SO MANY PICTURES.., and good times! Contact.IO was a blast. Here’s an overview of a CZAR’s BIG Event – TCPAWorld

I know, I know, TCPAWorld is not Instagram.

No matter.

I have a bunch of funny photos from contact.io and they are going on the blog.

The Tsar and Mr. Ferree

So let me say that Mr. Ferree can organize an event. Of all the (hundreds?) conferences I’ve attended in my career, there was something special about this one. It was so laid back and relaxed. Everyone seemed completely at ease and genuinely excited to be spending time together.

And it was really more of a meeting place than a traditional conference. Of course, there was a stage and an exhibition hall. Yes, I spoke (twice) and exhibitors occupied their booths for most of the day. But the center of the universe was the hotel foyer and lobby where the majority of conference attendees congregated throughout the 3 days (and nights) of the conference.

And with each conference, I feel like I get to know one or two people better and start to appreciate them in a way that I never did before. In the past, it was Tracy and Matt, or Meg and Travis, or Amanda and Sara. This time it was Peter Vitale and Atif Yousof. What great guys. Peter is just an honest, hardworking guy from the Midwest, he really enjoyed spending time with him.

Peter and the Tsar hanging out

And Atif is a guy who has pledged to help clean up the call center space of the ‘Wild West’ in Pakistan. “If you teach them, they’ll listen and they’ll do things the right way.” He assured me with hopeful sincerity.

Atif is here to change the offshore game – and I love it.

And of course, the TCPAWorld got its first Lady’s taste. I hired Tori to make waves, and she didn’t disappoint. Her first party as a member of the Troutman Firm will be memorable for anyone who was lucky enough to meet her. She was quite a little starlet (she won the crown at the QUEENS event!) and made a ton of new friends.

The Incredible Women of Queens/LinkUnite. INCREDIBLE group of women.

Also, many of you met my assistant Kiera for (mostly) the first time. She is fantastic and everyone loves her. She was handing out hats and pins and TCPA Years in Reviews and having a great time.

Kiera is THE BEST. Lucky lucky lucky to have it.

Was on a spectacular panel with Joey and Diona and AC and Scott talking about SMS messaging best practices, and it was great to expose VALID use cases that are likely to be BOTH legal and deliverable.

And the next day, I had the scene all to myself for an hour, which is always fun (and educational.)

And, of course, there were plenty of hijinks and capers. That’s how you bond, after all.

After that, I needed a break.

And TrackDrive just took advantage of the seven-figure brand awareness that TCPAWorld offers simply because they had a couch for the Czar to sit on. Good for them.

And finally, here are some COOL CATS who didn’t make the conference but are hanging out to enjoy a little Troutman Firm swag.

We still have plenty of loot available – and I’ll order more if we run out. This is HIGH QUALITY material. Trust me. You need one of these hats:

Contact kiera@troutmanfirm.com to request your FREE swag (shirt or hat.) But you have to PROMISE to wear it!

Chat soon TCPAWorld. Now get back to work!