the first in person conference was in 1995, and those have continued annually since then. But then last year, um, really just based on requests from members and others in the industry. We decided to host our first ever online conference in 2019. That's going to be an annual offering going forward as well. What can
Collin 22:03
people expect in the online conference versus the in person conference?
Beth 22:07
Well, the online conference, the in person conference, the agendas are completely different. And we like to point that out because some people here online conference, they wonder if we're just streaming or in person conference. And that's not what that is. The online conference just have completely different speakers and topics. And so the online is a one day event. It actually kicks off the night before we have a private Facebook group just for attendees. And so we'll have some Fx tivities and networking opportunities and a private Facebook group the night before on March 3. And then on the actual conference day, March 4, the session starts at 10am Eastern Time, and the sessions go throughout the day with the last session ending around 545 in the evening, and then we wrap up in that private Facebook group at six with some door prize drawings and wrap up activities.
Collin 22:53
That's pretty involved. Doesn't sound like it's your typical online conference.
Beth 22:57
I know we looked at you know, what we tried to do and what we heard from our members and others in the industry really, is that there are many pet sitters who want to attend in person conferences. And we strongly recommend that we encourage all businesses to really make it a goal to be able to take time away from their business, and to attend an in person pet sitter conference. But we know that's not always possible for everyone. Maybe some years you can some years you can't. Or sometimes we have lots of members who do attend the in person conference, but wanted another learning opportunity throughout the year. So what we try to do with our online conference is make a take what's best about the in person conference, and see how we can recreate that an online virtual event. And so that's why we have the networking activities in a private group. I know in our in person conference, one of attendees favorite things is their swag bag. And so of course, we can't offer online conference attendees of a bag of items, but we even do a virtual swag bag for online conference. So we really looked at those elements of networking and learning and thought how can we recreate that in an online conference? And really give those who maybe can't come in person, that same kind of feeling.
Collin 24:04
You touched on it a little bit. And I'd like for you to expand on this as to why conferences are so important for a pet care professional.
Beth 24:14
I'm glad you asked you really here at psi. We are huge proponents of conferences, both online and in person. I think that conferences really offer pick your business owners opportunities for continuing education, and for networking. And those are really two things that are so vital for the success of any small business. And I think that's especially true in the pet sitting industry and your commitment to ongoing education. And continuing learning as a professional pet sitter really sets you apart from non professionals. And then you're networking you're building business relationships, and then also just forging friendships with others who understand your profession and it's really priceless to pet sitters and dog walkers, both in building your business, but also just having that support network which is so essential, you know, pit sitter is an island. So we really think that finding those opportunities are so important for those in the pits in the industry.
Collin 25:07
I think most of the time people typically think of the the educational aspect of it and don't really think of how important that networking friendships and building and fostering relationships is for you, as the business owner
Beth 25:21
is so true. And of course, the education aspect is paramount. And so we work really hard for both our online and in person conferences, to pick a topics that are of really relevant and important for today's pet sitters and dog walkers. But yeah, I mean that networking and I do, I will say that we I think psi does a really great job of offering networking for the online conference, but nothing beats that in person networking. And that's what we always hear from pet sitters who attend our annual in person conference is they didn't realize before coming, what a difference being face to face with other pet sitters. Being able to make those connections in person would really mean to them Because we often find that while we do carefully select our speakers and topics, so much of the learning takes place outside of session times, just in those conversations at dinner with other pet sitters, are you chatting in between sessions and we find that attendees, you know, leave the conference with a new idea, or just some encouragement, it really changes their business that they got from talking with other attendees.
Collin 26:22
So with these conferences being so important and vital to to continuing as a business owner, how would you recommend people prepare both for the online conference and the in person conference before before they even started attending,
Beth 26:36
you know, for both conferences, whether online or in person, always say you could go into conferences with both an open mind and then also a specific plan? You know, what I mean by that is, you know, in advance, are there any, you know, specific areas of business that you need help with? Are there any specific questions that you have that you would like answered by attending that conference, but then at the same time, while you have that specific plan in mind, you'll be open to learning new things, learning things that maybe you don't think are relevant to your business right now. You know, what we find is that businesses grow and change. And so something that you know, a session you might participate in, or an idea that you may get now that doesn't really seem relevant, or it wouldn't work for your business. And you may find that in five years, that idea is very beneficial. Because your business has changed. I'd also say, and I really, we really stressed this at our in person conference, also online, is to be open minded regarding who you can learn from. I think we all go to conferences with the mindset of I'm going to learn from the speakers, which is, which is wonderful. But a lot of times I see brand new pet sitters and say, you know, I'm going to go to the conference, I'm going to try to introduce myself to veteran sitters to sort of pick their brain, see what I can learn, which we think is a great idea. But even the opposite can also be true. So we tell our veteran pet sitters and you know realize that yes, you can learn from others who are at the same level of businesses you you can learn from those more experienced. But don't miss opportunity. Nice to network with those who are new to the industry, who maybe haven't been pitching as long, because you know, they can still offer new ideas and a fresh perspective. And that can really help your business as well. So you want to be open minded in that way. Also,
Collin 28:13
yeah, there's, there's so much that can be shared between people. And as you mentioned, I love I love hearing that of everybody can learn something at any stage of their business.
Beth 28:23
Exactly. And our conferences in both online and in person, we find that we have people at all stages of their business from those who are aspiring pet sitters who haven't actually officially opened their business yet, to those who are new business owners growing their business and then established business owners. And so seeing them all come together in a learning and networking environment is really inspirational because we see the ideas that are shared, how they can sit in the same session, but come away with different takeaways that really they can apply to their business. And so having that really diverse environment is really important.
Collin 28:55
I'm curious as to what you would say is what makes psi conferences so unique,
Beth 29:01
you know that that? That's a good question and we one, one thing that comes to mind is that, you know, to my best knowledge, our annual Pittsburgh annual educational conference is the only pet sitter specific in person conference with it with a national or really an international audience. There are some that I know that are more regional focus, which, which I think is great also, but our conference brings together a pet sitters from across the US and Canada. And then we often have international attendees as well. But in addition to that, I would just say, our people. Now the in the online conference is open to both members and non members. The in person conference is reserved for members, but the people that we bring together, I just can't say enough about them. I think when you have these people that come to a conference, they're committed to professionalism. They're committed to learning as much as they can also sharing their knowledge. That's really where the magic happens. Could
Collin 29:56
you remind us of the date, location and where people can go register.
Beth 30:01
Sure. So first is pet sitter world online conference. And that will take place on Wednesday, March 4. And I also should point out that all those sessions are recorded. So if anyone registers for the online conference and can attend all the sessions that day, they'll also get access to the recordings. That is March 4. And then our pet sitter world educational conference, which is the in person conference in St. Louis, and that's October 2 through fourth. And so both of those conferences if you want to learn more, or learn how to register, you can go to pet sitter comm slash conferences, and the information for both as well as the registration links are on the website. Thank
Collin 30:36
you so much, Beth, thank you very much, whether online or in person, I hope you're considering going to a conference this year.
As you heard, it's so much more than just the continuing education. As important as that is it's also about building and fostering relationships and learning from one another. These conferences are so diverse and have such a wide variety of options. Sit down and see which one is right for you. A big thank you to time dependent sponsoring this week's episode? Is there a conference that you love attending that we didn't cover in this week's episode? Reach out and tell us about it. We'd love to cover it on a future episode. You can send feedback questions, stories and suggestions to feedback at pet sitter confessional.com. You can also reach out to us on Facebook and Instagram where we are pet sitter confessional and we're on Twitter, PS confessional. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week.
Keywords: conference, pet sitters, people, business, pet, important, industry, sitter, learning, year, attend, speakers, networking, day, business owners, online, confessional, person, PSI, Texas
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