When this post goes live I’ll be popping Dramamine on a Boston-bound Greyhound for Inbound 2017, a massive marketing conference. I’ve been hearing about it for years, but this will be my first time attending and also my first time in Beantown (Ben Affleck told me I could call it that).
It’s a four-day long conference and I’m going solo, which means I’ll be all by my lonesome not only in an unfamiliar city, but at an event with some 20,000 other people. It’s my dream and my nightmare. I’m simultaneously pumped and dreading it.
Let’s start with why I’m excited.
Number one, Michelle Obama is the keynote speaker, and the thought of just being in the same room with her let alone hearing her speak live is thrilling.
I’m excited because I’ll be attending dozens of talks and sessions with some of the best in the business and I know I’m going to learn a ton. These kinds of events have a way of reinvigorating your passion and reminding you why you love what you do.
I’m also really looking forward to checking out Boston. It’s supposed to be beautiful this time of year, and for me there’s nothing better than wandering around a new place without anyone to answer to or a prearranged itinerary.
The thought of doing that at the conference, on the other hand, kind of makes want to vomit.
It’s not so much that I’m shy or that I don’t like crowds. Neither of those things are true. It’s that I cannot stand yuk-yuk-yukking. You know what I mean. The “and what do you do?” and the handing of business cards and the sweating in a jacket you only wear twice a year.
It’s exhausting. Also, I don’t even have business cards.
I’ve never been to this event so I hate to have a preconceived notion of what it’s going to be like, but people in marketing are marketers. They’re yuksters. There’s going to be some yukking required. And that’s the part I’m not looking forward to.
I do know one other person who’s going, a colleague I’ve worked with for a long time but never met in person, so I’m excited to finally connect face-to-face. I also know there are also going to be a ton of cool people there, and good connections to be made if I can get over myself for five minutes and just put myself out there.
All of this is of course assuming I even make it there in the first place. I hear Greyhound busses are a great place to get eaten by a cannibal. See? I’m thinking positively already.
Get instant notifications each time a new post goes live. Just enter your email below.
Subscribe to instant notifications!
