skucon2023

The conference for innovators, explorers and dreamers in the promotional products industry

Thursday, January 19, 2023

About skucon

skucon is back!

skucon 2023 is the promotional products industry’s most radical and inspirational live experience! It’s built for distributors and suppliers in the promotional products industry who want to connect, learn, and re-energize alongside other progressive, like-minded pros.

skucon is not just another business conference: skucon sits at the cutting-edge of merch life, featuring talks by tomorrow’s leaders, stories from pros in the trenches, and radical thinkers who will push you and your team to dream and grow. It’s an experience for dreamers, innovators, and explorers who want to find their inner grit, rise higher, go deeper, and reach further than ever.

We are also offering a skucon Virtual event on January 19 for those people not able to join us in Las Vegas. At skucon Virtual, we’ll share highlights from the skucon in-person experience plus an additional lineup of speakers and topics built to help inspire your team and kick off your year right! Stay tuned for registration details for skucon Virtual in late October/early November.

Join us as we kick off your year with a blast of optimism, energy, and new ideas to ignite your growth!

Who should attend?

Distributor and supplier customers of the commonsku software platform (in any role)! Everyone can benefit from skucon, owners, salespeople, operations, creative - skucon is the perfect event for teams! We've schedule skucon for the beginning of the year intentionally, to kick start your new year with high inspiration and actionable ideas.

About commonsku

skucon is hosted by commonsku, cloud-based software for the promotional products industry. commonsku was created to empower your business: to streamline your workflow, connect your team, impress your clients, and allow you to close deals faster. We believe strongly in the power of events to connect and inspire professionals in the promotional products industry.

skucon 2023
In-Person Pass

For distributor and supplier customers of commonsku

$399

What’s Included:

  • Ticket to skucon 2023 at the Keep Memory Alive Center, Las Vegas
  • skucon 2023 Merch Kit
  • All meals (light breakfast, snacks, lunch, dinner)
  • Ticket to the skucon After Party @ Brooklyn Bowl
  • Access to all recordings
  • 1 complimentary ticket to skucon Virtual (Jan 19, 2023).
    * skucon Virtual schedule to be released shortly

skucon 2023
In-Person Pass

For distributors who are not customers of commonsku

$599

What’s Included:

  • Ticket to skucon 2023 at the Keep Memory Alive Center, Las Vegas
  • skucon 2023 Merch Kit
  • All meals (light breakfast, snacks, lunch, dinner)
  • Ticket to the skucon After Party @ Brooklyn Bowl
  • Access to all recordings

Meet Our Speakers

Hear from some of the promotional products industry's most passionate and creative personalities. Walk away inspired and ready to tackle the year ahead.

Schedule

7:30 - 9:00 AM

7:30 - 9:00 AM

Registration / Breakfast

Snag our famous skucon merch kit and fuel up for the day ahead.

9:00 - 9:15 AM

9:00 - 9:15 AM

Welcome to skucon 2023!

Mark Graham
Mark Graham | commonsku
Catherine Graham
Catherine Graham | commonsku

9:15 - 10:05 AM

9:15 - 10:05 AM

The 5 Question Leader

Michael Bungay Stanier
Michael Bungay Stanier | Box of Crayons

Coaching is a powerful leadership behavior. But coaching comes with baggage: it’s difficult, it’s “HR”, it’s a black box. Join celebrated speaker and author Michael Bungay Stanier as he helps us “unweird” coaching, and provides five questions that can make coaching an everyday leadership act. Based on Michael’s best-selling book, The Coaching Habit, join us to:

  • Learn about the three vicious circles of leadership … and which one you’re stuck in
  • Measure how you split your time between Bad, Good and Great Work
  • Confess to at least one of the five reasons you’re skeptical about coaching right now
  • Work through the Five Key Questions to help you become a great coach, including the Best Coaching Question in the World

10:05 - 10:15 AM

10:05 - 10:15 AM

skucon Story: Quinn Bui

Quinn Bui
Quinn Bui | Raining Rose

Big order fails. Brilliant client saves. Narrow margin orders that went south. Product disasters. Embarrassing client moments. We've all had them. Most of the stories in the industry are normal, the simple price we pay for being in a crazily-adventurous, anything-can-happen, deadline-driven business. But these stories? The best of the best of them. 10-minute promo tales to put a smile on your face. Make you think. And mostly, to remind you ... you are not alone. Join Quinn Bui, Tiana Gamble, Regina Renda, and Jarid Taylor as they share the harrowing and hilarious tales only they can tell.

10:15 - 10:20 AM

10:15 - 10:20 AM

skummunity award: Distributor Community Champion Award

Mark Graham
Presented by Mark Graham | commonsku

The skummunity awards were created to honor the explorers, rule-breakers, dreamers, and innovators in the branded merchandise industry. The distributor community champion award recognizes the most outstanding distributor personality in the industry who continually invests in the wellness and growth of their peers. This recipient constantly welcomes newcomers to the industry, encourages seasoned pros, and builds a bridge to mentorship, leading by example.

10:20 - 11:00 AM

10:20 - 11:00 AM

The End-to-End Story of Fast-Growth Imprint Engine

Caleb Gilbertson
Caleb Gilbertson | Imprint Engine
Travis Veit
Travis Veit | Imprint Engine
Bobby Lehew
Moderated by Bobby Lehew | commonsku

When Travis Veit and Caleb Gilbertson started Imprint Engine, little did they know that companies like Uber, Github, Bumble, Red Bull, and many more A-list brands would be on their client roster. Opening a new logistics center in Dublin, Ireland, to expand into Europe, the Imprint Engine team achieved 250% revenue growth in 3 years and added nearly 60 employees in the last year alone. In this fireside chat with founders and owners Travis Veit and Caleb Gilbertson, we’ll talk through their significant growing seasons, the growing pains they overcame, how their clients have helped shape their vision for the future, their infrastructure changes, and working with high-demand clients with a full-service offering. Join us for a glimpse behind the scenes at one of the fastest-growing distributors today!

11:00 - 11:20 PM

11:00 - 11:20 PM

Networking Break

Stretch your legs, talk to some new friends, and grab some coffee/tea and snacks from our friends and sponsors HPG.

11:20 - 11:50 PM

11:20 - 11:50 PM

skucon Table Talk

The power of commonsku has always been the community and the heart of the community has been collaboration, the sharing of ideas. In this rapid-fire session, you’ll be able to trade tactics that have fueled your success and ideas that will help shape your future. We’ll jump-start the conversation by providing key questions, and it’s a great time to take advantage of the experts sitting all around you. Join us to connect, contribute, and inspire!

11:50 - 12:00 PM

11:50 - 12:00 PM

skucon Story: Tiana Gamble

Tiana Gamble
Tiana Gamble | Creative Design Hawaii

Big order fails. Brilliant client saves. Narrow margin orders that went south. Product disasters. Embarrassing client moments. We've all had them. Most of the stories in the industry are normal, the simple price we pay for being in a crazily-adventurous, anything-can-happen, deadline-driven business. But these stories? The best of the best of them. 10-minute promo tales to put a smile on your face. Make you think. And mostly, to remind you ... you are not alone. Join Quinn Bui, Tiana Gamble, Regina Renda, and Jarid Taylor as they share the harrowing, heartwarming, and hilarious tales only they can tell.

12:00 - 12:05 PM

12:00 - 12:05 PM

skummunity award: Supplier Community Champion Award

Dave Shultz
Presented by Dave Shultz | commonsku

The skummunity awards were created to honor the explorers, rule-breakers, dreamers, and innovators in the branded merchandise industry. Each year, we recognize a supplier community champion. The supplier community champion of the year award recognizes the supplier representative who inspires the industry with optimism and ambition and who overcomes adversity, rising to encourage and support both distributors and fellow suppliers with passionate professionalism.

12:05 - 12:35 PM

12:05 - 12:35 PM

CRO Secrets to Driving Sales Success

Holly Brown
Holly Brown | Polyconcept
Samantha Kates
Samantha Kates | Spector & Co
Trina Bicknell
Trina Bicknell | HPG
Catherine Graham
Moderated by Catherine Graham | commonsku

The chief revenue role is fairly new for the promotional products industry, but the role has been a critical success in many other industries. The CRO focuses on how to align all the parts of your business -sales, marketing, service- toward a common goal: Growth. The CRO is also the head sales coach: providing coaching advice and even counseling advice for sales professionals to help them perform at their optimum level. In this session with three of the industry’s leading sales officers, we’ll explore how to be a better sales coach for you and your team, how to create more alignment between your sales and marketing initiatives, and how to think holistically about driving revenue across multiple client verticals, and multiple product categories. Whether you’re a supplier or a distributor, you’ll learn from these leaders how to make growth a company-wide passion.

12:35 - 1:30 PM

12:35 - 1:30 PM

Lunch / Networking

1:30 - 2:00 PM

1:30 - 2:00 PM

Web3 and NFTs - Fad, Friend or Foe?

Nick Casares
Nick Casares | Polyientx

NFTs and Web3 have captured mainstream attention (and mockery) from media, celebrities, influencers and fortune 500 brands. But are these buzzwords here to stay, and are we on the cusp of an internet revolution? During this session, Nick Casares, Head of Product at PolyientX, will share insights about how Web3 works, dispel common myths about the industry and show attendees how NFTs can provide a dynamic new channel for customer engagement. Nick is an early adopter in the blockchain space and has watched it blossom from a niche interest to a burgeoning industry worth trillions of dollars. He co-founded a podcast focused on Web3, served as program director for a blockchain startup incubator, and helped his team build technology to power over 6M in NFT sales. Join us as we look at how Web3 and NFTs will impact your world!

2:00 - 2:05 PM

2:00 - 2:05 PM

skummunity award: Shops Innovation Award

Mark Graham
Presented by Mark Graham | commonsku

The skummunity awards were created to honor the explorers, rule-breakers, dreamers, and innovators in the branded merchandise industry. The Distributor Entrepreneur of the Year represents grit, hustle, perseverance, resilience, and creativity. From adversity to breakthrough, this distributor embodies today’s modern, entrepreneurial spirit and their growth journey inspires us all to reach deep and go big.

2:05 - 2:15 PM

2:05 - 2:15 PM

skucon Story: Jarid Taylor

Jarid Taylor
Jarid Taylor | Brandigenous

Big order fails. Brilliant client saves. Narrow margin orders that went south. Product disasters. Embarrassing client moments. We've all had them. Most of the stories in the industry are normal, the simple price we pay for being in a crazily-adventurous, anything-can-happen, deadline-driven business. But these stories? The best of the best of them. 10-minute promo tales to put a smile on your face. Make you think. And mostly, to remind you ... you are not alone. Join Quinn Bui, Tiana Gamble, Regina Renda, and Jarid Taylor as they share the harrowing and hilarious tales only they can tell.

2:15 - 2:45 PM

2:15 - 2:45 PM

The Tipping Point: Behind 3 Epic Success Stories

Nathan Bailey
Nathan Bailey | Ideation Creative Brand Management
Stephanie Taylor
Stephanie Taylor | Hello Promo
Trina Bicknell
Jeff Becker | Kotis Design
Bobby Lehew
Moderated by Bobby Lehew | commonsku

Every distributor is different, but we each have hard lessons learned, and more importantly, a tipping point (or two) when the shape of our business changed and set us on a path to growth. In this fireside chat, we’ll talk with three distributors who have achieved epic growth over the past year and uncover the challenges they faced, the obstacles they overcame, and the tipping point that led to their success, revealing the triggers behind their growth. Whether expanding capabilities, changing their infrastructure, focusing on client verticals, or recruiting the right talent, you’ll walk away with ideas on how to rethink your distributorship through the lens of what tipping point you want to create for your business. Join us as we explore the stories of these fast-growth entrepreneurs through the lens of a catalyst for change!

2:45 - 2:50 PM

2:45 - 2:50 PM

skummunity award: Supplier Connected Workflow Award

Catherine Graham
Presented by Catherine Graham | commonsku

The skummunity awards were created to honor the explorers, rule-breakers, dreamers, and innovators in the branded merchandise industry. The supplier connected workflow award goes to a modern mover and shaker, a supplier who is at the cutting edge of business process and understands that to connect the entire workflow - from ideation to inventory to electronic PO to order status and ship notifications - means a seamless experience, faster and more accurate orders, and a simpler life for their customers.

2:50 - 3:20 PM

2:50 - 3:20 PM

Putting the Learnings into Practice Inside commonsku

Erin Burley
Erin Burley | commonsku
Aaron Kucherawy
Aaron Kucherawy | commonsku

Erin Burley and Aaron Kucherawy lead us through how to apply the day’s track of learnings from sales coaching, to client management, growth tracking and more inside commonsku. This will set the stage for what all of you ask us for the most, the sharing of best practices and how your fellow peers are leveraging commonsku.

3:20 - 3:40 PM

3:20 - 3:40 PM

Networking Break

Stretch your legs, talk to some new friends, and grab some coffee/tea and snacks from our friends and sponsors HPG.

3:40 - 4:10 PM

3:40 - 4:10 PM

skucon Table Talk

The power of commonsku has always been the community and the heart of the community has been collaboration, the sharing of ideas. In this rapid-fire session, you’ll be able to trade tactics that have fueled your success and ideas that will help shape your future. We’ll jump-start the conversation by providing key questions, and it’s a great time to take advantage of the experts sitting all around you. Join us to connect, contribute, and inspire!

4:10 - 4:15 PM

4:10 - 4:15 PM

skummunity award: Distributor Entrepreneur of the Year Award

Mark Graham
Presented by Mark Graham | commonsku

The skummunity awards were created to honor the explorers, rule-breakers, dreamers, and innovators in the branded merchandise industry. The Distributor Entrepreneur of the Year represents grit, hustle, perseverance, resilience, and creativity. From adversity to breakthrough, this distributor embodies today’s modern, entrepreneurial spirit and their growth journey inspires us all to reach deep and go big.

4:15 - 4:25 PM

4:15 - 4:25 PM

skucon Story: Regina Renda

Regina Renda
Regina Renda | Kick Ass Swag

Big order fails. Brilliant client saves. Narrow margin orders that went south. Product disasters. Embarrassing client moments. We've all had them. Most of the stories in the industry are normal, the simple price we pay for being in a crazily-adventurous, anything-can-happen, deadline-driven business. But these stories? The best of the best of them. 10-minute promo tales to put a smile on your face. Make you think. And mostly, to remind you ... you are not alone. Join Quinn Bui, Tiana Gamble, Regina Renda, and Jarid Taylor as they share the harrowing and hilarious tales only they can tell.

4:25 - 4:55 PM

4:25 - 4:55 PM

Float Like a Butterfly, Merch Like a Bee: the Surprising Lessons the Branded Merch Industry can Learn from Honeybees

Ally Delgado
Ally Delgado | Merchology

Ally Ward Delgado is the CEO of Merchology, a branded merchandise distributor that she co-founded with her father and brother in 2014 that skyrocketed to $80 million in annual sales in only eight years. Merchology is a Disability-Owned Business Enterprise with 275 employees across three facilities in Minneapolis, Reno, and Harrisburg. Ally is also Chairperson of Zusa, a carbon-neutral lifestyle brand created to inspire Corporate America to outfit their teams sustainably. In the summer of 2022, the Merchology team was given the opportunity to harvest honey alongside Merchology’s VP of Operations, Rob Bros, a professional beekeeper. Through this experience, Ally learned about the inner-workings of beehives and how much the branded merch industry can learn from bees. From defying the laws of physics (doing things that seem impossible!), hiding the chaos (supply chain anyone?!), and making the world a more sustainable place, Ally found many corollaries between making honey and making branded merch. Join Ally as she shares the surprising connections between branded merch and the fascinating world of honeybees!

4:55 - 5:05 PM

4:55 - 5:05 PM

Closing

Mark Graham
Mark Graham | commonsku
Catherine Graham
Catherine Graham | commonsku

5:05 - 7:30 PM

5:05 - 7:30 PM

Chill/Unwind

Head back to your hotel, drop your merch off, freshen up and meet us at the Brooklyn Bowl for our closing party and dinner!

7:30 - 10:30 PM

7:30 - 10:30 PM

Official After Party @ Brooklyn Bowl

Celebrate the close of skucon with dinner, drinks, and bowling. Meet up with old friends, and new, to party at Brooklyn Bowl - located at The LINQ Hotel.

Merch Kit

Each year our in person skucon attendees receive a collection of curated products that we select and design with our supplier partners. We've partnered with our fantastic sponsors to create a limited edition gift pack for skucon 2023 which in-person attendees will receive at the event.

While the details of our skucon 2023 gift collection are a closely guarded secret, take a look at some past merchandise to give you a sense of what you can expect.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a required vaccination policy at skucon?

No.

That said, we are closely following all Las Vegas city and state guidelines as it pertains to vaccination and mask mandates.

We recognize that this situation is very fluid so much can change between now and skucon in January 2023. With that in mind, we will adhere to the policies of our venues in Las Vegas.

Who should attend skucon?

Distributor and supplier customers of the commonsku software platform (in any role)! Everyone can benefit from skucon, owners, salespeople, operations, creative - skucon is the perfect event for teams! We've schedule skucon for the beginning of the year intentionally, to kick start your new year with high inspiration and actionable ideas.

I’m not a distributor customer of commonsku. Can I still come to skucon in Las Vegas?

Yes! We have a limited number of distributor general admission tickets available for purchase for our in person event. These are subject to availability. If you are interested in how our software can change your business workflow for the better, you can contact us here.

I’m not a supplier partner of commonsku. Can I still come to skucon in Las Vegas?

Unfortunately, skucon is only available to our commonsku supplier partners (subject to availability). If you are interested in learning about becoming a supplier partner prior to skucon, drop us a line at info@commonsku.com

Will I get a skucon gift bag if I register?

We've partnered with our fantastic sponsors to create a limited edition gift pack for skucon 2023. All in-person attendees will receive the full collection.

I can no longer attend, can I get a refund?

Yes, we will issue a refund (less Eventbrite fees) if you cancel before December 8, 2022. We will happily transfer a ticket to a colleague for no fees at any time.

There are no refunds after December 8, 2022.

Tell me about skucon Virtual

Can’t bring your entire team to Vegas? FOMO no more, now everyone can join! On January 19th, we’re bringing the skucon experience straight to you. Invite your entire team to join us for skucon Virtual where we’ll share highlights from the skucon in-person experience plus a new lineup of speakers and topics built to help inspire your team and kick off your year right!

We will be releasing the full schedule as well as opening registration for skucon Virtual in late October/early November.

Presenting Sponsors

Power Sponsors

Supporting Sponsors

Awards Sponsor

Association Sponsor