Veni, Vidi, Vici. This is Inbound.

I'm watching the changes in the association world unfold before my eyes on a daily basis. The association industry as we knew it is being disrupted and needs to evolve if the organizations are going to remain intact and continue to have a purpose. The latest disruptor I've seen? Inbound. It's hard to understand why this isn't an association, but there's no dues, conference rates are higher and there's a different set of rules for what's considered normal.

What's Inbound? Inbound is both the conference for HubSpot users & partners, as well as an online community for users and partners of the inbound marketing automation software platform named HubSpot. I went to the conference last week in Boston to join the other 13,999 people there for jam-packed content sessions and networking. After reviewing my notes, I couldn't come up with why Inbound is not a massive threat to traditional associations and frankly, far cooler with a lot more buzz and appeal. Here's what I found:

• Over 100,000 online community participants worldwide that want to come together to discuss how inbound marketing is transforming the way that buyers & sellers interact in the modern marketplace
  
  
• Over 14,000 conference attendees gathered from across the globe for one week of education and networking
  
  
• Hundreds of peer-reviewed content sessions and an educational curriculum guided by staff
  
  
• Sponsorships & tradeshow exhibit space
  
  
• Special events and keynotes
  
  
• Mobile app, conference website, onsite badge check in and large badges
  
  
• Book signings
• One-on-one meeting space for facilitated meetings between buyers and sellers
  
  
• Held at the convention center 
  
  
• Room blocks & organized bus transportation

But here's the differences of Inbound:

• Badges weren't perfect. The capitalization of letters on the badge were exactly as the individual entered them. I was Suzanne carawan, for example, and I noticed it but didn't think less of Inbound or their badge software--I just thought "my bad--guess i typed too fast"
  
  
• There were no Chicken & Rice lunches. What's this mean? Let me explain: We've recently brought on a new staffer at HighRoad whose generational identification falls into the heart of the Millennial band of people now flooding the workforce. One of her main duties is to go to events and as we know, in the association world--that means a LOT of events. Recently, we went to a classic association chapter luncheon--what I call a "Chicken & Rice". You know--you get the caesar, rolls & butter, chicken covered with some sort of pale sauce (lemon, glaze, herb--you pick the sauce), rice and ice tea. Classics. A good hot meal for so we can sustain ourselves through the rigors of the day. For Inbound, we got lunch tickets and had to go outside (regardless of weather) to go to food trucks.
  
  
• Few silver coffee urns. Dunkin' Donuts was a sponsor so we used paper. The biggest complaint was why was there a carafe of decaf that was the same size of caf? Seemed stupid.
• Sessions were crazy overcrowded & they used door scans. Hard to say if there are that many more people (there was an increase of 4k YOY), or if HubSpot is that damn smart in creating demand for content (I'm betting on the latter), but people became frenzied about getting into sessions and getting the content. This led HubSpot to hold Encore sessions either later that day or next day to get the content that was popular to the people which calmed them down & made them feel like they were getting amazing, in-demand content (wicked shmart).
• No one used polite language or booked polite speakers. HubSpot booked some of the hottest talent around that fit perfectly with their target population. Amy Shumer showed her underwear and Aziz Ansari gave an extemporaneous talk-- and an extemporaneous speech in 2015 if you are of a certain age includes words that start with f, s, p and d. HubSpot went off the cuff and chose to entertain the greatest mass without worrying about if they were offending someone because if someone was offended, they have the right to vote with their feet and leave. This is a big diff from the idea that the masses must bear the consequences of making decisions that center around a few. You don't like my show or email or membership or blog? No worries, go elsewhere. 
• Only you do you. There was little conformity amongst the crowd in terms of age (though clearly it skewed to a late 40 and below), ethnicity, or cultural norms. The common threads were in attitude, aptitude and energy. Dropping the need for conformity and embracing diversity unleashed a ton of energy in the event. The community is thriving because it fundamentally is built on the idea that we are curious, want to do interesting work and know cool people. It is the fundamental opposite of zero-sum game mentality and people openly shared and helped each other because why not? You being great is no threat to my own greatness (insert selfie here).
• People already signed up for 2016's Inbound before leaving 2015. Why? They want the VIP pass so that they get reserved seating and better access to speakers. They feel alive and know that the event is growing, not stabilizing, not breaking even and not dying.
• HubSpot didn't design the event to break even. It's clear the event cost a ton, but HubSpot knows it's an investment in the brand and goodwill of the firm that will pay off dividends down the road--reducing churn, increasing WOM and stickiness. If you design the event to break even, you are already cost-cutting and not focused on the user experience. Users will sit through nearly anything if the event has something they want (think about Woodstock, or the Gen X Lolapalooza experience as an example or whatever the Millennials had which I don't know because I was worried about daycare for toddlers at the time and missed out on the pop culture analogy). The focus has to be on the value that the experience is bringing and understanding what that value will be for the attendee and then crafting programs that provide it.

Ugh. I just re-read that and that sounds a whole lot like the role of membership to me. So, in summary, 14K at the event, 100K in the global community, everyone connected live & digitally to share education and network together for a common goal. That sounds like the definition of an association to me. As a final note, being the fine capitalists that they are, it wouldn't surprise me that HubSpot puts a dollar amount of being part of the community at some point though I bet it will be paid monthly and a very nominal fee with value that exceeds the cost. 

As a final, final note, I received my AMA magazine in the mail the day I returned from Inbound and sat down to read it. I was laughing that I am one of those people that loves my association magazine and will read it cover-to-cover (but NOT on digital), but I never look at their emails because all they do is sell me webinars I doubt are worth the money. I caught myself thinking how sad that was because if their emails were like their magazines, I would read them, but there's no value there. As a last note, remember what email is for--for providing valuable information. If you're selling more than you're informing, you're abusing. HubSpot did an amazing job of just providing helpful content pre, during and post-Inbound. 

And as the absolute final note, I did what HubSpot wanted me to do. I read my books on the plane, came home and got onto the online community. My energy is up and i'm more excited than ever to actually be a part of something (and that is a super hard trick to pull on a Gen X female marketer as we are top 3 in World's Hardest Target Market).

I went to Inbound as an attendee, I came home from Inbound as a loyal member.

Veni, vidi, vici in the modern world of association marketing.