#INBOUND17: Brian Halligan

Of course I was excited to see HubSpot founders Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah speak at #INBOUND17. Last year's talk was inspiring and informative. This year, they decided to split their keynote, each focusing on their strengths (but with enough thematic overlaps and joint references that they still felt like related talks). I was also glad to see the return of the Brian & Dharmesh puppets on-screen. :)

As I said in a previous blog post: I hadn't originally planned to grow my company, but now that is absolutely part of my plan. I don't ever plan to become big like HubSpot, but I was still thrilled to hear lessons on startup mentality vs. scale-up mentality, and the important things to absorb or remove from each. His journey from starting HubSpot, through its exponential growth, and general commentaries on companies and marketing in general was engaging and on-point.

My favorite quote wasn't able to fit fully into a tweet, but I've found it:

"Netflix didn't disrupt Blockbuster; their late fees did that. Apple didn't disrupt the music industry; buying the whole album did. Then Uber, they didn't disrupt the taxi industry; waiting outside in the rain did."

Social: iSocialFanz on getting the most out of conferences & events

Professional conferences can be a great opportunity to meet people in your industry who you admire - especially if, like me, your profession is also something you personally geek out over. One of the many fantastic social media leaders I met at Social Media Marketing World is Brian "iSocialFanz" Fanzo. Brian's expertise ranges from tech to livestreaming to public speaking and all sorts of topics in between, but today we spoke about something highly relevant as we head into fall conference season: how to get the most out of those experiences.

Some of Brian's best tips include:

• Start following (and participating in) the conference hashtag long before the conference; become an integral part of that conversation before the event even starts
• When interacting with the bigwigs you're excited to see (either before or after), don't just put out a generic, "Excited to hear your talk!" - share their work, offer value to them, and have something to actually say to them with some meaning and context
• One great way to get on conference organizers' radars (and good sides!) is to give their sponsors some love!

These, and way more fantastic tips, are all in our conversation below. Thanks again, Brian - see you at #SMMW18!