has been a great tread.  A little too close for home for me too.  Very much in the same boat as BEAR09, but I've added pressures of failed property investments, and left wondering what am I doing, where am I going….

Ben, where's your Bungee jump ?  I think you've freaked her out enough
Tim

is there a workshop in Sydney ?  I thought it was only Melbourne

Steve, Please moderate my comments if you require.  My post on page 1 I think was ok.  My little dig at Aussie Rob on page 3 though was in humour…but if it needs to be removed, by all means do it.    I found his presentation to be unprofessional, and presented to us like school children.  His 'act' was just over the top.
Tim

sorry, maybe I misread a comment…when someone referred to Dean's presentation as an infomercial.  I didn't think it was, or maybe as I said, I just misread that comment.

This was the first conference I have been to, and I've come away with some mixed feelings, though I was happier more then disappointed.  I consider myself a newbie when it comes to property investing, although I do have 2 properties, my first IP being a disaster.  I came down from Sydney, kept my expenses to a bare minimum just in case I found the conference wasn't worth it, as least I could say I didn't blow alot on the trip (I stayed in a doom room at a backpackers up the road, that was another experience  ).

The bad
I admit I was disappointed with the continual flogging of 'systems' & 'products' from the presenters, and them throwing in a pair of steak knives if we bought today.  It was Tim Shaw followed by Tim Shaw, followed by Tim Shaw (at least for the last 10 minutes of the presentations)…  For me it hit home early with Pat Mesiti.  For the first 60 minutes I was interested in what he was saying, but then when I realised the last 30 minutes subtly moved more to promoting, sorry flogging, his products, I started to think I had come to an Anthony Robbins event (who I know little about, only heard of).   I've never been to an 'Anthony Robbins' type conference before, so it was an eye opener for me.  The handing out of the presenters latest deal by the volunteers 10 minutes from the end was getting monotonous.  There was indeed high pressure, and I would have enjoyed it more had that been left out.  Steve however did on more then one occasion remind people that while these presenters were flogging their wares, there was no obligation to buy, and stressed people shouldn't buy just because, and especially if they couldn't really afford it.  Alot of presenters made money over the weekend, and alot of attendees left with heavier credit cards.  For the people that bought, I just hope they make the most of their purchases, otherwise it's a waste.  In the end, I saw past the hype and sat there waiting for each presenter to announce their 'package of the day' at the end of their presentation and left others to spend their hard earned. Was it just coincidence, or was it pure marketing that more then one presenter only had 37, or was it 41 of the special bonuses available, which resulted in the bolt for the stage to hand in the paperwork. I've seen this approach used by many people marketing their wares before. Some of the presentations were simply too scripted.

However after saying all that, I did tentatively take up the Results Mentoring package, which I believe I need in order to progress my property investing if I am to improve and continue with this investing.

On the workshops, choice was a little restricted, and the rooms were too small to cater for some of the workshops for all the interested people. It was a rush to get to the workshop rooms, the fastest people got the seats (and literally people were running sometimes). Only two workshops were repeated where all others ran just once.  I agree with what some have suggested, that more focus on workshops would be more beneficial to the attendees to customise their experience, rather then more keynotes which possibly were more beneficial for presenters?   I wish more of a summary was provided on the workshops prior as well, not just a one sentence outline.  The first one I went to was not what I expected and wished I'd gone to a different workshop.  Maybe twice as many workshop sessions to keynote sessions would be better, and ensure some are repeated at least once.  I don't know what the schedule was for the 2008 and 2009 conferences to compare.  I have tentatively signed up for the 2011 conference as well since it will be in Sydney.

The good
For me the conference has helped me reenergise towards property investing and given me a confidence boost.  As Steve had displayed in one of his slides, I fall into the category of a lazy investor which I have no problems admitting….waiting in hope for some capital gains with properties that were poorly investigated before buying. It was drummed home how far I will get with my current approach to property investing…and that's not far.
I was introduced to other strategies other then buy & hold,
introduced to a mortgage broker who seems to understand a property investor better then I have experienced to date,
introduced and talked to other like minded investors,
introduced to examples showing what results can be achieved.

Overall I rate the conference as good.  Yes it was emotive, yes it was a little more hyper then I had expected, but I did learn from attending and that was my desired outcome.

Steve's team put alot of effort into putting it together, and while everyone will never agree whether it was a good or bad experience, I thank them for putting the conference on.

Tim