This year, I'm extremely excited to pull the trigger on something I’ve wanted to do for the last few years: bring back THE membership growth conference!
Retain Live 2025 is a 2-day live event for membership site owners taking place September 22nd-24th 2025, and it’s shaping up to be something very special.
It definitely helps that Retain 2019 was such a success! Also, I'm pretty seasoned at attending and speaking at events like this around the world… So I’ve been able to draw on what I’ve liked (and what I haven’t!) in order to help the Geeks design the type of event that we’d love to go to ourselves.
However, we know that many in our audience might not have been to a conference like Retain before, and as such perhaps you’re not sure what to expect, or can’t figure out whether it’s worth the time, money and energy to actually attend.
After all, what can attending an event in person give you that watching a few videos online can’t?
Well, the answer is – a lot!
There’s a huge array of benefits to attending live events – some obvious, and some not so obvious. So I thought I’d highlight just some of the reasons you might decide to attend Retain Live 2025…
Inspiration, Insights and Connections
This is a big one. Not only will you be learning from expert speakers throughout the event, but you’ll also be surrounded by other membership site owners!
Can you imagine how powerful that will be? Being surrounded by others who understand your business model, your challenges, your successes?
People who want to hear what’s working for you, and to share what’s working for them.
Entrepreneurship can be lonely; even more so when you narrow the field to membership site owners. We want to help you connect with others. Make new friends, find collaborators and guest experts for your memberships, and so much more.
We’re deliberately limiting the event size to ensure that there’s plenty of opportunity to meet many other attendees, and we have plenty of networking time built into the day (and don’t forget the evenings! Grabbing a bite to eat and some drinks with other attendees is all part of the fun).
Sure, you’ll be getting a lot of value from the talks on stage, but the discussions you have with other attendees are where the true magic happens.
In fact, we think this is so important, we’ve also added dedicated mastermind slots, where you’ll be able to get feedback from a small group of other attendees on anything you wish to discuss about your membership.
We have people attending from all over the world, with all different kinds of membership sites and niches. You’re going to meet people you want to stay connected with long after the event!
Get the Latest Info and New Ideas
You know an event is going to bring the heat when it comes to the content when the organisers are excited to hear what the speakers have to say!
Whilst I will be gracing the stage a fair amount during the event, sharing practical, actionable advice, I'm also joined by a wealth of great speakers and experts in their field including Teresa Heath-Wareing, Elizabeth Goddard, Funk Roberts, Mark Bryant and many more (see the full lineup here). Trust us, our speakers are going to be dropping value bombs left right and centre.
I've hand-picked speakers because I know how knowledgeable they are, and the value they can bring when it comes to membership growth – in fact, most of them are membership site owners themselves!
Everything you hear on stage will not only be specific to membership sites, but practical and actionable too so that you can leave the event with a list of action steps (instead of notes you’ll never look at).
In fact, this is a no-fluff event and even if you’ve been running your membership for years, we can guarantee* you’re going to pick up some new ideas to make your membership even more effective! (*not an actual guarantee, but we’re pretty darn confident!)
All it takes is one new insight or tip to skyrocket your membership growth!
Invest in Yourself…and Your Members
When was the last time you spent 2-3 days purely focused on how you can improve and grow your membership site?
It’s so easy in the day-to-day running of your membership to forget to take a step back and spend time ON the business rather than in it.
Not only will attending Retain motivate and inspire you, and give you great ideas for taking your membership to the next level, but giving yourself 2 days to focus solely on you and your business can lead to some major breakthroughs.
And by investing the time and money in yourself to attend, you’re also investing in your members too, and showing them that you want to make their experience as a member as good as possible.
In fact, we’d encourage you to share your experience at Retain with your own members!
You Won’t Be Sold To
There’s certain events that you go to, and even though the event itself might be really good, you know that the whole thing is geared up to make you buy something else (usually a more expensive program or mastermind). Or each speaker is pitching their own product to you with ‘forms at the back of the room’.
This is not that kind of event.
When you’re at Retain, our focus is on delivering an awesome event in it’s own right, and that’s it. The Membership Geeks won’t be offering any upsells from the stage, and our speakers won’t be selling anything to you either.
No pitching, no BS or tricks; just a value packed couple of days talking about all things memberships.
(We can’t, however, guarantee that we won’t be giving you anything at the event… But that’s a whole other story!)
It’s One of a Kind
The focus of Retain is unique. We’re not talking about why you should have a membership site, or how you can start one.
Everyone in the room is already a membership site owner.
Our focus on membership growth – which includes both attracting new members and keeping more of your existing members – means that we can dive deep on more advanced topics and tactics, and really focus on those things that will help you move the needle in your membership.
This also means that when it comes to things like masterminding with other attendees, you don’t have to worry about not being at the right table. Everyone in the room is, or has been, where you are.
Get to Know The Membership Geeks
Okay, so this one may sound a little arrogant or self indulgent, but I have it on good authority that a number of people are coming because they want to meet the Geeks team and myself, spend time with us and hear more of our insights on membership sites.
We’ll be available throughout the event to chat with, ask questions to or even take selfies with (although I can’t guarantee my photo face will be any better by then!).
It’s not just us though – our speakers will also be sticking around for the whole event too (they’re membership site owners themselves, after all!), so you can also chat with them and get to know them better.
We’re really looking forward to meeting you (or seeing you again!) and getting to spend some real in-person time with you; online is great, but talking face-to-face is even better!
Have a New Experience (or Two!)
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say there’s a 99% chance that you won’t be a Newcastle native if you attend Retain (although big high fives to all the locals who are attending!)
Travelling to a new city to attend a conference is a pretty unique experience, and it gives you a great chance to see somewhere new and expand your horizons, whilst also having an inbuilt network of people that you can explore with (even if that ‘exploring’ is just finding the best pint or pie in the city!).
There’s a lot to see and do in Newcastle, most of it within easy walking distance of our venue, so we’d highly recommend squeezing in some of the local sites or trying something new while you’re here (no judgement if that ‘something new’ is Newcastle Brown Ale or a bacon stottie).
You could even extend your stay for a few days and explore with your new found membership friends, or bring your family along for a little holiday.
And don’t worry, Geordie’s (as Newcastle locals are called!) are a friendly bunch, although we may need to give you some handy translations before you arrive!
Most importantly…
Whatever your reason for attending Retain, our goal is that you’ll leave the event fired up and inspired, with a list of actions you can take to accelerate your membership growth. As well as with new friends and connections who will support you along the way.
So, have you got your ticket yet?
