skucon 2023: Grit, Glory, and Gratitude!

A sold-out crowd jammed into the beautiful Keep Memory Alive Center in Las Vegas to experience a full day of inspiring insights shared by some of the boldest and bravest in the business! 

Michael Bungay Stanier kicked open skucon with a brilliant keynote that delivered big on laughs, deep human insight, and mostly: empathy. Empathy for oneself as a struggling leader, and empathy for those we lead. Michael commanded the room with his disarming humor and practical wisdom, demonstrating through a mini-workshop that anyone can be a great coach, and surprisingly, it only takes 10 min – as long as you have the right questions. 

After walking the audience through an exercise to discern the difference between bad work, good work, and great work, Michael shared the five essential questions you need to know to unlock your team’s best work. Through Michael’s examples, he challenged the room full of leaders to “stay curious a little bit longer, rush to action and advice-giving a little more slowly.” 

An epic kick-off, Michael held the room, spellbound, leaving the audience enthusiastic about the one thing we all struggle with the most: leading effectively. 

skucon stories have become a staple of the skucon experience. skucon Stories are “ten-minute tales, told from the trenches.” But in 2023, they became much more than that, they became a way to see the world through someone else’s perspective. 

Quinn Bui from Raining Rose shared stories and pics from his journey as a van-lifer, inspiring the audience to think bigger and go further. Tiana Gamble shared her story as a start-up entrepreneur, launching her distributorship Creative Design Hawaii while juggling a family and a successful retail clothing brand. Jarid Taylor from Brandigenous shared a glimpse into his Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw heritage (also known as the Kwakiutl), one of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, and the story of unceded traditional lands that are deeply tied to roots, identity, and belonging. Jarid closed his story with his brother joining him on stage to sing a traditional song in Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw. And finally, Regina Renda shared her story from her humble beginnings as a promo buyer to her discovery that she was -indeed- an entrepreneur, inspiring entrepreneurs in the room to stay true to their own unique and bold energy. 

skummunity awards were presented in five different categories, recognizing some of the most influential and successful entrepreneurs in the industry: 

• Supplier Community Champion: Brittany Tiringer, Tekweld

• Distributor Community Champion: Mitch Silver, Printable Promotions

• Supplier Connected Workflow: The PCNA team: Bill Peterson, Holly Brown, Erin Harris, and Alex Parkes

• Distributor Entrepreneur of the Year: Thomas Rector, ScreenBroidery 

• Shops Innovation Leader: Michelle Guetle, The Callard Company

  And thank you, Kate Plummer and our amazing friends at Clearmount for the gorgeous awards!

  Caleb Gilbertson and Travis Veit joined commonsku’s Chief Content Officer Bobby Lehew on stage for a fireside chat to talk about their epic 250% revenue growth and worldwide expansion. Discussing topics ranging from scaling their business to what it takes to serve enterprise clients, the two unique entrepreneurs shared the lessons they’ve learned from a successful partnership, providing attendees a glimpse into the traits needed to grow a thriving team. 

In our industry, the Chief Revenue Officer role is a fairly new role that has massive potential for organizational growth. Catherine Graham, commonsku’s CEO, led a panel of three of the industry’s supplier sales leaders in a discussion about the essentials to successful sales leadership: Holly Brown, Polyconcept, Samatha Kates, Spector & Co, and Trina Bicknell, HPG. During their discussion, they discussed the impact of technology on sales, finding alignment between service, sales, and marketing, and what it takes to create a successful partnership between suppliers and distributors. 

A trademark experience of any commonsku event is a focus on community: Taking time to connect with other like-minded entrepreneurs to inspire creativity and growth. “Table Talks” are one of the most popular sessions at skucon and feature critical questions that spark discussion, questions like “What is your biggest sales growth challenge in the next six months?”, plus topics inspired by the day’s speakers.

A new session for skucon was a session titled, “The Tipping Point”. The branded merch industry is such a vast industry, and there are so many unique business models, and so many different paths to growth, that throughout an entrepreneur’s journey, there is usually a tipping point where the business –or the entrepreneur– goes through an experience that changes the course of their future. In three, 10-min interviews, Bobby Lehew talked with three distributors who each experienced a turning point in their business, unlocking secrets to overcoming roadblocks, and growing beyond their potential: Nathan Bailey, President, and Founder of Ideation Creative Brand Management; Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of Hello Promo; Jeff Becker, founder of Kotis Design.

In what had to be the most surprising moment on stage at skucon, commonsku team members Erin Burley, Aaron Kucherawy, and Dave Shultz broke out in song (yes, in song), to share one of the many features with the skucon audience through the lyrics, “Portal Time.” A closely guarded secret, the three creatives built the song into their presentation, “Putting the Learnings into Practice Inside commonsku,” sharing with the audience how to apply the day’s track of learnings inside the platform. 

And finally, closing the day, Ally Delgado, the CEO at Merchology, shared her inspiring talk, “Float Like a Butterfly, Merch Like a Bee: The Surprising Lessons the Branded Merch Industry can Learn from Honeybees.” Ally wove the peculiar lessons the honey bee has to teach us about our own industry, drawing on parallels that included defying the laws of physics (doing things that seem impossible!), hiding the chaos (supply chain anyone?!), and making the world a more sustainable place. The Merchology enterprise (including Zusa, a carbon-neutral lifestyle brand), skyrocketed to $80 million in annual sales in only eight years and is a Disability-Owned Business Enterprise with 275 employees across three facilities in Minneapolis, Reno, and Harrisburg. 

And of course, no commonsku event would be complete without the day’s real superstar, the merch, provided by our amazing sponsors: SanMar, Spector & Co, chameleon like, goldstar, HPG, Outdoor Cap, Media Tree, EMT, Gemline, and Hit Promotional Products. 

Each year, we get the privilege of bringing together the sharpest minds, the most creative voices, and the most ambitious dreamers, rule-breakers, and innovators. We can’t begin to express just how thankful we are for this amazing community that continues to inspire us. Though we might be the hosts, it’s you, our amazing community, who continues to inspire us with your grit. You allow us to share in a small part of your glory, and for that, we are forever grateful!

Until next time, friends!