Hey! Welcome back to the Creator Economy NYC newsletter, your weekly hit of insights and strategies to help you build, monetize, and scale as a creator.
Firstly, Go Knicks! What a series.
I’m writing to you from Italy where I’m on some leisurely travels with my fiancée, before I head to Cannes Lions to emcee the “Creator Beach” all week (and rep CENYC proudly on the international stage).
Which brings me to this week’s topic, as I have found my DMs right lately have basically one question on repeat: everyone's going to Cannes. Should I be there?!
The honest answer is yes... and no.
This week, why being in the room is one of the highest-ROI moves you can make as a creator, a playbook for picking the right rooms, and what to actually do once you're in them.
Let's get into it.
Gamma knows how to build more than great presentations
One of the highlights of New York Tech Week was attending Gamma's Gammaramma event at Hammerstein Ballroom.
The team brought together creators, founders, operators, and technologists for an afternoon of conversations, presentations, and networking.
What stood out most was seeing speaker after speaker use Gamma to deliver polished, engaging presentations without the usual slide deck friction.
As someone who hosts events and spends a lot of time creating presentations, I've also been using Gamma myself lately and have been impressed by how quickly it turns ideas into something visually compelling.
If you're regularly building decks, proposals, workshops, event presentations, or internal docs, Gamma is worth adding to your toolkit.
Why being in the room is worth it
Yes, the creator economy plays out online. But it runs on relationships, and relationships still get built face to face with the people you want to know.
I have a great story here. Last year I went to VidCon. I went back and forth struggling to decide whether the ticket, the flights, and the days away from work were worth it. I almost talked myself out of it.
I went. And I left with a $17,000 brand deal.
I left with that deal because I showed up. I went to the happy hours, ended up talking to Greg, who ran partnerships at Sprout Social, and that conversation compounded on our existing relationship which turned into a partnership.
I believe in the power and serendipity of IRL so much it's been one of the biggest driving forces of building CENYC.
You don't have to be "big enough" to be there
Here's the belief I want to knock down: conferences are for people who've already made it. You know the ones getting flown out, landing speaking slots, brand-paid passes.
Wrong. You don't wait to be invited into the room. You make the investment to be there, and then the invitations start.
Brandon Smithwrick is proof of that. There was an Under-30 Marketer program that would've gotten him to Cannes Lions. He applied last year and he didn't get in.
He went anyway.
Airbnb booked, flights booked. And here's the part I love: he didn't even buy a pass at first. Instead, he hustled and messaged every brand he'd already worked with:
"I'll be out there. Let me know if you're having any activations."
A soft pitch. I'm around if you need content, without being pushy.
It landed him a deal with Adobe, who then covered his Cannes Lions pass, plus a partnership with LinkedIn. As he put it, the trip "suddenly turned into one of the most lucrative brand deals I ever had."
And Brandon doesn't pitch himself to speak. "Sometimes people fixate too much on trying to speak at these things," he told us. "I'd ask why? Is it for ego, or is it because of value?" He goes to learn, and the opportunities compound from there.
Now he’s speaking twice at Cannes this year. He pitched himself for none of it.
And sometimes the ROI isn't a deal at all
Alberta Devor went full-time as a creator this year and went to SXSW to meet people in the space and get out of her NYC bubble.
"I was able to get 10+ creators together to film a video. That would have been a very large lift outside of that environment, but at the conference it was just a matter of rounding everyone up at a moment when folks were already around."
That's the case for IRL. The return isn't always a brand deal. Sometimes it's a collab that would've taken months to coordinate from your apartment alone.
I’m bought into IRL, but what about Cannes?
Aside from the fact it’s probably a bit too tight of timing now. No, this does not necessarily mean you should go to Cannes.
When a comedy creator I know texted me asking if he should go to Cannes, because "a bunch of people are", I asked him the only question that actually matters:
Why do you want to go?
He didn't have an answer. So I told him not to.
Cannes makes sense for me because I'm in the creator and marketing space. The rooms are full of people I want to meet. But it might not be your room. And chasing someone else's conference FOMO is an expensive mistake.
The truth is that there are opportunities around the year that are valuable to creators, not just ones like Cannes that might get the most attention.
The question you need to figure out is which rooms you want to get in, and what you do once you're in it. Here's the playbook.
The Room ROI Playbook
1. Name the return before you book
You'll spend money on a camera, editing software, ads, no hesitation. Then a conference ticket gets filed under "treat" instead of "investment." That's backwards.
If you're running your creator work like a business, the ticket is a line item. You're buying access to a room full of people you want to know, you’re learning new things to apply to your work. Treat it that way.
But be honest about what return you're actually after. As Alberta put it:
"I didn't expect to get a concrete brand deal or a viral video out of the event and wouldn't recommend anyone go for those reasons alone. But it's a lot easier to meet future collaborators and brand partners in lower-stress environments like that one."
Before you book: name the one outcome that would make this worth it. A deal, a collab, five real conversations with people in your lane. Whatever it is, say it out loud. If you can't, that's your answer.
2. Figure out which rooms are yours
If you're earlier on, you don't need the most expensive ticket in the room yet.
Alberta's take here is good:
"Just show up. You don't need to start by committing to a big expensive conference. Local events are great ways to meet other folks doing similar work. Save the bigger events for when you're ready to expand your network."
Start with the room that makes sense for where you are. Then graduate.
3. Make the most of being in the room
Getting there is step one. But a ticket doesn't do the work, you do.
My rule: do not go back to the hotel. You're tired. The happy hour feels optional. It isn't. My VidCon deal happened at one I almost skipped. Alberta's collab only worked because she rounded people up while everyone was already there.
And don't measure a conference by what happened that day. One relationship can turn into a deal, a collab, or a guest spot six months later.
Make the social stuff non-negotiable. Follow up with everyone worth it within a week.
The 4-question gut check
Before you buy any ticket, run these. Four yeses? Book it.
Do I know why I'm going, with specific goals I can speak out loud?
Is this room actually in my lane, or am I chasing someone else's highlight reel?
Am I willing to do the work once I'm there: the dinners, the happy hours, the side conversations?
Can I treat this as a real business investment, not a reward?
One no doesn't automatically mean skip it. But zero yeses means you're going for FOMO, and FOMO is a terrible travel planner.
July 22nd Mixer & Panel
Summer is in full swing and after a packed few months of events, launches, conferences, and creator chaos, we're bringing the community back together.
Join Creator Economy NYC and our friends at TopFan for an evening of networking, conversation, and connection with creators, marketers, platforms, and industry leaders shaping what's next.
We'll explore what it means to build a creator business that lasts, from audience ownership and direct fan relationships to creating opportunities beyond the platforms we rely on every day.
Now this will be an event worth attending…
Two free tools top creators use to keep themselves moving
The Creator Goal Setting Guide (FREE): A simple but powerful document to help you declare who you want to BECOME in 2026. Get it here.
The Creator Accountability System (FREE): Your visual companion for consistent creation in 2026. Get it here.
Thanks for reading. Remember to get out there.
I’ll see you next week, and will be reporting back on the ground from Cannes!
F*ck It, Create It,
Brett
+ With research, interview and editorial support by Taylor Cromwell - a newsletter and creator economy expert and founder of Creator Diaries. Follow Taylor on LinkedIn.
