Defining Hospitality

[00:00:00]
Dan Ryan: Today's guest spent 20 years with the learning NX. He is the founder and producer of the lodging conference. One of the world's premier events for hotel owners and hospitality executives.
He's been a producer and marketer of seminars, trade shows, concerts and events for 40 years. He is the president of the conference bureau, ladies and gentlemen, Harry. Jabr welcome, Harry. Hey, how are you today? Ah, I'm really wonderful. It's so great to have you on, um, I gotta say I'm the, the Genesis of this conversation [00:01:00] was I think we've all been starving for more and more in-person events.
And I've been to the, um, the lodging conference a handful of times, and it's such a. Gathering of professionals from within our world of hospitality. Um, and I, I was thinking about, especially on the, the one, like having done this podcast for a year and really focusing on defining hospitality, um, What a great way it would be to come back into the industry and go see everyone and shake hands and hugs.
And I'm just exhilarated and excited. And I just wanted to kind of have you on to really learn about, like, how did you come from the learning annex of 20 years, which was massive, right. And then really coming into finding this appreciation and, uh, attraction to hospital. Got it.
Harry Javer: Got it. But yeah, it kind of starts before the learning annex, I guess.
Uh, you know, I was [00:02:00] lucky in that I found a passion for what I wanted to do early. Uh, so I was in college. I went to, uh, Stony Brook university on long island and. What I discovered was the school had an amazing concert program like anybody, and everybody came through Stony Brook, maybe because of its geographical location being in Suffolk county, who knows.
But, so I get there in 1980 and they have this great concert program and I'm, you know, I just love music. I love going to concerts and I thought, wow, if I can get a job. Helping putting these concerts on that would be amazing. And it turns out that one of my brothers, my older brother's best friends was one of the heads of the concert program.
Really, really. So you know, that was nice. And his name, his name is Keith commander. And he said, uh, okay, well, um, yeah, we'll, we'll give you a shot. I [00:03:00] don't know if you'll last, but we'll give you a shot. And so he gave me the opportunity. And, uh, I started out, you know, literally, uh, hauling garbage and cleaning up after the concert and setting up the staging and the mats and, you know, really hard, long hours grueling work.
And that was the start. And then I, I worked my way up and I got on the executive committee, actually planning the concerts, running the work crews and. And we did. I mean, anybody who was, anybody came through Stony Brook, including, I mean, we had bono James Taylor, uh, the Gogos anybody that was on the way up, or I hate to use the word on the way down, but had peaked at some point, you know, Santana, uh, came through Stony Brook in those four years.
So it was a great experience. And I came out and I thought, all right, well, I guess I'm gonna [00:04:00] go to law school. I'm a PolySci major because right. You're 20 years old. You don't know what you want to do. So yeah, I'll go to law school and that long story short, that didn't happen. I worked in a number of different fields to try and see what's out there because again, You're 22, you graduate school, which is the problem for a lot of people.
What do I do with my life? Well, you don't know. Yeah. So I worked briefly on wall street. I worked for a magazine. I worked in a real estate firm. I worked in my family's insurance business. I, I worked in a law firm as a clerk, and then I just realized, you know, I really loved doing those concerts. What could I do?
And one day I saw an ad for the learning annex. Which I knew a little bit about, okay. They put on seminars, there's this booklet that they advertise. They're looking for a national program director. So [00:05:00] I wrote a letter to the founder and I Bill's anchor. And I said, look, I, I don't think I could be your national program director, but blah, blah, blah.
And this is what I do. And please, and I look anyway. Six months later, he gave me a job and he said, look, you seem hungry. I don't know what you could do, but we'll find out and, and getting involved at the learning. At that point, it was like getting on a rocket ship in 96. The company went from being in five cities to being in 18 cities overnight.
Pretty much the way I joined. And so if you were willing to work hard and you had, you know, a decent sense for business, it was great opportunity. So, um,
Dan Ryan: I worked there, so it's interesting on the, uh, on the concert side, I went to USC, um, in Los Angeles. And I think, I forget if it was my sophomore or junior year, I was the concerts director.
So I'd be in Cho. We had the statue of [00:06:00] Tommy Trojan out there and then every Thursday, I believe we'd. Bands to play. And I think I gave sublime one of their first paid, um, concerts that they did. And we would put on this big spring fair. I absolutely loved it. And, uh, mostly because of the music, not so much because of the event.
Um, but I think that's a great segue also into the learning annex, cuz I'm cur I'm really curious about that because the programming and those catalogs that would come out were just so thick, how. How much of the programming did you actually, uh, partake in or did, were there any, um, segments of what the learning annex offered that like excited you the most?
So
Harry Javer: when I first started out, I was kind of a, uh, They just throw me at anywhere there was trouble. And a lot of it was operations related, cuz we were opening up offices in all different cities and there was always, you know, you're, you're basically starting a new business in a [00:07:00] dozen cities at once. So there was always a fire.
So I spent kind of the first year and a half. Running from city to city, opening up offices, training people, working on the distribution of that catalog, just learning the operations side of the business. And then at, at one point, uh, bill bill came to me and said, all right, so I want you to focus on programming now.
Uh, I want you to work with the New York program director. And so I got involved in the programming and I became the program director. So, uh, I was in charge of the entire program in new. And then I became the national program director shortly thereafter, which was kind of funny, cuz that was the original job, which I thought I wasn't qualified for.
And when, when I was offered that position, I still, I felt that wasn't qualified, which I guess the lesson there is, nah, you could always figure it out. You know? Uh, so I became the national program director. So to answer your question, I was involved in the [00:08:00] whole program every day. Mm-hmm in 15 cities.
Figuring out topics, uh, negotiating contracts, dealing with speakers, dealing with agents, uh, putting together the marketing, the advertising, the catalogs, all of it.
Dan Ryan: And did you ever partake in, in the, in the learning as well, aside from getting it all up and running, were there any, um, segments or offerings that really, that you took advantage of while you were there?
Harry Javer: Always, I, I, I would go to classes at sometimes, you know, two to four times a. Wow. And sometimes on Saturdays and you know, all, all of the music guests were really interesting cuz I love music. Um, the entrepreneurs, the CEOs, you know, kind of the business focus stuff. I was really interested in some of the personal growth.
I mean we had every personal growth author. Under the sun come to the learning a at one point or another. And some of them, I really enjoyed. Some of them were a little out there for [00:09:00] me. Uh, but who
Dan Ryan: was your favorite personal growth? Um, educator?
Harry Javer: Well, I, I guess if you wanna call him personal growth, it would be to Tony
Dan Ryan: Robbins.
Yes. Okay, cool. There's
Harry Javer: nobody. As good, uh, as Tony Robbins, uh, Bernie Siegel, who wrote love medicine and miracles back in the mid eighties, who was a cancer surgeon. And I loved him because he just, he really believed in what he was talking about. And he was really there to help people and he did help people and I saw it firsthand.
So that was, that was great. Um, and third would be, um, in terms of personal growth, a woman named Barbara sheer, S H E R. And, and she, she was like a career counselor, but her main message was, you know, everybody needs a strong team around them. And if you don't have a strong team, I'm gonna show you how to build.
[00:10:00] Because if you have a strong team, you're gonna be that much closer to succeeding at whatever it is you want to do. And over the years of, you know, 20 years, she probably taught 40 times at the learning annex, at least mm-hmm .
Dan Ryan: Uh it's so, uh, I. I completely agree with her. I'm not familiar with her, but it's a, it's a truth that just seems to be out there.
Uh, and so, uh, prevalent. Um, and then, so I'm seeing this pattern of music, congregation learning connection, and I guess that there's a natural progression into the, uh, the lodging conference. Um, but like, if you could find a thread that brings. Your past experience to what you've created with the lodging conference?
Like what do you think, how did you get to that point? Or how did you connect the dots to create this lodging conference?
Harry Javer: If you throw enough things up against the wall, something's going to stick . Uh, [00:11:00] so at, at one point, the learning addict after I was there for about eight years was sold. I stayed on with the new ownership and then we parted ways and I kind of.
Okay. What's my next step here. What do I do next? And so I knew at that point, clearly I loved doing live events. Uh, I was gonna stay out of the consumer side for a while. I had a non-compete and whatever, and, uh, I wasn't sure what to do. And somebody suggested to me that I look into trade shows and business co business events, which I really had no knowledge of at all.
So I, I sort of, I got a job basically with a conference firm with a big conference firm that did hundreds of conferences. And I immediately loved it because I was using all of the same skills that I had used for, I guess, at that point, I don't know, 15 years doing the concerts, doing the learning annex, but what was [00:12:00] great was, you know, at the learning annex, we were charging people anywhere from 20.
In the rare cases to a hundred bucks for a seminar. I mean, we were like the, the most inexpensive option out there and a business conference, you could charge people $2,000 for two days. Wow. Wow. This, this could be a great business. And so the first conference I started with, uh, was for the hotel industry.
It was called something else the first year, and then we changed it to the lodging conference and, uh, I've done and did a lot of different business conferences over the years. Some of them sort of lent themselves to one and done, or two and done sort of like if a, if a new law was passed, well, you, you run one or two conferences on that, and then you're kind of done or.
Uh, in 2000, remember the year 2000, the whole world was gonna, you know, blow up and all the computer problems. [00:13:00] And so there was a lot of conferences there. Uh, I did a healthcare fraud conference for a couple of years and that kind of, it just, it somethings just run its course, but the lodging conference was designed from the beginning to be an industry event, regardless of the trends, regardless of what's going on in the world.
So that's sort of. You know, it, it has just gone. This has had this amazing run of, of 27
Dan Ryan: years. That's incredible. And congratulations. I mean, that's, that's amazing. And then if you think about, of all the different conferences that you've done, what do you love most about the lodging conference specifically?
How it relates to not just connecting these business to business professionals and giving them tremendous value as they're walking away, but like, How, how does that help with your definition of what hospitality is and can be seen? How, how are you, how are you a halo effect for hospitality? Right.
Harry Javer: [00:14:00] So it doing an event with the hospitality industry.
I mean, there's nothing like the hospitality industry, it's the best people in the world, and I've worked with many industries and they're all good. And I've worked in many different areas. The hospitality industry has the best people on the planet. They're the most hospitable. I agree. Uh, and I, and I go to lots of hospitality events during the year, and they're always good.
I always come away feeling good, uh, regardless of the size of the show or where it is or because I'm, I'm speaking with like-minded people. You know, running a conference is not much different than running a hotel, a hotel owner, a conference owner. We basically want the same thing. We want our guests to leave happy.
And so. [00:15:00] I don't have as much time at the lodging conference itself, cuz I'm so busy. But when I go to these other events and I'm talking to hotel owners or people who work for brands who obviously are integral to running hotels, it's like talking to like minded people. Whether it's a small hotel owner who owns a handful of hotels or a CEO of a brand I'm, talking to people who just love what they do and love their business and love hospitality.
So it's really the people. Yeah.
Dan Ryan: And I, I love how you say it's really to make people happy because, you know, I think, you know, to go from $20 or a hundred dollars for a learning annex event to 2000 plus dollars, you know, it sounds like a great difference. But if you think about the value that you're adding to the experience, like those people that walk away happy, and the value that they're walking away with that $2,000 really should seem like nothing.
Correct.
Harry Javer: Exactly. I mean, [00:16:00] yeah, if you come to the conference and you do a deal, you know, you're doing million dollar deals. I, I was speaking with a long time attendee a few weeks ago. We do these speaker conference calls before the conference and he said, you know, I just wanna share with the panel about five years ago, I was doing this session.
A gentleman walked up to me, introduced himself. And, uh, you know, three years went by, but we ended up, you know, loaning him about, uh, you know, 200 million. So, you know wow. And, and that happens, that happens all the time where people will tell me as a result of the conference I met. So and so, and I did a deal with them.
It took a few years, or, you know, one gentleman. Uh, who's based in Phoenix. He said, he took me aside one year, this is going back about 15 years and he introduced himself and he said, listen, I just wanna tell you this conference changed my life. And I thought he was gonna say, you know, I met my wife [00:17:00] here, or, you know, he said, no, I came to this conference and I felt like I was a small player, but I had to be here.
And I came here and I was able to meet somebody from, at a brand. And I was able to then get that brand. And I was never able to make inroads to that brand before. So, and having gotten that brand, I was able to get other brands and I became a player. And so the conference changed my life. Yeah. And you know, whether it's a learning annex class where I heard that or a concert or, you know, when you hear it, your customer tell you, you helped change my life.
What what's more rewarding than that? Nothing in terms of, yeah,
Dan Ryan: nothing. Totally. And then it's like that whole idea of value. It's, it's a, an incredible amount of value. Um, you said something earlier, um, as you were leaving the learning NX and then doing, um, working for this other conference company, um, You tied it back to your first job experiences, [00:18:00] doing concerts, where you, you got the job and by doing the same, like you had, you've already nurtured these skills.
You developed these skills, like specifically, what are those skills that have made you so adept at this and, and created this conference and, and other conferences that may and make that a success? What, if you could identify your skills? What are they? I think you
Harry Javer: have to be well rounded. You have to have a, an innate curiosity in learning new things when you are, you know, whether at the learning annex, I was constantly learning about new things.
I had to have my, my thumb on the pulse of what was going on in the, in the zeitgeist, you know, what was going on in society. What would people be interested in? Which meant I was constantly, there was no internet back then, remember this is the mid eighties. So I was constantly reading magazines, reading newspapers, this, and watching television, you know, shows, talk shows to see what was interesting and who was interesting.
[00:19:00] And what are the trends? And kind of the same thing in the conference business you're looking for. What's the next trend? What's the next hot business? Uh, uh, you know, clearly had I been looking to do other conferences? I would've started a crypto conference a few years ago. Yeah. So, you know, it's kind of just, so you have to be interested in what's going on, uh, for, for conferences you clearly have to be interested in, in business mm-hmm , uh, and being well rounded helps.
Uh, rather than kind of being good at just one thing. Although I've worked with a lot of people in both the, the seminar and the conference business who were really only good at one or two things, and they were hugely successful, you know, cuz they were smart enough to hire other people who were really good at the other things, which is what I do, uh, you know, to this day.
Uh, I have somebody, I have people kind of in each area that are really, really good at what they do better [00:20:00] than me. And it, it, you know, this allows me to step back and sort of manage everybody and, uh, you know, kind of look over the forest, so to speak.
Dan Ryan: I love it. And I bet, um, on the curiosity and the zeitgeist and of the learning, all, I guess it's like, and this is what I find through all the guests that I'm talking to.
There's this like genuine C. About what's going on and then to do a conference, it just sounds incredible because like, not only are you tapped into the zeitgeist, but you're also bringing all, you're creating a community where you're bringing all these people together. Um, and ideally from, uh, a shared background that it can.
Birth new businesses create new initiatives. And really, I mean, it's a tremendous, it's tremendously impactful. Um, I'm sh I, I mean, I know it is, so it's, it's, it's exciting to hear you share that. Um, as you look like, [00:21:00] look back at what our industry has all been through, and I, for not talking about the pandemic looking, I want to switch more to like looking forward.
Mm-hmm like, what's exciting. You. As we gear up for the conference and the future.
Harry Javer: I always get very excited at this point, right before the conference. Uh, always a little, I wouldn't say nervous, but you know, worrying about all the details and everything falling into place. Uh, given what we recently have gone through with COVID, you're always worried about the next plague mm-hmm and, and hopefully that won't come for another four weeks, at least, uh, Um, you know, you know, what excites me about the hotel industry right now is because we've gotten through COVID and come so far so fast.
It just shows me that the industry is just, you know, even more resilient than I thought it was beforehand. And I've gone through so many cycles. Now, the hotel industry. Whether it was the [00:22:00] financial crisis, uh, you know, the internet bubble, uh, nine 11, which is a whole other launching conference story. And I've just watched the industry each and every time, bounce back so resilient.
And so that just makes me even more excited for the hotel industry going forward. What it, it, I think of that, uh, that scene in forest gum. When Lieutenant Dan is at the top of the boat and he's like, come on. What do you got from me now? Throw it at me. And that's, that's kind of the hotel industry, no matter what is thrown at the hotel industry, we respond and we come back stronger than ever.
Dan Ryan: I completely agree. And that resiliency, I think a lot of that resiliency comes from the constant need to reinvent and reconnect and. Just new spaces, new experiences, cuz people's experiences are always changing. And I think out of the darkest times, [00:23:00] the best comes out of them. And like in my own personal experience, the first company I started, um, as a grown up was.
Two weeks before September 11th, furnishing hotels. And it, so that's horrible that the hotel industry just shot shut down, but I was able to go around it and build relationships and be with people and fly on empty planes for really cheap, everywhere, and build tremendous relationships, um, on a one to one level.
Whereas, you know, on the conference side, what's really intriguing about that. It's not a one to one. You know, one to many it's, there's so many like-minded people, um, coming together. Um, I know you touched upon, you know, hopefully not another plague jokingly, but like, aside from that, what's keeping you up at night.
Uh, now as you're putting one foot in front of the other,
Harry Javer: meaning a few weeks before the conference.
Dan Ryan: Yeah. Or just in general, like it could be just now within [00:24:00] the next couple weeks or a longer term up at. You know,
Harry Javer: I, I always try to think of when you're planning any event, if you, if you try to think of all the possibilities of what can go wrong, right.
Cause you've already, you've already figured out what you want to go, right. Not think about, okay, what can go wrong? And then what's plan B. So if you have plan B in place, then when you have to. Uh, go with plan B. It's already in place. You've already thought about it and you just do it. And, you know, having gone through canceling a nine 11 conference or being at conferences where, uh, a major, you know, a hurricane hit and people couldn't get there, what do you do?
Uh, or, you know, learning annex events, the speaker, for some reason, doesn't show. And you have 500 people in the [00:25:00] room. What do you do? So I'm just always trying to think of, you know, what's plan B and I'm always telling my team, okay, I had this call this morning, actually. All right. It's it's two and a half weeks before the conference.
When you have a, a quiet moment, go over your list of everything and think of what can go wrong and what's plan B. And, and just so you're kind of, you're not worrying, but you're thinking about all the possibilities.
Dan Ryan: Yeah. I, my dad always said to me, he is like, you always have to hope for the best, but plan for the worst.
And I, I think for me, you know, and going through all those, what if scenarios, it can also be like paralyzing. Right? So when you, after you get all of your, after you get all of your, what ifs out there, yeah. How do you, like, where do you find the energy from within to say, to not be overwhelmed by the,
Harry Javer: what if.
Yeah, I don't know. I guess I just, it just doesn't overwhelm me. It just doesn't, uh, I'm [00:26:00] just used to it, you know? Uh,
Dan Ryan: I think that's so did you, do you think you developed that muscle just from just your whole life experience of just having dealt with all the curve balls that get thrown at you?
Harry Javer: Oh, absolutely.
Absolutely. You know, you just like anything else in life, you, you just build up. Uh, you know, resilient muscles or, or whatever, you know, it's kind of like, I, I, I played, I played, you know, baseball, I played high school ball. I played college ball. And what they would drill into you is, you know, baseball, like all sports it's repetition, mm-hmm so it's the same thing with events.
It's kind of repetition. You, you just get used to it and, you know, to use the baseball analogy when, when that problem comes up, when you, when you see. That fastball, that 90 mile an hour fastball. Well, you've seen it before, you know, okay. A speaker didn't show up, you know what to do. Okay. [00:27:00] There's a hurricane hitting the east coast, several hundred people.
Aren't gonna get there on time. Okay. You, you just know what to do. Uh, and unfortunately, a nine 11 happens. You, you just know what to do when it happened. You know, obviously that was like nothing we could have ever expected. Just like the. But we, we dealt with it. So,
Dan Ryan: so actually that's a great, um, line of thinking on the repetition.
I love that because it's, it's how you practice. That is how you perform in the game. But with all those reps, sometimes thinking things can get stale. Right. So how do you in doing all the reps and doing all, how do you keep innovating and keep everything fresh and new and exciting?
Harry Javer: I mean part of it's. I have a great team that I work with, um, including my wife, uh, which is good.
Cuz then we're always talking about the conference until it's not good until one of my . Uh, so, [00:28:00] so that's good. Um, and my son's involved with the conference, although he, you know, does his own thing. He's been coming to the conference he's 25 for so long. So it's nice in that it's a little family business, but.
The people who run on the, who help me run the conference. Brent tinter Linda Schmo, the Zulo family. I mean, they've all been working this conference for years and years and years and years. So we have a totally open relationship where if anybody has an idea, just throw it out there and that helps keep the conference fresh.
Uh, I think the other thing is I, I try to be very, uh, collegial, so I'm always, we, we don't have a, a so called board of advisors. But my board of advisors is basically anybody who's ever come to the conference. So I'm always open to hearing from people what could be better, what could be improved, uh, what we need to do that we're not doing.
Uh, so I think, [00:29:00] you know, I, I, I guess that's how we keep it fresh, great know, innately that you have to keep it fresh if it's just, even if it's the, the greatest thing, if you don't change it, People are gonna feel like it's stale. So you're always trying to keep the basis of it, but tweak it.
Dan Ryan: And, and how did you wind up picking Phoenix?
So
Harry Javer: basically I knew it was going to be in September because at the time and, and pretty much now there was a big hotel investment development conference in New York, the NYU conference, which has been going on forever. There was then at the time the UCLA investment conference. Oh my God. LA, which morphed into Alice, which is, you know, both great shows.
Uh, at the time there was the big New York hotel and restaurant show in November. So it was kind of like where on the calendar, is there something available and where would [00:30:00] be a good place? So the fall seemed like, you know, the early fall, September, October seemed like a good spot. And I wanted it to be at an upscale resort.
So that narrows it down a little more with dependable weather. So Florida in September is not dependable. Right. Perfect. And then we ended up in Phoenix and at first the thought was, well, we'll move it around. You know, we'll move it around if it works. Cause who knew, who knew if it was gonna work. And then the first year was really well received in Phoenix.
So we did it again in Phoenix and then it sort of said, all right, this works, let's keep it in Phoenix. And people refer to it as the Phoenix conference. Wow. Often. Oh, so, so we're staying there. I think, I think we're staying
Dan Ryan: there. Yeah. It's, it's a great place. It's easy to get to. The weather typically is always great in September.
It starts cooling off. Um, you mentioned all [00:31:00] the, all those other conferences and, and they're all great conferences I've been to them all. Um, how, how do you, how would you differentiate? Like what's different about the lodging conference from all of the other alphabet soup of conferences that are out.
Harry Javer: Yeah, they're, they're all good. And like I said, I get something out of all of them. I go to all of them. Uh, we're at a beautiful resort and it's totally cash, no suits and ties. Uh, don't take it too seriously. Uh, so I think all of that means it ends up being more, laid back, more fun. Uh, we have golf, we have pickle ball.
We have hiking, we have yoga. We used to have tennis, we're thinking of bringing it back and we're always looking for new activities to add onto the beginning of the conference onto Monday morning. So I think that differentiates that it's fun. Um, certainly [00:32:00] it's, uh, you know, probably, you know, in terms of the NYU conference, so they're more New York focused, more wall street where a little less of that and more.
Dev developers. Yeah. Um,
Dan Ryan: I have to say, uh, I had a, I had a passport snafu a couple weeks ago and I had to fly to Los Angeles and I stayed with my partner out on the west coast. Um, I stayed with him for a bit and he has a, he put a pickle ball court in his. Backyard in Manhattan beach. Yeah. And I've never played pickle ball before and finding up for the lodging conference and seeing that there was the pickle ball tournament.
I got so excited cuz it's so awesome. It's so much
Harry Javer: fun. Good. Yeah. It's hurry up. It's gonna sell out. Um, I'm registered. Oh, okay. Good. I, I get
Dan Ryan: you, sorry. Yeah, I'm at I'm. Oh, thank you.
Harry Javer: pickle ball. Uh, yeah, I haven't tried it yet. Um, you [00:33:00] know, I'm a former tennis player. It's not at a high level, but I, I used to play a lot and then kind of now I'm, I'm doing other sports, but yeah, everybody's playing pickle ball.
I mean, it is so.
Dan Ryan: Yeah, it's crazy. It's really it's. I mean, it's, it's, it's really incredible. Um, I wanna go back to your love and passion for music. Um, how do you stay engaged with music and what are some things that you do to like, to, to feed that and nurture that
Harry Javer: passion? Uh, I go to concerts, I play drums a little bit, um, always listening to music,
Dan Ryan: uh, and who what's the best concert you've been to in a.
Harry Javer: Well, I mean, for me, see, I'm a Springsteen nut. Oh, I've been, I've seen Bruce close to 200 times, so it's like this Springsteen and there's everything else. Got it. So, and he's not been on tour for quite a while now, did you catch him on [00:34:00] Broadway? I did. And
Dan Ryan: that was great. Yeah, I heard that was super, um, Personal and just it small and intimate and amazing.
I, I, unfortunately I never made it. Yeah. Being a J being a Jersey
Harry Javer: boy, you could, you could, oh, you're a Jersey boy. Oh, okay. And you could still see it. I think, I don't know. One of the, you know, streaming services has Bruce on Broadway might be HBO, one of them, but I highly recommend it. Uh, So, yeah. I mean, any, any Springsteen concert is usually, and I've seen him now on three continents.
Wow. Uh, it it's just like a, it's an out of body experience. It's like nothing else.
Dan Ryan: Well, I'm always intrigued and jealous of him because I, I don't he's must be pushing 80 now. Right.
Harry Javer: Uh, uh, 49 73, I think. Yeah.
Dan Ryan: Oh seven. Okay. So he's, he's in his seventh, uh, he's 73, but when he's up on stage, the amount of energy that he is [00:35:00] able to summon from within him and run and slide across the stage and do all, I mean, it's, it's incredible.
And I want some of that, whatever he's taken, right. I want some of right.
Harry Javer: No, exactly. Uh, you know, by the end of the show and, and. You know, the past few years I've been trying to always get into what you know, the pit. So you're basically standing the whole time and you, you, AITs the crush of people, you know, sweating on one another on strangers.
And by the end of the show, I will tell you, honestly, he could go on for another hour. The, the crowd's very happy it's over because
Dan Ryan: we're all spent. So no, the only other person. That I've seen with more energy than that. And you mentioned him earlier, is Tony Robbins. Exactly. You go to some of those events that he has.
I, and I'm sure when you were at the learning in exit, it was much smaller, intimate, but like, I, I assume I, I don't know. Was it or were, was they still the big
Harry Javer: things? Yes and no. [00:36:00] And I'll, I'll, I'll tell you. Yeah.
Dan Ryan: Okay. Well, where I was going is you go to those events. He's on stage giving it 110% from 10 in the morning until two in the morning.
And he, I, he doesn't leave. He doesn't drink water. He doesn't go to the bathroom. He doesn't eat anything. And I, again, I think it just shows that no matter when we all think we're tapped out, there's still a reservoir more. We just need to know how to tap into that, uh, limit almost limitless, uh, REO. Yeah,
Harry Javer: no, I mean, Tony's amazing.
When, when I, you know, I had mentioned, I left the learning annex and went on to start these conferences and then a whole series of events. I ended up back at the learning annex because the company was sold to another person and then it was sold back to the original founder. And when that happened, the original founder, you know, he asked me to come and help him, you know, try and resurrect the company, not really resurrect it, but take it in a different direct.
And [00:37:00] I was already doing the conferences and I said, you know, bill, and, you know, we were really good friends at that point. I said, I I'd love to do it, but I'm not obviously giving up the conferences. So I kind of did both. So I had, that was kind of my second stint at the learning annex. And we took it from doing these smallish seminars where maybe up until that point, the biggest crowd we ever had was a thousand people.
So we started doing these, uh, These investment expos, these real estate and wealth expos, and they got as large as 30, 40,000 people in a weekend at a convention. Wow. Would
Dan Ryan: that be like with a, a Robert Kiosaki or Kiosaki like rich dad poor, like that whole crew. That's a huge business. Um, okay.
Harry Javer: So. Like Robert Kiyosaki.
And then we brought in Tony Robbins and, um, Susie Orman and, uh, people from shark tank eventually. Uh, mark Cuban. [00:38:00] Uh, various former presidents spoke at the conference, Al gore. Well, not president, but Al gore, Donald Trump we'd bring in athletes. So if we were in Los Angeles, we'd have magic Johnson. Uh, if we were in Chicago, we'd have a famous athlete from Chicago.
Uh, And, you know, same thing in New York. So, and the
Dan Ryan: learning annex was on the marquee for that. Like you guys were the organizer of it. Yeah.
Harry Javer: It, it was the learning wow. Estate and wealth exposed. And those were just extraordinary events. I mean, the largest events I was ever involved with because we would have at a convention center three days long, uh, from.
And people would show up online at 6:00 AM and it wouldn't end until one in the morning, we'd have 15 different breakout rooms going at once and exhibit the whole, a general session with literally 10,000 people at the Javit center or the Moscone center. It was like nothing [00:39:00] else. Uh, I've ever been involved with a lot of fun, a lot of hard work, a lot of great people, uh, a lot of great stories.
Oh,
Dan Ryan: I can't only imagine. Um, Wow. That's so incredible. But, but again, I think despite the mass and that business to consumer and like the celebrity and all that, if you put that on a scale, right, you have that side there and then you have hospitality here, which one is heavier for you?
Harry Javer: I, I mean, they they're equal, um, They were both equally, they're both equally rewarding mm-hmm and, and it gets back to, you know, changing people's lives.
People would come to these expos and, you know, after hearing Tony Robbins and he would just give us his sort of three hour program, you know, cuz there were other speakers. He couldn't do the, the 12 hour Tony Robbins program. But again, you you're changing people's lives or people would get investment advice.
And then they'd take that [00:40:00] advice. I had a friend, a good friend from high school and he came to one of the events and he told me years later that, you know, coming to those expo, Harry made me finally go and invest in a property. Finally got off my butt and did it. And then he invested in more properties and he did really well.
So, you know, it just, again, it's back to changing people's lives.
Dan Ryan: Okay. I love the changing people's lives and that, that idea of impact. So do you measure that, like, is that like a KPI for the lodging conference? Because I know you mentioned just two quick stories of people that you change at the beginning.
Like if you were to guess, like how many people do you think the, the lodging conference has changed the trajectory of their.
Harry Javer: You know, certainly hundreds. I mean, we're talking change. The trajectory of their [00:41:00] life is a really big, yeah. Help them in business thousands, help them develop client thousands and thousands of people. Help them sell hotels, whether they're on the brand side or the broker side, uh, help them, you know, get a, get a new hotel, built, help them find clients, thousands and thousands and thousands of people, uh, change the course of their life.
They're probably hundreds. That's incredible hundreds. Um, yeah.
Dan Ryan: Wow. That's inspiring. And. Thank you for sharing. And, and if people wanna learn more about you Harry, or the logic conference, like how what's the best way for them to get in touch or learn more. Um, and we we'll put it all in the show notes
Harry Javer: for you, uh, lodging conference, very easy lodging conference.com.
And for me, just connect with me through LinkedIn. Awesome.
Dan Ryan: We'll be definitely be sure to put, put all that up there. I just, I wanna just say thank you for your time. I'm I'm I know how valuable time is for [00:42:00] everyone. And I'm just very grateful that you'd be stowed some of your time for me and all of our listeners, um, to help shorten their journeys on by the, the impactful, um, events that you're putting on.
So thank you, Harry.
Harry Javer: My pleasure, you know, uh, love doing this type of thing and. You know, I guess one final thought is I'm really lucky. You know, I, I, I found something I love it's been successful. It's been rewarding. You know, you reach a certain point. You really want to give back. And so this is a form of giving back and it's a form of, you know, it's good marketing for the conference.
All good. Thank you for having me. I really
Dan Ryan: appreciate it. Oh, it it's. It's my pleasure. It's all of our pleasures. And also I want to thank our listeners as well as I, I keep saying this and I'm just humbled each and every week we keep growing every single week and it's all word of mouth. So if this changed your idea or helped you wanna.[00:43:00]
Break some inertia and go network and meet some other people. Please share this with a friend. Um, and we thank you listeners. So thank you everyone. And we'll catch you next time.