June 11, 2024 • 19 mins
Next week, the Growth Marketing Summit event will take place in Frankfurt Germany, CRO.CAFE will be there with our own booth to record experts from the stage and audience. In this episode you'll get a short preview with the organisers of the event: André Morys and Julia Rumpf! Guest 1: Andre Morys URL: https://www.cro.cafe/guest/andre-morys | Guest 2: Julia Rumpf URL: https://www.cro.cafe/guest/julia-rumpf
- (00:00) - Welcome Back to CRO.CAFE
- (00:20) - Upcoming Growth Marketing Summit
- (01:01) - Origins of the Conversion Summit
- (03:30) - Evolution of the Event's Name
- (11:21) - Importance of In-Person Networking
- (14:32) - Preparing for the Event
- (18:15) - Final Thoughts and Farewell
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Guido (00:00):
Welcome to a new episode of Xero Cafe. I'm Guido Jansen,
and guess what? After a longhiatus, I am back with some new
episodes that you don't want tomiss. It's been a while, but
just like a superhero returningfrom a secret mission, I'm ready
to dive back in the world ofCRO. Are you guys still calling
it that?
I don't know. Anyway, next weekI am visiting the Growth
(00:23):
Marketing Summit in Frankfurtwhere a hand selected line up of
optimizers will take the stageand inspire you with their raw
knowledge. And I am the luckybastard that was asked by the
organization to interview allthese experts from the stage and
the audience in our own SerialCafe podcast booth on the
exhibitors floor. So naturally,on today's episode, I have Andre
(00:46):
and Julia, the mastermindsbehind this event, to talk about
growth, the mind, andsuperheroes. So welcome back,
and let's get started with myfirst question to Julia about
how this event actually gotstarted.
Julia (01:01):
Yeah. Actually, you know, I just thought about that
because I came in here now and,took took over the event from
Andre this year to to take careof everything. And then I looked
back and thought, he initiatedthis in 2010. And then I asked,
I remember Andrea asked you, whydid you do that? And what was
like the the main idea of doingan event like this?
(01:22):
And you said, you know,initially we just wanted to
bring together optimizers toconnect, to network with. We had
some clients, that just wantedto exchange ideas and talk about
challenges they are facing. Soin 2010, Andre came up with the
conversion summit. And Andre, ifI'm right, there was like a 2
day event. Right?
(01:43):
With a boot camp workshop, andbringing together already 200
people at that time.
Andre (01:49):
Yeah. Yeah. That's true. We we wanted to do a combination
of conference and, bar camp.Back then bar camps were very
famous and that's maybe anunhappy anecdote.
We called it conversion camp,for the very first edition and
we did not know that theCatholic church in the US was
doing something they calledconversion camp which was to
(02:11):
convert, gay people intostraight people which is
horrible. Horrible idea. We didnot know that something stupid
like this even exists but thatwas feedback from people in the
US.
Guido (02:22):
I heard similar feedback when, when Tom organized this
conversion hotel in theNetherlands. Yeah. You also the
Americans were thinking, oh,where is this going?
Andre (02:31):
What? What? Who's converting? What? So no.
It, so we quickly renamed it. Wequickly renamed it to conversion
summit because our idea was of asummit is like we wanted to have
the best people together. Backthen I was already traveling
around the world giving speechesat conferences and I saw there's
this huge gap between thebrightest people doing the best
(02:52):
talks and the lesser good talks.So my my, basically, my strategy
was I create like a handpickedlineup of the best people I meet
during the year so you don'thave to travel around.
Guido (03:08):
Basically, you do your notebook. Right? Oh, this is a
good speaker. This is a goodspeaker. This is a nice little
bit.
Andre (03:13):
Approach the people directly. So I I my value
proposition back then was youdon't need to travel to 5 or 6
different conferences. I alreadyhandpicked the the best people
for you. So How did you
Guido (03:25):
get the growth marks and similar?
Andre (03:27):
Yeah. We I mean, we were talking about this at the
beginning. C CRO is dead, isn'tit? I don't know.
Guido (03:33):
Some people know.
Andre (03:34):
Conversion. We, I mean quickly you realize that
conversion rate is a stupidmetric to focus your experiments
on. So, or maybe not the best inall cases. So, yeah, we wouldn't
we didn't want to have it inthat kind of niche. We thought
conversion rate optimization istoo narrow.
Or you could even go go back tolanding page optimization. What
(03:57):
if I mean, there was a time backin 2008, I think Tim Asch
published his book calledLanding Page Optimization. That
was a huge thing back then. Someaning you only optimize the
landing pages and the restdoesn't matter? What a stupid
idea.
No. It's where people start. SoI think there was this time of
landing page optimization, ABtesting, then it, kind of
(04:17):
submerged into conversion rateoptimization. That was a time we
call it conversion, summit butwe quickly realized it's about
experimentation and, customerexperience optimization and
these topics and and they arebasically there for for growth.
So we thought about calling itGrowth Summit but then, yeah, we
(04:39):
found the name Growth MarketingSummit interesting so that's how
we ended up with that name.
We always wanted to find a namethat, yeah, clarifies what we
stand for.
Julia (04:49):
Just to add something to that is also that the audience
profile changed a bit, you know,because we noticed that
Interesting. More people fromlike areas like product
management are interested inthis, in this topic as well and
joined the the summit. So we seemore product owners, product
managers coming to our, event,UX designers. So it was quite a
(05:10):
broad audience. Whereas in thebeginning I think Andre it was
really like the pure CRO people.
And then like we broadened it upand so we had to change the name
to also make sure peopleunderstand it's really about
something more holisticallycalled growth.
Guido (05:27):
Yeah. And then the question of course becomes is,
is growth marketing summit stilla good name?
Andre (05:34):
Yeah. That's, that implies what this, podcast
already called Growth MindedSuperheroes and and the answer
is no. I, growth marketingimplies this is for all the
people that work for marketinginside marketing together with
marketing, but the world ischanging. And maybe this
(05:55):
represents the maturity I justtalked about, landing page
optimization, conversion rateoptimization, then we call it
experimentation and more andmore teams are getting involved.
So, now we realize, growth is adiscipline for all teams and we
don't want to still have kind ofa focus, like marketing.
(06:17):
So how do we get rid of themarketing term? It's still also
for marketing people, forproduct people, for everyone.
Yeah. And and this is, yeahactually what what Julia came up
with, an idea I really like andI really support is renaming it
(06:38):
to growth minded superheroesbecause everybody who comes to
this conference is a superherobecause these are people that
care, they want to learn more,they want to raise a maturity,
these are the the fighters fortruth inside each company, we
want to support them, We want tomake them, the superheroes of
(06:58):
our conference. So we we we willcall it growth minded
superheroes in future.
Guido (07:02):
Nice. This also exemplifies what we stand for as
a as a community with a growing,evolving. And, yeah, sometimes
the names need to changebecause, audience changes,
reality changes. So, Julie, I'mI'm now of course very curious.
Does it does it only, imply aname change or what what else is
gonna change this year?
Julia (07:22):
I don't wanna, tell too much. So
Guido (07:25):
Not too many spoilers, but just some hints will be
nice.
Julia (07:28):
Not spoiling too much. No. I mean, in the end, just to
add to Andre's point, what wasimportant also by changing the
name is for us, because it'sit's all about the community.
It's about the people, you know.We noticed over the years that
what makes the event so specialis of course on the one hand
side, the hand selected lineupof speakers that Andre is always
selecting, to have the best and,yeah, most relevant topics on
(07:52):
stage.
But then it's all about theattendees because we have such a
strong community of people. Alot of people coming back,
growing. So we are each year, weare growing the community and
the networking aspect of theconference is so important. And
that's why we thought we need toput in the middle of everything,
the people. So that's why wewant to call it superheroes
(08:13):
because it's about the people,about the superheroes that make
the event so special.
And then about your question,what will be changed? Yeah. Of
course there will be a fewsurprises, but yeah. I don't
wanna spoil it too much sopeople should experience it
themselves. We always try toimprove.
We always try to optimize theconference. And what Andre and I
did, was talking to a lot ofattendees from last year to get
(08:36):
some feedback, to optimize theevent itself, and to put this
feedback into the event. And Ireally hope that this worked
out.
Andre (08:43):
So the biggest complaint last year was this fresh fruit
fruit fruit sorry. Fresh fruitwas missing for the breakfast.
Okay. If this is the biggestcomplaint, well
Guido (08:54):
Sounds like a great
Andre (08:54):
news. Happy. Biggest complaint. Yes. Exactly.
Guido (08:59):
That's the biggest complaint.
Andre (09:02):
Yeah. What changed is that we increased the
possibilities to network withothers. And it sounds maybe,
inconvenient for introvertedpeople but we make it as
convenient as possible because Ithink, you have the possibility
to talk to a couple of 100people there who do or who did
(09:22):
maybe on average a couple ofdozen or 100 experiments. So you
can learn so much by talking toother attendees and we we try to
make that as easy and convenientfor everyone, even the
introverts who say well, hey,hey, don't want to talk to other
people. No problem.
Come to Growth Marketing Summitand experience it.
Guido (09:41):
Are there any, particular topics or speakers that you're
looking forward to to this yearor that you personally think,
hey, this is gonna be a reallyimportant topic, looking out for
next 5 years
Andre (09:53):
in CRO or growth.
Guido (09:57):
What's gonna be really important for people, to listen
to or to think about? It's a
Andre (10:01):
tough question because, as I said all the speeches are
kind of hand picked and I'mlooking forward to each of them.
It's always surprising thatfinally it turns out different
compared to what you had inmind. So but what I am looking
forward to is a speech that wenever had before. And it's a
(10:24):
talk from my colleagues, from 2colleagues of Konmerzunskaf both
coming from a productorganization. And talking about
the pain they experienced insideproduct organizations and how to
solve it.
And that was their motivation toswitch into CRO or
experimentation, andoptimization. And and now they
(10:46):
see the benefits that the 2worlds could have from each
other. And it's it's a speechthat is all about, closing the
the gap, bridging the worldstogether. So I'm I'm really
looking forward to this onealthough it's from our own team.
It's it's it's a tough one forour people, you know.
They know, that there are manywell experienced speakers so
(11:08):
there's a high
Guido (11:09):
And no pressure.
Andre (11:10):
Benchmark. Yeah, no pressure. Could you please talk
about this and that's all? I I Ihave have a lot of respect for,
our colleagues that also takethe stage there.
Guido (11:21):
Yeah. And, Julia, talking about, going out there,
especially after COVID,everyone's used to working
remotely now. And there's a lotof, online conferences, webinars
that we can, follow. So why dowe still need to go to an to an
offline conference? Why do westill need to travel?
Why is this so important?
Julia (11:42):
Yeah. Yeah. You know, we were a bit scared after COVID,
if people would really come backto the event because everyone
was afraid. And then we noticedpeople love that, you know, they
they really needed, the exchangewith others, the networking and
the the personal exchange andnot only talking online. And
that's why we see the growingnumbers also of attendees,
(12:03):
joining and we are convincedthat it's so valuable to be
there, to have the time.
Also at the get together in theevening, you know. That gives
space that you would never havein an online meeting to discuss
things very personally. Andthat's why I'm totally convinced
that events will, will be veryimportant also in the future.
Andre (12:23):
People are social, I mean, people are social, period.
Right? The social interactions.Even for introverted people,
they need social interactions.And this is why we think growth
marketing somewhat is anexperience, including the
networking breaks and the coffeebreaks and the we will have some
(12:48):
activities where people canparticipate in everything.
We have the networking receptionafter the conference because,
yeah, speaking with other peopleis so valuable. Some people say
well this is even more valuablethan the speeches. Speeches they
they were inspiring but, yeah,connecting to like minded
(13:09):
people, people who are in adifferent or similar situation,
learning from them from thecoming from different companies,
but being in a similar situationthat's so valuable. So you you
can't do that online in oneword.
Guido (13:22):
Talking as as someone that's leading toward towards
the introverted side. I mean, Istarted the podcast to still
talk to people, but, still goingto to, offline events. I mean, I
think after COVID, it even givessome extra energy because people
are at home all the time now.It's extra special to go
through. There's there's moreintent behind it.
There's more, energy, to go intosuch an event to make it even
(13:47):
more special. And then you cango rest at home again. That's
fine. That's also good. That'snice.
But the the the meeting of, ofeveryone that you're already
talking to to a screen all day,it's very nice to do that, in
your life.
Julia (14:00):
And as Andre already said, we wanted to make it as
easy as possible also for theintroverted to connect with each
other, you know. I mean, youdon't have to talk to each
other, of course, but so you'renot forced, but we will make it
as easy as possible. Forexample, by providing for the
first time an event app thisyear. That also helps, you know,
connect easier with people toset tags for topics that you are
(14:22):
interested in, that you wannalearn more about, and to find
the right people to match, youknow. So I think that's also
something that will really,yeah, make a difference this
year.
Guido (14:32):
And, as as a as a final question, for you, as a visitor,
how can I get the most out ofout of the events? Should I
bring certain things? Do I needto prepare something? What do I
need to do? How can I make thisthe best event of the year for
Andre (14:47):
me? Well, how should you prepare? That's a good question.
I mean, basically, you you don'tneed to prepare anything. No.
Just be there. Be be openminded, you know. I
Julia (15:04):
Exactly. That would have been my answer. Just be open
minded. Go there with like apositive attitude and just
think, okay, you can learn. Youwill definitely take something
from here.
If it's from the talk, if it'sfrom the networking. Just be
open, talk to people and use theopportunity that it gives. The
only thing that I would say isnow that I talked about the app,
(15:28):
download the app like a few daysbefore. You know, set up your
profile, set up the tags andthings you're interested in to
connect easier. You won't miss atalk as we only have the single
stream.
That's also different from otherconferences where you have to
pick topics and then and thenyou have this, FOMO and think,
oh my god. I need to attend thisor no. I want to attend this.
(15:49):
But you have the single stream,single track conference where
you can't miss a thing. That'salso important for me.
But other than that yeah, justenjoy.
Guido (16:00):
Be present.
Andre (16:01):
Yeah. It's, it's not that often that I'm speechless, but
this time you caught me, no ideahow you could prepare for for
the, attending the conference.But I have one answer to that
question as well, you know. Whatbecause what I observe is people
sitting in their companies,talking to their colleagues, and
(16:22):
I would call it being trapped intheir bubble. Everybody is
trapped in their job bubble.
And many times you think, well,am I the only one that needs to
convince their bosses to do x yz whatever? Am I the only one
that has a lack of resourceshere? Am I the only one that
thinks I'm fighting against?Whatever. And I think this is
(16:44):
something you will learn whenyou you come to GMS, right?
That there are people that havethe same bubble in different
companies. And that that's whatI mean when when I say the only
thing, you need, is be a littlebit open minded because you can
(17:06):
learn from these people. Theymight have solved some things
that that you still need tosolve. And also regarding the
the different names and and thehistory we have, what we went
through, you will see peoplethat already are in a different
stage. Well, we now have productteams and we want to make them
(17:29):
experimentation ready.
While you are still in a centerof excellence and you try to to
have a centralized approach andyou still remember how it was
when you were the only team thatdid AB tests and whatever. So
you will be helpful for everyoneelse that that has a different
maturity. You can learn fromeach other, because you maybe
(17:52):
solved some of the hurdlesalready to move forward. And
some people that's the onlything you need. Be open mind.
Listen to the stories of otherpeople.
Guido (18:00):
Exactly. I mean, at at minimum, you can just give each
other a hug or cry togetherbecause you have the same
problems. But more likely youwill be able to solve your
problems by talking to, topeople and sharing.
Julia (18:12):
Yeah exactly.
Guido (18:13):
I would say that These challenges that you have.
Andre (18:15):
That's the value proposition, the the whole
community of Growth MarketingSummit attendees is maybe the
the the biggest walking asset,the biggest database of
knowledge and experience thatyou can find, in the world. You
won't find another place whereyou have that many people.
Guido (18:37):
For the real networking, that happens in between, and
that's the way you talk to yourpeers about, hey. I have the
same issue or I solve this inthis way. And, of course, at the
networking, and then, and theget together after the events.
And maybe during breakfast, wehave some nice fruits.
Andre (18:53):
Fruit. Yeah. That's something that's something we
really improved, and I I thinkthat will raise our NPS, to
astronomical heights.
Julia (19:03):
We all we all had so many bananas, and you can't imagine I
met so many bananas.
Guido (19:11):
No. Number one tip in organizing a conference in 2024,
bring, bring fruit and lots ofit. Awesome.
Andre (19:18):
Yeah. That's true.
Guido (19:19):
Awesome. So, yeah, for everyone, June 19th in
Frankfurt, book your tickets. Ifyou don't have them yet, go to,
growthmarketingsummit.com, andwe'll all be joining some fresh
fruits, together then. Thanks.Yeah.
That's
Andre (19:34):
what we will do. Thank you.
Guido (19:35):
Julia, thanks, Andre. Thanks, and see you there.
Andre (19:37):
Thank you. See you in June. Yeah. Bye bye.
Welcome to a new episode of Xero Cafe. I'm Guido Jansen,
and guess what? After a longhiatus, I am back with some new
episodes that you don't want tomiss. It's been a while, but
just like a superhero returningfrom a secret mission, I'm ready
to dive back in the world ofCRO. Are you guys still calling
it that?
I don't know. Anyway, next weekI am visiting the Growth
(00:23):
Marketing Summit in Frankfurtwhere a hand selected line up of
optimizers will take the stageand inspire you with their raw
knowledge. And I am the luckybastard that was asked by the
organization to interview allthese experts from the stage and
the audience in our own SerialCafe podcast booth on the
exhibitors floor. So naturally,on today's episode, I have Andre
(00:46):
and Julia, the mastermindsbehind this event, to talk about
growth, the mind, andsuperheroes. So welcome back,
and let's get started with myfirst question to Julia about
how this event actually gotstarted.
Julia (01:01):
Yeah. Actually, you know, I just thought about that
because I came in here now and,took took over the event from
Andre this year to to take careof everything. And then I looked
back and thought, he initiatedthis in 2010. And then I asked,
I remember Andrea asked you, whydid you do that? And what was
like the the main idea of doingan event like this?
(01:22):
And you said, you know,initially we just wanted to
bring together optimizers toconnect, to network with. We had
some clients, that just wantedto exchange ideas and talk about
challenges they are facing. Soin 2010, Andre came up with the
conversion summit. And Andre, ifI'm right, there was like a 2
day event. Right?
(01:43):
With a boot camp workshop, andbringing together already 200
people at that time.
Andre (01:49):
Yeah. Yeah. That's true. We we wanted to do a combination
of conference and, bar camp.Back then bar camps were very
famous and that's maybe anunhappy anecdote.
We called it conversion camp,for the very first edition and
we did not know that theCatholic church in the US was
doing something they calledconversion camp which was to
(02:11):
convert, gay people intostraight people which is
horrible. Horrible idea. We didnot know that something stupid
like this even exists but thatwas feedback from people in the
US.
Guido (02:22):
I heard similar feedback when, when Tom organized this
conversion hotel in theNetherlands. Yeah. You also the
Americans were thinking, oh,where is this going?
Andre (02:31):
What? What? Who's converting? What? So no.
It, so we quickly renamed it. Wequickly renamed it to conversion
summit because our idea was of asummit is like we wanted to have
the best people together. Backthen I was already traveling
around the world giving speechesat conferences and I saw there's
this huge gap between thebrightest people doing the best
(02:52):
talks and the lesser good talks.So my my, basically, my strategy
was I create like a handpickedlineup of the best people I meet
during the year so you don'thave to travel around.
Guido (03:08):
Basically, you do your notebook. Right? Oh, this is a
good speaker. This is a goodspeaker. This is a nice little
bit.
Andre (03:13):
Approach the people directly. So I I my value
proposition back then was youdon't need to travel to 5 or 6
different conferences. I alreadyhandpicked the the best people
for you. So How did you
Guido (03:25):
get the growth marks and similar?
Andre (03:27):
Yeah. We I mean, we were talking about this at the
beginning. C CRO is dead, isn'tit? I don't know.
Guido (03:33):
Some people know.
Andre (03:34):
Conversion. We, I mean quickly you realize that
conversion rate is a stupidmetric to focus your experiments
on. So, or maybe not the best inall cases. So, yeah, we wouldn't
we didn't want to have it inthat kind of niche. We thought
conversion rate optimization istoo narrow.
Or you could even go go back tolanding page optimization. What
(03:57):
if I mean, there was a time backin 2008, I think Tim Asch
published his book calledLanding Page Optimization. That
was a huge thing back then. Someaning you only optimize the
landing pages and the restdoesn't matter? What a stupid
idea.
No. It's where people start. SoI think there was this time of
landing page optimization, ABtesting, then it, kind of
(04:17):
submerged into conversion rateoptimization. That was a time we
call it conversion, summit butwe quickly realized it's about
experimentation and, customerexperience optimization and
these topics and and they arebasically there for for growth.
So we thought about calling itGrowth Summit but then, yeah, we
(04:39):
found the name Growth MarketingSummit interesting so that's how
we ended up with that name.
We always wanted to find a namethat, yeah, clarifies what we
stand for.
Julia (04:49):
Just to add something to that is also that the audience
profile changed a bit, you know,because we noticed that
Interesting. More people fromlike areas like product
management are interested inthis, in this topic as well and
joined the the summit. So we seemore product owners, product
managers coming to our, event,UX designers. So it was quite a
(05:10):
broad audience. Whereas in thebeginning I think Andre it was
really like the pure CRO people.
And then like we broadened it upand so we had to change the name
to also make sure peopleunderstand it's really about
something more holisticallycalled growth.
Guido (05:27):
Yeah. And then the question of course becomes is,
is growth marketing summit stilla good name?
Andre (05:34):
Yeah. That's, that implies what this, podcast
already called Growth MindedSuperheroes and and the answer
is no. I, growth marketingimplies this is for all the
people that work for marketinginside marketing together with
marketing, but the world ischanging. And maybe this
(05:55):
represents the maturity I justtalked about, landing page
optimization, conversion rateoptimization, then we call it
experimentation and more andmore teams are getting involved.
So, now we realize, growth is adiscipline for all teams and we
don't want to still have kind ofa focus, like marketing.
(06:17):
So how do we get rid of themarketing term? It's still also
for marketing people, forproduct people, for everyone.
Yeah. And and this is, yeahactually what what Julia came up
with, an idea I really like andI really support is renaming it
(06:38):
to growth minded superheroesbecause everybody who comes to
this conference is a superherobecause these are people that
care, they want to learn more,they want to raise a maturity,
these are the the fighters fortruth inside each company, we
want to support them, We want tomake them, the superheroes of
(06:58):
our conference. So we we we willcall it growth minded
superheroes in future.
Guido (07:02):
Nice. This also exemplifies what we stand for as
a as a community with a growing,evolving. And, yeah, sometimes
the names need to changebecause, audience changes,
reality changes. So, Julie, I'mI'm now of course very curious.
Does it does it only, imply aname change or what what else is
gonna change this year?
Julia (07:22):
I don't wanna, tell too much. So
Guido (07:25):
Not too many spoilers, but just some hints will be
nice.
Julia (07:28):
Not spoiling too much. No. I mean, in the end, just to
add to Andre's point, what wasimportant also by changing the
name is for us, because it'sit's all about the community.
It's about the people, you know.We noticed over the years that
what makes the event so specialis of course on the one hand
side, the hand selected lineupof speakers that Andre is always
selecting, to have the best and,yeah, most relevant topics on
(07:52):
stage.
But then it's all about theattendees because we have such a
strong community of people. Alot of people coming back,
growing. So we are each year, weare growing the community and
the networking aspect of theconference is so important. And
that's why we thought we need toput in the middle of everything,
the people. So that's why wewant to call it superheroes
(08:13):
because it's about the people,about the superheroes that make
the event so special.
And then about your question,what will be changed? Yeah. Of
course there will be a fewsurprises, but yeah. I don't
wanna spoil it too much sopeople should experience it
themselves. We always try toimprove.
We always try to optimize theconference. And what Andre and I
did, was talking to a lot ofattendees from last year to get
(08:36):
some feedback, to optimize theevent itself, and to put this
feedback into the event. And Ireally hope that this worked
out.
Andre (08:43):
So the biggest complaint last year was this fresh fruit
fruit fruit sorry. Fresh fruitwas missing for the breakfast.
Okay. If this is the biggestcomplaint, well
Guido (08:54):
Sounds like a great
Andre (08:54):
news. Happy. Biggest complaint. Yes. Exactly.
Guido (08:59):
That's the biggest complaint.
Andre (09:02):
Yeah. What changed is that we increased the
possibilities to network withothers. And it sounds maybe,
inconvenient for introvertedpeople but we make it as
convenient as possible because Ithink, you have the possibility
to talk to a couple of 100people there who do or who did
(09:22):
maybe on average a couple ofdozen or 100 experiments. So you
can learn so much by talking toother attendees and we we try to
make that as easy and convenientfor everyone, even the
introverts who say well, hey,hey, don't want to talk to other
people. No problem.
Come to Growth Marketing Summitand experience it.
Guido (09:41):
Are there any, particular topics or speakers that you're
looking forward to to this yearor that you personally think,
hey, this is gonna be a reallyimportant topic, looking out for
next 5 years
Andre (09:53):
in CRO or growth.
Guido (09:57):
What's gonna be really important for people, to listen
to or to think about? It's a
Andre (10:01):
tough question because, as I said all the speeches are
kind of hand picked and I'mlooking forward to each of them.
It's always surprising thatfinally it turns out different
compared to what you had inmind. So but what I am looking
forward to is a speech that wenever had before. And it's a
(10:24):
talk from my colleagues, from 2colleagues of Konmerzunskaf both
coming from a productorganization. And talking about
the pain they experienced insideproduct organizations and how to
solve it.
And that was their motivation toswitch into CRO or
experimentation, andoptimization. And and now they
(10:46):
see the benefits that the 2worlds could have from each
other. And it's it's a speechthat is all about, closing the
the gap, bridging the worldstogether. So I'm I'm really
looking forward to this onealthough it's from our own team.
It's it's it's a tough one forour people, you know.
They know, that there are manywell experienced speakers so
(11:08):
there's a high
Guido (11:09):
And no pressure.
Andre (11:10):
Benchmark. Yeah, no pressure. Could you please talk
about this and that's all? I I Ihave have a lot of respect for,
our colleagues that also takethe stage there.
Guido (11:21):
Yeah. And, Julia, talking about, going out there,
especially after COVID,everyone's used to working
remotely now. And there's a lotof, online conferences, webinars
that we can, follow. So why dowe still need to go to an to an
offline conference? Why do westill need to travel?
Why is this so important?
Julia (11:42):
Yeah. Yeah. You know, we were a bit scared after COVID,
if people would really come backto the event because everyone
was afraid. And then we noticedpeople love that, you know, they
they really needed, the exchangewith others, the networking and
the the personal exchange andnot only talking online. And
that's why we see the growingnumbers also of attendees,
(12:03):
joining and we are convincedthat it's so valuable to be
there, to have the time.
Also at the get together in theevening, you know. That gives
space that you would never havein an online meeting to discuss
things very personally. Andthat's why I'm totally convinced
that events will, will be veryimportant also in the future.
Andre (12:23):
People are social, I mean, people are social, period.
Right? The social interactions.Even for introverted people,
they need social interactions.And this is why we think growth
marketing somewhat is anexperience, including the
networking breaks and the coffeebreaks and the we will have some
(12:48):
activities where people canparticipate in everything.
We have the networking receptionafter the conference because,
yeah, speaking with other peopleis so valuable. Some people say
well this is even more valuablethan the speeches. Speeches they
they were inspiring but, yeah,connecting to like minded
(13:09):
people, people who are in adifferent or similar situation,
learning from them from thecoming from different companies,
but being in a similar situationthat's so valuable. So you you
can't do that online in oneword.
Guido (13:22):
Talking as as someone that's leading toward towards
the introverted side. I mean, Istarted the podcast to still
talk to people, but, still goingto to, offline events. I mean, I
think after COVID, it even givessome extra energy because people
are at home all the time now.It's extra special to go
through. There's there's moreintent behind it.
There's more, energy, to go intosuch an event to make it even
(13:47):
more special. And then you cango rest at home again. That's
fine. That's also good. That'snice.
But the the the meeting of, ofeveryone that you're already
talking to to a screen all day,it's very nice to do that, in
your life.
Julia (14:00):
And as Andre already said, we wanted to make it as
easy as possible also for theintroverted to connect with each
other, you know. I mean, youdon't have to talk to each
other, of course, but so you'renot forced, but we will make it
as easy as possible. Forexample, by providing for the
first time an event app thisyear. That also helps, you know,
connect easier with people toset tags for topics that you are
(14:22):
interested in, that you wannalearn more about, and to find
the right people to match, youknow. So I think that's also
something that will really,yeah, make a difference this
year.
Guido (14:32):
And, as as a as a final question, for you, as a visitor,
how can I get the most out ofout of the events? Should I
bring certain things? Do I needto prepare something? What do I
need to do? How can I make thisthe best event of the year for
Andre (14:47):
me? Well, how should you prepare? That's a good question.
I mean, basically, you you don'tneed to prepare anything. No.
Just be there. Be be openminded, you know. I
Julia (15:04):
Exactly. That would have been my answer. Just be open
minded. Go there with like apositive attitude and just
think, okay, you can learn. Youwill definitely take something
from here.
If it's from the talk, if it'sfrom the networking. Just be
open, talk to people and use theopportunity that it gives. The
only thing that I would say isnow that I talked about the app,
(15:28):
download the app like a few daysbefore. You know, set up your
profile, set up the tags andthings you're interested in to
connect easier. You won't miss atalk as we only have the single
stream.
That's also different from otherconferences where you have to
pick topics and then and thenyou have this, FOMO and think,
oh my god. I need to attend thisor no. I want to attend this.
(15:49):
But you have the single stream,single track conference where
you can't miss a thing. That'salso important for me.
But other than that yeah, justenjoy.
Guido (16:00):
Be present.
Andre (16:01):
Yeah. It's, it's not that often that I'm speechless, but
this time you caught me, no ideahow you could prepare for for
the, attending the conference.But I have one answer to that
question as well, you know. Whatbecause what I observe is people
sitting in their companies,talking to their colleagues, and
(16:22):
I would call it being trapped intheir bubble. Everybody is
trapped in their job bubble.
And many times you think, well,am I the only one that needs to
convince their bosses to do x yz whatever? Am I the only one
that has a lack of resourceshere? Am I the only one that
thinks I'm fighting against?Whatever. And I think this is
(16:44):
something you will learn whenyou you come to GMS, right?
That there are people that havethe same bubble in different
companies. And that that's whatI mean when when I say the only
thing, you need, is be a littlebit open minded because you can
(17:06):
learn from these people. Theymight have solved some things
that that you still need tosolve. And also regarding the
the different names and and thehistory we have, what we went
through, you will see peoplethat already are in a different
stage. Well, we now have productteams and we want to make them
(17:29):
experimentation ready.
While you are still in a centerof excellence and you try to to
have a centralized approach andyou still remember how it was
when you were the only team thatdid AB tests and whatever. So
you will be helpful for everyoneelse that that has a different
maturity. You can learn fromeach other, because you maybe
(17:52):
solved some of the hurdlesalready to move forward. And
some people that's the onlything you need. Be open mind.
Listen to the stories of otherpeople.
Guido (18:00):
Exactly. I mean, at at minimum, you can just give each
other a hug or cry togetherbecause you have the same
problems. But more likely youwill be able to solve your
problems by talking to, topeople and sharing.
Julia (18:12):
Yeah exactly.
Guido (18:13):
I would say that These challenges that you have.
Andre (18:15):
That's the value proposition, the the whole
community of Growth MarketingSummit attendees is maybe the
the the biggest walking asset,the biggest database of
knowledge and experience thatyou can find, in the world. You
won't find another place whereyou have that many people.
Guido (18:37):
For the real networking, that happens in between, and
that's the way you talk to yourpeers about, hey. I have the
same issue or I solve this inthis way. And, of course, at the
networking, and then, and theget together after the events.
And maybe during breakfast, wehave some nice fruits.
Andre (18:53):
Fruit. Yeah. That's something that's something we
really improved, and I I thinkthat will raise our NPS, to
astronomical heights.
Julia (19:03):
We all we all had so many bananas, and you can't imagine I
met so many bananas.
Guido (19:11):
No. Number one tip in organizing a conference in 2024,
bring, bring fruit and lots ofit. Awesome.
Andre (19:18):
Yeah. That's true.
Guido (19:19):
Awesome. So, yeah, for everyone, June 19th in
Frankfurt, book your tickets. Ifyou don't have them yet, go to,
growthmarketingsummit.com, andwe'll all be joining some fresh
fruits, together then. Thanks.Yeah.
That's
Andre (19:34):
what we will do. Thank you.
Guido (19:35):
Julia, thanks, Andre. Thanks, and see you there.
Andre (19:37):
Thank you. See you in June. Yeah. Bye bye.
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