What It Was Like Attending I.C.E. Exchange 2021 (As a First-Time Attendee)

Attending a conference for the first time can be mildly intimidating. New organizations, new surroundings, new people… This rings even more so when you are brand-new to the industry at hand.

And when you’re in a pandemic.

Fortunately, everyone at I.C.E. Exchange this year created an extremely welcoming and inviting environment. Follow along as I recall my experience at this year’s conference as a first-time attendee!

Warming Up

The Lineup team and I arrived at the hotel in Nashville late afternoon Sunday where we were greeted by friendly hotel staff. Checking in was a quick and painless, and I was blown away with how stunning the actual hotel was! We ended the night with a delicious team dinner and a brisk walk back to the hotel.

Now, it was time for the real conference prep! The team and I headed to the Registration booth, where we had a seamless sign in with an extremely friendly welcome group. It was super comforting to have my CLEAR (vaccine confirmation) passport checked knowing that I.C.E. was ensuring everyone’s safety. We were then thrilled to know all of our booth materials made it to Nashville (you never know with shipping your booth across the country). Set-up was quick and painless between the clear instructions from I.C.E. about specifics for our booth’s location, our teamwork, and a Venti Americano.

After completing set-up, we headed out to lunch where we had a final meeting before the conference kickoff. What I’ve loved about the Lineup team is that we always find a good balance between getting down to business and having a genuinely good time, and this lunch was no exception. I cannot stress how important it is to work with people you get along with.

Calling All First-Time Attendees!

Now that I was full-y prepared (see what I did there?), it was time to stop by the First-Time Attendee Reception. How awesome is it that there was time set aside specifically for newcomers to get their feet wet before diving head-first into the conference? I was accompanied by my coworker Holly, another I.C.E. newbie, and we awkwardly made our way into the session. To our delight, the committee put together a fun-filled hour consisting of drinks, great conversation, and playing Four Corners as an icebreaker.

It’s Showtime!

It was time for the Opening Welcome Reception. This was the first opportunity for all vendors to connect on the floor. Vendors came from everywhere, some even from overseas, and shared their own backgrounds, experiences, and their company’s missions. It was truly eyeopening to see so many different people and perspectives come together for the first time in awhile, specifically IN PERSON, and was the perfect kick-off to the rest of the conference.

The Floor is Open

Tuesday was JAM PACKED. I woke up early and headed to the business center to get some last minute work done, and then it was off to the Opening Keynote Concert sponsored by Scantron. You would typically think, “Do I really want to attend a concert at 8:30am?” and the answer is YES! Peter Katz, an award-winning musician, was so enticing, relatable, and entertaining that I left feeling extremely motivated and inspired. See the short clip I grabbed from his musical performance.

I took the morning shift, and wound up getting to do my first ever demo of the Lineup platform!! As the Digital Marketer, I’m not typically responsible for showing off the platform in this capacity, so it was great to be really hands-on with this part of the sales process.

I was extremely impressed with how many COVID precautions there were and how prepared I.C.E. was to ensure we all stayed safe. While there was no mask mandate for the hotel itself, we were all required to keep our masks on throughout the conference. After awhile you forgot you even had them on! Kudos to the I.C.E. team.

A highlight of the conference for me was attending Guillermo’s session, “Maximizing the Subject Matter Expert (SME) Lifecycle” that he held with friends Charles Glover with SHRM and Jared Zurn from NCARB. G, my boss and the President of Lineup, led an exciting hour-and-a-half talk about the lifecycle of SMEs and the success both Charles and Jared had while managing theirs.

“There is a safety in recycling volunteers… but you have to be brave enough to cycle [them] out to receive new content, new perspectives, and new results.” - Jared Zurn, NCARB

What resonated with me was how while it is important it is stay educational and informative, it’s equally as important to be entertaining so that the audience can really resonate with you and the material.

We rounded out the day by attending a dinner graciously hosted by our newest partners, Meazure Learning. Everyone split up into smaller tables which gave us a great chance to connect with those we may not have met or known well. I personally had the pleasure of sitting with Stephanie Dille, the CMO of Meazure, who provided me with a lot of insight on the Marketing side of the industry! This was also another chance with for me to connect with another first-time attendee, Jake Hoff, who summed up his I.C.E. experience as such:

 "I.C.E. was fantastic! I feel the combination of people being at an in-person event and the passion everyone has for the industry created a great experience. Everyone I encountered provided a warm welcome, which is always appreciated."
-Jake Hoff, XVoucher

Great company, great conversation, and great food was the equation for an incredible dinner. Thank you, Meazure!

Last Day

The last day of the conference for the Lineup team was Wednesday. It was the last day for the vendors to keep open their booths, and we made the most of it! Everyone who stopped by our booth from the start of the conference was friendly, warm, and excited to grab our giveaways. It was great seeing people resonate with our “I <3 SMEs” shirts and stickers, so much that we ran out of most sizes!

I loved using the I.C.E. app on my phone to connect with people when they stopped by our booth in lieu of business cards. Breaking down our booth was a painless process, accompanied by clear instructions and guidance from the venue and staff! Once I was all set, I made way with my team to the I.C.E. Awards Ceremony. It was amazing to see all of the people who have made I.C.E. and the conference what it is today with their time, efforts, and contributions. It was the perfect send off for the conference!

Thank you to I.C.E. for all of their efforts with the 2021 Exchange, to all the vendors and attendees for their kindness and open arms in welcoming me to a brand-new industry, and finally to my team for constantly giving me the support I need to thrive in a brand-new industry. Many mentioned to me that the physical turnout was on the lower side this year. I know from speaking to friends in other organizations that COVID was still a concern. While I was disappointed in getting the chance to meet even more friends in person, it only makes me that more excited for next year’s conference.

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Nik Sorocenski, Digital Marketer
Lineup (lineupteams.com) ⚫️ Follow me on Twitter! - @sorocenski