As someone who's been attending INBOUND for some time now, I'll admit I was initially skeptical when HubSpot announced they were moving the conference from Boston to San Francisco. Boston felt like home base; familiar, comfortable, predictable. But as we head into next week's event, I'm genuinely excited about what this change might bring to the table.
Walking into Moscone Center next week, I’m excited for our team. They agree and have a feeling the energy is going to be immediately different. Sure, we'll have our usual mix of marketing and rev ops folks, but we’re anticipating something new in the air. We’re expecting to bump into enterprise players like CTOs from major SaaS companies, growth leaders from unicorn startups, and maybe we’ll see an increase in attendees from APAC.
A colleague of mine who runs marketing for a Series C fintech company told me last week, "I've been meaning to attend INBOUND for years, but the Boston location never felt worth the cross-country trip. San Francisco? That's my backyard." I have a feeling this sentiment is going to be echoed throughout the hallways, and I'm curious to see how geography shapes the conversations we'll be having.
I've sat through my fair share of "AI revolution" sessions over the past few years, most of which left me feeling like I'd just watched a tech demo rather than learned something actionable. But this year, I'm genuinely optimistic we're going to get past the hype and into the practical stuff.
Looking at the agenda, I'm particularly excited about the sessions focused on AI implementation rather than AI theory. Our team has been preaching the importance of efficiency and effectiveness with our clients and we’re expecting this sentiment to be echoed during the sessions. The buzzword fatigue is real. We’re excited to share our hot takes on all things AI with you during and after INBOUND.
As we prep for next week, I can't help but think this location change represents something bigger than just a venue swap. We’re anticipating a different caliber of conversations, a more diverse mix of attendees, and even more practical, implementable content than we’re used to. If my hypothesis is right, this could set a new standard for what marketing conferences should be. (I’m not knocking Boston, I’m from there, but the change of scenery is nice.)
We’ll be documenting our experience throughout the week and sharing key takeaways as they happen. But right now, as we finish packing our bags and reviewing the agenda one more time, we’re feeling that familiar pre-conference excitement, amplified by the anticipation of something genuinely different. We can’t wait to see you in SF!
Are you heading to INBOUND next week? What sessions are you most excited about? Let’s connect while we're there.