As event organizers in a zoom-exhausted world, you never really know exactly how an event will land. You plan, and plan, and plan. You spend countless hours obsessing over the details: building the marketing assets, getting the word out, working with speakers to bring a brilliant day of insight, coordinating with sponsors to create the most epic swag possible, and helping guests get prepared for an adventure.
But you don’t really know exactly how it will go once you hit that “live” button. Particularly an all-day event lasting nearly seven hours long (an epic ride by anyone’s standard).
So, when over 1,100 people registered for skucon, with nearly all of them staying for the entire 7-hour experience, we quickly realized that this was one community that was ready to take on the new year! The energy -both from the speakers and from the community- was electric.
Zack Sarner, National Accounts Director for Brand Fuel, summed up the day-long inspiration-fest in a chat he shared at the end of the day, exclaiming, “this wasn't work ... it was an educational day with friends and competitors and a really kick-ass start to 2021.”
The day launched with MarketingProf’s Ann Handley who spoke on the “Big, Bold, Brave New World of Content and Storytelling” and then led right into a panel conversation hosted by Denise Taschereau of Fairware on the topic of advocacy, activism, and transparency featuring Ben and Jerry’s Head of Global Activism and Strategy, Chris Miller, and Kierstin De West, who was recently LuluLemon’s Global Vice President of Brand Management and Strategy.
Bobby Lehew, commonsku’s Chief Content Officer then led a discussion with Fast Company senior staff writer Liz Segran on the topic of sustainability and trends while also discussing the article she wrote, “It’s time to stop spending billions on cheap conference swag.” Sam Kates, commonsku’s Vice President of Sales, hosted an emerging voices panel featuring sales tips from the next generation of salespeople which included Alyssa Inkrott with Raining Rose, Porshia Carter with Intandem Promotions, and Alex Branstrator with Bagley.
Jonathan Isaacson, Chairman and CEO of The Gem Group, gave a presentation defining the macro trends driving innovation today entitled, “Acceleration in the Age of Deceleration.” And Catherine Graham, commonsku’s CEO led a discussion on the future of the industry with Paul Bellantone, PPAI’s President and CEO and Tim Andrews, ASI’s President and CEO.
The day’s keynote speakers were enhanced by two breakout groups on a wide variety of subjects, including strategic positioning led by Dominique Volker of Whitestone Branding; successful e-commerce and shops by Tracey Clingen; how to host a virtual conference by commonsku’s Marketing Director Kate Masewich; optimum operations by Britney Godsey of Gold Bond, influencer marketing by Quianne Savoy of Moore and Moore Merch, and how to design merch for purpose, mission, and values by Maria Corpuz of Soul and Swag. A lightning round of 1-to-1 networking also ignited attendees to share their best stories from their 2020 year in sales.
LA Creative Director and Brand Strategist Mitra Khayyam with Midnight Rider joined Bobby Lehew on stage to chat about creating merchandise experiences that connect, and from Brussels Belgium, Simon Polet with Merchery talked about the surprising magic of authenticity.
The day’s event was capped with two magical experiences, first: marketing luminary Seth Godin closed the day’s lessons by inspiring the artist within every entrepreneur to rise to the level of their craft and professional ambition, and second, in the evening, a networking session that allowed all attendees to break into small groups and share their insights from the day.
But at our events, we always state (and firmly believe) that every person in the audience is as important as the most notable figure commanding the stage. To this end, throughout the event, a live community chat stream was featured alongside each speaker’s presentation. One distributor friend told me that, at times, he got as much out of the chat happening during the event as he did from the rotation of speakers!
And the chat stream at skucon was popping off, ALL DAY LONG! To the tune of nearly 5,000 chat messages by the end of the event. This highlights a very distinctive (and new) phenomenon in our virtual event world: an opportunity to give voice to every opinion in the audience, a beautiful experience that we at commonsku embrace! So much so, that we took the almost 5,000 chat messages, reviewed them all, and pulled some of the best comments and quotes from the community.
The responses in the chat ranged from replies that resonated with the attendees, to paraphrasing a speaker’s thoughts, to comments that sparked brand new ideas. Many times, the chat exchange within the community took the speaker’s thought in a different direction which amplified the insight, or bridged a strategy from the speaker into a tactic, and when it got most lively was when the chat codified a speaker’s thought into action, at which point the chat stream would erupt with a barrage of agreement “yes!” … “preach!” … “great idea!”
So, “live from the community at commonsku live” here is a list of over 30 ideas, concepts, comments, and precepts shared by you that we can all use as actionable insights to kick-start our year:
‘Affinity’ is marketing's word for 2021. - Andrea Pereira
Honest empathy is everything. - Deborah Mann
The 3 A’s: Authentic, Affirming, Available. - Naomi Bodway
Progress, not perfection. - Danny Rosin
Do less, better. - Jessica Gibbons-Rauch
Focus on one channel and do it well. - Wendy Fahle
Aspiration is dissatisfaction. - Marshall Atkinson
You are not meant for everybody. - Andrea Pereira
Build loyalty through a shared sense of values. - Rachel Hare
Data does not equal insights. - Kathy Cheng
People don't delineate. It's all brand experience. - Kirby Hasseman
Take a stand. It’s risky - but not when it comes from the heart. - Lynn Glover
Be comfortable being uncomfortable. - David Shultz
Experiences foster bonds. - Edward Chow
The "Main Street" comeback. - Deborah Mann
In-store Experiential is going to rage in 2022+ - Olivia Davis
He who sweeps the floor chooses the broom.- Ian Huntley
Allow your colleagues to find their voice. - Meg Erber
Create a no-blame culture. - Gill Thorpe
More intention & strategy. - Kate Kailik
Ask: Does this product encourage better behavior? - Shana Acker
Quantity at scale (that was then) v. quality at scale (this is now). - Danny Rosin
People want a retail look, not a promo look. - Jayne Ircha
Less is more and small is beautiful. - Pierre Martichoux
Persistence is key - and not always on our time-frame. - Robert Williams
Determination wins every time! - Felice Gertz
Licensing is easier than you think. Just steps & due diligence. - Rich Patterson
Vision, purpose, and good design. Put it simply - say it passionately! - Jodie Schillinger
Learn from everyone in your environment. - Mark Shinn
Referring people is how you show -not say- you care. - Bill Petrie
Perfect is a place to hide. - Andrew Nisenshal
Who is your Neil Young? - CJ Schmidt
Dance with some level of tension. - Jeff Solomon
A huge thanks to Aly Brunton, commonsku’s Senior Marketing Coordinator and a truly brilliant thinker whose lightning-fast wit and future-thinking reflex guided the chat experience with the mad skill of a seer!
And to our astounding partners who treat these experiences less like sponsors and more like creative collaborators, thank you for helping pull off not just an epic event experience, but a swag experience that some say parallels no other in the industry (their words, not ours, but we tend to agree!). Sponsors of the event included Spector & Co, SnugZ USA, Goldstar, Outdoor Cap, SanMar, Numo, Logojojo, BamBams, Chameleon Like, Hit Promotional Products, EMT, Maple Ridge Farms, and PPAI.