With it being the first conference of its kind, in collaboration with the X-games, I wasn’t sure what to expect from it. Anytime you get a group of people together, they all have different expecations which poses some difficulty for the panel, if they haven’t been prepped with the right questions, as well as if the moderator doesn’t keep it moving along interestingly. In this case, I personally didn’t walk away with anything new but was inspired by some peoples rebellion to what the others thought as truth or at least what has worked for them in business. I have found that most companies situations are so unique to them, that you will never get to the depths of intellectual discussion in a 45 minute panel discussion. For the most part, you get the watered-down version and have to take what you can from it. To make things worse, the motorcycle riders were practicing right below and behind the glass suites we were in. This combined with a weak PA system, made it very difficult for many to hear. group Y did its best but it was an incredible struggle for many to hear, which led many to just get up and walk around or start talking or play on their cell phones.
The real component of these type of things is meeting new people and seeing the old ones. I arrived at the Home Depot Center at 8am to have breakfast and mingle. I met a young college kid from Florida who flew out for the conference to get his chance at getting into the action sports world to sitting down with the Chairman of Skull Candy to meeting a girl who is trying to grow the Canadian skate market to chatting with the President of a major marketing firm, to meeting X-game athletes, etc.
Oh, and another really important piece to learn was just how many X-games athletes don’t even get health insurance from their sponsors. These guys risk their lives and make their sponsors $$millions, and they can’t even get a basic insurance plan; pretty disgusting if you ask me! Nonethless, the athletes do it because they love what they do…
Special thanks to fellow Michigan State graduate Bill from Fuse for the bottle of wine and conversation, Jeff from Skull Candy who really inspired me with the humble breakdown of what it has taken to get Skull Candy where it is, as well as group Y for making it all happen. I am sure next year will be drastically different.
- Geoff Koboldt
Kevin Robinson, Troy - Target, Brad – Wasserman Media, Mark – Fast company and Pat – Oakley; Panel 1 – Exploring relationships between brands, athletes and mangers
Bill – Fuse, Vipe – Monster, Rob – Transworld, Scot – Fuel, Braden – New Era; Panel 2 – Authentic branding and marketing within the action sports realm
Ric Alesandri – X games, Tiffany – shop-eat-surf, CJ – Fuel
Jessica – Womans Sports Foundation, Miki – Tony Hawk foundation, Gary – Woodward, Kathleen – Label Networks, Tim – Motorcycle Industry Council, and Adam – Disney; Panel 3 – Addressing retention and growth of the next generation
X-games half-pipe
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