My personal review of the 2021 T&C Summit.
This year, we attended the Traffic & Conversion Summit in San Diego, California. I did not know what to expect. As defined on their website, The Traffic & Conversion Summit is 3 full days of actionable, proven, strategic content from experts (and a few celebrities) that have been in your shoes and have turned their businesses into juggernauts. The pictures and videos that I saw leading up to the event had me curious, but I wouldn’t say I was optimistic. The following article contains my opinions as a marketing newcomer of the event and 3 speakers who everyone should follow.
The T&C Summit was held at the San Diego Convention Center. Attendance was fair considering that we are still in a pandemic. I was happy that attendance was light because it gave me the opportunity to go anywhere in the convention and see anyone I’d like to, while still maintaining a comfortable distance from others. Check-in was a quick and painless process and we received our lanyards within a couple of minutes. The main floor was set up with a lot of vendors offering their books, software, or Master Class in industry-related fields (marketing, e-commerce, analytics, etc). There were also a few booths set up for meet-ups to network with other industry professionals. We felt the best utilization of our time would be shared with the various different speakers.
Day 1 at Traffic & Conversion 2021. From left to right: Phil Metzger (Owner of Mirror MVP), Charlie Walker (Director of Web & Analytics)
T&C Summit 3 Day Overview
Day 1 was a little confusing for me. Some speakers seemed to be very preachy and less informative. Some speakers came off as aggressive and egocentric. I remember feeling like I was at a megachurch in the beginning. There were a lot of industry terms in some of the presentations that left me with more questions than answers. Granted, this was my first event of this type and I knew I’d be researching terms quite a bit. I reviewed the agenda at the end of the day to line up my next day with speakers that I thought I could better benefit from. That changed the course of my experience. Personal note: wear comfortable shoes.
Day 2 was much better and included comfortable footwear. I brought my laptop to take notes as I noticed several people doing this the day before. The speakers I chose for day 2 delivered in a way that justified the trip to the conference. I was able to take many notes and I easily understood the message the presenters were relaying to the crowd. The concepts made sense and the pace was relaxed and informative. Day 2 felt much more like college than a church. The day ended with a celebrity guest, Martha Stewart. It was entertaining and I could tell Martha has been doing interviews for a long time. She was very comfortable while speaking and every punch line hit with a great reaction from the crowd. Her conversation wasn’t beneficial in a business sense, but more of a fun Q&A to wrap the day.
Day 3 was much like the previous day. I again took to finding the speakers that had the topics that drew me in. I also started to hit the main floor with the vendors. I collected a few business cards, free books, and pens. Day 3 was supposed to end with Snoop Dogg. Snoop had to cancel so they found a last-minute celebrity speaker, Magic Johnson. Not only was Magic entertaining, but he also gave a lot of business advice based on his personal experiences. I was very impressed with him as the last speaker at the event.
3 Notable Speakers
Rachel Pedersen – Founder & CEO The Viral Touch & Social Media United
I was interested in Rachel Pedersen’s presentation because she was talking about TikTok, “5 Proven TikTok Strategies to Jumpstart Your Traffic, Leads, and Sales in Just 15 Seconds”. I’m still new to that social media platform and interested to hear more from someone that has over 990,000 followers and over 16 million likes. She spoke about implementing TikTok in business, growing a fanbase, and the proven strategies she uses. Not only did Rachel’s information sound beneficial, but easy to implement if TikTok is something you are willing to do every single day to succeed. She ended her time with “5 strategies for a TikTok video” which are strategies I think can be implemented on just about and social media site. I feel like I learned a lot in that 45 minutes and I could have sat there and listened for another hour.
Follow Rachel Pederson on TikTok: @themrspedersen
Stormy Wellington – Best-Selling Author | Speaker | Wealth Coach
Stormy Wellington has a very different approach to public speaking. She showed up in an elegant Versace dress and even noted that “TikTok plays too many games”. Instead, Stormy continues to build her success with Instagram. The title of her presentation was “How to Gain Millions of Followers and Dollars on Instagram”. In my mind, that title wins the award for the title most likely to put butts in seats. Stormy is very relatable in the sense that she built this empire on her own. She made it clear to mention she had a colorful past because she is confident in who she is and what she does. Her acronym for success is H.U.S.T.L.E. I believe every word she said and she is definitely the person to talk to if you want to take your Instagram to that “celebrity life & fitness” coach status.
Follow Stormy Wellington on Instagram: @coachstormy
Pat Flynn – CEO SPI Media
I saved my personal favorite for last. If I have successful friends, I hope that they are all like Pat Flynn. Wallstreet Journal bestselling author, Podcaster, and has a Youtube channel collecting Pokemon cards. I collect comic books and have wanted to share my love for that with other people so I was naturally drawn to Pat. Pat spoke about “A Proven Roadmap for Creating SUPERFANS in your Business”. Pat broke everything down in ways that everyone could understand and benefit from. I really enjoyed that he mentioned things like his love for Back to the Future. It’s interesting and relatable to his target fanbase. Pat is a big believer in showing the world your passion and what makes you different. Before he left the stage he logged into Instagram while he was speaking. He took 15 seconds to send a video to one of his followers that said this is where I am, thank you for being a fan, and have a great day. It never dawned on me to do that in the past and what a great way to give back to your fans. Pat Flynn also hosts a “Flynncon”. The man has a convention that revolves around his fan base and network. I want to be Pat Flynn when I grow up.
Follow Pat Flynn on Instagram: @patflynn
In summary, the Traffic & Conversion Summit 2021 provided knowledge from industry leaders that I feel can work for just about anyone. The trick now is putting the work in every day. I look forward to going back in the future with my mapped-out agenda, my laptop for notes, and the most comfortable shoes I can find.
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