#INBOUND17: Michelle Obama keynote

I almost felt bad for all the other speakers at #INBOUND17; everyone was so psyched for Wednesday morning's Michelle Obama keynote!

As we've already established, I'm a pretty prolific tweeter at these events. But two of my tweets in particular were going crazy viral (and not even two of my best):

We think 12 times before we open our mouthes, "What if it's wrong?"; men don't think that @michelleobama #INBOUND17

— ✨Christine Gritmon✨ (@cgritmon) September 27, 2017

We're socialized to believe some people's voices are more important than ours.@michelleobama #INBOUND17

— ✨Christine Gritmon✨ (@cgritmon) September 27, 2017

It took me a while to figure out that it was because they'd been included in the official Twitter Moment of the talk!

"When you go through a dark time, that's the time you most grow. Embrace it." @MichelleObama at #INBOUND17. https://t.co/0jmBqaSJ8U

— Twitter Moments (@TwitterMoments) September 27, 2017

The reach and engagement were totally worth the abuse of the trolls who hopped on to state how sexist they felt the quote was (and they've all gone away now anyway). ;)

So. What does Michelle Obama have to do with inbound marketing? Her talk actually did speak to a major theme of this year's conference: identity. Knowing yourself, being strong in your self, and letting that guide everything you do. I also really liked that, after 8 years of having to respond to all sorts of ridiculousness in a subdued manner, she was finally free to comment with - not pettiness - candor. She maintained her grace while also sneaking some serious side-eye towards the abuse her husband suffered and the current political situation (some of which got her into hot water in the media). I loved every moment and am grateful to have smart, strong voices like hers in our current discourse.

Oh, and Roxane Gay did ask the Beyonce question. Scroll down for Michelle's response...

#INBOUND17: Roxane Gay at The INBOUND Studio

Huuuuuuuge Roxane Gay fangirl over here. As stated in my Jen Rubio post, my conference badge did not get me into The INBOUND Studio sessions. I got access to Jen's by being an early retweeter; I got access to Roxane's by waiting outside the door and begging. It worked, and for fifteen glorious minutes, I was fifteen feet away from greatness. 

I was glad they discussed her actual work, and not just her upcoming interview with Michelle Obama, which was slated for the very next morning. That being said, those of us who watched this interview spent the entire morning waiting with bated breath to discover MO's favorite song from "Lemonade" (if you missed my tweets, you'll just have to wait until tomorrow's blog post!).

Aaaaand now I have an autographed copy of "Hunger." And a pic with her. I can die happy.

#INBOUND17: Dharmesh Shah

HubSpot co-founder Dharmesh Shah used his half of the founders keynote to delve into his take on some of the same topics as Brian Halligan, especially that of culture, as it was a running theme throughout this year's conference. He also got us back to the customer-centric mindset we need to embrace when creating inbound marketing, the urgency of creating value in all things (never creating just to put something out there), and demonstrated some of HubSpot's plans to deliver on these values, including a stepped-up CRM for sales professionals and HubSpot's recent acquisition of an AI company (per Dharmesh himself, he likes chat bots and he cannot lie).

(And yes, I recycled the picture from Brian's keynote; I didn't get any good shots in the back half!)

#INBOUND17: Jen Rubio

The INBOUND Studio is an intimate setting for live-streamed interviews with speakers at #INBOUND17. My ticket level didn't allow access to those sessions, but I had the good fortune of attending a few anyway, due to a combination of tenacity and tweeting.

I admit that I didn't know much about Warby Parker alum Jen Rubio and her startup, Away - I'm not a huge traveler, though I had seen her awesome suitcases (with embedded chargers!) advertised on social media. I loved hearing what she had to say about creating Away as an overall travel brand, beyond just selling suitcases. She and her team truly love travel, and want to contribute in a meaningful way to that culture and dialogue. 

Best quote:
"If you're not emotionally connecting, you're not building a brand, you're just selling a product"

#INBOUND17: Piera Gelardi

I love Refinery29. So I was super excited when their founder, Piera Gelardi - who is my age! - opened up the first full day of INBOUND17. The fierce red suit & matching lipstick only added to my feelings of connection with this brunette badass.

I never planned to grow my company. Silly, right? But I didn't. And now I do. So any lessons on leadership and growth at this conference were lapped up eagerly. Piera's office sounds unbelievably fun: she encourages them to think more creatively, gives them the pressure-free space to do so, and even fuels brainstorming sessions with candy and rose. But she's also running a company, so maintaining the feeling of that creative space has had to become a deliberate priority in the hustle and bustle of everyday business. Hearing her ideas - and the recurring theme of the conference talks, which all dealt with identity and connection - was refreshing and inspiring.

Social: who are you?

Those of you who follow me on social media know I spent this past week at #INBOUND17, soaking up insights from HubSpot's assembled team of experts from both within & outside of the marketing realm.

You likely also know that I tend to live-tweet the hell out of these things - which is how I met Jessie-Lee Nichols of Impact, whose thumb is apparently even more limber than my own. We discussed our favorite speakers (a list which includes Michelle Obama, Rand Fishkin, Piera Gelardi, & Brene Brown) and how their recurring messages of culture and identity spoke to each of us.

I'll be putting my own tweets from the conference into Storify threads, which will, in turn, be presented in a series of blog posts next week - keep your eye out for them!

I'd also be remiss if I didn't remind you all to register for Strike Up The BRAND - my eCourse on finding your personal brand, then rocking it out - ASAP! Course begins October 2. #tootyourhorn