Recently, I was part of something truly incredible. As a speaker at Darnyelle Jervey's three day conference - Unleash Your Incredible Factor 2014 - I expected to give me talk on the 10 Facts About the Law Every Business Owner Needs to Know, make contacts and maybe pick up a client or two while I learned more about marketing from Darnyelle and the other speakers.
I should have known better.
After all, I'd met Darnyelle before and knew how magnetic she is. We'd had a 90 minute coaching session that still stands as one of the best use of funds in my business. But I hadn't really internalized what who Darnyelle was meant, and would mean in a large group.
The experience was educational, transformational, inspiring, energizing, and invigorating. In short, incredible.
As a lawyer I need to take 12 hours of continuing legal education every year. As a writer I've been to a number of seminars. Hundreds, if not thousands, of seminar and conference hours. Most conferences are fairly boring. Or there are too many people to make meaningful connections. Or the speakers are guarded better than the gold in Fort Knox. Most "marketing" conferences are high on "rah-rah-rah" but low on content. Before Unleash I'd only been to one conference that was more. I've written about Superstars Writing Seminar before so I won't go into any depth here. One thing remarkable about Superstars is how close the attendees become during the conference. There's a reason we have "Tribe" t-shirts.
Unleash was a "business revival." One of the attendees at Unleash said that Darnyelle's pulpit is business, and I think the attendee had it right. Not only did the seminar focus on concrete steps to shift your business and life to their next level, but also there was something undeniably more happening.
While in some ways Unleash 2014 will be one of those things "you just had to be there for," I'm going to do my best to convey some sense of that more.
The more started on the first night. Well, maybe sooner, as Darnyelle started the conference by stating that she believed in God, and would refer to him during the next 3 days. It was okay if you called that force fate, universe, or another entity but for her IT was God. We came back after dinner for our night session (7pm - 9pm). Darnyelle had us to the whisper exercise in which one group would think about the word or phrase they needed to hear before they could move on to their next stage and then whisper that word or phrase into the ear of the second group who stood with eyes closed. Even typing this now I get little shivers thinking of the event.
There were about 225 attendees for the conference and probably 180 people at the whisper session. It was impossible in the time allotted to whisper to or hear everyone. But somehow as we walked around that room or waited for the word the people with the right words found those who needed to hear them.
I don't think I've ever been to a conference with as much crying. Some tears were the slow quiet ones of joy and others were the body wracking ones of release. You couldn't be in that room without feeling Something More.
Darnyelle later said that the whisper exercise was usually something she did on the last day of her conferences, but she'd felt the need for the exercise on the first day. The sense of more continued through the three days. It's hand rested lightly on all of us. Moving some to speak stories they'd never told anyone. Some found their next purpose.
What I do know is none of us left the as the same people we were when we arrived. We'd shifted out mindset - both for our business and our lives.
So, what can I tell you about Unleash?
You need to go in 2015. Even if you don't have your own business. Yet. The marketing and business knowledge you will gain is well worth the price of admission. You can apply it to whatever job you have or want to have. You can use the information to take your business to its next level. The people you'll connect with are priceless. You'll be part of something more, something greater than any one person.
In short, you'll unleash the incredible inside you.
Thank you, Darnyelle and all your incredible staff!
