I’ve been in sales long enough to know the traditional conference routine. You show up, set up your booth, put on your company shirt, and hope the right people happen to wander by. You shake hands, scan a lot of badges, and try to squeeze a meaningful conversation into the three minutes before someone heads to the next booth. They have always been a necessary evil for me.
Sometimes it works. Sometimes you spend three days wondering whether you should have just emailed everyone a brochure and saved your company the T&E costs.
But every once in a while, if you’re lucky, you attend an event that reminds you why getting people together in person still matters. That’s what I experienced at the Execs In The Know Customer Response Summit (CRS) in Scottsdale a few weeks ago. And what made it special had very little to do with selling anything.
When the Vendor Badge Doesn’t Define You
Let’s acknowledge something everyone in our industry knows but rarely talks about. At most conferences, there’s an invisible line separating the people attending from the companies paying huge invoices to be there. You may even have a different colored badge that screams, “Approach at your own peril!”
On one side are the corporate leaders who are there to learn, network, and find solutions. On the other are the technology providers and BPOs, there to build relationships and hopefully win some business. Everyone is friendly, of course. But the roles are pretty well established.
At Execs In The Know, that line feels remarkably different. I’m a sales executive at CollaborationRoom.ai. I attend events because building relationships with contact center leaders is part of my job. I’m not going to pretend otherwise. There is no shame in my game!
But at CRS Scottsdale, I never felt like the guy standing outside the conversation waiting for someone to invite me in. I felt like I belonged IN the conversation.
Corporate brand leaders, BPO executives, and technology partners simply weren’t occupying the same hotel. We were participating in the same discussions, sharing experiences, challenging ideas, and learning from one another. And here’s the part I appreciate most: I was learning just as much as anyone else.
Nobody seemed particularly concerned about which side of the traditional vendor-attendee equation you came from. What mattered was whether you had something worthwhile to contribute. That’s a pretty refreshing way to spend three days.
Chad McDaniel and His Team Have Built Something Different
I don’t think this happens by accident. Chad McDaniel and the team at Execs In The Know have created something that goes well beyond organizing conferences. They’ve built a community of people who genuinely want to help one another succeed. And you can feel that in how the events are structured.
CRS brought together senior CX leaders around the theme of Customer Assurance, exploring how organizations build trust, confidence, and clarity into the customer experience. The agenda included keynotes, panels, workshops, technology discussions, and opportunities for people to share what’s working in their organizations.
But the real magic wasn’t simply having smart, well-spoken people on stage. It wasn’t in Chad’s well-curated dad jokes. It was creating an environment where the conversations could continue after someone stepped off the stage….and the dogs! Oh, the dogs!
A discussion that starts during a session can be carried into lunch. A question about AI or agent engagement can turn into a conversation about leadership. Before you know it, you’re talking about your kids, your career, or something that has absolutely nothing to do with customer experience. And that’s when professional connections start becoming personal relationships. That’s hard to do in three minutes at a booth!
The team at Execs In The Know understands something that many conference organizers overlook: You can’t manufacture relationships by putting people in a ballroom. You must create an environment where relationships can develop naturally. That’s what they’ve accomplished. That’s what I remember the most!
Sometimes the Best Conversations Aren’t on the Agenda
I enjoy a good keynote as much as anyone. I also appreciate hearing how major brands are approaching AI, customer expectations, operational efficiency, and the challenges of managing increasingly complex contact centers. Those conversations matter.
But some of the most valuable things I’ve learned throughout my career haven’t come from a presentation. They’ve come from someone sitting across the table saying, “You know, we tried that, and here’s what actually happened.” No PowerPoint. No carefully rehearsed talking points. Just people sharing their experiences….good and bad!
Maybe a brand leader explains why an initiative didn’t deliver the results they expected. A BPO executive offers a different perspective based on what they’re seeing across multiple clients. A technology partner talks about an approach that might help. Nobody has every answer. That’s precisely why bringing these different perspectives together is so valuable.
As a technology provider, I spend a lot of time talking about the challenges our platform helps to address. But listening to the people actually running these operations gives me a much better understanding of what matters to them. Sometimes those conversations validate what we’re doing at CollaborationRoom. Sometimes they challenge how I think about a problem. Both are valuable to me.
You don’t have to be the person with the solution to contribute to a great conversation. Sometimes you just need to listen. That’s something I wish more people in sales understood. I need a refresher from time to time myself!
Relationships First. Business Will Follow.
There’s an old saying in sales that people buy from people they know, like, and trust. I’ve always believed there’s truth in that. But I think the order matters.
Trust doesn’t come from a badge scan, a LinkedIn connection, or a perfectly timed follow-up email. It comes from getting to know people. It comes from understanding their challenges without immediately turning the conversation into a sales pitch. It comes from being willing to share what you’ve learned, even when there’s absolutely nothing in it for you. And sometimes it comes from simply enjoying someone’s company.
That’s the environment I experienced in Scottsdale. Of course, business relationships can develop from these interactions. That’s part of why companies invest in attending industry events. But when every conversation has an immediate commercial objective, people can sense it. And frankly, it gets exhausting for everyone involved.
What I appreciate about the Execs In The Know community is that the relationship gets to come first. Maybe we will do business together someday. Maybe we don’t. Either way, I can walk away having learned something, met some terrific people, and developed relationships I genuinely want to maintain. That’s a successful conference in my book.
A Lesson Other Conferences Could Learn
I understand why traditional conferences operate the way they do. Booths, sponsorships, exhibit halls, and scheduled meetings are familiar models, and they serve a purpose. I’m certainly not suggesting we eliminate them all.
But I do think there’s an opportunity for more event organizers to reconsider what they’re really trying to create. Is the objective to bring buyers and sellers into the same building? Or is it to bring people together who can help one another become better at what they do? Those aren’t necessarily competing goals. But the second one creates something much more valuable.
When corporate leaders, technology partners, and BPO executives participate as members of the same community, everyone benefits. The conversations become more candid. The learning goes both ways. And the relationships have a chance to last long after everyone has checked out of the hotel. That’s the difference between attending an event and belonging to something.
Thank You for Making the Sales Guy Feel Like Part of the Team
I left Scottsdale grateful. Yes, I only had to drive 10 minutes to Phoenix, but I still left grateful! Grateful for the conversations, the ideas, the laughter, and the opportunity to spend time with people who care deeply about improving customer experience. And especially grateful to Chad McDaniel and the entire Execs In The Know team for building an organization where a guy who sells technology can feel every bit as welcome as the executives he’s hoping to meet.
I came to CRS representing CollaborationRoom, and I’m proud to do that. But I left feeling like I was representing something else, too: a community of people who genuinely enjoy learning from one another and helping each other succeed. I wish more conferences would take this approach.
Because when the badges come off, the presentations end, and everyone heads home, the thing that matters most isn’t how many leads you collected. It’s how many relationships you built that you’ll still value years from now. And that’s something worth coming back for.
Guest post written by Jason Hiland, Chief Revenue Officer, CollaborationRoom.ai.
CollaborationRoom.ai provides a Virtual Floor platform that helps contact center leaders connect, coach, train, and support teams across physical offices, remote and hybrid environments, multiple locations, and outsourced BPO operations.
Learn more at CollaborationRoom.ai.
