SampleCon
SampleCon 2024: first time attending, speaking and playing pickleball
AJ Keirans spoke on SampleCon 2024's 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Data Insights' panel at Lake Oconee, Georgia.
Before the event, March 7, 2024:
A lot to be excited about next week. I am attending and speaking at my first SampleCon and looking forward to it, especially from the unique position of a buyer. From my Inbox and pitch messages, some of you are too.
If you will be in attendance, I hope you will join me and the impressive panel of folks who will be speaking on Tuesday the 12th at 3 pm EST for our session 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Data Insights'. In these ever-changing times for us as an industry, there is a lot to be excited about and equally a few things we can all work on to improve together.
In other exciting news, thanks to Zachary Grashow - I will be playing my first game of Pickleball. Note to self: learn the rules and find a partner. Safe travels everyone.
After the event, March 21, 2024:
Thank you SampleCon for the great first experience.
First time - Attending
- Speaking
- Pickleball
Not first time getting Covid following a conference and traveling, but worth it. The venue and immersive setup was great. It was like Samplecon was a closed campus on a beautiful lake. A lot of times we travel to a location, but it is more just a conference venue in a cool place but you don't get to enjoy it. This was unique and added to the experience. Great job Rachel Alltmont for all the hard work to make it so special.
What I really liked about the conference was the unapologetic focus on business, networking and relationship building. As a speaker and with no ill will - it was a networking / relationship building event that also had content. Folks weren’t stuck at their booth trying to figure out if from your badge you were someone worth talking to or if you should find the next ‘hot lead’ to try and pitch your wares. If you haven’t noticed I strongly dislike booth duty and the cement shoes that are the booth. Remind me of this in 5 years when I'm at the GHP booth at your favorite event.
Big shout-out to my fellow panelists - it was great to share the stage and collaborate and support each other. It was awesome that all of us were first time attendees too and could be there for each other. I'm confident we will work together again in some capacity in the future. Thanks Dimitri Poliderakis (team bow tie!), Kayte ('Kate') Hamilton and Shifra Cook.
The events were fun and 'on campus' - axe throwing, live band Karaoke and Pickleball. At first, I was skeptical but it exceeded expectations - it was awesome and another first. It was great because it was the perfect way to bring folks together to laugh together, at each other and still be competitive. Shout out to Team Lime Squad who came in 2nd place. And what was amazing was that over 50+ attendees (or about 20% of the conference) joined us on the courts to celebrate Zachary Grashow 50th.
There was a candor, passion and honesty from the talks that was welcome. Still a few folks trying hard to not sell but couldn’t help it. I think conferences are important but in the same vein they are super saturated and over done. As a Business Owner, deciding where to allocate budget and what conferences to attend is a challenge and you have to look at which have points of differentiation and add value. I can say this is one that I look forward to attending in the future.
