Inman Connect San Diego was an incredible event. Between the content, the connections and the energy — it really delivered. The conversations in the sessions were just as valuable as the ones in the hallways and on the exhibit floor. I walked away with some new tools I want to explore further, including a couple of tech platforms I spotted that I think could plug in beautifully to our systems.
But here’s the thing: Events like this are only powerful if you actually do something with what you learned.
Let’s be honest. Most agents leave fired up, but when they get home, the fire fizzles. Notes get buried. Slides get forgotten. Momentum? Lost in the Monday email backlog.
I’ve been there and experienced that until I found a new way to customize it with AI.
Now, every time I go to an event, I drop everything I learn, everyone I meet and every lightbulb idea into one place: A ChatGPT project I call Industry Events.
It’s where I upload my notes, audio transcripts, pictures of speaker slides, business cards, handwritten takeaways — anything that made me stop and think. I use the voice feature to tell ChatGPT who I want to follow up with and who needs to be added to my CRM.
So when I’m back home and ready to plan — whether it’s my next business sprint or a big-picture shift — I can go in and ask:
What from that event helps me fix what’s not working in my business right now?
What ideas should I revisit when I’m mapping out 2026?
It gives me exactly what I need, when I need it. No digging through screenshots or half-finished notebooks.
Why this system scales all year
Let’s be honest: Most of us don’t need more ideas. We need help organizing the ones we already have. That’s why I built this system.
We run our business in 90-day sprints. So when I go to an event like Inman, it’s really tempting to grab a new idea and throw it into the mix mid-sprint.
But that’s not productive. That’s how nothing actually gets done, especially for visionaries like me — who love new ideas and solving problems — it’s easy to want to pivot or layer on too much. And that creates overwhelm, burnout and unfinished plans.
This system helps me simplify and stay focused. I don’t have to act on what I learned right now. I don’t lose it either.
Everything goes into my Industry Events Project so I can stay on track with what I’ve already committed to, and then, when I sit down to plan my next 90-day sprint, I go back to it and ask:
What from this event — or any event I’ve stored in here — aligns with what’s most broken in my business right now?
Because here’s the deal: There’s always going to be one part of your business that needs the most attention. Your job as the founder is to fix the most broken piece that has the highest ROI — fast. This system helps you know exactly where to look when you’re ready to make that next move.
My process: Real notes from real use
At Inman Connect San Diego, I went to sessions on AI, recruiting, retention and tech platforms. I jotted quick ideas during panels, took pictures of my handwritten notes and used Plaud to auto-record and transcribe a couple of sessions I didn’t want to miss a single detail on.
Plaud is a tool that captures live conversations like speaker panels or hallway chats and generates searchable transcripts you can upload straight into ChatGPT.
Here’s what I do before I even leave the airport:
1. Open my ‘Industry Events’ Project in ChatGPT
2. Upload:
- Pictures of handwritten notes
- PDFs or screenshots of session slides
- Plaud transcripts from sessions I recorded
- Screenshots of any slides I want to come back to
- Photos of business cards or badges, so I don’t forget who’s who
3. Use the voice feature inside ChatGPT to tell it who I need to follow up with and who should be added to my CRM
I’ll say something like: “Add Sarah from the lead gen panel to my follow-up list. She had that referral system I liked.”
That way, the info is stored right in the Project, and I can come back to it whenever I’m reconnecting post-event.
I treat it like my conference brain. No more mental tabs open.
4. Then I ask ChatGPT:
What ideas in these notes align with the goals I’ve already set?
It gives me a few smart, doable moves I can implement without wrecking my momentum.
5. Then I ask:
What should I think about adding to my 2026 plan from this?
That’s where it helps surface the slower-burn stuff that’s still valuable, just not urgent.
Any time I’m heading into a new planning sprint, I go back into the Project and ask:
What have I learned from past events that could help solve the biggest hole in my business right now?
Because let’s be real. There’s always a hole. Always something that, if you fixed it, would move the needle the fastest. That’s just part of the game and part of the fun.
How it works: ChatGPT projects vs. custom GPTs
Here’s how I organize everything I take in from an event:
- Projects in ChatGPT (available to Pro users) are flexible workspaces where you can drop in notes, slides, transcripts, photos and reflections and then ask questions that actually connect it all. I use a project called Industry Events as a vault that tracks everything I’ve learned and helps me figure out how and when to use it.
- Custom GPTs are better when you want something to run a specific task repeatedly, like writing social posts, prepping buyer packets or handling lead intake.
Why I use a project: Because I’m not looking to automate a process here — I’m building a system that evolves with how I think, plan and lead. I want a space that grows alongside my business, where I can store ideas I’m not ready to act on yet and revisit them when the timing is right.
And now that Projects can be shared, you can even bring in a partner or ops lead if you want help turning insight into action.
The instruction set that powers my project
Here’s the exact prompt I use to guide my ChatGPT Industry Events Project. It keeps the feedback aligned with my business goals so I’m not just collecting ideas — I’m filtering for traction.
GPT instruction: Analyze industry events to accelerate my business goals
Purpose: Use this GPT Project to extract only the most relevant, actionable takeaways from any conference, trade show, webinar, podcast or event. The goal is to identify what directly supports or accelerates the vision, traction and rocks (highest-priority tasks) in my EOS plan and the growth of my proprietary model.
What I expect: For every event summary, speaker recap, vendor mention or product launch, this Project must evaluate:
- Does this help me scale faster?
- Does this help me retain clients or agents longer?
- Does this make my business more sellable or systematized?
- Does it strengthen my ongoing programs and systems?
What I ask for:
- Keep / Toss / Park List
- KEEP: Integrate immediately; show how it supports a goal
- TOSS: Not aligned with my goals right now
- PARK: Good idea, but not a priority this quarter
- Action items
- If it’s a KEEP, show me how to implement it
- Tie it back to my 90-day rocks, marketing plans or UVPs
- Quick wins versus long-term plays
- Identify if something is a quick win that I can apply this week
- Identify if something is a long-term strategy I should plug into a future quarter
It must always align with:
- My lifetime support system
- My support team partner model
- My retention strategy
- My referral operating system
- My legacy agent acquisition system
- My current 90-day marketing and operational rocks
- My focus on scaling repeat/referral business through monetized vendor funnels
- My long-term goal of building a sellable business asset — not just agent hustle
What to ask ChatGPT after an event
Here are the exact prompts I use after every conference, workshop or mastermind:
Prompt 1: Align ideas to what I’m focused on now
Based on the following notes, what concepts should I consider implementing in this season of my business? My current focus areas are [insert focus].
Prompt 2: Tag future plays
Looking at these notes, what should I consider parking for a future annual plan or 2026 strategy?
Prompt 3: Remind me later
Give me a summary of things from this event I haven’t acted on yet but should circle back to next quarter.
The best part? It doesn’t forget. Let’s say I revisit my project in October. I can ask:
What did I learn at Inman that would help with [insert current challenge]?
It pulls the thread, surfaces what matters and saves me from digging through random notes or forgetting that one killer idea.
Conferences should compound
You don’t need to be techy. You just need to be intentional.
Most people leave opportunities behind at events. I used to, too, until I built a system that keeps every idea, every contact and every strategy alive and ready when I need it.
This isn’t just about saving notes. It’s about building a personal system that multiplies your thinking, your implementation and your results.
Protip: Even if you only go to one event a year, set up your Industry Events Project. Use Plaud. Take photos of everything — slides, business cards, whiteboard scribbles. Use ChatGPT’s voice feature to tell it who to follow up with and who to drop into your CRM. Then let it help you turn all of it into momentum.
You don’t need more ideas. You need a system that makes your ideas work for you.
Amy Stockberger is the founder of Amy Stockberger Real Estate. Connect with Amy on Instagram and Facebook.