8 Amazing (and Actionable!) Ideas Overheard at skucamp, Austin!

“Burning Man meets Ted Talk, and they have a little promo baby.” 

Wait... what?!

Well, that’s not exactly how we would have described skucamp, but that’s how one participant summed up our 3-day experience deep in the heart of Texas! 

Another participant wrote: “The friendships formed in this ‘movement’ of the industry are beyond remarkable. skucamp [is] a way to discover your strengths and weaknesses, learn important shit, and give yourself grace.  It's like the best kind of AA for high-level promo people. Why would you ever miss this, unless you were having a baby or your appendix removed?”

And yet another attendee wrote: “Intense! Get your house in order before you come, so you can really enjoy it. This is a rare experience that is driven by the community”. 

Intense? AA for high-level promo people? Babies? What in the heck are these attendees talking about? 

skucamp, our business planning boot camp, concluded last week in Austin, TX, featuring a standing-room-only crowd and kicked off with New York Times bestselling author and “teamwork doctor” Liane Davey, who floored the room with her insight through her workshop on ”The Good Fight: Build a Productive Conflict Culture.” 

Liane’s session opened 2-full days of non-stop content, and we’ve pulled a handful of gems shared at the conference to give you a taste of what everyone’s talking about! Here they are…

8 amazing (and actionable!) ideas overheard at skucamp, Austin!

1. Conquer Conflict Debt: Conflict is not inherently negative, but rather a necessary part of growth and improvement in organizations. Many individuals and teams avoid conflict due to personal baggage or misconceptions, leading to a build-up of "Conflict Debt."  [Liane Davey, ”The Good Fight: Build a Productive Conflict Culture”].

    

2. Emotions Guard Treasure: During conflict, "If you see emotions, if emotions bubble over, it's okay. It's because there's treasure [behind those emotions], and they're worried, and they're trying to protect it, and they don't feel like they're effectively protecting it." [Liane Davey, ”The Good Fight: Build a Productive Conflict Culture”]. BTW: You can hear more from Liane in our skucast episode on how workplace conflict is healthy!

    

3. The 5-3-1 Rule: Farmers (vs. hunters) get a bad rap in this business, but farmers are the foundation of growth. But how do we get order takers to become farmers who learn how to cultivate client growth? Use the 5-3-1 rule. The 5-3-1 rule stands for the questions you should ask in every project. Normally, we ask all the basic questions when taking an order: What product do you want? Where do you want it? When do you want it? How many do you want? And what's the art that's going on it? But Stephen Musgrave suggests we dig deeper and ask questions that create value. Beyond the five basic questions, ask three questions that are intended to unlock value, like: What's this event all about? How are you giving this stuff out? What do you want people to think when they get it? What do you want people to feel when you get it? Plus, one personal question to get to know your buyer better. [Stephen Musgrave, EVP of Genumark, from his session, “The Vegetarian’s Guide (No, Seriously) to Promo Sales”].

    

4. Create an archetype [in your client’s mind] or risk becoming a stereotype: "If you don't fill in the blanks, you leave too many things open for interpretation, your audience and your consumers might see you as manic, or worse, basic, right. When in reality, you're magic." [Dave Blanchfield, Founder, CEO & Director of Operations, and Jessica Blanchfield, Lead Strategist and Director of Client Services, Archer & Hound from how to “Move Your Brand Beyond a Stereotype”].

    

5. Navy SEALs 40%: Navy SEALs have what's called the 40 percent rule. “It basically means, anything we do in life, we're actually only 40 percent of the way to what we're capable of doing. And the reason for that is our body has a safety mechanism to shut us down. Our brain says, stop, you're going into unsafe territory, but that's only at 40% of the way. So you can push much further physically, mentally, and emotionally. And once you push that threshold up to a new level, past that breaking point, then that's your new threshold. That's your new breaking point. And as you continue to do that, your max keeps moving farther and farther up. [Tom Rauen, CEO at 1-800-Tshirts, who closed out the epic event with an awe-inspiring talk on what he learned while running the prestigious UTMB, a 100-mile endurance race, titled, “In Pursuit of What’s Possible”].

    

6. Growing Begins: With loving yourself and being kind to others. It sounds like a simple maxim, but Tom Rector shared his hilarious but true story about what he learned about scaling from his, um, hike through the woods, concluding: “The last thing I want to leave you with is that we can be successful in anything. But one of the things I really learned through this process is that if you love yourself, and you're really kind to others, and you just work hard, you'll win. You'll be a winner. And even when you're lying in a pile of your own‌ sh*t, if you keep this in mind, you'll be alright. [Tom Rector, CEO at Screenbroidery who shocked the crowd in a fun and encouraging way with his talk on “Scaling Strategies”].

    

7. Failure deserves applause. Andy Crouch, Education Director at Hideout at Work, kicked off day two with a brilliant workshop on improv titled, “The Surprising Power of Being More Boring,” and shared ten keys to creating improvisational success with your team and your clients, including the idea to “normalize failure,” leading the entire audience in a round of applause after participants tried a workshop exercise and failed. Failure deserves applause because at least you tried. Oh, and one bonus gem that is a gold standard in improv, and works for business too…

    

8. Trying too hard won’t make you better. Relax. Don’t take yourself or the work too seriously. The masters at improv learn to relax into the rhythm and spontaneity of work, embracing the flow of ideas without overthinking.

And those 8 ideas were just the tip of the iceberg.

Rachel Kozinski, President and CFO at Sky High Marketing, and Josh Kozinski, CEO at Sky High Marketing, talked about “No Shortcuts: Crafting a Solid Plan for Steady Growth.” Neil Ringel, CEO, Polyconcept; CJ Schmidt, President and CEO, Hit Promotional Products, and Dan Pantano, President & CEO at alphabroder joined commonsku CEO Catherine Graham for a fireside chat on topics related to technology, supply chain, and sourcing. Jenna Quaranta, VP Sales & Business Innovation, KNOSS Apparel; Elson Yeung, President, KNOSS Apparel, shared “How Leaders Create a Startup Mentality”. Ben Adams, Managing Director & Co-Founder, Advoc8 shared “More Than Just Merch: Who Are You and What Impact Do You Bring To Clients?” Ruth Verver, Co-Founder at PaperClip Promotions; Alicia Rhodes, President at Action Plus Ideas; Sara Webb CEO at InTandem Promotions;  and Heather McCleod, VP of Sales at Elite Promotional Marketing joined commonsku’s Customer Success Manager Erin Burley to share power tips from the commonsku platform.  

And no skucamp would be complete without an epic merch experience created in partnership with our amazing supplier partners: PCNA, alphabroder, Raining Rose Promos, Numo, Chameleon Like, T-Tycoon Solutions, Knoss, Hit Promotional Products, and Ruckus, plus an association sponsorship by our friends at  PPAI. 

No one can sum up the skucamp experience quite like those that experienced it, so we’ll let one final attendee have the last word:

“skucamp is where you'll go to not only be educated and inspired but to connect with industry peers in a way that helps you become hard and fast best friends for years to come … gone are the days of feeling awkward attending an event because I don't know anyone. Now I have trouble having enough time to visit with everyone I'm so excited to see!” 

Miss this year’s skucamp? No worries, we’ll catch you at our next major event, skucon in Las Vegas on Jan 14th!