Why the Marketing Leadership Forum is Special to Me

At ITSMA, we’ve been hosting two special events annually for a while: Marketing Vision in the fall and Marketing Leadership Forum in the spring (this year on May 24-25 in Napa). Both sessions offer opportunities for the B2B marketing community that we’ve built to gather, hear about the latest marketing trends, discuss new research on changing buyer behavior, and learn from one another.

We work really hard on both events to ensure the agenda covers emerging topics, the speakers are top-notch, and the content is fresh. We always have a lot of repeat attendees so that speaks to the value these events offer.

As much as we’ve worked to keep connected with our community, it was challenging to hold our 2020 and 2021 flagship events online, to say the least. And I know our clients and member companies faced the same challenges and had some great successes. I am grateful to our team for pivoting and pulling off those virtual events because they helped connect us with members around the globe and provided excellent conversations and content.

However, there’s nothing quite like being in person for an event like the Marketing Leadership Forum. I know every event likes to show how it’s unique, but this one truly is.

• The size. It’s a small, intimate event focused on creating an environment that encourages interaction and discussion, not just a barrage of slides, pitches, and lectures that you’ll get at larger events.

• The people. It’s attended by senior level marketers from a spectrum of B2B technology and professional services companies from our membership and client base, all of who are interested in interacting with peers and thought leaders to discuss marketing’s top challenges and future direction.

• The content. The agenda is always focused on topics that matter most to transformational marketers today, and this year is no different with a line-up of speakers that feature a mix of CMOs and ABM leaders from FM Global, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce, and Skybox Security, among others; authors Engelina Jaspers and Dr. Carmen Simon; industry thought leaders like Jon Miller at Demandbase; and our very own subject matter experts, including Alisha Lyndon, Rob Leavitt, Robert Hollier, and others.

• The location. The Forum is in Napa for good reason. We’ll have plenty of excellent wine, along with delicious food, and beautiful surroundings. But the real reason I like holding the Forum at the Westin Verasa in Napa is that we don’t have to compete with other events when we’re there. The relaxed environment encourages people to slow down, pause, and think a little deeper about their marketing programs and what’s happening outside of their organizations. It’s a reset button, of sorts.
• The value marketers get in participating in our community. Gemma Davies, Head of Global ABM & CXO Engagement at ServiceNow, shared the following comment during on an ABM Leaders Panel during our 2021 Marketing Vision Conference, “The best thing that has helped me over the past four years … is having a network of people who are facing the same challenges, opportunities, highs, lows, and joys. Just being able to pick up the phone, send an email, send a text – goes beyond anything else. There is not one person on this panel that I have not spent lots of time with, and really kind of heavily relied on, to just help reassure me that I’m doing the right thing or challenge my ideas. Being vulnerable to a group of other professionals who can inspire you and help you navigate it is so important. So my advice to everyone is to build a community, create some friends, be open to learning from others, and just like any great leader, listen, learn and help others.”

That last sentence was absolute music to my ears, because community has been the backbone of ITSMA for nearly three decades, and is the cornerstone of how we are moving forward as Momentum, with both our new Growth Hub and our events.

I hope I’ve convinced you to seriously consider joining us in Napa on May 24-25 to hit your own reset button, get inspired and connect with others, and keep learning and growing.