Here Comes Elite Retreat 2009
November 12, 2008 - Written by Gyutae Park
Last year (April 2008) I had the wonderful opportunity of attending Shoemoney’s Elite Retreat in San Francisco. At $5,000 a pop, Elite Retreat is considered by far one of the most expensive Internet marketing conferences on the planet. But is it worth it? An all-star cast of guys like Shoemoney, Aaron Wall, Neil Patel, and Andy Liu spill their “secrets” and definitely make it worth your while.
To be honest with you, my opinion of Elite Retreat is a bit biased because I went completely FREE of charge compliments of a contest held by Rocket Profit and John Chow. If you want to know whether or not a pass to Elite Retreat is worth $5,000, I’m probably not the guy to ask. Regardless, what I can tell you is that Elite Retreat is an amazing time of networking, learning, and reflecting on your business. I had the chance to meet some of the top Internet marketers I’ve looked up to for years and personally formulate my business plan with them one-on-one.
Each of the speakers had a unique story to tell and different pieces of advice to give. For example, we had Guy Kawasaki (venture capital and entrepreneur), Shoemoney (Internet marketing fiend), Aaron Wall (top SEO), Andy Liu (startup man), Neil Patel (social media superstar), Brian Clark (copywriting genius), and Matt Mullenweg (Wordpress founder) all share different perspectives based on their experiences. What sets Elite Retreat apart from the other conferences is its small group setting, which allows you to interact with everyone on a deeper level and share more business strategies. I had the chance to chat with Aaron Wall over a nice steak dinner. And oh yeah, Andy Liu, founder of BuddyTV was sitting to my left. If you’re interested in learning more, be sure to read my full Elite Retreat review.
Elite Retreat 2009 will be held February 18-20 2009 in San Francisco. There is limited seating and the event is expected to sell out fast so get on it soon if you want attend. Many of last year’s speakers will be present including Shoemoney, Neil Patel, and Andy Liu. Fresh faces to the conference include outspoken wine blogger Gary Vaynerchuk, search expert Stephan Spencer, and Kris Jones of Pepperjam Network. Shoemoney is even planning an Elite Retreat field trip this time around - including a sweet limobus trip to some top silicon valley tech companies.
What do you think? Would you be willing to shell out $5,000 to attend Elite Retreat?
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Gyutae, Elite Retreat truly sounds an amazing experience and it sounds like you made the most of your time there. Now there is one thing i’m slightly confused about… you haven’t mentioned where we can win tickets from to attend this time around, lol. I hope your not concealing an easy-win competition from Winnining The Web’s loyal readers.
Haha nope, no word of any competitions this time around. There have always been some sort of contest with free Elite Retreat passes though so be on the lookout in the next couple of months.
You mention “If you want to know whether or not a pass to Elite Retreat is worth $5,000, I’m probably not the guy to ask.” however you did attend there last year as you said.
Whether you paid for it or not shouldn’t matter. The question is: if you had paid $5,000 do you think it would have been worth it? Also, last year I recall you saying Elite Retreat was absolutely awesome. Will you be shelling out $5,000 to attend this year? Or is Elite Retreat meant more to attend only once?
I’m not trying to troll here, just get an honest answer out of you
I heard this year Jeremy is offering a complete money-back guarantee after the first day including paid airfare back home, so there’s not much to lose it sounds like in any case.
Haha, I guess you’re right. But it’s hard for me to determine if something is really “worth it” if I didn’t actually pay for it. I think my reaction would be different had I actually paid $5,000 to attend Elite Retreat rather than just going for free and thinking of paying $5,000. Similar to playing poker with $5,000 of free money. It’s just different.
Elite Retreat was indeed awesome. Unlike any other conference I’ve attended. You actually get to interact with all of the speakers and attendees and A LOT more is shared. You even have to sign a non-disclosure form. Craziness.
Unfortunately, I don’t have $5,000 to spare this time around and will not be attending (unless I win again
) However, I know that a lot of the previous attendees have went multiple times and are going again.
It’d be a really dick move to ask for a refund and leave after the first day.. haha
I can think of a whole lotta things I could do to boost business with 5K, LOL. If I had it now that is…
Very true. Elite Retreat is not for newbies, it’s for already established business owners who want to take their ventures to the next level with new ideas. People still trying to “crack it” are better off spending the money promoting.
Good point…
I am sure it would be awesome … 5k is a big amount
I am sure this will be great, except these things are always so expensive.
At $5,000 a pop, I would say everything taught at the event could probably be found on Google with a little bit of work.
-Mike
update: 75% tickets already sold in the first day. that proves that so many people have ideas and want to take it to next stage.. they are all winners..
A lot of the sign ups actually come from previous Elite Retreat attendees. It goes to show you that people who go truly find value in it. Otherwise, they wouldn’t go again.
I saw on Jeremy’s blog that there are only about two places left! Elite Retreat definitely bucks the current economic trend, as people are looking for angles to address the current recession we are hearing so much about.
I’m in San Francisco and I can’t swing that kind of loot. I think it’s as other people mentioned, the information is already likely out there. Looking at last year’s line-up, Kawasaki, Wall, Clark that may have been worth more to me.
Despite all the big names there, I think $5000 is still VERY pricey. However, I’m sure it is a very helpful place to be, and would actually love to attend myself!