HubSpot #INBOUND24 Preview Show: Early Sessions + Introvert Survival
Do you live in a world filled with corporate data? Are you plagued by siloed departments? Are your lackluster growth strategies demolishing your chances for success? Are you held captive by the evil menace Lord Lack? Lack of time, lack of strategy, and lack of the most important and powerful tool in your superhero tool belt, knowledge.
Intro:Never fear, hub heroes. Get ready to don your cape and mask, move into action, and become the hub hero your organization needs. Tune in each week to join the league of extraordinary inbound heroes as we help you educate, empower, and execute. Hub Heroes, it's time to unite and activate your powers. Before we begin, we need to disclose that Devin is currently employed by HubSpot at the time of this episode's recording.
Intro:This podcast is in no way affiliated with or produced by HubSpot, and the thoughts and opinions expressed by Devin during the show are that of his own and in no way represent those of his employer.
Liz Moorhead:I think welcome back to another episode of Hot Toys. George, you hold on
Devyn Bellamy:a second.
George B. Thomas:It's okay.
Liz Moorhead:You hold on a second. Okay. Because I gotta have a moment. I gotta have a moment. Yeah.
Liz Moorhead:Dan Moyle of Impulse Creative. How are you, buddy? Hi.
George B. Thomas:Hey, Liz. What's up, buddy?
Liz Moorhead:Later in the intro to say hi, but you know we're gonna start pulling you in early. So, like, George, I'm sorry to interrupt, but, like, we want Dan talking as soon as Yeah.
George B. Thomas:No. I agree. Really, we're having this, episode because Dan said he would be here, and we wanna talk about something that we all love. I actually was gonna be kind of dumb for a second. I know that surprises you.
George B. Thomas:But,
Liz Moorhead:Blown away.
George B. Thomas:I I think I need to actually have the intro redone because that part like, you know, the Devon part where it's like Devon current by by the way, every time I hear that, I'm like, I wanna just, like, put it down for a second and be like, yep. Still works at HubSpot. And then, like, put it back up. But I think we need to add, like, YouTube God into that somehow. Like, works at HubSpot and is currently a YouTube God.
George B. Thomas:Somehow, someway, we we got probably gotta add that.
Liz Moorhead:Literally, what did I comment to you the other day, Devin? I I wrote, I knew him once. Yeah. Look at him go. Look at him sore.
Liz Moorhead:So, like, okay. For the folks at home, Devin, can you give them the quick rundown of, like, your YouTube godness? Just quick Sure. Just quick. What are you doing?
Devyn Bellamy:So I I have in 2024 accepted the reality that I am, in fact, a YouTuber.
George B. Thomas:Yes.
Devyn Bellamy:I have a 12 year old little brother who thinks I am the coolest person on Earth.
George B. Thomas:Yes. That's amazing.
Devyn Bellamy:But, yeah, I'm Amazing. I I I, I have been on the spotlight preview both internally, for partners as well as customer facing on the YouTube channel. And, of course, the other product videos that are out right now. And, another podcast that I'm not on, but I am producing, is Good Morning Ecosystem, with, Brian Garvey and Karen Ding. Our first guest was Yamini Rangan.
Devyn Bellamy:And, we
George B. Thomas:Oh, you started out small for that podcast.
Devyn Bellamy:Yeah. Yeah. You know?
George B. Thomas:Just you know? You know?
Liz Moorhead:Real just low hanging fruit. Nothing big. Nothing major.
George B. Thomas:They're free.
Devyn Bellamy:Just just softball. Love it. It's fine. But, yeah. And and now we also have a a HubSpot, ecosystem YouTube channel Mhmm.
Devyn Bellamy:That we are soft launching. And so you could actually right now and just look up HubSpot partners or go to hub youtube.com forward slash @hubspotpartners and pull up the YouTube channel, catch all of the episodes of Good Morning Ecosystem, and see that I am not just a pretty face who knows a lot about HubSpot. I also know a lot about video production too.
George B. Thomas:Yes. What? Love it. Love it. Okay.
George B. Thomas:Now we can move on from Devon's godly
Liz Moorhead:so many no. We have so many famous people. We have Devin, YouTube God. We have Dan Moyle here from Impulse Creative also as we George, you're you're the one and only George b Thomas. You're you're you're inbound in human form.
Liz Moorhead:And And I'm Liz. I write words
George B. Thomas:on the Don't do that. You're not allowed to do that.
Liz Moorhead:I write words on the Internet.
George B. Thomas:You're Liz, the content therapist that everybody needs to meet when they want their words to actually matter. There you go.
Liz Moorhead:Oh, thanks, buddy.
Devyn Bellamy:You put that on a brochure.
George B. Thomas:I know. Right?
Devyn Bellamy:That was awesome.
Liz Moorhead:It's funny. Are you guys ready, though? Because I oh, I actually, you know what? I'm gonna be honest. I'm not sure I'm ready, and here's why.
Liz Moorhead:No. Okay. I feel a little bit broken because I don't I don't know where time is going right now. Because okay. It feels like only yesterday.
Liz Moorhead:George, Devin, we were sitting here recapping inbound 23. Right?
George B. Thomas:Yeah.
Liz Moorhead:We were talking about George just slaying it in Boston with his entire family there for the first time ever. Devin killing it at partner day as the MC, Max and the Greek popsicle keeper for happily.
George B. Thomas:Hi, Tony.
Liz Moorhead:Me. Hi, Tony and or John.
George B. Thomas:We're not sure.
Liz Moorhead:We love you. We're not sure. I still I'm still not sure to this day.
Devyn Bellamy:And then there was me sitting
Liz Moorhead:at home, sobbing quietly into a microwaved burrito totally in no way bitter about the fact that I wasn't there. And that's fine. But you know what? It wasn't yesterday when that that was seven months ago. That was almost seven months ago, which probably not a big deal except for the fact that here we are right now for the first inbound 24 preview episode.
Liz Moorhead:I what?
Dan Moyle:Yeah. Time is weird.
Liz Moorhead:Time is a social construct. I have no idea what's happening. But, yes, we are here today for the first preview episode of HubSpot's annual inbound event. It's happening September in Boston. They've already dropped the first sneak peek of the agenda.
Liz Moorhead:But, George
George B. Thomas:Hang on. Because you if if if you're a partner and listening to this or watching this, partner day on the seventeenth. So you'll wanna pay attention to that might be part of your vacation or travel or inbound plans as well as a partner. So just add that piece in.
Liz Moorhead:Well, don't hop off your mic just yet, George, because there's a reason why we're excited Dan Boyle is here. And I figured since this is a special reunion, the impulse boys
George B. Thomas:Yeah.
Liz Moorhead:I'm gonna I'm gonna turn it over to you for a minute before we get to trivia.
George B. Thomas:Listen. Listen. I have been blessed, and cursed, And I never talk about this other side of it, but I have been blessed to be able to speak at inbound since 2015 and cursed to watch a lot of my friends try to speak at inbound or have spoken and then not be able to get back on the stage, year after year after year. And and when I saw a LinkedIn post, I did a freaking happy dance in my office. Nobody knows I did a happy dance, But I was like, touchdown, score, like, whatever you can do when you're excited.
George B. Thomas:This was me in the moment because I saw the fact that Dan being able to put out the announcement that he was coming back to the inbound stage, that he was gonna drop knowledge and value. And to me, I was like, yes. A good human being able to do good things at a great event, this is a spectacular day. And so at that moment, I was like, okay. When we talk about inbound, we gotta see if Dan's available.
George B. Thomas:I definitely wanna somehow just bring this all back together because, again, as folks who used to work together and and and have these conversations of, like, hey, dude. What are you gonna apply for this year? Like, what's your like, I can remember strategy sessions of Dan sitting us sitting together and be like, well, the what if this description or, like, start the title with a number and, like, all of these things. And now we're here, and it's like, Dan Moyle, the one, the only, the man, the myth, the legend, hitting the inbound stage.
Liz Moorhead:Yeah. Don't call to come back.
George B. Thomas:He never learned the greatness.
Liz Moorhead:Been there.
George B. Thomas:He's been there. So I'm I'm just excited. Super excited.
Dan Moyle:See, this is the kind of, hype squad you need in your life. I appreciate all of that, George. Thank you so
George B. Thomas:much. You bet.
Liz Moorhead:Micah. Wait. Can I be, like, groupies for you guys speaking this year, like, in your rooms? Like, go charge. It's all about the what?
Liz Moorhead:It's all about
Devyn Bellamy:the what?
George B. Thomas:Oh, it's all about the humans.
Liz Moorhead:That's what's up. That's what's up. Alright, guys. Before we dig into our first preview episode, are you guys down for a little bit of trivia? You don't have to This
George B. Thomas:scared the crap out of me, by the way, when you told me about this earlier. I tried to feverishly look for where you might have put the questions so I could, like
Liz Moorhead:Oh, hidden in an Apple Notes document. You're not seeing. There's no scarier place than the Notes app on a girl's phone, and that's where these trivia questions are.
George B. Thomas:Not competitive at all, but I was trying to cheat real hard. I was like, let me find these questions.
Liz Moorhead:Well, let's start with an easy one, shall we? Gentlemen, what was the first year of inbound?
Dan Moyle:02/2012.
George B. Thomas:See, I think it was 02/2010. I think it was a HubSpot user.
Devyn Bellamy:So I was it Dad 02/2008?
George B. Thomas:Wait. What?
Liz Moorhead:So the correct answer is Dan. The first official inbound conference was in 2012. And that's not even one of the trivia questions, and we're already off to a great start. Good job, guys. Alright.
Liz Moorhead:I have three questions about the first inbound ever.
George B. Thomas:Oh, in 2012? One.
Liz Moorhead:Oh, let's 2012. Mhmm. Uh-huh. Yeah. Okay.
Liz Moorhead:Sure. Sure, buddy. Who was the musical guest that year? You have three options. Was it, a, Biz Marquee, b, Cyndi Lauper, or, c, Belinda Carlisle?
Devyn Bellamy:Biz Marquee.
Dan Moyle:I'm gonna go with Cindy, but I don't think that's right because I think it was actually the, the, the the band that was made up of HubSpot employees.
George B. Thomas:Yeah. That's the thing. I don't think you put the right answer because I
Devyn Bellamy:think that's right. I I think Dan's right.
George B. Thomas:Cindy Lauper was years after this because I literally remember
Dan Moyle:seeing her,
George B. Thomas:like, do an acoustic version.
Liz Moorhead:She was also in 2012 unless they messed up the press release regarding the 2020 Oh, shoot. Inbound conference. Wow. She was there. That's right.
Liz Moorhead:Your girl went digging in the original press release from PR Newswire. She is listed as the musical guest.
George B. Thomas:I love it. Okay. Now now, now my brain is broken.
Liz Moorhead:Get off of that. No. No. No. You got no.
Liz Moorhead:You can't bring it up because the other questions are from there. You can't do that. No
George B. Thomas:Oh, shoot. Well no. But there's literally is if you type in Cindy Lauper inbound, there's a freaking YouTube number one search result, a minute and twenty one seconds, Cindy rocks the house in Boston. Son of a gun.
Liz Moorhead:Thank you. Yeah.
Devyn Bellamy:But that
Liz Moorhead:was 12. It was 2012.
Dan Moyle:I'm old. I I'm old. I forget stuff. So, Liz, I defer to
George B. Thomas:you %. We're we're
Liz Moorhead:Watch. Some HubSpotter's gonna come for me and be like, they released the press release. The press release was wrong. She actually couldn't make it. She stubbed her toe.
George B. Thomas:Think so.
Liz Moorhead:I'm just telling you what I think what PR news I'm going with PR newswire. Alright. True or false? True or false. During their joint keynote, Dharmesh and Brian unveiled HubSpot three, which promised making, quote, Amazon like personalization possible for all marketers.
George B. Thomas:No. No. 02/2012 was the year of don't call me a customer, call me human. One plus one equals three, I think, was later. I swear to god.
George B. Thomas:If I'm wrong
Dan Moyle:on this, I'm
George B. Thomas:gonna just I think
Dan Moyle:that was in '12. I think that was
Liz Moorhead:in '12. In '12.
George B. Thomas:See, this is why I don't play these games. I knew I should have found the answer to these.
Liz Moorhead:Sneaky sneaky. Alright. Last question. We're all doing great.
George B. Thomas:Can I refuse to answer this last one?
Liz Moorhead:You're more than welcome to do whatever you'd like to, or, technically, this is your podcast.
George B. Thomas:Give it a shot, I guess. Devin, I haven't heard any answers from you, by the way. You're quietly just sitting there like
Liz Moorhead:He has been. He guessed Bismarck.
Devyn Bellamy:He I've been wrong every time. I'm here.
George B. Thomas:Oh, so we're we're
Devyn Bellamy:we're completely
Liz Moorhead:I I know that We're all rising and falling together.
George B. Thomas:Okay.
Liz Moorhead:The Thursday keynote speaker of inbound twenty twelve brought the house down with a talk they called care immensely or die in which they challenged marketers to market more from the heart rather than their head. Who was this keynote speaker?
George B. Thomas:I wanna say it was Gary v. That's what I wanna say. I feel like I'm fundamentally wrong again, but I wanna say it was Gary v.
Dan Moyle:I'm gonna support you on that one, say Gary v. I think that's right.
Devyn Bellamy:No. See, I'll just go against and just say I don't think it was Gary Vee. I've been wrong every time so far, so I guess the test He might be right
George B. Thomas:this time.
Devyn Bellamy:Yeah. We'll see. Devin?
Liz Moorhead:Yeah. Your streak continues, George. You are vindicated. It was, in fact, one Gary Vaynerchuck.
Devyn Bellamy:I knew it.
George B. Thomas:There we go. Now we're talking.
Liz Moorhead:Alright. That was fun. I always love enjoying I I love watching you guys squirm in your seats.
Devyn Bellamy:Oh, it's over?
George B. Thomas:I don't know
Liz Moorhead:if any but the trivia is over. You can't leave the episode yet.
Devyn Bellamy:I I was I was just tired of looking like an idiot. So I mean
George B. Thomas:That's pretty much my daily, jam, so whatever.
Liz Moorhead:Well, how about this, guys? Are you ready to look really stinking smart?
George B. Thomas:Let's do it. Let's go.
Liz Moorhead:Alright. Alright. George and Dan, I actually wanna start with you two. You're both speaking at inbound this year. Are you talking about are you excited?
Liz Moorhead:Are you running laps to prepare? Like, what what's going on in your brains right now?
George B. Thomas:Go for it, Dan.
Dan Moyle:Okay. So, yes, speaking, super stoked about it. We actually so as George mentioned, I've been trying to get back to inbound. I was invited the first couple of years to speak. I spoke on the bold stage, the third year.
Dan Moyle:It was incredible, almost like a TED Talk type thing with Laura Fitton or Pistachio. Incredible experiences. And then they started to, like, take applications. So each year, I've tried to find that nugget that will bring what I brought the first time to an audience. So this year, I thought, I'm not doing it.
Dan Moyle:I'm done. My heart's been broken too many times inbound. I can't do it. Well, then, Josh Curcio from, is it protocol 80? Right?
Dan Moyle:Another HubSpot partner reached out to a few of us in the community, the the top solutions authors, and said, hey. What if we did a panel? And I said, okay. So Karsten, the number one solutions author, can't make it. He decides to not become because of ecological, environmentally friendly.
Dan Moyle:He doesn't like to travel, so he doesn't travel. Okay. So it's the other four of the top five. So Josh, Phil, myself, and then Jennifer Nixon are gonna be on this panel with Kyle Jepsen moderating to just talk about how HubSpot and community brings so much value to partners, users, and everybody in the ecosystem.
George B. Thomas:Oh, ladies and gentlemen. If you're not in that room, if they do not have to do an encore, add TVs, simulcast it at the three bars next to the BCEC, Like
Liz Moorhead:I'm gonna line up like it's Black Friday
George B. Thomas:on this one. The those humans in that room being MC'd by that man, like, it is sure to be fire. Fire.
Dan Moyle:I'm stoked. I can't wait. I would love like, I've said all along, and George knows this. My my deep dark secret is that while I do love being helpful and there is an altruistic point to me speaking on stages, the little ego side of me wants, like, hell to be on that main inbound stage.
George B. Thomas:Oh, yeah.
Dan Moyle:I was in front of it once in front of 20,000 people with David Meermin Scott, but I wanna be on it. And so I want our little panel to have so much interest that they go, you know what? Put them on the main stage.
George B. Thomas:Oh, dude. Dude, first of all, that would be dope. Second of all, I'd be pissed. But but because you know that it's actually one
Liz Moorhead:And that's called friendship.
George B. Thomas:Called friendship. I would high five you and then, like, flip you the no. I'm just kidding. I wouldn't flip anything. But but because you two know that, like, that is one of my goals.
George B. Thomas:And the the bigger inbound has gotten and the level of speakers that they've been able to pay for, that goal has gotten harder and harder and harder over the years to hit that main stage. But, no, I would if I hope I as a matter of fact, I'm gonna do all that I can do in my power to make everybody wanna go to that session so much that that's the only place it'll fit because then that would be amazing. It would be an amazing moment in time for you and the folks who have given over and over and over to thousands and thousands of people inside the community. So it would be well deserved. Well deserved.
Dan Moyle:Well, I appreciate it. See? Hype school. Yeah. Gotta have a hype squad.
Dan Moyle:That's so sad. Friends that challenge you, support you, and then flip you the bird
Devyn Bellamy:when you
Dan Moyle:are successful.
George B. Thomas:Dang on it. I Because
Dan Moyle:you got a challenge.
George B. Thomas:Happy for you. I inspired it too much. Dang it. No. That I would never be that guy.
George B. Thomas:So, Liz, I'm super excited because, so, inbound has different types of sessions. They have, like, these forty five minute sessions, and then they have, like, these thirty minute sessions. And they have, like, speakers and panelists, and then they have these things called deep dives, which deep dives, I believe, are, like, ninety minutes that you actually have the, stage that you can do these things, which I am thankful for every one of the stinking minutes that I have for the deep dive that I'm doing this year, because I'm talking about future of content, AI harmony, and human touch.
Liz Moorhead:And And what touch?
George B. Thomas:Human oh, shoot. Human.
Liz Moorhead:What do you touch?
George B. Thomas:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I well, you know, I'm I'm whatever. I messed it up.
George B. Thomas:You're excited. I'm excited. And and so what's fun is, behind the scenes, I've been really nerding out for a lot of years on human communication, being human, happy, helpful, humble human, human first internally, human first externally. And for the last year, year and a half, I've really been nerding out behind the scenes on AI for image generation, writing, all all sorts of, like, optimizing my day with AI. And so I'm I'm excited to be the guy that can take, the Human.
George B. Thomas:Side of who I've been Yeah. And then add in this AI conversation, but in the right way. We've had many conversations on this podcast of, like, too many people when they're creating content are looking for the easy button, and I'm gonna show you how you might be able to build a little bit of an easy but better button for when you go to try to do this thing. And I'm so excited that I've actually already started to build my presentation deck, meaning this is the first like, usually, I'm the last guy. Like, they're like, George, you were supposed to send it a week ago, and I'm like, sorry.
George B. Thomas:I'm I'm trying.
Liz Moorhead:But but I've literally been the girl who was a speaker there, though, who walked up during the conference and said, here's a USB key with my most recent updated version of my of my presentation. Thank you so much. Yes. I've already
George B. Thomas:So so I've already started to build it out. And what's fun is it's gonna be part presentation deck, part, like, sharing actual things of me doing things because I have ninety minutes. I'm I'm I'm looking to this deck, and I'm like, this is gonna change people's lives. Like, when they get this information, they're gonna walk away and go, holy crap. This is what's possible.
Liz Moorhead:I've gotta be honest. You know, we're about to start digging into what we're all really excited about for inbound, especially since they've started releasing the names of some of these sessions including your yours. I I've I've gotta do a double click on George's. I gotta be his hype squad for a second, because I I have had the privilege over the past, what, two months or so. And in particular, over the past few weeks, we've been really hammering home on this.
Liz Moorhead:And some of the stuff that he has developed and he is building, it is it's out of this freaking world. Like, this is a session that people should not miss. I I it's a it's a session where I'm like, this should be required given the amount of crap that quite frankly we're seeing come out with people using AI and a lot of cases incredibly well meaning companies incredibly well meaning marketers.
Devyn Bellamy:But we've had this conversation now numerous times over the
Liz Moorhead:past few weeks in different episodes like, different episodes. Like, AI is great, but we Houston, we have a problem, and
George B. Thomas:it's robot shaped.
Liz Moorhead:So, like, we need to talk about that. So I am so excited for both of your sessions. Liz. Now granted, this is only the beginning of what HubSpot will be sharing. And, again, this is inbound.com forward slash agenda for you folks following along at home.
Liz Moorhead:They are gonna continue to drip updates, drip exciting announcements, dripped out new speakers, new events, everything that's going on. But I'd be curious. Devin, let's jump over to you for a minute. What are you excited about from what you've seen come up so far?
Devyn Bellamy:From what I've okay. So
Liz Moorhead:Oh, he's doing that thing where he can't talk about things.
Devyn Bellamy:That's the challenge. That's the challenge. See, I can always tell when it's close to inbound, because there there's this palpable excitement, in the company. And everybody, regardless of, what, team you're on, we all have, a dog in the fight when it comes to doing something in Inbound. You know?
Devyn Bellamy:So what I will say, I'm super excited to see everybody. I that for me is the best part of Inbound, because, for those who know me know that I'm a hermit. I don't I don't like people. I don't like being around people. I don't like doing things.
Devyn Bellamy:I don't like human beings in real life, with the exception of when I'm at inbound. When I'm at inbound, it's like I become this gregarious, outgoing, outspoken, just having a great time, love all you people, for the next three days. And then I spent another year charging my social batteries.
Liz Moorhead:As someone who literally hissed at a client earlier like a cat on a call, and George can back me up, that is a
George B. Thomas:this is a real thing that happened.
Liz Moorhead:This is a this is the thing that actually happened. The I that resonates with me very deeply on a spiritual level. I spend a lot of time hiding behind a keyboard, and then Liz has to crawl out of her cave and remember how to human again. But, you know, Devin, I would love to hear from you specifically coming from this perspective. Right?
Liz Moorhead:Like, there are a lot of people where there's that there's that internal push and pull. Right? Like, they wanna connect. They wanna find more people like them. But big networking conferences, particularly one that continues to boast tens of thousands of attendees, that's really emotionally overwhelming.
Liz Moorhead:So to folks out there who might resonate with some of what you've said about, like, hey. Like, I'm not the networking kinda guy, but inbound Christmas comes once a year. What makes it worth coming out of the cave for? What makes it actually still a place that celebrates us introverts and us nerds who are finally coming out from behind our keyboards?
Devyn Bellamy:The biggest thing, is, one, it's an environment that is friendly for, people who are neurodivergent. So, like, for instance, I have a friend who can get stimulated very easily, overstimulated. There are rooms where you can go that are, like, quiet and dark that are specifically for, decompressing and getting away from that. You know, but the biggest thing is that if you just flat out just don't wanna be around people, it's also a digital experience. Nothing compared to in person, but you can still experience part of it.
Devyn Bellamy:But there's nothing like being there in person and meeting like minded individuals, who nerd out about what you nerd out about. That that to me was, like, the most exciting thing. It was, like, meeting people who are passionate about the same thing. And so if you have the, the social ability or or the social battery enough to go to a, your local comic book convention, you have more than enough to go to inbound. You don't even have to dress up.
George B. Thomas:I mean, you could because You could. You'll you'll do. You'll see case. Do. And you'll see orange suits and stuff.
George B. Thomas:So you could if you wanted to.
Liz Moorhead:Dan, what about you? What are you excited about?
Dan Moyle:Plus 1,000 to Devin. I it is a family reunion. I started going you know, we had the trivia about when it started officially. 02/2012 was the official inbound. But, Devin I mean, all the way back to probably 02/2008 when they first started, they probably had a gathering that first year.
Dan Moyle:Right? HubSpot. I've been going since 02/2011 before it was actually inbound. I've been enough times like, I'm I'm never not learning, but I've been enough times that the sessions aren't the the end all be all for me. It's the connections.
Dan Moyle:Right? I go to a few sessions. I learn some things. But like Devin said, you can get that online sometimes. There's nothing like a George b Thomas interactive deep dive.
Dan Moyle:You're not gonna get that online. So go to that one. But there are plenty of sessions that you can see online. I I could see Michelle Obama speak from her YouTube page. I don't have to be there to see her, but it is absolutely for me a % of connections.
Dan Moyle:Walking in and seeing HubSpot community members that you interact with, seeing HubSpot, HubSpot user group leaders, hug leaders, seeing clients that are there that have never been to an an event, and they're like, oh my gosh. You saved my business. Let me take you out for lunch or something. Like, all of that is absolutely why I go. And I'm an extreme extrovert, so I'm on the opposite side of the spectrum probably than Devon.
Dan Moyle:I am kind of a hermit, but I'm also like, I love I I I love being around people. So for me, it's easy, but it's also it's still exhausting. So a % support the introverts. Find your place. Find your peace.
Dan Moyle:But my goodness, that connection is exactly what I'm looking for.
Liz Moorhead:Every black cat needs a golden retriever. Introverts and extroverts go together.
George B. Thomas:It's We do. How did you
Dan Moyle:know I was a golden retriever? I feel I feel so seen.
George B. Thomas:There you go.
Liz Moorhead:I I'm always kind of in the middle. Like, I I will never call myself an ambivert, and I'm not an introverted extrovert. But what will happen sometimes is that if I'm not around people for long like, for extended stretches of time because I live by myself, The minute I see a person, I'm like a golden retriever pressed up against the glass, like, seeing it. So we're like, you've only been gone for eight hours. It's felt like forever.
Liz Moorhead:Where have you been? So, anyway, George, what about you?
Dan Moyle:What are you
George B. Thomas:excited about? Well, first of all, I'll tell you what I'm excited about. But it's funny because I listen to Devin and Dan, and I realized that God made me different because I am so comfortable being a hermit. An example, this week, my family has been gone. I have been in this house by myself with the pets that we have, and I have loved every minute of it.
George B. Thomas:I have not had to go outside really to do anything, to talk to anybody. I've now I miss my family. Yes. And I love them. Yeah.
George B. Thomas:But I I could be a hermit, but I also love the energy of the stage and the audience and the community and the the networking. Okay? So I'm not gonna, you know, surprise anybody. I'm excited for inbound because of the humans. But I'm gonna get very specific to why I'm excited this year about one individual human.
George B. Thomas:By the way, yesterday, we booked our hotel room for the Westin, so we will be hanging out in the Westin lobby as as one who attends inbound should do.
Liz Moorhead:As one does.
George B. Thomas:And we started investigating flights because I am flying one Jorge Fuentes to Boston because he was able to get his visa earlier this year.
Liz Moorhead:Yes.
George B. Thomas:And I get to see Jorge in person, live and in living color, and we get to hang out and do inbound together. I'm just I'm so excited about that because he has added a ton of value to the organization, became a great friend along the way, and has turned himself into this certification HubSpot beast that he's becoming with his own brand. And I'm just uber excited to bring him to this experience, bring him in in in life to the community and to the event. I don't care how much it costs. I don't I just don't care.
George B. Thomas:Now with that said, nobody else from the theme is coming this year. It's just Jorge and I. Everybody else is staying home. And what's funny is it was actually one of my daughters who said, dad, I think it should just be you and Jorge so that you two can have that experience together and not be in the shuffle of everything else that would be going on. And I said, I like the way you think.
Liz Moorhead:I'll be there to bug you too.
George B. Thomas:Oh, yeah. Of course. We'll have all of the other ten, twenty, 50, 60, hundred, and however many thousand people there. But we're we are gonna have, fun walking around Boston as the two Georges or the two Jorge's, whichever way you wanna look at it.
Liz Moorhead:Dos Jorge's.
George B. Thomas:There you go. Sounds like a great beer, by the way. Dos Jorge's would be a great beer.
Liz Moorhead:To be honest, that I just leaked what my thing that I said I would say. I'm actually going to be there. I have not been there in three years. I have not been to inbound in three long Wow. Years.
Dan Moyle:How real is that FOMO?
Liz Moorhead:I cannot I I photoshopped myself into a picture with George and Matt.
George B. Thomas:She did that. She did do that.
Liz Moorhead:It is a real thing that happened, and I made it my profile photo and was like, see, guys. I'm totally there. This is fine, and I am acting with normal psychological behavior right now.
George B. Thomas:I am Which, by the way, we laughed our bets off when we saw that photo. We're like, this is hilarious.
Liz Moorhead:You're welcome. You're welcome. I'm excited to see my fellow hub heroes in person. I'm excited to see everybody. And, personally, I am really excited about the lineup.
Liz Moorhead:So I know we've only gotten a limited snapshot into the lineup for this year, but it's like they started hearing my cries in. I keep trying to open it. They have heard my cries in the darkness about the things that I have been looking for the things that I want. Guys, we actually have more stuff about content. This is the thing I have been about this.
Liz Moorhead:You missed it last year, Dan, when I was talking in our recap and our lead ups where I was like, we are not talking about content enough. Now could we be talking about content more? Yes. I still fundamentally believe the the great flaw of the inbound ecosystem is that we spend a lot of time talking about how important content is, how to create ideas for content, what to do once you have the content, but not necessarily the missing middle of how content actually gets made. It's like we assume wizards are gonna do it.
Liz Moorhead:Yeah. There are no wizards. There are only lizzies and some robots. You know? So so he that is that is still HubSpot call me.
Liz Moorhead:Yeah. Happy to talk about this. But what I do love is seeing the diversity of content that's in there, the fact that we are talking about content. I've got to admit I was a bit anxious about the idea of a ninety minute deep dive because I'm like, man, this will when you have so many sessions that are possible to attend at inbound, 90 is two other sessions. But I am now finding myself in a position where and I really encourage people again, mbell.com/agenda.
Liz Moorhead:Really taking a look at what some of these deep dives are. You have a chance to not just walk away with some topical abstract inspiration. It seems like they're really going out of their way to give people more tactical takeaways, more blueprints, more things they can actually take home, things that cannot be accomplished in forty five minutes. I loved seeing that we're gonna be talking about messaging this year. Finally, finally, we're talking about messaging.
Liz Moorhead:We're talking more about the words that you're actually putting out there and making sure that they actually matter. But that's what I'm excited about. Other than seeing everybody and then giving Devin one one hour long hug
George B. Thomas:Oh, that's
Liz Moorhead:Like, just That's a
George B. Thomas:long hug.
Liz Moorhead:One of the breakout sessions one of the breakout sessions is actually just Devin quietly saying, like, can someone please help? I'm like, no. No. No. No.
George B. Thomas:Warn me when that's gonna happen. I'll find a
Liz Moorhead:It's on the main stage. It's actually the Thursday morning keynote.
George B. Thomas:Yeah. Liz hug on the keynote stage. Nice. Nice.
Liz Moorhead:It's a literal HubSpot user group hug.
Devyn Bellamy:So I could press the panic button, and George will be instantly notified.
Liz Moorhead:Hell. Liz is here. Oh, no. Where are you going, George? It's the middle of your deep dive.
Liz Moorhead:Liz, missed Devin.
George B. Thomas:Yeah. I need I need to go help her out.
Liz Moorhead:I know. Right? So okay. I could imagine that some people right now might be listening to this and going, guys, it's April. It's not even close to September.
Liz Moorhead:Is it too early to be preparing or thinking about inbound? Okay. Clearly, everyone's shaking their head no. So, you know, I'm gonna throw it out to the group, guys. Why isn't it too early, and what should preparation look like now?
Devyn Bellamy:Let let me jump in on this really quickly. People who have never been to inbound, people who've never heard of inbound may not realize that inbound ain't free. Inbound ain't even cheap. The ticket prices, as the event draws closer go up. And it's not a time based thing.
Devyn Bellamy:It's, we have a certain number of tickets available at this price, certain number available this price, and we've already sold out of the first two prices.
George B. Thomas:Yes. You have.
Devyn Bellamy:So, there's still one more price tier left, before it hits the highest price. And then even then, waiting until last minute, this is an event that has sold out. This is an event that has a capacity. So, don't wait to, to to get your ticket. So that that's that's first and foremost why it is not too early to be thinking about inbound.
Liz Moorhead:Yeah. Which, by
George B. Thomas:the way, hasn't always been budget side
Dan Moyle:of things.
George B. Thomas:It hasn't always been that way. Like, they used to just let people just not anymore.
Dan Moyle:Too many people? Yeah. It's it's, the the hotel room's not cheap. Like, you gotta get a flight or a train or something in. The hotel rooms go fast.
Dan Moyle:You end up staying somewhere outside of the Seaport area, which is fine. It's not like, you can get places, but then you got a Uber. They used to have for several years, they had shuttles. Last year, they didn't have shuttles anymore. Mm-mm.
Dan Moyle:So you've gotta prepare for that kind of stuff. So yeah. And then just like, I remember the the first couple of inbounds, I set up a, like, a spreadsheet, like a calendar, and said, here's all the sessions I wanna go to. Start color coding them by priority that, like and so it just takes a lot of planning to figure out your days. You don't wanna overschedule yourself because you gotta make sure you got time in there to decompress, to have some conversations, to have serendipity happen.
Dan Moyle:But, yeah, you you gotta you gotta start planning.
George B. Thomas:And not only that, but planning and paying attention because, like, Dan, you mentioned the spreadsheet and, like, you if you're not paying attention now and all of a sudden they release of, like, hey. You can go sign up for the session. Even though you did all that planning, if you're not paying attention to when that date is and going into your app and signing up, you might not get to the actual sessions that you wanna get to. The the other piece that I'll throw in there yes. By the way, hotel rooms, I was ecstatic that I could still get a room in the Westin.
George B. Thomas:I know that won't be in the next month or a couple weeks. That won't even be a possibility. Yes. I spent enough to probably put one of my kids through college in Uber payments last year because there were five of us, and we had to take two Ubers. And we're not small people, so we didn't take small Ubers.
George B. Thomas:Anyway, you do the math. What that actually equaled out, if I would have just went ahead and got us closer to the convention center last year. But listen. Right now, you should be thinking about what is it that you are great at that you wanna get better, and what is it that you wanna add to your tool belt, and how can you look at the sessions as they're coming out and start to build that plan of attack for both of those lanes of your educational future. You can't do that, like, one day before the event.
Liz Moorhead:George, I want you to stay on the mic for a second.
George B. Thomas:Okay.
Liz Moorhead:Because I have I have a question specifically for you. I wanna talk to George, you now as the newly minted HubSpot partner agency owner. You're never meant to shy away from doling out challenges, so I this is your opportunity. What is your challenge? Your call to action, if you will, for business owners and other agency owners like you out there who may be on the fence about sending their people to inbound?
Liz Moorhead:Yeah. Because I know this is a particularly hot topic for you.
George B. Thomas:First of all, you shouldn't be on the fence. And I get there's a couple directions this conversation could go. Meaning, can you send everybody? No. Did I bring the entire family as the theme, AKA family and team last year?
George B. Thomas:Yes. Was it expensive? Yes. Do I ever plan on doing it again? Maybe.
George B. Thomas:Maybe. We'll see. Did I have to turn, one of the employees slash one of the family members down this year because I wanted to slim it down to this is the focus point that we have to go at? Yes. With all of that said, though, it should never be a thing of, is the cost of these tickets, hotels, food, whatever worth the cost?
George B. Thomas:Because the answer will be yes. The person that they will become after they attend inbound, if you as a good leader lead the direction in the right way and listen to some of the things that we're saying here on this podcast, it's gonna be transformational. I mean, listen. In 02/2012, I was a designer developer building websites when somebody would shove a pizza under the door and a six pack of Coke and a WordPress website could come out the other side. I went to one inbound in 02/2012.
George B. Thomas:Well and you can just see the difference of where we're at and what we're doing. Right? Web developer designer to agency owner and and a a little bit of a brand inside of the HubSpot ecosystem because I intended inbound.
Devyn Bellamy:Little bit of a brand.
George B. Thomas:Little bit of a brand.
Devyn Bellamy:Scosche.
Liz Moorhead:Right. Just just a tiny in a brand. Just a brand.
George B. Thomas:So so, like, it will be transformational ways that you probably can't even measure and may not ever be able to measure. Dan,
Liz Moorhead:let's flip the script here a little bit. How do you encourage marketers, maybe other agency wonks or anybody who's an inbound practitioner of any way, to talk to their bosses, their agency owners, their leaders about going to inbound. What tips do you have for making that case?
Dan Moyle:I mean, I don't think George is speaking hyperbolically. This is not hyperbole that he's speaking. It is transformational. Again, you you can't send everyone. You can't send everyone every year necessarily, but sending someone to an inbound connects them with the community that's there, connects them with thought leaders, injects into them inspiration.
Dan Moyle:It's not always for everyone. I can think of a particular friend of mine, a a former colleague friend, used to actually work for me at one point, who often would say, I don't need to go to conferences to see inspirational speakers. I'm inspired by just doing good work. Okay. Great.
Dan Moyle:Maybe it's not for that person. No worries. But, honestly, for 90% of everybody else, I feel like like, it is. So if I would go to my boss and say, look. I I wanna do this thing.
Dan Moyle:I am willing you know, if if it's a matter of cost, I'm willing to find the cheapest hotel room that I can, bunk with someone. Maybe we can get an Airbnb and share it with some people. I don't know. I'll figure that out, to try and get a discounted ticket in some way, maybe. Right?
Dan Moyle:There are sometimes people who are selling tickets at discounted prices. Or if you're really involved in things like the HubSpot community, you might find a a discount available from someone, but it's worth every penny just to go and pay full price even. It it is very it is informational. It is inspirational. It is transformational.
Dan Moyle:Mhmm. So if I'm trying to convince my boss, I'm gonna talk to them about those things. I'm going to get ideas that I never would have had sitting here by myself. I can bring ideas back to the team. I'm willing to give a presentation back to you with all the notes that I took.
Dan Moyle:Right? I'll bring this back to our team. So that's I mean, do it.
George B. Thomas:It's it's interesting because this idea of, compounding interest, the compounding interest of the three to four days of those humans being at inbound and going through the inbound experience, the ROI over the years. And, again, it could be for your organization. You know what? Actually, here's what I would say to leaders. I would ask you to think about when you're making a decision, are you mapping it out on the ROI that will be returned to your organization or the ROI that that human will be able to put into the planet and then make your decision?
Dan Moyle:Hopefully, they're already thinking that way. Right? Like, I know a lot of leaders. I've had managers before where, like, I don't want you to get better because you might leave. Well, right?
Dan Moyle:Like, if I if I train you too well, you're gonna leave. If I give you too many things, you're gonna leave. But if you don't, I'm gonna stay. Isn't that worse?
George B. Thomas:Right. Right.
Liz Moorhead:What kind of message is that sending to people? I want you to be average and mediocre just the way you are right now. Don't reach too high. Don't push too hard.
George B. Thomas:Yeah. However, it is many organizations that you might step foot into, unfortunately. Oh, yeah.
Liz Moorhead:Yep. So So yeah. Question for everybody. And, Devin, I don't know how you answer this other than I can't tell you anything because I have all the secrets. But I wanna throw this out to the group.
Liz Moorhead:What are we hoping for HubSpot to deliver this year? Whether that's something different from last year, something we want them to do again, or something new that we want to see. Personally, I'm just, again, pleasure to be nominated. Happy to be there.
Devyn Bellamy:For me, it's the same thing every year. I wanna see Ryan Reynolds.
George B. Thomas:Oh. Yeah. That's all. True. Listen.
George B. Thomas:I honestly
Liz Moorhead:have a humble request. Why isn't it already happened? Did you ask Yamini that on your podcast?
Devyn Bellamy:I mean, his Did
Liz Moorhead:you ask
Devyn Bellamy:his media company his media buying company is is a sponsor. They have a they have booths there every year. So
George B. Thomas:Oh, this needs to happen.
Liz Moorhead:Ryan, where are you? Where are you?
George B. Thomas:And and, slight spotting of a certain superhero would be absolutely amazing.
Liz Moorhead:Not mad about that either. Alright. Wouldn't be mad about that.
Dan Moyle:My family would be jealous.
Devyn Bellamy:If if he needs me to bring the superhero, I'll I'll do it.
George B. Thomas:Here you go. If you
Liz Moorhead:Oh my
George B. Thomas:god. Screenshot. Screenshot it. If you're listening to this, I apologize. You should be in the live audience or go to community.hubheroes.com and watch the video version because Deadpool has just arrived on the hub heroes podcast.
George B. Thomas:Just saying.
Liz Moorhead:My gosh. Yeah. That screenshot is good. I'm gonna you know what? I'm gonna take down every family photo I have and just put up that screenshot shot because that was beautiful.
George B. Thomas:That was beautiful. I love
Liz Moorhead:it. George, Dan, what are you looking for from HubSpot to deliver till
Devyn Bellamy:this year?
Dan Moyle:That's a that's a that's a big one. Right? I I look for them to deliver the same thing they do every year, connection. Right? And it's not like, HubSpot, the company, does a great job with their inbound staff, event staff, and everything.
Dan Moyle:But it's the humans within there. It's running into the the Devons. It's going into the community area and running into some of the professors that you see, and they, you know, they've interacted with you on social, and they get to see you. So I expect them to bring that connection. So that'll happen.
Dan Moyle:What I would love to see at some point is a I don't know how you do this with this big of an event. A better run sessions, logistics. Right? I'd love to see them deliver a better experience there. What George said about that you gotta sign up for your your sessions, that's helped, but it's still just tough.
Devyn Bellamy:And I
Dan Moyle:don't know I don't have a how to solve it idea. But if they can deliver that to where it feels like those first few years in some way, that'd be amazing.
George B. Thomas:Yeah. If I could get anything I wanted, I would ask for an inbound boosted board so that I wouldn't have to do all of the walking, and I could just zoom by, every I'm just kidding. I and that I would probably reckon to people. I would need a helmet, and I would look weird as all get out. I always look forward to the food trucks, by the way, not because I like to eat, but I just like what it causes in the actual area of, like, the the picnic tables and the swings and the food trucks and, like, this, like, idea of breaking bread together, which is, like, a deeper level of, like, familia.
George B. Thomas:Right? The family is together. And, so I I I like that. Hope that inbound pays attention to what used to never happen but has really happened over the past year and, dare I say, two years. The amount of I wish I had a beat button.
George B. Thomas:I don't anyway, the amount of sponsors
Devyn Bellamy:Stuff. Yeah.
George B. Thomas:That try to get ahold of me before and the amount of sponsors that try to get ahold of me after, it never used to be a thing, but it's quickly becoming a thing. And I'm like, ladies and gentlemen, we are at an inbound event. We are talking about being magnets. We are trying to teach people how not to detract from the brand, and yet I feel like the week or two before inbound and the month or so after is a little bit like somebody's reached in and used the LinkedIn strategy that most people are using and just sending me shit I don't care about. So inbound, if we could try to figure out how to fix that, get a little bit more segmented, a a little bit more, I only hear from people that I might have actually said I wanted to hear from.
George B. Thomas:I don't know how we do that. Also, can you let me bring home my inbound badge? Because the fact that I don't have two years of an inbound badge hanging behind me because I had to return a little freaking click thing because you wanted to track me around. I'd really like to be able to keep my inbound badge. I'm just saying.
Liz Moorhead:That bums me out. That's one of my favorite things to do. Like, it like, some like, even running medals. I have my conference thing.
George B. Thomas:Nope. Get over it.
Liz Moorhead:Why do you deprive us, HubSpot?
George B. Thomas:Why? Anyway but I will gladly wear that badge around for the entire event. I'll take it off while I'm speaking, but I just wish I could take it home with me.
Liz Moorhead:I freaking Oh,
George B. Thomas:by the way. When I By the way. Sorry. Sorry, Liz. I'm sorry.
Liz Moorhead:How dare you? But go ahead.
George B. Thomas:Celine, in the chat, asked a question about correspondence program. I have it on good authority that that is still a thing that most likely will be happening. So, Saleem, you know how to get a hold of me.
Liz Moorhead:Oh, heard it here first. That's what's up.
George B. Thomas:Just saying.
Liz Moorhead:Alright. Quick final question. This is selfish. Oh. This is meme this is this is what some girls on the Internet wearing pink felt hats call manifesting, I guess.
Liz Moorhead:Are we finally going to have a hub heroes get together in Boston?
Devyn Bellamy:Complete with pickles and peanut butter.
Liz Moorhead:Yes. No. No. That's not what I mean. That's not what I mean.
Liz Moorhead:I'm talking about, like, a happy hour. I'm talking about a live record. I'm talking about an extended group hug where I make everyone uncomfortable.
George B. Thomas:Of all, Liz. We don't First of all, pickles and peanut butter is a happy hour. I'm just gonna throw that out there. Like, Devin was ecstatic. He loved every bite of it.
George B. Thomas:He was like, this is the most amazing thing ever.
Liz Moorhead:Devin, is this just you wanting me to go through the pain? Is this Actually, yes.
Devyn Bellamy:Yeah. It is. As far as I'm concerned, it's a right of passage.
Liz Moorhead:Attack. And only only
Devyn Bellamy:one person has yet to to, tow this line. Right. Right.
Liz Moorhead:But, yes, we're not
Devyn Bellamy:in country. We eat peanut butter and pickle sandwiches.
Liz Moorhead:Nick Nick from Fargo just popped in to say hey, and he loves us.
Devyn Bellamy:Oh, okay.
Liz Moorhead:Buddy. Hi, Nick from Fargo. We love
George B. Thomas:you. Too.
Liz Moorhead:I'm sorry. Being in the live audience for these recordings, it's the best. Yeah. It's my favorite. So, yeah, we have to figure this out.
Liz Moorhead:I have had people ask me about this. I know people wanna do an official or unofficial get together. I'm still waiting for HubSpot to call us. Could you imagine a live recording of HubSpot?
George B. Thomas:Two things need to happen. One
Devyn Bellamy:What?
George B. Thomas:One, we need to figure out a restaurant or a place to say, meet us on this day at this time for, like, this section of an evening so we can just, like, hang out as as hub heroes. Two, if anybody from HubSpot or anybody from inbound, Courtney, Andrea, I don't know. Anybody. If you wanna put us on the podcast stage or the podcast area, we would be glad to show up and actually do a live episode of the shenanigans that we do from our homes. We we would be happy to do that for you.
Liz Moorhead:I won't hiss at anybody. I promise. And with that gentleman They'll
George B. Thomas:probably have to sign a disclaimer or something for that.
Liz Moorhead:Some sort of NDA?
George B. Thomas:Something. Because you're probably I'm sure somebody in the audience or you'll just see it coming. Triggered.
Liz Moorhead:I love it. And, George, let me get this straight. We've gotten to the end of the episode, and you don't have anything clever to take us out on.
Devyn Bellamy:Well, I
Liz Moorhead:A cutoff game so strong.
George B. Thomas:Been waiting because Uh-huh. You made a term, and I was like Uh-oh. I don't know what that is. And so What? I figured you might close us by explaining what an agency wonk is.
Liz Moorhead:A wonk it just means someone who's been in the agency world for a long time. So, like, a wonk is just like a nerd.
George B. Thomas:See. Now I went down, like, the Charlie, like, in the chocolate factory, like, wonka.
Liz Moorhead:Not wonka. Oh. No. So it's kinda like it's it's a term you hear a lot in the DC area, which is where I'm from. Oh.
Liz Moorhead:Policy wonk, health care wonk. Like, anybody who's, like, a super niche deep cut nerd in a particular area.
George B. Thomas:Oh, see, I thought it was something that Geese did. Wonk, wonk, wonk. Okay, hub heroes. We've reached the end of another episode. Will Lord Lack continue to loom over the community, or will we be able to defeat him in the next episode of the Hub Heroes podcast?
George B. Thomas:Make sure you tune in and find out in the next episode. Make sure you head over to the hubheroes.com to get the latest episodes and become part of the league of heroes. FYI, if you're part of the league of heroes, you'll get the show notes right in your inbox, and they come with some hidden power up potential as well. Make sure you share this podcast with a friend. Leave a review if you like what you're listening to, and use the hashtag, hashtag hub euros podcast on any of the socials, and let us know what strategy conversation you'd like to listen into next.
George B. Thomas:Until next time, when we meet and combine our forces, remember to be a happy, helpful, humble human, and, of course, always be looking for a way to be someone's hero.
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