Here’s a list of events that I keep my eye on: Awesome List of Events for Small Businesses. Three things can happen by taking 5-10 minutes to browse through a list like this in your target market:

1. You just might find and opportunity to do a workshop or breakout session. There’s a good chance it won’t pay, but if you can sell products and services you could still make a killing in the back of the room. Also, presenters might  receive discounts on exhibit space and be able to attend the entire event for free. Hey…who knows?  You could learn something useful.

Finally, if you rock the house, you could get spin off business and maybe even a keynote slot the following year.

2. You’ll get to see what topics and speakers are in demand. A lot of times this you can pick upon new trends and size up the competition. And if you don’t see your topic being covered that could be a good thing, right? Yes. It could, however, mean that there’s little demand for your topic. Think about that.

3. You could get some great leads, ideas, or both. If the event is a national one, maybe you could speak somewhere similar at the regional or local level. If the event is for professionals, maybe you could do something similar for students, women, minorities, or any other target market. Now here’s the thing I like: any topic being covered at the event is content that has the potential to make a great product or service.

So, check out the list I gave you, search for other conferences and events, get some gigs, and sell some products.

NOTE: Don’t spend all day doing this. 5-10 minutes.