Less Talking. More Living.

Before we have something worth saying, we have to live something worth experiencing.

After I delivered my presentation at PPAI Expo in Las Vegas earlier this year, I made a private decision that will likely surprise more than a few people.

For the first time in many years, I won't be speaking at most of the promotional products industry's major events. No PPAI Expo, no ASI shows, no regional association circuit, and no Wild Wednesday Webinars until July, 2027. I'll still gladly speak for clients and organizations that ask me to, but for the next 12 months, I'm intentionally stepping away from the broader industry speaking circuit.

That wasn't someone else's decision or a plea from my family; it was simply a choice I made.

To be clear, I love speaking and always have. Standing on a stage, sharing ideas, and hopefully helping someone see their business a little differently has been one of the greatest privileges of my career. I've spoken at more than fifteen PPAI Expos (every one since 2018) and countless ASI and regional shows for the past 20 years. Those opportunities have introduced me to incredible people, lifelong friendships, and experiences I'll never forget.

So, this begs the question: why step away?

The simplest answer is that I want to remember what a trade show feels like when I'm not counting down the minutes until a presentation. I want to walk the show floor without mentally rehearsing my opening line. I want to sit in someone else's session without wondering whether the slide advancer in my room is working. I'd like to have conversations that aren't interrupted by checking the time, because I need to do "just one more" run-through of my slides. In short, I'd like to experience our industry as an audience member again.

However, there’s another layer (or two) behind this decision, because it's not simply about attending a trade show free of responsibility: I truly believe every message benefits from fresh voices.

One of the most beneficial things any industry can do is continually introduce new perspectives, new stories, and new ways of thinking. Some of my favorite speakers became my favorite speakers precisely because I didn't hear them every few weeks. Their ideas had room to breathe, and so did I. Honestly, I think that's healthy.

But if I'm being completely honest, there's an even bigger reason behind my decision: I want to live life a little more and talk about it a little less because experience is where great content comes from.

When I look back at many of my favorite blogs I've written over the past year, they didn't come from sitting in my office trying to invent something clever. They came from a Father's Day gift that changed the way I think about music, a line from a centuries-old sonnet that I couldn't stop thinking about, a conversation on a webinar, discovering a band I had generally ignored, or training for and completing my first 10k. In other words, paying attention to moments that, at first glance, seemed completely ordinary.

None of those ideas came from trying to create content; they came from actually living.

I'll continue publishing this weekly blog and releasing a new episode of the Between 2 Brands every Friday. In fact, I hope both become better because of this decision. I hope I read more books, have more conversations, take more notes, ask better questions, and collect experiences I haven't had yet.

Sometimes I think those of us who spend a good measure of our time creating content can unintentionally flip the equation. We spend so much time producing that we forget to replenish, and we keep telling stories without taking enough time to collect new ones. That approach simply isn't sustainable - and not because we burn out or run out of ideas, but because we need to have more experiences worth talking about.  

I have no doubt I'll miss being on stage from time to time, but I have an even stronger feeling that this season will make me a better writer, a better podcaster, a better speaker, and maybe even a better observer of the world around me.

Because experience is where great content comes from. And, for the next year, I’d rather spend a little more time collecting stories than telling them. When I do step back onto a stage, I won't simply have a new presentation; I’ll have something worth saying.