Hi
How does one find out about conferences in your area. I am from Winter Haven Fl and would like to attend aconference/meeting in my area, is there any such animal? Thanks for any imput. Lou

You can check on the MSPA website for when they are offering their 'gold conferences'. Their website is [www.mysteryshop.org] or you can check the IMSC conferences on the Volition.com forum website. Those are the only two outfits I know of that have 'conferences'.

IMSC has a 2 day conderence of shoppers in the Chicago area in late March. The Las Vegas late October conference is full, I think.

There are still some spots available for shoppers. The Speaker and Sponsor positions are all filled for 2011.

I'm braving March in Chicago, and my hubby's going to come along. We'll make a long weekend out of it. If I could only get him interested in shopping!

TechSavvy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm braving March in Chicago, and my hubby's going
> to come along. We'll make a long weekend out of
> it. If I could only get him interested in
> shopping!


It can be great it you get your husband to sign up. My wife and I rotate through some of our favorite restaurant shops, getting free meals every 30 days. Maybe you can line up some shops in Chicago when you travel for the conference.

He just works some long hours and isn't a writer and dislikes the reporting. We've tag-teamed, with me transcribing his descriptions on reports, but he really hates doing mystery shops in general. It's just not his thing. He's happy to go with me when I have a restaurant shop, but he's the recipient. LOL He's open to doing some couples video shops with me, though.


beatlesfan1964 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> TechSavvy Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I'm braving March in Chicago, and my hubby's
> going
> > to come along. We'll make a long weekend out of
> > it. If I could only get him interested in
> > shopping!
>
>
> It can be great it you get your husband to sign
> up. My wife and I rotate through some of our
> favorite restaurant shops, getting free meals
> every 30 days. Maybe you can line up some shops
> in Chicago when you travel for the conference.

What I don't get abt these conferences is how anybody can afford to do it from MS income. Or is there a sort of "inner circle" you can get into by networking at conferences that makes them valuable?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/29/2011 01:05PM by GMAzona.

GMA,
I would not call it an "inner circle." What happens is that many MSCs have tables at each conference or send people to meet shoppers and/or make presentations at workshops. By becomming a familiar face to go with your shopper number, one can expect much better options for shops. However, if the shopper then flakes or submits poor reports, nothing will boost the shopper's chances of extra work.

Here is an example of how I increased my prospects by interacting with MSC personnel at a conference. I explained to two schedulers for MSC A, a company that does a lot of restaurants and hotels, that I cannot drive at night. Therefore, if they expected me to qualify for their hotel shops by doing dinner shops (as they actualy do), they would never get to use me, a very experienced hotel shopper. At the next table to theirs was the president of a small company, Company B, for whom I do a lot of hotel shops. I was able to turn to him and ask him to tell the other company about my abilities while I went to get some coffee. When I came back the Company reps A said that they could start letting me have hotel shops without first doing dinner shops, Nothing beats networking!

In addition, I have learned so much about how to negotiate long routes from the workshops given by Servanne and others at these conferences, that I have managed to build and run profitable routes up to 2300 miles!

True, if you are clearing only a couple hundred dollars a month and are content to stay at that level, the conferences may not be for you. But if you are highly motivated to double or triple that, the conference will pay for itself. It's true that you could find a lot of info by reading and asking questions on this, and other, forums but different people learn in different ways. For me, interactive workshops, with fresh ideas coming from all sides, provide both the information and the motivation to put it into practice. The mutual support among conference attendees it really a big thing.