My Sourcing Summit Experience

May I be a little sentimental?

Sourcing Summits make me happy. I carry the energy for weeks after each Sourcing Summit.

We, speakers, gained lasting friendships in Amsterdam that go beyond sharing hacks. With women speakers, it is not uncommon for us to share a clothing brand or line of cosmetics. We all know about each other’s families and help to pick gifts for the home. ? We dine and chat late into the night.

I feel happy seeing new faces and young talented speakers join over the last three years. Phil Tusing is both intuitive and generous inviting people with no speaking experience. Many folks have started their shiny speaker careers at #sosu’s. The hackathons are impressive, gathering over 100 participants in fierce competitions.

You might not know it, but Phil personally coaches and pushes us to find our own voices and refine presentation skills. I would like to think I am doing better than before. (I still need to get better PowerPoint skills though.)

I first spoke at a #sosu event in Australia seven years ago by Phil Tusing's invitation. Sweet memories! On the day I landed, Phil had lost his voice, and my laptop won't boot. His then-girlfriend, now the mother of four young children, Rachel, was "translating" Phil's whisper and gestures to me.

I found the Australian audience to be welcoming, direct, and delightfully not taking themselves seriously.

Phil and I, coming from as different backgrounds as we have, share some commonality: we both moved countries and professions, and both have started and run businesses. On some trips, I have also appreciated Phil's cooking skills since I have none!

Since the #sosuau in 2012, I have been to at least a dozen #sosu's; I need to count one day, but several people are now ahead of me. The Amsterdam event, #sosueu, has become the gathering place for all open-minded Sourcers to hang out. Everyone is generous in offering help and sharing knowledge. There is little, if any, selling on the floors or from the stage. Sponsors seem introverted.

New participants quickly pick the spirit and join in learning and having fun. The event in Tallinn, #sosuee, debuted last year and was truly fun and inspirational, just like the seven events in Amsterdam. I know I speak for many participants and speakers in my descriptions.

Now, the #sosuv, virtual, conference is fuller with effective sourcing content than any event before. Just review the agenda. I think you should join us! ??

If you have not been to a Sourcing Summit before, see for yourself what it is like by signing up at https://bit.ly/sosuv-ticket. You will receive the most substantial amount of content in an event ever, over three days. Yet Sourcing Summit Virtual is affordable and the best of all is the 3-day option. Wherever you live, there will be live talks in your time zone. Attendees will get and keep the recordings and have access to speakers. Plus, there are extra freebies with hours of listening.

You can think of #sosuv as delivering the lowest price for each bit of content, every 5 minutes of playback. And, a lot of content will be shared for the first time in one place and only accessible by joining.

I think the event will especially be helpful if you:

a) source more than 50% of the time, and

b) are at an intermediate-to-advanced level.

July 6-9, 2020. See you there!