It's the most wonderful time of the year! At least for those of us that are obsessed with the latest in marketing innovation, building our expertise, and getting inspired by the best in the business—so that we can be the best in the business:

✨INBOUND✨

INBOUND is an annual conference hosted by HubSpot that various members of our team attend every year. Kelly and I—your go-to #contentqueens—and our Operations Manager/Ship Captain Raquel join our president, Cindy, and our Director of Marketing, Nicole to absorb as much information as possible over the four days of expert-led breakout sessions and ground-breaking keynote speaking events.

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Who are the main speakers at INBOUND 2018?

This year's main keynote speakers are Deepak Chopra and Shonda Rhimes, who both bring unique perspectives on building businesses that put people's well-being and social initiatives first. If that isn't perfectly inbound, we don't know what is.

We're amped to hear what Deepak Chopra has to say. Perhaps he'll pull from his research on the power of the mind to give us a new way to motivate and inspire, getting to the root of how we communicate with and for our clients daily. That's something we could easily apply to how we build connections with customers, audiences, clients, and coworkers.

As content marketers (and humans), we're thrilled to have the absolutely wild opportunity to hear Shonda Rhimes, storytelling genius, speak in person. She's an expert communicator, instilling every project with humor, emotion, and legendary drama to resonate with any audience. Let's see what she has to say about how she makes storytelling a universal experience.

The main stage will also feature Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah, Co-Founders of HubSpot, Beth Comstock, former Vice Chair of GE, Scott Harrison of charity: water, and a dope appearance by 2 Dope Queens, the hilarious comedy duo of the WNYC podcast.

Which sessions will we be attending at INBOUND?

We have a jam-packed schedule while we're there, including team meetings and taking care of business. (Not to mention the food truck pavilion that you can be sure we will thoroughly explore.)

All of us will attend 5-7 different educational breakout sessions each day. There is a notable focus on marketing trends that are taking over today, like automation and video. Here are some of those sessions we're participating in:

Kelly is our automation queen, and will be soaking up the multitude of sessions on what's new in marketing automation. Her sessions include:

• Automate Your Sales Funnel with AI to Beat Your Competitors
• Contagious Content: 7 Keys to Creating Content that Dramatically Moves the Sales and Marketing Needle
• 5 (Very) Actionable Ways to Improve Website Conversions Today

Kelly says:

I’m beyond amped to explore all of the automation-oriented breakout sessions. We do extensive work on automating our marketing processes now, but there’s so much interactivity potential out there. If we can get our clients (and our agency) working smarter, not harder, then everybody wins.

Same, Kelly, same. 🙌 (I also happen to know that Kelly, as a fellow journalist, is losing it over the opportunity to hear Pulitzer Prize-winner Ronan Farrow speak.) We'll be sure to keep everyone updated on what we learn.

Personally, I can't wait to attend the sessions based on video and social media and how to use them in new ways. Some sessions include:

• The Neuroscience of Engagement
• How to Create Relevant Videos (That Your Customers Won't Skip)
• Video Curation in 20 Minutes

But what I'm looking forward to the most, is discussing everything together afterwards. It's a thing we do.

Nicole is the forward-pacing mastermind keeping our collective eye on the future. She'll be attending:

• Why Your Small Business Should Have an Event Strategy
• 100 Ways to Differentiate
• Smash the Funnel: Rethinking Sales and Marketing Using the New Science of Revenue

Nicole says:

INBOUND is a time to recharge and refresh...but not in the rest and relaxation way. It's our time to empower and encourage new ideas, strategies, and ways of creating amazing results. The ideas that are born at INBOUND are brought back to the agency and our clients. It's only 4 days long, but the value we get out of INBOUND lasts all year—and then some.

How to Follow Along

Curious about how all these sessions pan out, and what our takeaways will be?

Kelly will update the blog next week with a summary of our experiences!

But you won't have to wait that long to get the inside scoop. We'll be live-tweeting, updating our Instagram, and publishing on Facebook and LinkedIn to keep you in the loop, using hashtags like #HudsonFusion, #INBOUND18, #INBOUND (and maybe even #HudsonFusINBOUND).

So, make sure to check us out on your favorite social media platform to get real-time updates, pictures, takeaways, and videos on what we discover at INBOUND 2018! We can't wait to share it with you, and to start using what inspires us.

Twitter:

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Facebook:

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We hope you enjoy your Labor Day weekend! Stay tuned next week to hear all about our experience.