Hero Conf 2026 — The Session Block Worth Flying In For

Source: YouTube auto-generated captions, lightly cleaned (repeated caption lines removed, misheard brand names corrected).

0:00 — Search spend with no sales

San Diego on September 15th is a flight, not a webinar. The reason to buy the ticket sits in a live account from this morning. Last 30 days, $2,392 spent. $1,036 of it on search terms with zero conversions. 64 terms that should already be negatives. Average CPA $141.

0:21 — Why the average looks calm

That waste is the problem Track 2 is built to name. Those 64 terms are not one bad query. They are a pile of distinct searches that took budget and returned nothing. A buyer who waits for a quarterly review leaves that pile running. The $141 CPA is the average on the terms that did convert. So, the

0:43 — Why the date matters

wasted $1,036 never even enters that average. It just makes the account look calmer than it is. A slide deck will not show you a live query pile being cut in the room. San Diego on September 15th is the date that block is on the floor. You fly because the waste pattern above is ordinary, and ordinary waste does not fix itself between quarterly reviews.

1:04 — Three parts of the block

The session has to be specific enough that you can replay the cut on Monday. The block has three working parts, not a keynote and a coffee. Track 2 is the paid media efficiency room. Inside it, a tool gets built live in front of the buyers who will have to run the same cut on their own accounts. John M. Williams

1:25 — Step 1 — Track 2

is in that room because the build needs an operator, not a host reading slides. Track 2 is the paid media efficiency track, and you start there because a tool with no problem is a demo. Efficiency means the share of spend that never earns a conversion, not a prettier dashboard. On the account, that share was $1,036 of $2,392. If the track does not open on a number like that, you are in the wrong room.

Inside Track 2, you separate queries that spent and sold from queries that only spent. That split is why the track comes before any build. The 64 zero conversion terms are the raw list. You do not add all of them because some are close variants of a converting theme.

2:08 — Why this order matters

The room should show the rule for which terms become negatives. You name the waste before you build the tool and you build the tool before you take the operator's word. Reverse it and track two becomes a biography with slides. The $1,036 and the 64 terms have to be on the table first. So, the live build has a job. John's judgment lands last because you need something concrete to judge. The

2:30 — Step 2 — Live tool build

live tool build comes second because a finished screenshot hides the decisions. You need to see which query gets rejected, which threshold gets set, and where the builder stops and asks the room. That is why it is live. A recording is useful later. It is not a substitute for watching the cut happen against a number as ugly as 1,036. Watch the build and four moves and know why each one is there. Pull the search terms. Mark the ones with spend and no conversions. Drop the close variants that still belong to a converting theme. Write the negatives that remain. On this morning's account, that last pile sits inside the 64. Skip the variant check and you cut queries you still want. The output is not a file of 64 negatives. It is a list you can defend term by term tied to spend with zero conversions, close variants pulled

out. That is why you sit through the build instead of downloading a template. A template has no opinion about a 141 CPA. The live cut does because the room can still argue with the threshold. John

3:34 — Step 3 — John M. Williams

M. Williams comes last because the build needs someone who has been wrong on a live account. He has managed roughly $350 million in Google Ads spend. That history is not a credential slide. It is why his threshold deserves an argument, not a nod. You are not there to admire the the You are there to see which calls he will not automate. Listen for the calls he will not hand to a tool.

A close variant with no conversions can still be a theme you need. Cutting it because the row looks bad makes CPA worse, not better. The $141 average does not name which of the 64 is that trap. His job is to show the refusal and why it is cheaper than the cut. Buddy by Ahmeego is the agent that should repeat the cut after you fly

4:18 — What to ask on Monday

home. That is why the live build matters more than a feature list. If you watch the full moves, you know what to ask on Monday. Pull terms, mark zeros, hold close variants, write negatives. A tool that cannot show that split is not doing the room's job. The session will not clean your account for you. San Diego on September 15th gives you

4:39 — What the room cannot do

the rule and the sequence, not a login. That limit is useful. A block that promises to fix $1,036 from the stage is selling a result it cannot see. You fly to learn which of the 64 you would refuse to cut, then test that at your desk. Write four lines before leaving the room because memory flatters the build. The waste number they used, the rule

5:01 — Notes worth taking home

that held a close variant, the call John refused to automate, the first question you will ask Buddy on Monday. If you cannot fill four lines, the block was a talk. If you can, you have a test for the 64 terms at your desk. Stay home if you want to recap of metrics you already pull. Fly if you want the sequence practiced against waste that looks like yours.

5:23 — The flight decision

$2,392 in, $1,036 to terms with no conversions, 64 candidates, CPA at $141. San Diego on September 15th is worth the ticket if you rerun that sequence on Monday. Otherwise, it is a nice room. Waste is ordinary. $1,036 of $2,392

5:45 — Recap

went to search terms with zero conversions across 64 terms at $141 CPA. Track two names that waste. The live build shows the cut in the variance you keep. John M. Williams shows which calls stay human. You rerun it Monday. The blog is on ahmeego.com. Buddy by Ahmeego, a company of it all started with an idea.