Memories of ITNations Past – Post Three 2015

Posted by managedsalespros On November 13th, 2020

Memories of ITNation 2015

I don’t know if ITNation 2015 was my favourite ITNation or not, but it was definitely high on the list. By 2015 we could finally afford to each have our own room (and Tracie rejoiced!) and we could cover our own bar tabs. Thanks Datto for covering pretty much every meal we ate in the channel up until that point and probably for a few years after as well.

ITNation 2015 Marketing Campaign

We promoted the heck out of our ITNation 2015nsponsorship, and we had a little contest asking people to post their favorite coffee mug using the conference hashtag, our twitter handle and a unique hashtag in order to win an Apple Watch!

https://www.managedsalespros.com/coffeeisforclosers/

The hashtag #coffeeisforclosers was such a big hit that people thought it was an official ITNation 2015 conference hashtag. That was pretty cool. We’re still using that schtick from time to time, but this was the first time and this was the absolute best time.

You can still see the awesome tweets right here! Check it out!

We created a pre-event cheat sheet to promote some of our channel partners, friends and peers:

https://www.managedsalespros.com/2015/11/04/itnation-2015-cheat-sheet/

Then we recapped the event here:

https://www.managedsalespros.com/2015/11/17/itnation-2015-recap-and-apple-watch-winners/

Other notable moments at ITNation 2015:

We had those 2000 lbs of coffee shipped to the Ritz Carlton because they would accept the entire pallet for $75.00 total. (GES wanted to charge us more than we paid for the coffee) Then we rented a minivan, loaded it up with coffee, and we dragged it through the hotel one bell cart at a time up to my hotel suite, which then had so many boxes of coffee in it that I had to climb over the boxes to get into my bed. Not like I could sleep anyhow, the air was caffeinated at that point.

For those of you who love our coffee, we had it roasted and blended especially for us by French Truck in New Orleans.

The Profit and The Coffee

Having your swag delivered to the hotel sure beat putting stickers on boxes and filling flasks on the balcony at the Hilton. I want to say this was the first ITNation at the Hyatt, because Tracie yelled at me for valeting that minivan, which I then did not move out of the parking garage for the rest of the week. (Except to go buy sparkly sequined boots and Apple Watches at the Millenia mall.) Also of note: I lost my Apple Watch the week after ITNation when I left it behind at the hotel we stayed at when we went to Disneyworld again.

ITNation 2015 featured “The Profit”, Marcus Lemonis as the keynote speaker, and I loved it. Not everyone did. Not everyone enjoyed hearing their peers admit to having thoughts of suicide and sharing their fear of failure. I thought the keynote connected us all on a very deep level, and I thought we were all just a bit kinder to each other afterwards.

ITNation 2015 was weird and wild and wonderful. Mistakes were made. Flat whites were made, too. #noragrets

Enjoy some candid photos from ITNation 2015, and below the gallery, some other vendor recaps of this fantastic year!

: The year we discovered Corona on Dr Phillips

: The year we assumed that we would need one piece of swag for every registered attendee and I ended up sleeping in a room filled with 2000 lbs of coffee

: The year that Smileback was still Nex.to

: The year we ran our first Orlando half marathon and stopped halfway through to eat at McDonalds

: I was a badass long before this, but this year I looked the part.

: The year we had our own blend of coffee made for ITNation.

: The year we got to partner up and hand out cookies and coffee.

: The year we had the coffee cup contest.

: The year we had to send 1000 lbs of coffee home with anyone who was shipping things home because it turns out you don’t need one thing for every attendee…

: Our “Coffee is For Closers” booth makes it’s first appearance.

: The year we started our annual pre-ITN Ritz Carlton week

: The cartoon thing that was so much fun to pose for.

: The year we asked the Ritz Carlton front desk to change 1000 into ones and they just said ‘No problem, Ms. Simpson” and came back with a pile of them.