{"id":11958,"date":"2018-09-11T12:53:28","date_gmt":"2018-09-11T17:53:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.invespcro.com\/blog\/?p=11958"},"modified":"2018-09-11T12:53:28","modified_gmt":"2018-09-11T17:53:28","slug":"speaker-diaries-inbound-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.invespcro.com\/blog\/speaker-diaries-inbound-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Speaker Diaries: Inbound 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 6<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

My first experience as a speaker and attendee at the INBOUND18 conference was great. I was taken aback by all the glitz and glamour of such a large show. The lineup of keynotes and spotlight speakers was exciting with names like Beth Comstock, Shonda Rhimes, Reid Hoffman, Deepak Chopra, 2DopeQueens, and A-Rod (no J-Lo did not make a surprise appearance). <\/p>\n

With over 25,000 attendees, it\u2019s no surprise that \u201cTake heed and don\u2019t stampede\u201d was plastered at every large session in the main hall. The show kicked off late Tuesday afternoon, which I thought was a bit strange as I had arrived the night before thinking it would begin in the morning. (I clearly didn\u2019t check the agenda before I booked).<\/p>\n

The interesting thing about the show was that it really gathers all sorts of people that are bound by a common thread: Hubspot. I would venture to say that roughly 85% of attendees (if not more) use Hubspot at their organizations. \u00a0And although you are gathering such a large group, there\u2019s also a culture and commonality that you feel.<\/p>\n

The biggest problem with inbound was the difficulty in networking. Such a large group of people makes it difficult to make meaningful connections with people that can add value to your network. I think of course that\u2019s a personal thing that I and a few friends at the show dealt with because we don\u2019t do well in large crowds. You most certainly can find connections, but if you\u2019re a bit of an introvert I suppose it would be too difficult.<\/p>\n

That being said, I had a good time and attended a number of sessions and events. Here are my takeaways:<\/p>\n

The Opening\"\"<\/h2>\n

The host of the show was Mark Jeffries who was very light-hearted and gave advice to speakers on what to do to make sure the audience doesn\u2019t fall asleep during your talk. He claimed that 80% of the audience becomes bored with your content within minutes and their brains will begin to wander. He suggested taking long pauses during your talk so that those whose brains wandered off think it\u2019s done (so they wake up) or other people think that the speaker forgot something and pay attention to catch the next big blooper.<\/p>\n

Or he said a speaker should say certain words with a higher pitch to catch people off guard and get them back.<\/p>\n

Finally, he closed with beware of a cough. The more people start coughing the more they\u2019ve lost interest. All in all, Jeffries got a good job getting the audience going.<\/p>\n

The first opening keynote was by Deepak Chopra who is a well-known author of over 80 books, and the founder of the Chopra organization. He is a brilliant man but was a bit monotone. His topic was also intense, but I could see how much lost interest (according to a lot of tweets I read).<\/p>\n

He first opened his talk with how we came to this conference and took us literally to the moment of conception to birth.<\/p>\n

But he stressed the importance of well-being and the impact of that on one\u2019s life. He mentioned how although some genes are predetermined, other genetic diseases are directly related to poor health and life choices.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Some Key Takeaways:<\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Physical well being isn\u2019t enough. Well-being needs to be approached in a holistic manner: physical and spiritual and social and community and financial well being<\/li>\n
  2. Spiritual intelligence important as emotional and intellectual intelligence.<\/li>\n
  3. Happiness in your job is critical to your well-being. Only 20% engaged in the workplace. This is equivalent to 300 billion in lost revenue from companies annually in the USA. More ppl die at 9 am Monday morning.<\/li>\n
  4. Social and emotional engagement \u00a0Happy friends = your happiness. More and more data on happiness. Happiness improves immune regulation. Depression puts you at greater risk of disease.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The next day, I missed the opening keynote by Beth Comstock, Former Vice Chair at GE because of client meetings and work with the team. The breakout sessions took place from 10:30 \u2013 5 and there would be a closing keynote. Each session was about 45 minutes long.<\/p>\n

    I attended a talk by Bill Cates, a business growth expert and inductee to the Million Dollar Speaker\u2019s Group, on Sharpening Your Value Proposition.<\/p>\n

    As we know we are exposed to thousands of marketing messages a day. So in order to cut through the noise, your value proposition needs to be:<\/p>\n