Rewind: It’s late September last year, the cool-aid has gone down the hatch and Orange is the new Marketing. With our 17 hour (each way) car trip behind us, we're home from Inbound 2014. Now we’re left with the head-spinning task of where to begin applying the vast array of knowledge we’ve packed into our respective noggins.
The best of the best in the industry are gathered 10,000
strong, a collective hive-mind of Inbound Marketing greatness.
Every conversation became an opportunity to collaborate and share ideas. You meet someone, ask what they’re working on and walk away with a new angle or perspective. I experienced it repeatedly. Everyone I met did too. It was fantastic.
I could go on and on about the compostable kitchenware and utensils used throughout the conference facility, or the support of Charity Water, a non-profit organization whose mission is to bring clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations. There was so much to see and do and absorb.
Team Coombs took a “divide and conquer” approach to session selection throughout the event. With well over 100 speakers and sessions to choose from, we each ran solo at breakout sessions, in an effort to consume the most information possible. Between us, we got to dive into the the latest and greatest in transformative sales strategy, learned new ways of leveraging Inbound principles from industry experts and SO much more.
To say the takeaways from Inbound14 were abundant is an understatement, for sure.
The Inbound14 keynote speakers gave us front row access to people who change the world. We found ourselves crossing paths (often literally) with industry leaders, huge minds and great thinkers – Simon Sinek, Guy Kawasaki, Shiza Shahid, Martha Stewart, Malcolm Gladwell. Each with a message, aimed at motivating us to create our own change. If you don’t know why they’re great, Google them, trust me. I found myself on the verge of tears, more than once. Feelings of excitement, joy, sadness, anger and outrage but most of all, a genuine appreciation for learning and improving, permeated the atmosphere.
Everyone was there to help. Everyone. It’s what we do.
Fast forward. It’s March 2015. We’ve all been home from Inbound for 6 months. I’m sure I’m not alone when I say it’s been a challenge, acting on all of those great ideas and keeping momentum, but we’ve made some serious strides. Some interesting things are going on here at Coombs’ that began as seedlings of ideas, planted at a conference in Boston, back when they could still see grass (or their cars), before it got wicked cold!
Now, it’s time to thaw out. We’re all ready for the time when Spring comes in, full force. Maybe it’s a good time to pull out your Inbound app and review the descriptions of your favorite sessions. Re-read your notes and take a look at some of those genius ideas that may have been sidelined as year-end hit.
Dust off the motivation, check out slide-shares or Inbound.org and get the momentum back.
In six months, we’re all back together. Wouldn’t it be awesome to have a success story of your own? We’ll be there to hear you! We look forward to having our own stories to share! Team Coombs is headed to Inbound15!
For more good reads, check out our other blogs:
- Video:Got 90 Seconds? Inbound Sales & Marketing Methodology Explained
- Video: Got 90 Seconds? Here’s why you need a blog
- Sales and Marketing: 5 Tactics to Help Avoid the Frenemy” Zone
- Digital Disappointment: GoDaddy Superbowl Ad Grinds Gears
