Annual Conferences BMAA Recommends for Black Marketers to Attend

There will always be a need for black marketers to network and sharpen their skills. In an industry where sometimes it feels like you must work twice as hard to be noticed half as much, there has to be spaces for us to congregate and learn, right? Thankfully, there is. Let’s talk about the annual conferences Black Marketers Association of America (BMAA) recommends Black marketers to attend.

San Diego, Californica, will be the host of Social Media Marketing World in March. If immensely developing your social media marketing skills over the course of a weekend sounds enticing, this is the place to be. The list of media trainers who spoke at the 2022 conference was absolutely star-studded, expect nothing less for 2023. Each attendee even gets downloadable MP3 files of each speaker to take with them, after the weekend is over! Topics covered will include social strategy, organic social marketing, content marketing and paid social marketing. This conference boasts to be hands-on for attendees and provide the ability to get a 10x ROI every time you launch a campaign, create an ad or start working on a new platform.

The Adobe Marketing Summit is a conference filled with education for any marketer, regardless of expertise. More than 200 sessions will be held in March, over a myriad of topics to accommodate every attendee. Actress Kristen Bell will be hosting Adobe Marketing Summit. She will be accompanied by celebrities such as actor Ryan Reynolds and Olympian Allyson Felix. Each year the Adobe Summit brings together global leaders across industries to learn, connect and be inspired by the latest innovations in digital customer engagement. Next year will be even better than previous years. 

The MarTech conference is for anyone looking for a 100% free and virtual conference to attend. Presentations will be in a 20 minute ted-talk style by senior level marketers who’re focused on driving business transformation and retooling organizations. The common customer has changed. Therefore, the marketer targeting this customer needs to be constantly adapting as well. MarTech will be educating on techniques to pivot in this ever changing industry. Although the conference is free, $10,000 will be donated by MarTech to help save the children of Ukraine.

Meta, Amazon and Google product leaders will be keynote speakers at this year's installment of ProductCon. Presumably too big for one function, ProductCon will have four attending options this year (San Francisco, London, New York and online). ProductCon will be highlighting product leaders from diverse backgrounds, and leaders of color! Attendees will have a chance to learn from Heads of Product, VPs, and CPO’s from powerhouses such as Netflix and Spotify to name a few. 

Marketing success stories, experiences and challenges alike will be shared at Product Marketing Summit in September. Whether you’re planning to hire new tech talent, launch a new product, or elevate your personal brand to secure that promotion, this summit has something for you. Heads of Okta, Salesforce, IBM, Uber and LinkedIn are among the many notable speakers to pour into the attendees during the weekend. Silicon Valley’s finest in product, marketing and sales will have six workshops of knowledge. This is an amazing opportunity to network and meet your peers and/or marketing idols. 

ADCOLOR is a conference BMAA not only recommends, but urges Black marketers to attend. We even gave out free tickets for members to attend last year’s event! Albeit only one day, ADCOLOR is sure to be one of the most memorable events any marketer may ever attend. It’s the premier diversity gathering for professionals at all levels. Young markers with some flare always find ADCOLOR to be more entertaining than the average conference, considering its presentation style. Imagination is purposely made imperative here, with innovators and experts from the creativity industry speaking throughout the day. It's been said that attendees intend on coming for a typical conference, but end up leaving with a new community to build with. 

In September, Boston will have the pleasure of hosting the illustrious INBOUND Conference.  Every year HubSpot puts on INBOUND to unite leaders from over 160 countries in marketing, sales, customer success, and revenue operations. Forbes magazine praised INBOUND by publishing, “a must-attend event for agency owners and marketing professionals.” A validity stamp from Forbes has to mean INBOUND is doing something right. Or, everything, for that matter. The art of persuasion is not simple to master. If converting leads and getting to decision makers are areas that need sharpening, the INBOUND conference is exactly where you need to be. 

Cleveland gets to host Content Marketing World, for four days this September. 3,000 attenders and 550 companies are projected to be in the building, to soak up the knowledge Content Marketing World has to offer. Attendees of Content Marketing World have shown to return every year. Some describe it as summer camp-esque, something they look forward to all year long. Microsoft, Walmart and Discover are a couple of the billion dollar companies who continually are showing up to learn at Content Marketing World. Over 100 sessions will be held over the four days, many offering industry opportunities to marketers in the rooms. 

For more than 15 years, Marketing Prof’s B2B Forum has been the conference where the top B2B  marketers gather. The proclaimed ‘best B2B marketing conference on the planet’ will be held in Boston this October. Not only will the B2B Forum give the podium to seasoned professionals, new marketing voices will have time to shine as well. 49 immersive sessions will be held, giving attendees the opportunity to share and connect with their peers throughout each day. This conference probes marketers to get out of their comfort zones and try new things, an attribute we all need. The B2B Forum is highly regarded and recommended. 

The development of a black marketer never stops. We are always to continue learning and enriching the professionals to come after us. Attending conferences is the most hands on method for anyone to dig deeper, understand their field and how to best maneuver its challenges. Take heed to these suggestions. Go forth and be all you can be in 2022, 2023, and beyond.