2026 Conference Schedule Update
We are still working on solidifying speakers, but we are focused on our local professionals more this year, bringing the insights of the event hosts in a bit more....so you'll hear from Erin, Lee, and Benny in sessions to help bring their consulting experience directly to you, focusing on foundational concepts for your marketing team, executing without friction or getting stalled, and moving into 2027 with purpose and a roadmap for your day-to-day.
Topics on the Schedule Include:
LinkedIn strategies that work to generate visibility, leads, and stronger client relationships
Influencer strategies on social media, handling de-influencing and cancel culture
Launching a TikTok presence, with a peek into Live Shopping
When AI backfires, dealing with consumer push-back
Websites, search, and AI - how to optimize visibility in 2027
Email marketing strategies, implementation tips for emails that connect with an engaged audience
Video production tips for marketers (in-house or outsourced collabs)
After Lunch Interactive Session - asking for your input on non-profits who need our help!
We'll be doing live campaign building for non-profit organizations in our community; teams will gather, plan, brainstorm, and generate a few deliverables on-the-spot! We hope to have some campaign follow up with orgs and actually launch at least one in the spring!
Recalculating:
2026 Conference Schedule
Buckle up because we’re back for year 3! Marketing and communications work is based on a solid foundation, but as we all know the tools and channels keep evolving. Block off the day to learn how to get sh*t done from skilled, local professionals while connecting with others that want to keep growing their skills and network.
8:00 a.m. - 8:55 a.m.
Fuel for the Journey:
Caffeine, Sugar, and Big Intentions
Stop at the registration table to grab your name tag & Roadmap Conference materials. Enjoy some breakfast bites while you get to know your fellow Midwest creative community!
9:00 a.m. - 9:40 a.m.
Opening Keynote
Foundations:
Know Your Starting Point
You can't recalculate a route until you know where you're standing. Your hosts set the foundation for the day: Lee on why buy-in is the ground everything else is built on, Erin on mapping the customer journey that should drive every decision, and Benny on the simple formula for getting started without getting stuck. Leave with your coordinates set — and a reason to stay for the turns ahead.
9:50 a.m. - 10:20 a.m.
Choose Your Own Adventure
How to Win New Business with LinkedIn
You want to grow your business.
But so many of your buyers and decision makers live isolated behind layers of executive assistants, busy schedules, and tight networks of trusted advisors.
So how do you and your team reach them beyond the occasional (and expensive) business conference or golf outing?
That's exactly why LinkedIn is such a useful tool.
This session is specifically for folks whose businesses depend on strong networks and referrals – and want more.
Key Takeaways:
How to know whether LinkedIn makes sense for your business (and what to expect).
The simple system you can use to find ideal clients and generate leads.
The common mistakes that will sink your LinkedIn efforts faster than an iceberg with the Titanic.
What to Measure (and What to Ignore)
Most marketers are drowning in numbers and starving for insight. Erin cuts through the dashboard noise to the metrics that actually tell you whether your marketing is working — separating business metrics, diagnostics, and performance so you know what to report up, what to act on, and what to quietly stop tracking. Leave with a simple, honest way to measure what matters.
Key Takeaways:
10:30 a.m. - 11:10 a.m.
Choose Your Own Adventure
How to Build an Influencer Strategy That Works
Catherine Bormann, Double Forte
Influencer marketing is no longer just about finding someone with a following and paying for a post. The strongest programs start with a clear business goal, the right creator mix and a plan to turn content into measurable impact.
In this session, Catherine Bormann, Vice President at Double Forte, will share how brands can build influencer strategies that drive awareness, trust, traffic, content and real business results. Attendees will learn how to evaluate creators beyond follower count, structure paid and unpaid partnerships, maximize content usage and measure what actually matters.
Working Session - Update Your Roadmap
Less sitting, more doing. In these hands-on working sessions, you take what you're hearing all day and put it to work on your own plan — pencil to paper (or laptop to lap), with facilitators and peers in the room to pressure-test your thinking. Come with a challenge; leave with a marked-up route for what's next.
11:20 a.m. - 11:50a.m.
Choose Your Own Adventure
Survival Handbook for the Robotic Takeover of SEO
Benny Anderson, Daredevil Consulting
This session will focus on the ever changing strategies of SEO, top of page mentality, your Google Ads presence and what else to prepare for as the ALgorithm changes to the AIgorithm.
With premiums being put on FAQS, blogs, meta descriptions and Google Business Profiles, this return to basics will prepare you for the future and give you quick actions and takeaways to embrace or recover from the change.
Video in Real Life: Storytelling Without the Hollywood Budget
Andrew Fefer,
Everyone says you need video. Almost no one tells you how to actually get it made. Andrew pulls back the curtain on real-world video production: the storytelling that makes it worth watching, how user-generated content fits in, and what it's really like to work with a videographer from first call to final cut. Leave knowing how to brief, budget, and ship video that earns its keep.
12:00 p.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Lunch Pit Stop
As professionals in marketing, communications, and creative fields we know that talking to people is a must, especially if you’re also in a sales role. Knowing how to start up conversations with strangers is a skill that can be developed.
During lunch, sit with someone you’ve just met. Here are a few conversation starters if you’re struggling to find something to talk about:
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Listen first, and then come up with some follow up questions. Need some help? Here are a couple:
What was your favorite part?
What really challenged you?
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Listen first, and then come up with some follow up questions. Need some help? Here are a couple:
How will you go about doing that?
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Listen first, and then come up with follow up questions. Need help? Here are a couple:
What was that like?
How do you do that?
Where are your favorite places to do that?
12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Detour!
The Power of a Bad Idea
Harness the power of negative thinking to improve your marketing approach.
You'll learn the step-by-step process to empower your inner naysayer to (paradoxically) improve your product or service. You might not think it's possible to make things better by making them worse, but give me 75 minutes and I'll show you how. (And don't worry. You will have a BLAST doing it!) It's interactive, fun, and even involves using AI to help write a commercial.
2:30 p.m. - 3:10 p.m.
Choose Your Own Adventure
Mom + Dad Are Fighting: Exploring Sales and Service Marketing Synergies
As the lines between sales and service continue to blur, there are immense opportunities to create a seamless and impactful client experience that drives acquisition and retention.
This presentation will dive into the importance of aligning these two critical areas of marketing and how doing so can lead to measurable success in your businesses.
Coming out of this session, you’ll be better equipped to align sales and service—diagnose gaps, launch quick-win fixes, modernize your CRM for seamless data flow, and hold monthly reviews to refine results. You’ll leave with a simple, repeatable roadmap that fuels growth and elevates the customer experience.
Think Like Your Audience: Keeping It Real in the Age of AI
In this session, we’ll shift into your audience’s point of view, unpack why certain content resonates, and help you decide when it makes sense to use AI, and when your own voice should steer the message. You’ll leave knowing how to spot the right moments to deploy AI and keep every page or post firmly focused on what your visitors need next.
3:20 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Panel Discussion + Q&A: Your 2026 Roadmap
Our event hosts will wrap up the day with a discussion of what we see for marketing in the year ahead. What should we focus on? Where do we need to be looking in order to stay competitive in a quickly changing market? We’ll be collecting questions throughout the day and will take some time during this session to answer as many as we can for everyone.
Beer ‘N Curds
A Truly Midwestern Happy Hour
Stick around for a live podcast episode!
We’ll open up the bar and bring in some snacks. Hang out, wind down, and reflect on the day over a local brew, cocktail, or mocktail.
BONUS: A Leader’s Perspective - A Live Podcast Episode with Jerry Kuehl, Northwestern Bank
We’re chatting with Jerry Kuehl of Northwestern Bank on their podcast, Banker with a Beer! Hear from their team about the strategy and work that went into bringing it to life, watch the recording of a 30-minute episode with Roadmap event hosts as guests, ending with a few minutes of Q&A!
