Some of the Awesome People I Met at #MPB2B (and What They Thought of the Conference)
Recently, I attended the 2018 MarketingProfs B2B Marketing Forum in San Francisco.
I saw inspiring keynote presentations, learned from some of the top marketing minds on the planet and met some really awesome people.
Afterwards, I reached out to some of them to ask about their takeaways from the conference.
Keynote Presenter: Kevin Carroll
While I didn’t technically “meet” Kevin Carroll, I was inspired by the keynote presentation he gave.
Kevin took us back to the playground of his childhood, where he told kids he’d make it to the NBA one day.
And then he did, as Head Athletic Trainer for the Philadelphia 76ers. Kevin told us about the time he was asked to utilize his Serbian fluency to razz opponent Vlade Divac, which led to Kevin traveling as a staffer with the Serbian national basketball team.
Kevin worked for a number of years at Nike as a change agent, or “Katalyst” (the “K” stands for “Kevin”). Kevin told us about the power of play and how it can change the world.
He showed us play balls that he collected from cultures around the world. He shared this quote from James Michener:
The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he’s always doing both.
You might find this corny, but I feel the same way about Marketing — it’s a craft I love and enjoy. When I’m doing it, I don’t think “I’m working,” I think, simply, that “I’m doing.”
Kevin made other statements that stood with me:
“Your child aspires to be you. Use your phone less.”
“You’re the best app the world created. Always be in beta.”
“Doubt is success testing you.”
Kevin was kind enough to answer a few questions.
Describe your feelings as you walked off the stage after your keynote?
Exhausted & EXHILARATED!
How did the conference change your impressions of B2B marketing?
My impression was unchanged — I continue to be inspired by the Collective ENERGY of the B2B marketing community.
What exciting things do you have in store for 2019?
2019 = MORE creative collabos that will allow me to continue to be an instigator of inspiration + a provocateur of PLAY. Stay tuned … ✌🏽🙏🏽💪🏽💡💥📚🔴💯
Liz Teodorini: Your Turnkey Marketing Department
Liz Teodorini is principal and consultant at Hop Skip Marketing.
I sat next to Liz at a session. Before it began, I noticed that she was putting the finishing touches on some writing.
Liz told me that she was inspired with booth ideas from walking the show floor. She wanted to take advantage of her inspiration by writing a blog post about it.
That’s so neat!
I asked Liz some questions about the conference.
Approximately how many miles did you travel to #MPB2B?
From Toronto.~ 4,233.7 km
What was your favorite session and why?
“Creating Lifelong Customers With Laughter” by Tim Washer. I can apply this session and significantly change the tone of my content. Tim gave clear, simple tools and inspiring examples.
“Keynote: Play@Work: Unleashing Growth Through Creativity and Innovation” with Kevin Carroll. This one shook me out of my adult life and forced me to see the joy we all get from play.
What’s one thing you learned at #MPB2B that you’ll implement when you return to the office?
Tools for adding comedy into my work. And my approach to Facebook and Instagram stories and posts.
Describe a moment at the conference that surprised or delighted you?
There were a bunch, like the Bollywood dancing with Gopi. And Ann dancing to “Wrecking Ball.” And the red beach balls after Kevin’s keynote. All three were unexpected, made me laugh, and lightened the mood.
Note: here’s the Bollywood dancing — thanks, Jon Burkhart for capturing it:
I think, particularly in today’s global climate, we need to shake things up like this. As marketers, we have an opportunity to do this.
Stephan Hovnanian: Speaker, Trainer, Strategist
I exchanged a number of #MPB2B tweets with Stephan Hovnanian, but hadn’t yet met him in person.
After the first day of sessions, I tweeted a picture that showed the sessions I planned to attend the next day.
Stephan replied to say that he’d be attending some of the same ones.
Before one of the sessions, we saw each other and immediately recognized each another from our Twitter profile photos.
Gotta love when Twitter relationships get upgraded to “in real life.” 💪
Approximately how many miles did you travel to #MPB2B?
I traveled cross-country from Boston to San Francisco, about 3,000 miles.
What was your favorite session and why?
My favorite session was the combination of Tim Riesterer’s “Matching Your Message to the Moment” and Matt Wright’s “How to Win Over (and Retain) Your Buyers With Emotionally Relevant Experiences.”
The two detailed some incredibly useful frameworks for engaging with prospects and customers that I can use right out of the gate.
What’s one thing you learned at #MPB2B that you’ll implement when you return to the office?
One thing I learned at #MPB2B that I can implement immediately (in addition to the points above) came from Brian Fanzo’s golden ticket talk about pressing the damn button (on video).
We spoke afterward about the kinds of activities and experiences at work that would be perfect triggers for doing a LinkedIn video.
Describe a moment at the conference that surprised or delighted you?
There were several moments during #MPB2B when I would just look around and smile with appreciation of how wonderful this event is for the marketing community.
But two stood out.
The first is probably obvious: my own session, “Advocacy in a Box,” was well attended and I was delighted to see the core messaging (that I worked so hard to figure out) resonate with several attendees.
The second was more personal in nature; I had a simply wonderful conversation about career transitions and big decisions with an attendee whom I’d met a few years back but hadn’t stayed in touch with.
Totally loved being able to re-connect so quickly and have such a deep, meaningful conversation, and I think that’s a testament to the experience that MarketingProfs strives to create at this event.
Hoping to be back in DC next year to share some more knowledge!
Brenda Dentinger: Growth Marketing and Customer Marketing
I met Brenda Dentinger during lunch. Brenda lives in Santa Barbara, but used to live in the Bay Area. We compared notes about the Bay Area.
Approximately how many miles did you travel to #MPB2B?
322 miles.
What was your favorite session and why?
“Building Better Mousetraps” (presented by Andy Crestodina). Lots of great ideas to increase leads.
What’s one thing you learned at #MPB2B that you’ll implement when you return to the office?
Don’t use sliders on websites anymore.
Describe a moment at the conference that surprised or delighted you?
The first inspirational keynote on the first day with Donovan Livingston and again with Kevin (Carroll) at his keynote.
I was surprised and delighted to be surprised and delighted. It was nice to get my head out of the muck to think differently and feel hopeful. It was a lovely conference.
My Take on #MPB2B
This was my first time at #MPB2B.
I was so happy to learn that this year’s event would be in San Francisco!
I attended the conference with a press pass via CMSWire.
Approximately how many miles did you travel to #MPB2B?
23 miles. I’m local!
What was your favorite session and why?
“Building Better Mousetraps: How Content Inspires Your Visitors to Act,” by Andy Crestodina.
I love how Andy covers the “why,” then follows that up with the “how.”
His session basically told us, “Here’s the specific things to go back and do that will increase conversion rate on your site immediately.”
What’s one thing you learned at #MPB2B that you’ll implement when you return to the office?
How do extract customer insights, for use in case studies in testimonials. It’s captured in this slide from Andy’s presentation, which was shared by Holly Miller:
Andy, in turn, gave credit to Joel Klettke:
Describe a moment at the conference that surprised or delighted you?
I was delighted by Kevin Carroll’s keynote. Hearing his life story was uplifting and the power of “play” connects with me. He was so energetic, entertaining and passionate.
Here’s what I tweeted to Kevin afterwards:
