Next week, thousands of marketing and sales professionals will descend into Boston, Massachusetts for HubSpot’s INBOUND 2013, a four-day conference and one of the most highly anticipated events of its kind. Sales and marketing professionals looking to learn more about the inbound marketing revolution will pack the halls of the Hynes Convention Center to rub shoulders with and learn at the altar of some of the best and brightest minds in marketing today.
Along with enlightening talks from such noted industry experts as Arianna Huffington and Seth Godin, as well as keynotes from HubSpot founders Dharmesh Shah and Brian Halligan, the event also promises to be a fun-filled extravaganza. We’re looking forward to networking with like-minded professionals from Boston’s emerging tech, sales and marketing scene at one of various happy hour sessions. The after-parties on Boylston Street promise to reach legendary statuses, and the buzz surrounding the appearance of pop stars One Republic at the live concert INBOUND Rocks is truly palpable.
But let’s be real – the reason the event is so highly anticipated is due to the dozens of great speakers and experts who will be holding court on a variety of different subjects. Here are the 5 sessions we CAN’T WAIT to attend at INBOUND 2013.
1) Smarketing: How Inbound Marketing and Sales Work at HubSpot – Mike Volpe & Mark Roberge
Sometimes, it’s best to go straight to the source for your information. That’s why we’re eagerly looking forward to learning from HubSpot CMO Mike Volpe and SVP of Sales and Services Mark Roberge to learn how HubSpot runs sales and marketing according to the inbound principles their company has espoused and popularized. We’re hoping to learn some best practices on how to best align sales and marketing, how to adapt sales to inbound marketing and what key performance metrics to use when setting team goals.
2) From Interest to Investment: Fresh Strategies to Drive Revenue – Jill Konrath
What’s great about events like these is that attendees can be exposed to some of the burgeoning revolutions in sales and marketing that shift companies away from the staid status quo. To that end, bestselling author Jill Konrath’s session promises to unearth some compelling new strategies to help companies operate differently and drive revenue. Konrath will shed light on some of the crucial factors impacting the success of companies that most people are currently oblivious to.
3) Social Domination: How to Conquer ‘The Big 3’ Social Media Networks – Anum Hussain
When the Inbound Content Strategist at HubSpot wants to share her ideas on how to conquer and dominate the Big 3 social media networks that companies are primarily focused on – Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter – you listen! One of the important concepts preached by Anum Hussain is the importance of aligning your various social media networks and efforts. We can’t wait to hear her other secrets for social media domination.
4) How to get Salespeople to “Join the Conversation” – Jeff Hoffman
Serial entrepreneur and professional speaker Jeff Hoffman can lean on more than 20 years of working experience with both sales and marketing professionals to provide clarity on how to get both groups working together. Conversation and collaboration, both internally and externally, are paramount to business success today, and Hoffman has the secrets on how to best leverage this partnership.
5) Simple, Sane & Successful Inbound Marketing – Aaron Ross
The best-selling author of “Predictable Revenue: Turn your Business into a Sales Machine with the $100 Million Best Practices of Salesforce.com” (who is also holding another session on how to “Create Predictable, Scalable Sales Revenue”) will share his “stupidly simple” ideas on how to improve your inbound marketing. Stop wasting your time and effort and start seeing real results with Aaron Ross’ 3 simple techniques.
Bonus Sixth Expert – Nate Silver
Full disclosure: we’re unabashedly huge fans of Nate Silver. Our inner stats, data and analytics geek hasn’t been able to sit still since we found out that Silver will be holding a session called “The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail – But Some Don’t,” drawing on his groundbreaking work and bestselling book. Data has changed the way businesses are run, and it is incumbent upon companies to discern the signal from the noise. Silver will touch on a variety of different areas, including gambling, the stock market, professional sports, politics and of course, marketing and sales management. We can’t wait.
