Amazon-Hosted Conferences: The Early Years

Amazon hosting conferences for sellers isn’t new, but its method for doing so is newly revamped. If you’ve been around the space for a while, you might recall SCOE (Sellers Conference of Online Entrepreneurs). For a decade beginning in 2001, Amazon sent executives. When Amazon discontinued this practice for the 2012 event, the conference lost its luster. The conference lives on in the form of The Sellers’ Conference and it remains in Seattle.

The Precedents of Late

In 2016 Amazon came back into the conference scene hosting its first ever Amazon Marketplace Women’s Entrepreneur Conference (also in Seattle). This event was well attended and well received but not renewed the next year. Instead, in 2017, Amazon hosted its first Boost with FBA conference (this time in New York City). The event was attended by over more than a thousand Amazon third-party sellers and we covered the more-exciting announcements of last year in “Amazon Brand Registry Update from Boost with FBA Seller Summit.”

Boost Is Back, Baby!

Boost is back this year and the conference will be held in New Orleans, LA on June 20, 2018. With no shortage of industry shows and conferences and meetings, is Boost one that you should attend? Is the content meaningful? Is this worth your time?

My Take on Whether or Not Boost Is Worthwhile

In short, any time you can be in a room with several hundred Amazon sellers, good things can happen. I recently returned from PROSPER where there were over 1700 Amazon sellers gathered to talk about tactics, strategies, and the latest trends. And it was awesome.
Because the Boost Conference is an Amazon-hosted, all of the speakers are Amazonians. This means that most of the content is scripted and the flow is carefully controlled. But those things don’t lessen the value of attending.

Yeah, But Is It Worthwhile for YOU?

I was reading a recent conversation on Seller Central where people were complaining that Boost is all fluff and Amazon propaganda. I understand why it’s easy to be cynical, but I doubt those people actually attended the previous event. Bottom line: If you are an Amazon seller and you want to connect with people inside Amazon, this is your chance. If you are an Amazon seller and you want to connect with other successful Amazon sellers, this is your chance. If you are an Amazon seller and you want to understand the different systems that Amazon has in place to help you be successful, this is your chance. If you are a raging party monster looking to get lit on Bourbon street, this might not be the conference for you, but nonetheless, this is your chance.

Boost with FBA 2017 Recap & Prep for Boost 2018

While we’re all waiting for more about the 2018 Amazon Boost with FBA Seller Summit, here’s a super-quick recap of what I learned at the 2017 event:

• Brand Registry is important and it is the gateway to other Amazon services and rewards.
• Amazon is all in on brands and brand stories
• If you want to see grow your business, you too need to invest in your brand and you need to go global.

See You There!

More important than what I learned is whom I met and the relationships that I created. If you want to stay relevant and moving forward, you need to figure out what is important to Amazon, ensure that your business is aligned with Amazon’s business goals, and work with people who are the doers who are similarly on board. That said, I’ll be there at the 2018 event, and if you are planning to attend drop me a line and let’s catch up.
 

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