ICE Retailer 2013 Ecommerce Conference - Informative, Funny and Wildly Successful

Honestly, I can’t remember when I laughed so hard (and learned so much) at a business conference. In addition to hosting a “kick-ass” workshop on social media, John Lawson and team put together some incredible speakers that taught life lessons, logistics, social media, product sourcing, personal branding, PR, SEO, getting site conversions and more. Here are some highlights.

J.B. Glossinger from Morning Coach taught us that it is ok to fail - in fact, you must fail in order to succeed. Sounds weird at first, but when you think about it, entrepreneurs have to take a risk to be successful and failing is a part of that process. If you’re afraid to fail, you won’t be willing to take the necessary risk to succeed. Get over your fear, stop making excuses and don’t quit.

John Lawson and the Original Kings of Technology (John Lawson, Troy Nalls, Ramon Ray, Brent Leary) were not only informative, but funny as hell to listen to. These guys really know their stuff.

And who could forget our fearless MC Jacqui Knight from Knight Owl Communications. In addition to keeping the speakers in line and on schedule, her anecdotes and advice were priceless. A Jacquiism to remember… “Content may by King, but I’m the Queen of it.”

I’m always amazed at how much I learn at these conferences. It goes to show that no matter how many years I’ve been in the web industry and no matter how much of an expert I think I am, there is always, always room to grow and learn something new.

A few memorable lessons...

• You must fail to succeed. 
• Stay focused and be creative. Implement 2 to 3 new ideas each quarter. 
• Don't keep all of your eggs in one basket. 
• Be a customer-centric company. Build your strategy around your customers. 
• Focus on the Lifetime Value (LTV) of a customer (@Millikarjunan, HubSpot). 
• Delegate content generation with services like EpicWrite.com and Fivrr.com. 
• The lifespan of a tweet is only 3 minutes, so tweet more. Follow people every day and be sure to clean your list (unfollow those that don't follow you). 
• Keep it professional. Your Facebook, Twitter, and social media photos are your personal brand. 

More great quotes at Twitter.com #ICERetailer2013 and from the event's official scribe @SocialSandi

by Jodi Pereira

Co-Founder, ReplyManager



Photo Credit: https://www.facebook.com/ColderICE