I just returned from my first-ever SiriusDecisions #SDSummit in Nashville, and it absolutely blew me away. There was a ton of buzz about account-based marketing, which was exciting since that’s what we “Terminators” are all about. While I may be a newcomer to the B2B marketing world, I’ve worked in event management for many years, and the SiriusDecisions Summit was one of the best conferences I’ve ever attended.
Here are my top 10 favorite moments from the SiriusDecisions #SDSummit.
1. The “Most Spirited Event” at the Falls, Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center
This event definitely lived up to its name, and it was a great way to toast to the #SDSummit! The party was sponsored by N3, Act-On, Uberflip, and Terminus. The Falls was the perfect “jungle” setting for a super relaxing and enjoyable evening.
The night included an interactive whiskey tasting and a book signing with Terminus’ cofounder & CMO, Sangram Vajre, author of Account-Based Marketing For Dummies.
2. Terminus Case Study – Flipping the Funnel with Account-Based Marketing: How Invoca Increased Prospect-to-Opportunity Conversion Rates by 200%
Julia Stead, Director of Demand Generation at Invoca, did an incredible job engaging the crowd at the Terminus Case Study with her easy-to-follow journey through ABM. It was interesting to hear how Julia learned about Terminus and account-based marketing at the #SDSummit in 2015. This year, she came back with some serious results. Plus, she’s expecting!
We predict Baby Stead will be the most stylish li’l Terminator of all time.
During her ABM case study, Julia discussed different pain points such as low program engagement, low lead-to-opportunity conversion rates and no clear way to scale pipeline growth without any major increase in the marketing budget. Then she went over how flipping the standard B2B sales funnel with account-based marketing was able to help her turn all that around.
3. Account-Based Everything
Account-based marketing was the biggest buzzword at #SDSummit. Everyone was talking about #ABM, as proven by our Twitter poll results:
4. “Rock Your Marketing Summit Jam 2016” at the Fuse in the Opryland Hotel
The Fuse is a sports club, but it turned into a bumpin’ concert venue when Derek George, Scotty Emerick, and Bryan White took the stage. If you were a country music fan at SiriusDecisions Summit, this was the place to be. Hundreds of guests showed up during the evening to enjoy the southern tunes, and no one left disappointed. The was sponsored by Relationship One, Lattice Engines, LookBook HQ, Oracle Marketing Cloud, Mintigo, Engagio, Vidyard, Terminus, Lionbridge, ZoomInfo, SnapApp, and Optimizely.
5. Green Tie Gala at the Country Music Hall of Fame
The Green Tie Gala was remarkably well-executed, and everyone had a blast. There was an outside “green lit” area with a cover band that played everything from country to Top 40.
When I walked inside the venue, I immediately got red carpet Hollywood vibes as photographers snapped photos in front of the sponsored step-and-repeat. On the main level, Rhett Price performed an amazing set that awed the crowd. He covers a variety of genres of music, from hip-hop to trap to pop. The catch is, he’s a violinist, and the violin replaces the lyrics from the songs in a very hypnotizing way.
I truly was entertained. Now, I am on a mission to get Rhett to play at a #FlipMyFunnel event!
6. MERGE Downtown Nashville – Broadway After Parties
After the Green Tie Gala, the entire SiriusDecisions #SDSummit crowd walked a few blocks down to Broadway and took over downtown Nashville! It was great to see the sponsors and attendees enjoying themselves, especially on the Pedal Tavern.
7. B2B Marketer’s Most Wanted Party
This bash was actually held on Monday, May 23nd, the day before the conference started. There were cowboy hats galore thanks to Radius, helping everyone feel right at home in Nashville. It was a great way to kick off the week.
8. SWAG-erific Giveaways
The swag at #SDSummit was pretty impressive. Some of the most coveted swag was TechnologyAdvice’s moonshine. To win, attendees had to play a fun but torturous guitar pick game that involved throwing a pick into a moonshine bowl.
Only six people made it in, and I was sadly not one of them. I was, however, awarded “pity” moonshine since I played for what seemed like an hour. It was still a win in my book!
Another awesome swag giveaway was the digital caricature at the SpiceWorks booth. This was a different take on caricature art, bringing the old school to the new school.
If you like socks, Terminus had you covered. As you can see, these babies were pretty popular. Just ask the guys from TechnologyAdvice.
Mintigo’s light-up car charger was another one of my favorite #SDSummit giveaways. My car charger broke on my drive up to Nashville, so this could not have come at a better time.
Finally, the Account-Based Marketing For Dummies book was a sweet snag for anyone who is interested in learning how ABM works. (You can download the first chapter here for free if you weren’t lucky enough to score a copy.)
9. Giant Everything!
Remember the movie Big with Tom Hanks? Well, the giant piano from that movie was at #SDSummit. So was a giant Terminus Jenga set that stacked up to 5 feet high and actually rattled the ground several times. People would walk by and take out a few blocks at a time until all the blocks came tumbling down. It’s nice to have the option to take a play break at conferences, and supersize anything is always a hit!
10. New Friends and Team Building
Conferences are the best places for meeting new friends and bonding with your colleagues. Even with our busy schedules at #SDSummit, the Terminus team made it a point to have dinners with the team and spend quality time together.
I’m a firm believe that when you work with someone, it’s important to meet people in person and really get to know them. This goes for everyone from colleagues and clients to media partners and vendors.
My first #SDSummit was a whirlwind, and I wouldn’t change one thing about it! Did you go to the SiriusDecisions Summit this year? What are some of your top #SDSummit moments? Let me know in the comments section below!
