Show notes:

It’s that time of the year where I recap everything I learnt this year during my trip to Las Vegas (and San Francisco). Wedding MBA is one of my favourite times of the year, you can’t help but be inspired when speaking at the worlds biggest wedding industry conference. I share all the lessons learnt on my travels and you will hear from some of the speakers and sponsors of my new event Wed Pros Live about why they think Wedding Industry Conferences are ALWAYS worth attending.

Attend Wedding MBA 2026 (Use code Becca at checkout)

Attend Wed Pros Live in Ireland or London in 2026

Time Stamps:

00:14 – Recap of Lessons from Vegas

02:24 – Lessons from Vegas: The Importance of Premium Service

15:54 – Creating Inclusive Spaces: The Importance of Community

25:18 – The Importance of Content Creation

Transcript:

Becca
00:00:00.240 – 00:39:23.700
It probably hasn’t escaped your notice, but I’ve just got back from Las Vegas for the third year in a row attending and speaking at Wedding mba. While in my world, what happens in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas because I love to share it with all of you.

In today’s episode, I’m going to be giving you a recap of all the lessons learned in Vegas this year. I’m Becca Poutney, Wedding Business Marketing expert, speaker and blogger, and you’re listening to the Wedding Pros who Are Ready to Grow podcast.

I’m here to share with you actionable tips, strategies and real life examples to help you take your wedding business to the next level.

If you are an ambitious wedding business owner that wants to take your passion and use it to build a profitable, sustainable business doing what you love, then you’re in the right place. Let’s get going with today’s episode. If you followed any of my social media channels, you will have seen my Las Vegas content all over the place.

And you know what? I’m even wearing my Las Vegas jumper to celebrate today’s episode.

In today’s episode, I’m going to be talking you through all the lessons I learned at this year’s Wedding mba. And out in Vegas, I’m going to be talking about why I think these wedding industry conferences and events are so important for you.

And I’m going to be giving you some little updates as well from some of the speakers and sponsors of WED Pros Live. So let’s dive straight in. Now, the first thing I want you to know is that this year I decided to do my trip a little bit differently.

It’s a long way to fly and for the last two years I’ve just flown directly to Las Vegas, spent the weekend in Las Vegas, and then had the week long conference in Vegas as well. But having spent the last two years doing a weekend in Vegas, I decided this time why not go somewhere else.

So me and Trudy, who came with me, decided this year to spend the weekend in San Francisco. So although this episode is called Things I Learned in Vegas, there are going to be a few little San Francisco things thrown in along the way.

So we spent the weekend in San Francisco and then we flew internally into Las Vegas on the Monday, ready for the conference.

If you’ve never heard of Wedding mba, it’s one of the biggest wedding industry conferences, if not the biggest wedding industry conference in the world. It takes place in Las Vegas every November. Approximately five and a half thousand attendees were there this year.

There’s an incredible energy, incredible educators, speakers, a huge exhibition floor and you have to see it to believe it. It really is one of the highlights of my year.

And to speak there was on my bucket list for a long time and it’s been a privilege to do so for the last couple of years. More on that later.

But let’s start with the beginning of my trip and the first lesson I learned this year whilst I was out in the States actually happened before I got there. I want to talk to you about, number one, how simple changes can make a service premium.

If we want to charge more, especially when we’re starting to talk about the luxury market or the high end market, but even to just give good customer service at the mid range of the market, then we talk a lot about luxury. But what does this actually mean? What makes a service premium and how can we learn from what other people are doing?

Well, this year as we were flying out to San Francisco, we were due to fly in Economy Delight. So on Virgin Airplanes you have Economy, Economy Delight, Premium and Business or upper Class. And we had our flight booked in Economy Delight.

And long story short, I was sat at the airport and I decided to go and find out how much it would cost to upgrade our tickets from Economy Delight to Premium. As a little treat on our way out to San Francisco and as a surprise to Trudy who didn’t know that I was going to do it anyway.

I had a budget in my head. I went to the ticket desk, they did indeed have some premium seats available and it was within my budget, so I went for it. We only live once.

Why not enjoy a very long flight and do it in a little bit of style? So I upgraded my tickets to premium and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

I cannot tell you how much more I enjoyed that flight flying in Premium than I would normally do in Economy or Economy Delight.

But the reason I share this with you is not to tell you all I had a great experience, which I did, but to show you that actually it’s the little things, it’s the small things that turn a service to premium and and make it suddenly feel very valuable and worth paying for. Now, a 10 hour flight anywhere is a long time.

We know that it’s uncomfortable and of course as soon as you upgrade to any other seats, you’re going to get those normal perks like extra legroom and extra wide seats. We expect those things and you travel in comfort.

But here are some of the unexpected perks that I would say made a difference and they’re not particularly costly for them to do. So the first thing was the way we were made to feel the moment we stepped on the plane.

So as soon as we took our seat, we bought a glass champagne while everyone else was still being boarded onto the flight.

And all this was, obviously the champagne’s nice, but the reason it made you feel premium is you felt welcomed, you felt special and you felt cared about.

So from the moment you sat down on that plane at the start of a very long 10 hour journey, before they’d even shut the doors of the plane, you were already being given something, you were being served and welcomed. They also had obviously looked at the tickets and knew us by name. Now, I’m sure they had to keep going and checking their lists.

I don’t expect them even to learn all of the names of the premium passages. Remember, we’re not even in upper here. This is just premium. But they came and they said, rebecca, do you like to drink?

Would you like a glass of champagne? And little things like that make a service feel premium.

And when we were in the air halfway between London and America, we were served the cup of tea that you often get. Cup of tea or coffee on a flight. Now this is nothing new.

Everyone gets a cup of tea or a coffee on a flight, but what made it premium, it was served to us in a china mug. Now, on a normal day, serving me a cup of tea in a china mug wouldn’t feel particularly premium.

But when you’re up in the sky and you’re used to getting that plastic cup that I always get when I have my cup of tea and it tastes slightly odd to suddenly be served a cup of tea in a china mug felt like an amazing thing. We took photos of it, right? When you’re up in the sky, anything feels special, right?

But again, a really simple change that made something feel premium. And the final thing was the speed of the service.

So, you know, at the end of, or at the end of a meal on a flight, you eat your meal off your little tray and then what I find is that your tray is then sat there for ages because they’ve got to go and serve everyone else and then they’ve got to clear everyone else away and that process just takes a long time.

However, when I was sat in premium, the moment, and I mean, like 30 seconds after I’d finished the last bite and put all of my cutlery back on my tray, someone came and took it away. Another really small thing that suddenly made that experience feel more premium. So why am I sharing this stuff with you?

Well, I want to encourage you to look at your offering and to look at your business and realize that you can offer premium levels of service without it costing you a lot. You just need to look at where those points are that you could add in a little bit of extra value, and it could be something very, very simple.

It doesn’t need to be earth shattering to give someone a premium experience and then to justify charging them a whole lot more. If I told you how much I paid extra to get my cup of tea in a china mug, it would be ridiculous. But in that moment, it made it feel worth it.

So take from that what you will. Okay? My second thing that I learned was actually in San Francisco. I’d never been to San Francisco before. It was a great city.

I really enjoyed spending the weekend getting to know it and to see all of the different sites. But one of the things I’d been told about before I went was this new technology called Waymo.

If you haven’t heard of Waymo, essentially it’s a driverless car. Is the first driverless car service. Yes, that’s right. These cars have no driver.

And I’d heard about it and I’d read about it, and I heard mixed reviews about whether people like them or not. And so I absolutely knew I wanted to try one of these out when I was in San Francisco. Number one, for the experience, to see what it was like.

And number two, because I knew it would make great content for social media as well. And it did. It was really fun. So we decided to do this. Now, to order a Waymo is basically the same as ordering an Uber.

You just download the app exactly the same way as you’d order an Uber. On your phone, you put in your initials so that your initials can appear on the top of the car so you know it’s your car.

You put in where you are, where you want to go, it gives you a price, and you order the car. It feels very much the same as working with Uber and ordering an Uber or a lift. The car then comes on your app.

You have to click unlock to unlock the doors because obviously there’s no driver to do it for you. You need to make sure you’re at the right car. So it unlocks the doors, you get in, and it says, welcome, Rebecca, to Waymo.

And there’s a little screen and you push start and the car drives you all the way to your destination. No, it’s not on a special street. I’ve been asked that a Lot of times it’s just on a regular street. It’s exactly the same as getting in a normal taxi.

The difference is when you look in the driver’s seat, there’s nobody sat there and it’s just a steering wheel moving around and driving you around the place. Now, the first time we did it in San Francisco, we decided to go half a mile because we really didn’t know if we’d like it or not.

And we didn’t want to have a long journey to go on and hate it and be stuck in this car. So we chose a really short journey to go on. But we actually loved it. Here’s some of the reasons I loved it. Number one, it was so smooth.

I think the fact that it’s all automated and technology means that it drives really well. There’s no human error. There’s no human involved at all. So the drive was very smooth. We felt incredibly safe. There’s no driver there.

So, again, an extra level of safety, especially if you’re a female traveling alone or you’re worried about that. It felt very safe. Also, you could play your own music and sing along and have fun because there’s no one listening into your conversation.

So you felt very, very relaxed. And it got you to point A to point B at a reasonable cost. And it was great. We loved it so much.

We actually then only used Waymo cars for the rest of our time in San Francisco, apart from at the end when we went to the airport. And even then I looked to see if I could get a Waymo car, but it was outside of the area we could use the technology in. It blew my mind.

And I looked into it afterwards and it says it’s coming to London next year for some testing, and I’d love to see it there. I’m sure there’s all sorts of controversial views and opinions on on Waymo, but what was interesting to me is the speed of technology.

Even a couple of years ago, if you’d have told me, I’m going to get in a car with no driver and it’s going to drive around and I’m going to feel really safe, I would have laughed and not thought it possible.

But now I can see this as a real possibility in the future, and I can see how if it works and it takes off, is going to grow and grow and grow because you’re not having the things like drivers having to take breaks. You know, the Waymo can just drive and drive and drive and drive and drive until it runs out of battery.

It charges itself up and then it can drive again 24 hours a day. It feels very safe. It’s very reasonable cost.

I can see it taking off and I think it’s just a little insight into the speed in which technology and culture is shifting. Right now we’re in this crazy AI technology era and I think this is another example of where it’s going. Love it or hate it.

I can see that in a couple of years time that we’ll listen back to this podcast episode again and we’ll be going, oh, yeah, that’s totally normal. Now everyone’s getting in a driverless taxi. If you get an opportunity to go in one, I highly recommend it. I really enjoyed it.

I thought it was a really interesting experience. And yeah, would I do it again? Absolutely.

Would I love to have a driverless car sitting on my drive that drove me everywhere so I could just sit and chill in the back? Yep, probably would like that as well. But technology is coming and we need to pay attention to it.

Thing I want to talk about that I learned out in Las Vegas. This year is actually now over in Vegas. So we did our weekend in San Francisco.

We flew on the Monday flew over to Las Vegas, and on the Monday evening I was hosting drinks with a lovely Colleen Carswell as well, who was a fellow speaker for educators and speakers and friends of us to have on the first night in Las Vegas. Now, I’ve actually done this the last two years.

So the first year I was there in the same place at the same venue, I hosted some drinks, I invited a few friends. I think there was maybe six or seven of us there and we had a great night.

Last year I did it again, but my circle and my network had grown, so we had more people there. We did it as a book launch. And then this year we did it for the third time and it was absolutely packed. It was fantastic.

And for me, how exciting to see that year one, there was like six of us. And year three, suddenly there’s 30 to 35, if not more of the most influential speakers and educators and friends of mine in the industry.

They’re having drinks together. And this year our drinks were kindly sponsored by the amazing Bright Biz as well who were in attendance.

And we had a great night and we invited all of the speakers and anyone that we knew that were friends of ours. There was a couple of people there that I loved seeing who were at my very first drinks event on that first year.

And I invite them every year because it’s a great opportunity to catch up, chat but one of the things that made me sad was I actually had a couple of conversations and I’ve had a couple of follow up conversations since I got back where people have said thank you for including me. I don’t normally feel included at events like this. I don’t normally get invited to events like that. I wasn’t sure if I’d be welcome in the room.

I wasn’t sure if you would want me there if I was important enough to be there. Now, obviously for me, that breaks my heart because I am someone that wants everyone to feel welcome.

I never want anyone to feel like they’re not good enough to be in a room. Because who says that someone’s not good enough to be in a room? We’re all human, right?

The people that were there on that first year when there were six people and the people that were there this year when there was 35, 40 people when it was sponsored, I’m the same person and you’re as welcome in that room as you ever have been. It’s not an exclusive event. Now, obviously I couldn’t invite all 5,000 people from Wedding MBA. That would be insane.

But if they’re people I know, or if they ask me, of course they’re welcome in. They got me thinking is why do people not feel included?

Why do people feel like there’s this hierarchy of whether or not they can be in a room or not? And so I want to challenge you with a sentence I’ve written down here, which is this. There is a room you don’t feel good enough for.

It’s probably not a room you actually want to be in. You know, sometimes it feels like we’re outsiders. There’s these spaces and we’re desperate to be in there.

But if you don’t feel good enough to be in there, why is that? Is it your own mindset, which is something you can work on, or are you being made to feel like you’re not good enough to be in there?

And if it’s the latter, if you feel, if you’re made to feel like you’re not at the place to be there yet, then maybe actually it’s not a room you want to be in. Because we want to put ourselves in rooms which are inclusive.

We want to put ourselves in rooms that are welcoming and warm and where people embrace us.

Whoever we are, whatever our background, whatever stage of business we’re in, whether we’re serving the luxury end of the market or the DIY end of the market, we’re all human and we all have amazing value. Someone else said to me, oh, thank you for inviting me to the speaker meet and greet. I don’t normally get invited to speaker meetups.

And my reply was, why? You’re a speaker? Like, why wouldn’t you be there? Now, obviously, it’s different if you just don’t happen to know the right people.

And it may not be a personal thing, but actually if you’re feeling like you’re excluded from a space, the question is why? And do you actually genuinely want to be in that space in the first place? Just want to put out a shout out here.

So it’s publicly declared that if I’m ever hosting an event, a get together, a drinks reception, I would love to see you there. I don’t care. That year one in Las Vegas, I only had six friends. And last this year, I had a whole crowd of people.

I am still the same person and I’m no better than anyone else.

And so if you see I’m hosting an event and you ever feel like you’re not sure if you should be in that room, well, hear me tell you, you absolutely should be.

Whether you’re brand new in business and never done a wedd before, or whether you’ve been in the industry 50 years, whether you’re someone that sees yourself as a competitor to me or not. Like, you are welcome in my spaces.

And if you ever feel that you’re not sure, please reach out to me and ask and I will reassure you, you can come in. But if there are spaces that you don’t feel welcome in, ask yourself, why don’t I feel welcome there?

And therefore, actually, do I really want to be part of that? Do I want to be in a space that makes other people not feel welcome? I’ll leave you with that thought.

Okay, the next thing on my list, number four of things I learned this year, was that if you set a goal and work for it, it’s absolutely possible. You know, back in, I think it was 2022, I was interviewed on a podcast with the amazing Paul and Jesse.

And they spoke to me about my big goals for the future. And I actually listened back to the snippet of this very episode.

We might even put it on social media very recently, because I said to them, my big dream is to go and speak at the wedding summit in Las Vegas. I obviously didn’t even know what it was called at that point, but I said, I want to speak at a wedding summit in Las Vegas.

It’s the biggest summit in the world. I’ve always Dreamed of speaking there. And when I said that on that podcast, it felt like an impossible dream. I didn’t know any of the right people.

I didn’t even know. I’d never been to it. I didn’t know who organized it. I didn’t even know how they selected their speakers. But I knew that I wanted to do it.

And from the moment the end of that podcast, when I said it, I started working behind the scenes, doing some research, working out how on earth you could speak at it.

Improving my craft, getting to know the right people, making friends, making connections, talking to people on my podcast that had been there and learning about the process.

And then I worked really hard to get to the point where I can now say that I’ve stood on that stage twice, on a huge stage, in front of a thousand people at the biggest wedding industry conference in the world.

Not by luck, not by accident, not because someone plucks me out of the air and said, becca, you need to be on our stage, but because I set a goal and I worked hard towards it. Did it happen overnight? No. Did it happen that year? No. Did it happen eventually? Yes. And I’m super proud of that.

And so if you’ve got goals, dreams, ambitions, things you want to do in your business, number one, write them down, say them to someone, tell someone, get them out of your head. Don’t ever think something’s too ambitious, too big for you. Why not? Why shouldn’t you do it? And then you gotta work backwards and work.

Okay, this is the big goal I want. What are all the steps I need to do to get there? Who are the people I need to meet? Where are the places I need to go?

I knew that to speak in Las Vegas, I discovered you had to go to the conference first. And so the first year I went, I literally flew all the way there to attend the conference with the pure intention that I wanted to be able to speak.

And I knew I couldn’t do that unless I’d attended. So sometimes it’s sacrificial. Sometimes you’re going to have to go out of the box. Sometimes it’s not going to be as quick as you want it to be.

Sometimes it’s going to take a long time and a lot of effort. But if there are things you want to do, never tell yourself you’re not good enough. Never tell yourself that you can’t do it and it’s not possible.

Instead, you need to work it out, work backwards, and absolutely keep dreaming big, because it’s totally possible and it’s a pinch me moment to look back and listen to that podcast where I say, my dream is to do this. My big bucket list goal is to do this. And so now I’ve done it twice and hopefully again in the future is like, yes, Becca, well done past Becca.

You said you wanted to do it and now you’ve done it. And I’m sure you guys can achieve the similar kind of dreams too. You’ve got to know what you want to do and then look at the steps to get there.

Okay, number five on my list of lessons I’ve learned is that even a nightmare can work out. Okay, now, some of you may have seen this story over on my LinkedIn, but many of you won’t have done.

And you’ll have looked at my clips, maybe on social media of Las Vegas, and thought, yeah, Becca absolutely smashed that and did smash it in many ways. But actually something also happened where my biggest nightmare came true. Las Vegas is the biggest speaking event I do of the year.

The room is huge, and a thousand people are in there listening to your every word. You’re rated by the attendees, and so, you know, you have to be on your A game because you want to get a good rating.

They literally rate you out of 10 and it gets sent to the event organizers. And so the pressure is real.

I’d hired a photographer, a videographer, and a content creator to capture this moment because it’s a special moment of the year. Now, throughout the week, I’d noticed that my throat was getting sore and I was getting a little bit croaky.

I was trying to rest my voice at times, but it’s hard in Las Vegas to ever rest your voice. And I could feel that I. I was struggling a bit with my voice. Now, as a speaker, your voice is one of the key things you need. I’d been out.

I’d bought strepsils. I’d bought throat numbing sweets.

I had done absolutely everything I possibly could do to try my best, but my worst nightmare was, what if I choke on stage? What if. If something goes wrong and I can’t stop coughing?

Because there’d been a couple of instances that week where something had hit the back of my throat and I started coughing and I was struggling to stop. Now, this was very real in the front of my mind.

I went on stage with a big bottle of water and actually the lovely Eamonn from Brightbiz who was introducing my talk, I looked at my bottle of water and said, I think you need more in there, and actually poured some of his water into my bottle, which I’m forever thankful for, because I needed it. Anyway, I got to the stage, I got about three quarters of the way through my presentation. It was all going well. Everything was going smoothly.

I was on time. And as I said a sentence, I physically felt a piece of dust or something hit the back of my throat and. And tickle.

And I knew immediately this is not going to go well. So I caught it. Halfway through a sentence, I stopped.

I immediately walked to the lectern, picked up my bottle of water, chugged back half a bottle of water in the hope that it would stop, didn’t. So I went to speak again, and guess what happened? I just started coughing and coughing and coughing.

Every time I tried to open my mouth, it wouldn’t work. It was awful. If you think about the worst thing that could possibly happen to you on stage, that was probably one of them, right?

Other than completely freezing. And forget, say, having a coughing fit in front of a thousand people is not ideal, Especially when you’re the speaker.

And it was probably for a few seconds, but in your head it feels like minutes or hours. It’s horrible. And I’m thinking, how am I going to stop this? This is awful. How am I going to carry on?

Everyone’s probably thinking, what on earth’s going on here? It was not ideal. And it’s what nightmares are made of now.

As I struggled in this moment, this lovely lady in the front row stood up and just said, I’ve got a mint. Do you want it? And I said yes. She handed me this mint. I popped it in my mouth, I sucked it for a couple of second and I. I felt that tickle ease.

And I picked up and I carried on my presentation as if nothing had ever happened with a mint in my mouth. Now why am I sharing this story with you other than for my own humiliation? And I do actually have this all now recorded on video. Because guess what?

I paid someone to record this talk. And that is all included in the video I’ve received. I don’t know what I’m going to do with that footage. Any ideas, let me know.

Maybe it will just be hidden away forever. Maybe I’ll use it to talk about something in the future.

But it taught me a lesson because what happened was I took that mint, everyone in that room gave me a huge round of applause and I carried on. The support in the room was unreal because everyone wants you to succeed at that point. Everyone had seen my vulnerability in that moment.

Everyone could see and feel the struggle that I was in. We’ve all had a moment where something’s tickled the back of our throat and we can’t stop coughing.

And they were willing me to get through it and get to the end.

And when you have an audience of a thousand people listening to you and willing you to get to the end, that changes the energy in the room, because suddenly they’re all on your side and they want you to succeed and they want you to do well and they want you to get through it. And I did. And they gave me the biggest round of applause at the end. And the support was amazing.

So many people for the rest of the conference came up to me and said lovely words about, it doesn’t matter that that happened. It’s the fact you recovered. Oh, we’ve all been there. Oh, you did really well to get over it. And. And the support felt amazing.

In fact, we even joked that maybe I should add that as a section into every talk I do, because it changed the energy of the room so much. Now, obviously, I’m not going to do that. It was mortifying at the time.

But reflecting back, and this is what I wrote about on LinkedIn, it showed me that even the worst nightmare coming true wasn’t as bad as it was in my head.

Often people say they don’t want to do public speaking or they don’t want to put themselves forward for something because they’re scared of the worst happening. They’re frightened of freezing on stage, they’re frightened of coffee on stage, they’re frightened of making a fool out of themselves.

But actually, I lived that nightmare that people are scared of, and it was okay. I’m here to tell the tale. I haven’t got my score back yet, but I’m hoping it’s not going to be impacted by the fact I coughed halfway through.

People were behind me, the energy was great. And actually it showed me I don’t need to worry about the worst happening.

Because even if the worst happens, it’s still absolutely possible for you to style it out and carry on. So if you’re holding back from doing something in your business because you’ve got this nightmare scenario in your head, remember my coughing fit.

And remember, even if the worst case scenario happens, it won’t be as bad as you think it’s going to be. Am I proud of it? No. Is that probably one of the worst things that’s ever happened to me on stage? Absolutely. Is it the worst talk I’ve ever done? No.

Because actually, I think if anything, it was one of the best talks I’ve ever done because the whole crowd was willing me on to succeed. And I felt that they were with me, they were for me, not against me.

And the energy shift and the relationships built through me, showing that part of me that’s vulnerable and real, a human. All of the things I talk about actually worked in my favor and it was okay, so maybe I’ll release the footage of that at some point. Maybe I won’t.

Watch this space. If you’ve got any ideas what I should do with it, let me know. Okay.

The next thing that I want to share about Las Vegas is the importance of a content creator.

Now, you will know if you listen to this podcast or if you listen to me on stage, that I’ve been talking a lot over the last six months about content, video content and content creators. I think that the expectation on us now in the world of marketing to create all this video content is hard for us to keep up with.

And the best thing I ever did was hire Simona as a content creator into my business because it’s taken off some of that pressure for me whilst getting me the same visibility and results, if not more than I had before. But I couldn’t fly Simona out to Las Vegas with me. The cost would have been extortionate.

And as much as I love her, I just couldn’t afford to do that. However, I knew that there would be a content creator there at the event I could hire.

So I hired the amazing Sheena from Behind your Scenes and she goes and films speakers out at Wedding mba. I actually tried to book her last year, but I was too slow and she was already booked out.

So I decided this year I was going to get in early and say, I absolutely want to use you. So as soon as you release your spot lots, please come now. This isn’t a cheap investment.

Hiring a content creator is never going to be cheap, especially if you want someone good because the time that they need to give up spending their time with you, but also the time it takes them to sort the footage to edit. And all of the above is timely and it’s not a cheap investment, but absolutely was it worth it? 100. So I hired Sheena and she was filming the event.

So she got B roll of the actual event, she got B roll of some of the other speaker events and things like that that I was at. But importantly, she was at my talk and she filmed bits of my talk.

She filmed me after my talk, talking to the attendees, signing my books, chatting to people and what was amazing about it was that I knew that that was all going to be captured without me having to worry about it. I didn’t have to do anything.

She was just there capturing everything, putting it into these beautiful folders and sending it directly to Simona back here in the uk.

So the moment that I was on stage talking to everyone, well, number one, anything that people were tagging us in, actually, while I was on stage, Simona was at home sharing. But within a couple of hours of me being on that stage, all of that content was uploaded to a folder and given to Simona.

I went to bed that night and woke up in Las Vegas. Time to my edited reels. Going out there live on social media, being shared by the conference, getting a huge amount of visibility.

And that was only possible how? Because of a content creator. If I was having to edit it myself, it would have been impossible.

However, like, because the time, everything, it would have taken ages.

But because I had a content creator there on the day capturing exactly what I needed and someone back home editing it for me, it meant I could benefit from the buzz of that event in real time. It was absolutely amazing. And now I’ve got that footage and I can use that footage again and again and again and again.

Content creators are going to become more and more essential in your business. I really believe that, because it’s impossible to keep up with this level of content.

So if you do want to keep up, you’re going to have to start looking at outsourcing, getting someone else to film, getting someone else to edit. Because if you do it, it’s a full time job in itself. Now, I understand that sometimes we have to do it, at least to start with because of budget.

But as soon as you find budget, get someone, find the right person, don’t scrimp and save and get the cheap person or use the person that’s free with the event. Find the right person who’s going to do the right job and do it in a way that’s going to benefit you and your business. Have I seen the benefit?

Absolutely. Well worth it. Content creators are worth their weight in gold. So let’s recap then some of those lessons that I’ve learned.

And now I’m going to talk to you about some of the trending topics that were happening at the conference itself. So first of all, the way to do a premium service is sometimes simple. Simple changes can make things better. Two, technology is changing rapidly.

If we can have driverless cars, the future is, who knows what’s going to come Next, in technology, we need to pay attention to it.

Thirdly, if there’s a room that you don’t feel good enough to be in, question whether or not it’s a room you actually want to be in in the first place. Four, set a goal and work for it. Dream big and know what you want to do and you absolutely can achieve it.

Five, even your worst nightmare scenario may be okay. And six, content creators are coming, and a content creator in your business is worth its weight in goal right now.

Okay, so what were some of the big themes that were coming out in the conference itself, if you were attending or weren’t attending and wish you were attending? Well, I. Well, I think that some of the big themes I saw repeated over and over again were, number one, content. The importance of video content.

That was everywhere.

There was lots of sessions on reels, on Instagram, on TikTok, on showing up, on being visible, on getting your face on camera, like that is the big thing of the moment. If you want to grow on social media, basically the only way to grow at the moment is with video content and therefore content is king.

Creating your own content, hiring a content creator, whatever way you do it, it. You got to get out there, get your face on camera if you want to grow. The second thing was there was a lot of conversation around AI.

AI is a big topic of conversation at the moment.

How it’s impacting people, searching, how it’s impacting the way that we have our websites, chatbots, all of the above, but how quickly it’s also changing all of the time. So AI was a big topic of conversation. I even talked about it in my own talk.

I talked about how I’ve been trying to get AI to recommend my podcast as the best podcast for wedding businesses in the uk and all of the steps I’ve done to try and get that working. The third big theme I saw for sure was systems and technology.

Both the expo floor and the stages were full of people talking about different systems, technology. There is so much technology out there now designed to help you do your business better, more lean, more easy to to do amongst everything else.

Everyone is feeling overwhelmed. So any piece of system that can help you navigate that is always going to be amazing.

And in particular, helping those customers who expect a streamlined experience expect instant replies.

So yes, systems even again, I said in my talk, systems are becoming a must have, not a nice to have, because if you’re living in chaos, you need to start streamlining that because the world is getting more and more chaotic. Systems exist. We need to utilize them to our benefit. And the final thing was there was a lot of talk about Gen Z.

You’ll have heard this on my podcast, you’ll have heard this in other places as well, but constant talk about Gen Z, what customers want, what the difference is between the next generation, what the difference is between the generations and why we need to pay attention to it, how they’re shopping, how it’s important that you have prices on your website. All of the things I teach were still being shouted from the rooftops at winning MBA this year and absolutely are coming and happening.

Another interesting topic is experiences.

Whether or not, you know, we’re living in this experience era, people are talking about the way that you do show rounds, the way that you do wedding days, the experiences that couples want to give their guests. Experiences are king. Interactive things at weddings are still trending as well.

So there was some really great conversations, some really great topics, some really great talks, but I would say they were the themes that were coming through strongly this year. So content, creating, AI systems, Gen Z and experiences as well. So it may not be possible for all of you to get to Las Vegas next year.

Although if you can, I 110% recommend you give yourself the opportunity to go there. But wedding conferences, wherever you are in the world, I believe are a must.

If you are not going to any wedding conferences or you’re not going to one every six months. Months. Why not? Why are you not doing it now? It could be because the ones you’ve been to before have been naff. And I get it.

If you’re going to go to a conference, you’re going to give up a day of your time, you need to go to a really good one. So if you’ve ever got questions about whether something’s worth going to feel free to reach out to me.

I’ll always give you my honest opinion if I know or find someone who knows the answer to it, because I understand the value of giving up your time. But if you can go to a high quality, great event, it is absolutely worth every single penny. And this is why I think it is number one, education.

You are going to get the best education if you go to the right conferences. We need as wedding business owners to be educating ourselves all of the time.

The market’s always changing, trends are shifting, technology shifting, and it’s impossible for you as a solopreneur to keep up. So by attending conferences, you’re going to keep yourself ahead of the game.

You’re going to understand exactly what’s going on one thing I will say on education is if you are going to go to a conference, you do want to make sure you are at one that prioritizes education. What do I mean by that? Well, one of the things love about wedding MBA is that the selection for speakers is actually really high. The bar is high.

And that’s why, even though it’s brutal, they do all of their ratings because they don’t want to have speakers at their events that aren’t very good.

We’ve all been to conferences where we hear someone who’s rubbish at speaking or doesn’t know what they’re talking about, or it’s just someone who’s done really well in the industry talking about what they’ve done. And actually it just feels like a lot of self promotion for them and that’s not so beneficial.

So if you are going to give up time, go to events that really prioritize the education and the standard of that education.

Now, one of the big problems and issues we have in our industry is that a lot of the time speakers aren’t getting paid, which is therefore why it drives down the quality of speakers. Because sometimes the best speakers aren’t going to come to the event because they’re not getting paid anything for the event.

And so therefore you always get the newer level of speakers. I’d love to see this change and shift. That’s a whole bigger conversation and I am looking to start to try.

I’m paying speakers when they come to my event next year.

Not a lot because it’s a new event, but I really want to be part of the change of this narrative that people are expected to do everything for free if it’s not benefiting them particularly in any way.

And because I want to drive the standard of education up, I want to make sure we’re having the best educators, not just the people who are willing to do it cheap or just starting out. So do do your research on if you are going to go to a conference on who’s speaking, what their background is.

I always love to listen to educators on podcasts. So if there is an event and you see the speaker lineup, go and find some podcasts.

Just type their name into your podcast app and listen to them on podcasts because it’s a free way to hear number who they are, whether they’re good at speaking, whether you think you can learn anything from them. But the education is key to having a good event. The second thing about industry events is the connections.

Now the great thing about this is even if you Go to a NAF conference, you can still get the most out of the connections because you’re in a room with other people who are, number one, hungry to learn just like you are, number two, also working in the same industry as you. And number three, likely also to want to be there for connection. Connections.

You know, you can meet people online, you can talk to people on Instagram, but nothing beats being in a room with them or giving them a hug.

You can build on relationships you’ve already got, you can make new relationships, you can learn from each other, you can talk about what’s going on in your business. You can be vulnerable with each other.

You can discuss things that are happening on the stage afterwards and talk about how you can implement it in your own business. You can meet people that you wouldn’t normally get to meet in real life. That’s what I love about wedding mba.

All of the amazing people are in one room, room at the same time and you get the opportunity to go up and speak to them. I had loads of people speak to me this year at the event saying, oh, I’ve listened to your podcast and it’s such a privilege to speak to you. Now.

It’s probably not a privilege to speak to me, I’m just a normal person, but for me it’s great to meet people, to hear from you, to hear your stories, to hear what you’re doing in your business and to be able to actually put a face to a listener number is great. So connections, Connections. Connections are key at these events. Events.

The third thing is you’ve got to go to these events to again, stay on top of what’s going on in technology, to go and get new ideas in these different areas, because it can be overwhelming.

But actually, if you can go to an event and talk to a tech company, to talk to someone who’s building this software to talk to people who are using the software to talk to people on, who are on the stage talking about various systems. Again, it can open your eyes to these programs and systems and pieces of technology sometimes which are free that you didn’t even know existed.

And they’re a great place to do that because you’ll find that at these kind of events, often the cutting edge is there.

People are talking about the cutting edge systems, the things that are doing well and the things that are specifically built for the wedding industry as well. And the final reason to go to wedding industry events is because there’s nothing like it for having energy and inspiration.

A lot of us work on our own a lot.

And even if we work in a team, we tend to be in this little bubble in our venue or in our team working in the same places, doing the same things, going and working all these different weddings. And actually it’s nice to just break out of that little bubble and be in a room that’s for you.

One of the reasons I love having my week in Las Vegas is it’s a whole week for me working on my business, meeting connections for my business. There’s no other distractions. And I find that incredibly inspiring.

I’m surrounding myself with my fellow educators who I respect and admire and can also learn from.

And so getting out of your normal home environment, getting out of your normal work environment and putting yourself in a space that is designed to be transformational, that is designed to give you this amazing energy and experience, is well worth every moment of your time and every penny of your money to put yourself in those spaces. Because I guarantee you will walk away with new ideas. I guarantee you will walk away with a fuller cup. Right?

So you feel like you’re ready to face another year, another season, another six months in your in your business.

And you will be inspired by the people you meet, the people you hear from on stage, the people you talk to, and just the ideas that come out of being in a space like that. That.

So I think that wedding industry conferences are an absolute must have in your business for the education, for the connection, for the new, the new ideas and the new technology and for the energy and inspiration.

Now, while I was out in Las Vegas, I took the opportunity to talk with some of the people who are coming over especially to speak at Wed Pros Live at my conference next year and some of my sponsors.

And now you’re going to hear from them why they think that wedding industry conferences are for you and why you should make sure the Wed Pros Live is also on your calendar for 2026. People should come to wedding business conferences because it’s an opportunity to network with other professionals.

It’s an opportunity to learn new innovations.

Ericka
00:39:23.780 – 00:39:25.620
It’s an opportunity to learn new innovations. And bring a better client experience.

Nikita
00:39:25.620 – 00:39:29.820
You should come to wedpros Live next year because you know I’m speaking. So that’s one of the big things.

Becca
00:39:29.820 – 00:39:30.740
That you should be there for.

Nikita
00:39:31.060 – 00:39:53.150
But Guide to Brides is also a media partner. We’re really excited to be partnering with Becca on this event. There are some amazing speakers in the lineup.

You’re going to get some great networking opportunities and it’s one of those things that if you want to go to these events, you are going to get something from them. So you are going to get more for your money because you pay for these educational events.

You’re going to get so much more back from it because of the tips that you get.

Tayler
00:39:53.630 – 00:40:08.000
People should attend wedding industry conferences because running a wedding business is not like running any other business.

So you really need to surround yourself with people who are living similar experiences and have gone through the things that you’re trying to go through.

Elizabeth
00:40:08.000 – 00:40:33.820
Because business is so much more fun when you get to do it with other people. You don’t have to go in alone. You don’t have to figure it all out on your own.

And I also love coming to wedding conferences because you can learn from the top experts in the industry and they can shortcut your learning curve so you can get a better return on investment for for your time, your energy and your money so you can grow your business and build a life of your dreams.

Renee
00:40:33.980 – 00:40:42.820
Honestly, there is no reason not to attend wedding industry conferences. I think you have to come together as a community and you have to be open to being inspired and motivated and learning new things.

Ericka
00:40:42.820 – 00:40:50.780
People should come to WED Pros Live next year because one Becca’s amazing. Two, we have fabulous speakers and bright businesses sponsors. You should definitely check it out, get.

Tayler
00:40:50.940 – 00:41:15.640
All of the information and education and inspiration that you you’re looking for in order to make sure that 2026 is a lot less like 2025 was. And that’s exactly what everybody wants because things don’t have to be so hard.

And I know that Becca has put together the most incredible lineup for WED Pro and that’s why I am so excited to be one of the sponsors. Hi, my name is Taylor from
Enji. In case we haven’t met, I’m Elizabeth.

Elizabeth
00:41:15.640 – 00:41:46.060
Marbury and I’m so excited to announce that I am coming to Wedding Pros Live in Ireland and London. That’s right. I’m super pumped.

And I’m going to be teaching you all about Instagram marketing and how you can create better content that gets your wedding business seen by your dream boat wedding clients. And you’re going to learn how to drive actual leads and sales with your content without spending a dime on paid ads. I hope you’re pumped.

I can’t wait to see you there.

Renee
00:41:46.530 – 00:42:09.010
Hey, I’m Renee Dalo and I’m so excited to be coming to WED Pros Live in Ireland and London.

I’m gonna be talking about atomic habits and how to really use your everyday habits to uplevel your life and your business because we are not doing burnout in 2026. We are not doing overwhelm in 2026. We are doing sustainable, healthy businesses and lives. I will see you in Ireland or London.

Becca
00:42:09.330 – 00:46:44.090
If you don’t feel inspired after listening to that, then I don’t know where you’ve been. Now.

One of the questions that someone asked me while I was out in Las Vegas, this based back here in the uk, they commented on one of my videos and said, becca, you’re bringing all these people over from America. Why do I want to hear from them? I genuinely don’t see what value they’re going to bring to my business.

So I wanted to talk a little bit for a few moments about why I’ve made that decision. Why on earth am I bringing people from the other side of the world to speak in London? Well, the reasons are twofold, really.

The first reason is that I hear these people speak each year at Wedding mba. They are incredible educators. The level of education here in the uk, Sometimes the speakers aren’t as good as I’d like them to be.

And I’ve seen the amazing speakers and the amazing level of speakers at this event.

Yeah, I know that for some of you a flight to Las Vegas is beyond the realms of possibility right now in your business and why shouldn’t you benefit from them?

So if I can use my connections and speak with my friends and bring those amazing educators and put them in London and put them in Ireland island so you can get to hear them really easily, then I’m absolutely going to do that for you because I want you to learn from these people. They are amazing. I’m just so privileged to be able to call them my friends. A lot of them have been on the podcast, if not all of them.

I’m going to get them on the podcast again over the next couple of months so you can hear from them fresh.

But I’m bringing them to your doorstep to make it easier for you to give you the opportunity so that even if you can’t afford to fly to the other side of the world, you can afford to get to London and give up one day to come and learn from them. The second reason is that actually I think we have a lot to learn from people in a different market.

If we think that we can only learn from people who live in the same country as us, I think we need to broaden our horizons again.

One of the things I love about going to Wedding MBA is that there are people from a different culture, from a different country, and they look at things in a different way.

And often the trends that come out of America land in the UK eventually, when we surround ourselves with people from different backgrounds, different cultures, different countries, we actually improve what we do. We learn differently. And it means we’re not hearing the same information from the same people that we’ve heard from at all the other events.

We’re hearing fresh ideas, fresh perspectives, fresh thoughts, and definitely inspiration that we can learn from. And often they’re ahead of the game. And so we’re learning from people that are ahead of us in the industry.

And why wouldn’t we want to learn from the that?

So if you’ve been looking at my event next year, Wed Pros Live, and thinking, well, I don’t want to hear from those American speakers, let me challenge you to change your thinking because number one, they’re coming all the way here to make it easy for you. But number two, why would you not want to learn from the best of the best of the best? Okay, let’s wrap this episode up then.

Because I know that wedding industry conferences are powerful. I know my week in Las Vegas is also powerful for me.

I hope you’ve enjoyed hearing some of my stories, hearing some of the lessons, hearing some of the things I got up to, and hearing from the speakers and sponsors of Wed Pros Live. WED Pros Live is my love letter to the wedding industry here in the UK and Ireland.

We’re bringing it in association with Wed Pro by wedding dates to both Ireland and London in March 2026.

I wanted to bring just a small piece of that Las Vegas energy to the shores here in the UK so that you could experience just a small part of what it’s all about. About. Of course there’s not going to be five and a half thousand people there. Of course it’s not the same event.

If you can get to Las Vegas, put it on the top of your list. But if you want to come to London and experience a piece of that magic with its own Becca style, I would encourage you to get your tickets.

The VIP tickets are already sold out. The other tickets are selling fast. Don’t leave this on your to do list. Get yourself, get your team, get your friends, get together.

Because if I can fly to Las Vegas to better my business business, you can get on a train and give up one day and come to London. It’s going to be a phenomenal event. It’s going to bring you inspiration and energy. It’s going to show you what you need to know for 2026 and beyond.

You’re going to be inspired by the education, but you’re also going to learn from the education. There’s no fluff in my world. They’re going to be giving you really actionable advice.

You’re going to get to meet people at the cutting edge of technology and of course, you’re going to learn and be inspired and meet. Meet each other, get your tickets. All of the details are in the show notes and I hope to see you there.

If you’ve got any questions about Wed Pros Live or Wedding mba, I’d love to chat to you more about it. I think we should all be going to more wedding industry events in 2026 and I hope to see lots of you in the UK next March. We’ll see you next time.