I just got back from two awesome days at the Inbound Marketing Summit 2011 Boston where I was able to meet great and intelligent individuals. Last year I also meet individuals at IMS 2010 and implemented ideas into my business and even personal life.

This year I went as a Strategic Business Partner of Human Business Works , a company owned and founded by Chris Brogan. I have been working with @Chrisbrogan and the awesome team at HBW @robhatch, @djnorequest, @carissao, @wicked_neat and @calabash11.  Being a strategic partner also means @chrisbrogan & @robhatch took care of my pass and lodging to the conference something I really appreciated.

I also had the privilege to stay at The Colonnade hotel where they greeted me with lots of goodies even a Rubber Ducky for Daniela that I will share in another post. If you are going to be in Boston the @Colonnade is definitely the place to stay.

Key Takeaways from the Conference

A Good Story will help you connect with others.

I had the opportunity to talk with Ben Mezrich (Author of The Accidental Billionaires which later got turned into the movie The Social Network) after his speech. Ben Mezrich had an awesome story to tell on the various books he wrote and how he approaches things as a writer. The awesome thing about @benmezrich was how he clearly told us of his many failures so he could get where he got too.

As I listened to Ben share the experiences that led him to writing  Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions , The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal, and his latest one Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History (Affiliate Links).

This led me to tag his story as the best one told at any conference I have gone too. Ben confirmed that if you are a good storyteller and have a great one to tell, many others will engage and enjoy what you are sharing. I can’t wait till I get a chance to read bringing down the house.  Ben also motivated me to stay focused on my writing. I know I have to fix and improve many things but Ben inspired me to continue with it until eventually I get it right. Like Ben, I am a believer of creating lots of content and with that practice eventually I will get better at it.

Ben is such a down to earth, awesome guy, that he sent me a tweet thanking me for my tweets during his speech.

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/benmezrich/status/114177102760247296″]

Allowing people to pay you back

On the second day of IMS11 I made sure to get to the venue early since I did not want to miss @guykawasaki’s keynote. At SXSWi 2011 I spoke to him at Samsung Blogger’s Lounge and was able to attend one of his Keynotes where I got the book Enchantment from him. This time I had read the book so I was able to analyze his keynote with more detail. One of the key things that stood out to me was how he refreshed my mind on allowing others to pay you back without expecting anything in return. During the Q & A session I was able to ask him a question that he answered after giving some thought.

Overall my takeaway from Guy’s speech was that if you are always giving and see there is no reciprocation, you are the one that is stupid for continuing to be generous.

How to work on staying away from things that distract you from your reaching your goals

The last speech at IMS11 was from Dan Heath co-author of Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard (Affiliate Link)
which had been recommended by @chrisbrogan and @robhatch. I got a copy during the conference. Dan simplified his speech into three key takeaways which in my understanding where Taking control of your emotions (Rider), having goals (Path) , and fighting your distractions (Elephant).

I think the last few weeks I have been dealing with a lot more on my plate than I am use to and the book Switch will probably help me work on those weaknesses. I want to get so many things done but the time limit and some of the distractions that come my way have a lot to do with them. As soon as I finish readin the book I will post a review and my deeper interpretation into it. Feel free to subscribe to my blog if you want to receive it by email.

Those were the key three takeaways I got from IMS11.  

What were your takeaways from IMS or the last conference you went to?