Inbound Marketing Summit – Boston, MA, October 7 & 8, 2009

I have attended all three Inbound Marketing Summit events this year, starting with April in San Francisco, May in Dallas and October in Boston (Foxboro, MA). Following are my summary thoughts of all three events.

The Inbound Marketing Summit is organized and put on by New Marketing Labs (NML), headed by Chris Brogan and Justin Levy along with a small army of smart people who don’t share the limelight but deserve recognition. In general I am a fan of this event. But, so that you don’t think I’m a totally sold-out IMS groupee I’ll share my criticisms before sharing the many positives.

IMS Glass is Half Full

These events should have been attended by three or four times the actual turnouts at each event despite the state of the economy. In full disclosure Find and Convert was an event sponsor at all three events.  But in my opinion the number of people who missed out on the educational content is too many. Considering the cost of the two-day event is only $695 with $200 discounts offered, almost anyone could afford this event. While the Boston turnout was the best of the three (about 500), it still could’ve been better. The venues for each event were adequate. The Boston event was held at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA. While this venue is first class, the layout was very poor for the event sponsors due to the fact we couldn’t hear the speakers without leaving the sponsor area. This was not a problem in San Francisco and Dallas. While all the speakers were terrific, some of them (very few) think it’s perfectly okay to drop a dozen or two F-bombs during their presentations. Not…

Inbound Marketing is the New Vocabulary

With minor criticisms aside, these events truly offer marketers at all levels actionable insights into inbound marketing strategies including social media, new media, internet marketing, content marketing, measurement tools and contemporary marketing strategy in general. The pace of content delivery was terrific. NML organized an impressive list of speakers and panels, none of which exceeded 20 minutes. These short bursts of brain dumps kept the audience engaged at all times. Marketers walked away from each event with insights and ideas to act on. The agenda covered topics ranging from what is inbound marketing, to how to develop a social media strategy, to how to create viral video, to cause marketing. The range of topics enabled marketers to capture actionable ideas. In addition to the awesome content, there were plenty of networking opportunities before, during and after the event sessions. I found everyone, including all the speakers very affable.

The undisputed star of the Inbound Marketing Summit was Chris Brogan. 2009 has been a breakout year for Chris. His speaking demeanor gives you transparent insight into Chris the person, or as he would say “the human.” If you ask Chris Brogan what he does, his answer is “typist,” which is an obvious reference to his prolific content development on his blog, as well as his new book, Trust Agents, and his numerous speaking engagements around North America.

While I appreciate Chris Brogan’s insights and intellect on what I call marketing 2.0, there is another aspect of Chris which I have observed and admire very much. Chris has a big heart for charity. He is a regular guy. I have never met his family but I bet he comes from a close, loving family. I speculate that because Chris clearly loves other “humans.” He is not arrogant in any way (though some think he is). He simply loves to help people. In fact, his rise to fame is built on helping people by sharing his evangelical advice and counsel on various social media marketing topics.

But, Chris Brogan’s generosity is not limited to sharing his gray matter. Chris also shares his compassion for less fortunate people. In other words, he puts his money and influence where his mouth (actually his heart) is. Below are two video interviews I conducted with Chris at IMS events that illustrate my point.

In San Francisco, Chris explains why he shaved his head for charity.

In Boston, Chris explains how he is using his influence to build awareness for Skip1.org, a charity whose slogan is, “Skip something. Feed a child.”

The Inbound Marketing Summit is a conference chock full of great content, great people, great networking and opportunities for all marketers. I’m sure Brogan and Levy and all the smart folks at NML will put their heads together to make the events even bigger and better in 2010. I suggest you stay tuned.