Successful Blog

Where the virtual meets the irresistible force of Liz Strauss

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Terry and Liz - SOBCon

Terry “starbucker” St. Marie shared his thoughts about Liz during “Gathering Stardust for Liz Strauss.”  You can watch the video of the gathering here. Terry also sent us a copy of his speech so that we could share it with you here on Successful Blog.

 

Hi everyone, I’m Terry “starbucker” St. Marie talking to you from smoky Portland, Oregon.

I was blessed to go on a 7 year journey with Liz as a business partner.

Liz inspired me from the very first time I read her blog way back in 2006.

It was a post entitled – “The Ferrari Analogy for Organized Writing”.
In it she said,

“A great blog post is like a car date. We spent time together sharing your view. I follow your logic and then, if we connect, we talk about it.”

I was intrigued to say the least by this very unique insight, so I very shortly thereafter participated in one of Liz’s Open Comment Nights

It was classic Liz, Macguyver-ing her comment box into a real-time communications platform and inviting everyone to join the spirited conversations, led by her selflessness, kindness, and passion for learning & growing as a human.

This was before Twitter or Facebook mind you, so as usual she was way ahead of her time.

We quickly became online friends and as one lively comment night led to another, in late 2006 someone put “it” out there.

The “it” was a simple musing – “hey, wouldn’t it be cool if all of us could get together in person?”

That was the official birthing of what became SOBCon – the Successful and Outstanding Blogger Conference.

Because with Liz, it couldn’t “just” be a get-together. She figured, if people were going to spend money to for travel and lodging they should get something more than just a few happy hours. “We should teach them something meaningful, and we could all teach each other”

So we somehow, someway cobbled together the first SOBCon in May of 2007. Some of you were there, and I’m sure you felt the same way I did after it.

75 people hung out together for a weekend, and talked about their craft, their passions, and their lives.

It turned out to be magical. Trust was high. Candor was abundant. Egos were checked at the door. There was a depth to the dialogue that prompted many to declare how “life changing” it was.

There were no barriers to learning. And it was good. It was magic.

And where did this magic come from? Who was capable of conjuring up the ingredients of this potent mixture of trust, humility, and candor?

It was Liz, who lived and breathed those qualities. She deeply believed in the basic generosity of the human spirit, and the magic came from her belief.

When she entered the room at that gathering in Chicago, and every other single SOBcon after that – and we did 10 of them, in Chicago, Boulder and Portland – something wonderful happened.

She was the catalyst of a powerful enabling force that unlocked that same generous spirit from everyone there.

Liz Strauss WAS SOBCon – I just had the unique opportunity to be her partner in the venture and have a front row seat for all that magic.

It wasn’t all a walk through the park – putting on conferences was a bit like walking a tightrope without a net. But somehow, Liz would rise to the occasion and just in the nick of time pull in one more sponsor, or sell a few more tickets, to get us to the across the chasm and to the finish line.

I learned SO much from her during those 7 years, and also had so many laughs and experiences. Our SOBCOn parties at South by Southwest were absolute blasts.

But what was always extraordinary to me as I went on this journey with her were the one on one conversations she would have with people that could leave such a deep mark.

I lost count of the times friends, and total strangers for that matter, would walk up to me after having a “Liz Conversation” and tell me that their minds were blown – for the better.

She just had that way of clearing through all the clutter that most humans put in front of themselves and getting right to the heart and soul of the matter.

And she was relentless in wanting to make sure that every single person who attended an event of hers was going to get something meaningful out of it.

And she was relentless as a business partner in pushing me to help her succeed with that goal.

And you know what, I believe she succeeded, hundreds and hundreds of times over.

That was her supreme gift, her superpower – helping others find meaning in their lives, and be, in her words, “irresistible”.

The tagline for SOBCon used to be “Where the Virtual Meets the Concrete”

That was wrong, actually – it should have been –

“Where the virtual meets the irresistible force of Liz Strauss.”

Love you Liz, and farewell my dear friend.

And to all of you, I will quote from a great rock band that the SOBCon community was particularly fond of –

“Don’t stop believin’”

A Letter to the Community

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Dear Friends & Community,
This is coming to you in the wake of the news that there will not be a SOBCon this year.

It contains a suggestion for you to consider. We invite you to support it.

We were shocked, disappointed, and confused. We were concerned and understanding. Above all, we were thinking about Liz Strauss and wishing her all our love.

This meant it mattered to us. We also felt sure we weren’t the only ones feeling the blow. We reached out to each other and started sharing our feelings, thoughts, wishes — and eventually our plans.
That’s why we are contacting you here.

We want to do something — turn this experience to good use.
With the memory, experience, and results of what SOBCon meant to so many people, we have the ability to construct a new way forward. But we must be realistic. We are not talking about a replica or repetition of SOBCon. That would be impossible and not desirable.

It’s time for a fresh start — inspired by the past, building on the amazingly positive history.
We want to grow something that doesn’t yet have a name. We don’t even feel we have the authority to name it. But we do have the blessing of Liz Strauss – and that’s enough for us to go for it.

Will you join us in Chicago on June 27–29?
Can we attract you to an event that’ll be a mixture of work, fun, and adventure into the unknown?
It’ll be a one-off. There will never be another experience like this. We are strong enough to build on from SOBCon.

The core purpose…
is to work together for each other’s business — in a spirit of group-supported self-development. The purpose is to give each and every person phenomenal support, unmatched by the sort of support you get at any conventional conference.

There might be a better way of putting this. But, be sure of one thing please: we have the ability and will to achieve a life-changing result for each other.

In the longer run…
we don’t know where this will go. That’ll be part of the work we’ll do together in the room — in the bars and walks too.

There are many details and questions to be addressed.
Right now, all that matters is that you know something is going to happen.
Don’t worry about logistics. They’ll be sorted and communicated in good time.
Don’t worry about cost — this will be affordable (promise).

We’ve booked a place for 20 people: it’ll be close-knit. (If more of you want to be in the room, we’ll sort that out. There will be a waitlist.)

Be part of this please.
This is completely different from what you expected to happen. That’s life.

This is our life.

Say you’ll join us in Chicago on June 27–29 by contacting Jane Boyd whatever way suits you (by April 22).

— Jane Boyd, Paul O’Mahony, and Eric T. Strauss

Reclaiming Her Voice: Liz Strauss on Overcoming Cancer and the Future of SOBCon

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By Angel Djambazov

A year ago, I had the privilege of speaking with Liz Strauss as she began her cancer treatment journey.

We wanted to update you on the challenges, triumphs, and surprises she’s encountered over the last year and to let you know how much she appreciates all the support she’s received.

Liz told me she felt like she had been through a crucible with the treatment. Unexpected health and personal complications made the journey even tougher than she imagined. But with the help of family, friends, and the SOBCon community, Liz has emerged cancer free, energized, and literally giddy with enthusiasm for SOBCon 2014. Here’s our interview.

On behalf of the SOBCon community, welcome back Liz. How are you feeling?

I’m at 95%. I expect to be at 100% very soon. The cancer is gone, I’m feeling more like my pre-cancer self, and I’m excited about the things I’m working on.

Where are you in your recovery?

Every four months, I get a PET scan and a CT scan, and they continue to show no signs of cancer. Luckily for me, the doctors at the University of Chicago have an eighty-five percent success rate with larynx cancer. Funny enough the doctors at Cedars Sinai, where the movie stars go, told me I’d have to lose my larynx completely and start with some mechanical way of talking. Thankfully we didn’t opt to go the route of surgery.

You’ve described the treatment to me, and the subsequent events that followed, as a crucible, why do you use that word?

It was way more difficult than I expected.

Beyond the issues normally associated with cancer treatment, I also suffered a fall that broke both my shoulder and my hip. My recovery from both the breaks and the cancer took longer because one exacerbated the other.

After six weeks of chemotherapy, I lost my hair in January then I broke my shoulder and my hip during the second week of radiation treatments. Radiation lasted every other week, ten times for a week, then a break week. Because of my injuries, I couldn’t come home, both because I physically couldn’t care for myself and because my husband also ended up in the hospital at the same time.

For several months during the radiation treatments, I couldn’t even talk on the phone because my voice wasn’t strong enough. My best friend came and took my phone calls for me.

Even after I completed radiation, a severe infection developed and lasted from March to November. I didn’t really feel my energy come back until the first week of December.

After all that, I now have the pleasure of talking to people on the phone or in person they tell me, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard your voice this strong,” or “Gosh, it’s so nice I don’t have to lean forward to hear what you’re saying.””

What impact did the treatment have on you emotionally?

Emotionally, it was rough. I’m great if people manage my expectations but I had no point of reference for this experience. There are things the doctors couldn’t cure. When my mouth was covered with sores inside it from the therapy, I expected them to fix it, because that’s what doctors do, but there wasn’t a fix.

I was naive enough to think that on the day that radiation was done I would start getting better. I didn’t realize that radiation is a lot like a microwave; it keeps cooking you for another month after the treatment. Even though it was awesome to attend SOBCon last May, I was embarrassed by how weak I felt and sounded.

I never really expected or thought I’d die from this. I find it curious now, but it never crossed my mind that I might die. I did experience extreme fear. At one point, I’d spent so many days in the hospital, I cried and begged when I had to go back in. I suppose that was because I had to give up so much of my freedom.

I also found out some things about myself. I know a lot of people who think I’m really, really kind but under that pressure, I found out what a bitch I can be. I worked to my own detriment. I don’t ever want to live that again. I’m nicer now, let’s put it that way.

It’s hard to give up your independence. How did you handle going from being so independent to being dependent on others?

I have an inherent personality trait, no matter how unrealistic it is, that I somehow believe when I get up tomorrow I can fix a problem. Giving up that independence to others was part of the process. Just say, “Hey, I can’t do this.” Terry, Carol, Britt, Eric, so many people worked to put together last year’s SOBCon so I could focus on recovery.

Of course, I felt that all I was doing was sitting and being miserable. But if I had to try to take care of all the business and life that needed to be managed, it wouldn’t have been possible. Thankfully, there were a lot of people around me who wouldn’t let me fail.

My lifelong friend, Nancy, was amazing. She lives about 100 miles away, but she drove in to take me to every appointment. She would argue for the hospital when I felt so bad that I was fiercely angry at about what I’d lost. And at those times, I was deeply worried that I’d harm our relationship, but she hung there and kept telling me not to give it a thought. Nancy even moved in with my son and me for several months because it was easier than driving back and forth from her home. She pushed me around in a wheelchair just as much as anybody in that hospital. She was a godsend.

My stylist, J-D, was the best too. He’s one of the top stylist in Chicago. He’d only cut my hair once before I got sick. We knew each other online but not in person. But as soon as he found out about the cancer, he just sort of adopted me. First he made sure I had more wigs than I needed. He cut and styled the wigs so expertly that they looked natural hair; taking care so they looked good on me. He was a master at checking in once every week or two to see if I felt like going to a movie or to lunch just so I’d get aired out. You can’t pay for friendships like that.

In what ways did handing over your independence to others impact your outlook?

It was an amazing experience to have to hand things over to others and realize how unimportant I was to the bigger scheme of things. It’s redefined my sense of what quality is. It has gotten me out of my head and more into the heads and hearts of the people that I do all this for.

As a result, I’m listening more to that core community, [who are like] the fans who would drive fifty miles to see your rock band play, because they are the ones who will always be with you. It was that core SOBCon family that challenged me after the treatment. Asking the hard questions and holding my feet to the fire. People like Becky McCray to Mark Carter to Jane Boyd, all asking questions like, “Are you well enough to even do the event in 2014?” Then, when I insisted I was, saying,  “You’re going to have to prove it to us that this is the smartest thing for you to be doing right now, after what you’ve just been through physically, psychologically, emotionally, and economically that a SOBCon event is the right thing for you to do.” Of course, I just told them all just to be quiet (laughs). But those questions were worth their weight in gold.

I’m having more fun now. I’m back to where every day is a good day in my mind and I’m enjoying the creative part of things. I think there has been an attitude shift. It’ll probably take me a year to figure out what it is. I am certainly more focused on tasks than I’ve ever been in the past, and decidedly so. For me, it’s back to where it was in the days of the early event, you know the, “Get out of my way because this is going to be happening whatever it takes.”

As you started to get stronger how did it feel to step back into the swing of things?

Oddly, I was sort of afraid to get back in the swing of things again, which is an unfamiliar experience. If I could describe the best vacation ever, I would go sit on a beach and watch the ocean until I got bored and then I’d be ready to go back to work. I don’t think it would take very long. But by going back to work you are giving up the luxury of time. It has been my experience in the past that once you decide to step back into this there was nothing to be afraid of or worried about.

The fundraiser the community put together helped so much because it was something to hold onto. It meant I didn’t have to worry about the complete loss of income. For a few short months, I could just focus on getting better. I also didn’t want to worry about my son having to take care of us.

As nice as it was to have Eric there, it’s not nice to think about the interruption this is in his life. At his age, I was doing a lot of the same things for my mother so I was kind of reliving it from both points of view, except he had it more complicated because there was only one week that my dad was in the hospital while my mom was sick.

Now that I am back everyone is saying, “Hey, it’s great to see you!” so that doesn’t hurt either. It is affirming, especially online where I don’t have to get self-conscious about it.

What are you looking forward to most in 2014?

Wow, I have high expectations for 2014 because it has to be good enough to cover two years! I am actually looking forward to putting on my high heel shoes again, once my physical therapist says my hip is fixed. I’m looking forward to spring. I’m looking forward to watching and taking pictures of the sunrise every morning again; it’s a most wonderful way to start the day. I’m looking forward to going out to eat and enjoy what I’m eating and to be hungry again.

What direction is SOBCon heading?

For a conference to survive, it must evolve. With every evolution of SOBCon, we’ve tried to distill our message. When we held the first event, it was because 125 people who knew each other very well online decided that they wanted to meet in person, and you can’t replicate that. We called that first event the “Relationship Bloggers Conferencing Network Event.” A bit wordy, but pretty clear who it was for and what you’d get out of it.

For our next evolution, we decided to take a more business focus because there were so many people building up blogs and then saying, “I want to make money,” which was kind of backwards. As a result, the idea came that we should link all the content to an actionable plan to build a revenue stream, except for the financials, because you couldn’t fit those into a day and a half, and so we called it “BizSchool for Bloggers.””

When I think our focus got murky was when we decided to take the word “blogger”out of our tagline, to keep the online to offline relationship, so we called it, “Where the Virtual Meets the Concrete.” But I think looking back it wasn’t easy to define and I don’t think that anybody actually got the message we were intending to deliver with a tag line. So as a result of our history as a “Blogger conference” the event got named a social media event when in fact it’s always been a business event that is meant to serve the people who were from the blogging and social media communities.

While planning for this year, I was caught saying it was an event for online businesses. It was pointed out to me that so many who attend run face-to-face businesses. Carol Roth runs a face-to-face business. Les McKeown runs a face-to-face business. Tim Sanders, Steve Farber, and all of these people who are part of the SOBCon community are all in a face-to-face business. It made me pause and, with the help of my friends, rethink what we are trying to do, what our focus is. For me that process was truly reinvigorating!

It’s why I’m excited to introduce you to the SOBCon Leverage. Why leverage? Because you need two things to be successful in business: 1) Strong and deep connective relationships, and 2) actionable plans and ideas. That is what SOBCon provides for anyone who attends. Leverage to build your business or brand. Leverage to help keep your business or brand growing towards its goals. Because you need leverage to succeed whether you’re in a corporation or on a team of one.

There are dozens of folks who will testify, myself included, to what a transcending experience SOBCon can be. Will focusing on Leverage change SOBCon?

Well, no, that part of SOBCon is not going to change. We’ve got that right. During our process of selecting presenters, I’m always focused on being sure they understand the ethic of the event. The SOBCon rule about presenters is, somebody has to present the content, and certainly that person should be someone that people want to see, but just because you present the content doesn’t mean that you’re smarter than anyone else in the room. SOBCon is not the kind of event where your ego can enter the room before you do. Those egos are not welcome.

I love how Lisa Horner describes it. “You immediately walk into a room and you feel this sense of community. It’s a good feeling that you belong to. But then they put on these brilliant speakers with brilliant ideas and, because you’ve been opened up to this sense of trust, you experience learning in a whole new way.””

Or as Mark Carter said the other day,  “After you reach a certain point in your industry you don’t go to events to go to the sessions. You go to the event to network with people. But when there’s thousands of people at a show, you have to negotiate through them to even find that one influencer/that one person you want to meet.” My response to that is, why not just go to the room with 144 people you want to meet? At SOBcon we bring them to you.

It’s that high-trust environment that makes the magic in the room happen. It’s something that I guard, protect, and work very hard to cultivate at the very beginning of every event to insure that all the right pieces are in place so that the magic happens again. After 10 events, I’ve become a pretty good magician.

Hearing you talk about SOBCon you sound vibrant and giddy. It is good to hear you that way.

I’m just looking forward to putting SOBCon together this year that I can’t get over it! When I say it’s the best year, I’m sure of it! You know the chemo-brain thing has gone away, and the fog from the treatment has lifted. I’m beginning to take my brain out and play. For me SOBCon is the ultimate expression of that. Both because of what I get to do to build it, but because of what everybody gets to experience it when they come. Few things are more powerful then when 144 people take out their brains to play and to actually get work done.

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You can find your own SOBCon Leverage by purchasing tickets here: SOBCon Leverage, Chicago 2014 takes place June 27-29, 2014 at the Summit Executive Center. Will you be in the room?

Author’s Bio:Born in Bulgaria, Angel Djambazov has spent his professional career in the fields of journalism and online marketing. His career path led to online marketing where while working at OnlineShoes he earned the Affiliate Manager of the Year (2006) award at the Affiliate Summit, and In-house Manager of the Year (2006) award by ABestWeb.In 2007 Angel started Custom Tailored Marketing and became the OPM for Jones Soda for which he won his second Affiliate Manger of the Year (2009) award at Affiliate Summit. Angel also was the lead evanglist for PopShops.com which was awarded Best Affiliate Tool (2007 & 2008) award by ABestWeb. In 2010 he won his third Pinnacle Award from Affiliate Summit for Affiliate Marketing Advocate of the Year.

If You’re Skipping the Smaller Conferences, You’re Missing Out

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Walking the exhibit hall at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is an awe-inspiring experience.

Look! There’s CNN’s camera crew. Look over here, there’s a drawing to win a new car! Come over here, there are hovercrafts you can pilot yourself. And Debbie Gibson is performing in this booth…

smaller conferences are better

The exhibits are huge, the keynotes are standing room only, and conference sessions are elbow to elbow. From what I’ve heard, SXSW is heading in the same direction…possibly too big for its own good.

That’s why I like to focus on the smaller, more intimate conferences, like SOBCon (back in 2014), Social Slam, or the upstart ConvergeSouth. There’s still plenty of room for learning new stuff, meeting new people, and forming quality relationships. There’s less swag, and more value for your money.

Why Smaller Conferences are a Better Investment

  • You can focus on a conference that dives deeply into your niche. Rather than a huge, generic marketing conference, try one that focuses on content marketing.
  • Have better conversations. When you can actually hear yourself talk, you can have those great hallway discussions that often turn into long-term relationships. With fewer people milling around, you have a better chance of having more than a quick chat.
  • Get access. Some of the smaller conferences pull in heavy hitter speakers, and you can have much easier access to meet them. Especially if you spend the little bit extra for a VIP pass.
  • Enjoy the adventure factor. Sometimes things are just more loose at a smaller conference. You might find yourself in a dive bar at the after-after-after party building memories with people you only knew online. Not that that ever happened. I’m not allowed to say.
  • Anticipate the “let’s put on a show” factor. Smaller conferences often have a hardy band of local volunteers who are shouldering the burden of hosting. It’s a fantastic opportunity to offer your help with the little things. If a speaker flakes out, you could be there when you’re needed to jump in (I’ve seen that happen). If the audio-visual hookups are wonky, you can jump up and troubleshoot. Earn the eternal gratitude of the conference team, and make some friends.
  • Spend less money. The newer, smaller conferences are cheaper, and sometimes even the peripheral expenses are lower since they are held in smaller cities. A hotel room in Greensboro, NC is much more affordable than one in New York City. And do I need to mention food costs? At a small conference in Portland, I had the most amazing grilled cheese sandwich for lunch from a food truck. Cheap and mind-blowingly delicious.

Are you ready to pack your bags? What are your favorite smaller conferences?

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

The Power of Stupid-Simple Business Building

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Marina

The following article is written by our good friend Wendy Piersall.

Last year, my husband Dave left his 12 year career at Xerox to pursue his dream of starting a boat repair shop up by the Chain O’ Lakes. Since his background is corporate sales, his previous career was built on taking care of his customers’ every need, even if that meant helping a print shop meet it’s deadline on a Saturday afternoon. His customers were so loyal to him that some still call him for advice when they need to buy new machines.

It might have seemed a little insane for him to start a new business, in a new industry, with three kids and looming college tuition bills mere months away. I was… um… “skeptical”. Coming from the marketing & blogging world, I was thinking that once he got a name, a website, and started establishing his brand with some advertising, he could start fixing boats on the side for a few months to ramp things up before we let go of his income. I guess I was thinking small. Because before he had a name, website nor even a shop to rent, he was filling up our yard with boats to fix. I promptly lost the battle to hang onto his income. And he’s been growing consistently ever since, while established marinas all over the area have been closing down.

I had wanted to talk to you about how he pulled this off in this post. He only advertised on Craigslist and one single local online forum for boaters, and got listed on all the local directory sites such as Yelp, Yellow Pages and Yahoo & Google local. That’s it.

But I realized that there was a much more important story to tell – and it’s about how he as a sales person and I as a marketer approached starting a business so very differently. As if I don’t already sound a little foolish, I can unequivocally state that I underestimated him and the power of thinking like a salesperson. While I was designing pretty logos, contemplating my business mission, and choosing WordPress templates, he was literally out pounding the pavement introducing himself to local business owners and calling our boat-owning friends to ask for referrals.

Only now can I see I was allowing myself to get caught up in the formalities of starting a business, instead of focusing on what was most important of all: customers. In my world, sales come after I’ve been able to craft and hone my “marketing message”. In Dave’s world, marketing is something he does in his down time when he isn’t closing deals.

When I asked him his thoughts on what has made him successful, it was a list of things you would expect to hear: following up with leads, acting confident even when he didn’t feel it, asking for referrals, and finding an underserved niche in his field. But the starkest difference between he and I was how he approached communicating with his customers: Dave has no marketing message he relies on. He finds out what is important to his prospects before he ever pitches a thing.

In short, he listens before he speaks.

And before you say to yourself, “Well DUH,” let me remind you that I’ve built 4 successful businesses in my lifetime, and I’m starting again on my fifth. The reason I forgot something so easy and so basic is just that: I dismissed it as easy and basic. And you might hear things at SOBCon that sound easy and basic – but please don’t make the same mistake that I did. The presenters at this event are freaking brilliant. If they bring up something ‘basic’, it might just be the most important thing you hear all weekend.

It’s Official—The SOBCon Chicago 2013 Final Program

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SOBCon Chicago

With only 24 days to go (how come you haven’t signed up yet?) we’ve got a big announcement for SOBCon Chicago 2013.

Liz and Terry have finalized the program, and it promises to be amazing. We knew that great things were in store when the speaker list was revealed earlier this year, but now Liz and Terry have pulled everything together to create one of the best events in the industry. So what do you have to look forward to? (View the full program here.)

Day 1

Terry and Liz will launch the event first thing Friday morning. As we announced last week, Sean Ogle will lead Block 1: Building Relationships: Turning First Contacts Into Customers and SOBCon alumn Steve Woodruff will introduce the Block 1 Model for your Mastermind session. Following a short break, we’ll get to hear a special presentation from master storyteller Chris Brogan. The morning will wrap up with a Hot Seat Sponsor Session featuring Hawkeye Media and ShareASale.

After lunch (the Summit Event Center offers a fantastic spread), we’ll get back to work with Block 2: Anticipating Response: Let Your Customers Drive Your Strategy. Led by Ric Dragon, you’ll have plenty of material to work with when Carol Tice introduces the Block 2 Model.   Once you’ve Masterminded your strategy, you’ll enjoy Angel Djambazov leading a discussion with the brilliant Sonia Simone.

To wrap things up, we’ll close the day with Jeannie Walters’ Block 3: Adjusting Perspective: Seeing What Your Customer Sees. Finally, you’ll have the opportunity to apply what you’ve learned when Jane Boyd reviews the Block 3 Model.

Day 2

You’ll want to set your alarm for day two because you won’t want to miss a minute. After a get-you-going breakfast at the Summit Event Center, we’ll hit the ground running. Barbara Jones will challenge us to support our customers in Block 4: Connecting Strategically: Support The People Behind The Brands That Help You Thrive. Once Barbara makes her case, Alli Worthington will highlight how you can get the most from the Block 4 Model.

If you’re still not fully awake, SOBCon favorite Steve Farber will energize the room with his memorable special presentation. A Hot Seat Sponsor Session featuring our friends at Yappen will finish the morning.

Following a great lunch (the perfect chance to talk with new friends), we’ll tackle Block 5: Integrating Offers: Identify And Serve Multiple Customers with Diana Mullins. To help you identify your customers, Katherine Burdick will introduce the Block 5 Model. To break up the afternoon, Justin Levy and Tabitha Dunn of GoToMeeting will share a special presentation with the group.

Finally, we bring day two to a close with Block 6: Analyzing Experiences: Capitalize on Customer Feedback. Innovation expert Drew Marshall will guide us through this last session, and Terry will explain the Block 6 Model to help us finish strong.

Day 3

One of the most popular parts of SOBCon, Give-Back Sunday will highlight the excellent work done by three nonprofits:

Mark Carter will host the morning and help us help others.

I know that’s a lot to take in, but I want to make sure you understand how much Liz and Terry have packed into one weekend. You will literally learn more in 72 hours than you have in the last four months. You can’t afford to not be in Chicago and in the room. So I strongly suggest you snap up one of the few seats we have left. See you soon!