CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--B2B Marketing, the UK-based global media and professional development provider, is today announcing its plans to launch Ignite USA, a brand extension of its blockbuster annual UK conference, Ignite London, which in three years has become the largest b2b marketing event on the planet.
To be held over two days, May 27-28, 2020, in downtown Chicago, IL, Ignite USA, whose London counterpart drew 1,250 b2b marketers just two weeks ago, will fill both the geographic and time slots previously held by the Association of National Advertisers’ annual b2b marketing conference, which ANA announced in May is decamping in 2020 to resort community Scottsdale, AZ, after a decade in Chicago.
B2B Marketing also is announcing today that it has secured the significant involvement of Gary Slack, founder and CEO of Slack and Company and former chair of the U.S. Business Marketing Association (BMA) and for seven years from 2009-15 the organizer and host of BMA’s annual global conference, to help B2B Marketing co-founder and editor in chief Joel Harrison organize and co-host Ignite USA.
As Harrison and Slack work together to organize the 2020 event, they will model Ignite USA after Ignite London, a proven mix of plenary sessions featuring insights from top b2b marketers and thought leaders and breakout sessions keyed to core content tracks—such as engagement, ABM and MarTech—of vital interest and value to ambitious, success-driven b2b marketers.
“I have come to know Gary extremely well over the past decade, and I have admired his success in growing the BMA conference from 125 marketers when he took it over in 2009 to more than 1,000 attendees from 36 states and 12 countries when he turned it over to ANA after the 2015 event,” said Joel Harrison.
“I am honored to have been asked by Joel and his co-founder James Farmer to help organize and co-host Ignite USA,” said Slack. “A consummate interviewer and moderator, not to mention journalist and editor, Joel knows better than anyone I know how to bring b2b marketers the information, insights and inspiration they need to grow their careers and businesses.”
Slack just returned from B2B Marketing’s Ignite 2019 conference in London, and “it was b2b marketing heaven,” he said, with value at every turn for b2b marketers of all stripes and sizes. “I can’t wait to help Joel and B2B Marketing bring the same rich experience to b2b marketers across America.”
“With the demise of BtoB magazine four years ago and the shrinkage since 2015 of the now ANA-owned former BMA conference, b2b marketers in the U.S. deserve to once again have an annual ‘big tent’ conference serving their multitude of professional development and networking needs and interests,” Slack noted. “With the Ignite™ event brand now dwarfing all other b2b marketing events across the globe, the time is right to bring Ignite to America, b2b marketing’s galactic center, and Chicago is the ideal location and late May the ideal time.”
More details about Ignite USA, including its Chicago venue, will be announced in the coming months, and the conference program will be published later this fall and into early 2020. The Ignite USA website will go live in August 2019, and early-bird registration will begin shortly thereafter. Interested attendees can pre-register now and also sign up for Ignite USA updates and blog posts here.
To nominate yourself or someone else to speak at Ignite USA, please fill out the Call for Speakers form. Companies interested in sponsoring Ignite USA can contact Shevaun Davis now for details.
To review highlights of B2B Marketing’s just ended July 8-9, 2019, Ignite London conference and get a good sense of how Ignite USA will be structured and flow, go here.
