Where did Hero Conf come from? What was the idea behind creating an event that caters to such a specific group of advertisers in an already crowded market? It’s a pretty interesting story, actually. One that informs a lot of what you see when you attend our events.
In 2012, the market was ripe with digital advertising content. For those who worked across SEO, SEM and PPC, there were a number of events that catered to all parts of the industry. As a PPC-only agency, our Founder and CEO, Pat East, found few options for training that truly met the needs of his staff. With the extensive cost of attending events, there needed to more than 25-30% content his Hanapin folks could act on. He was looking for something more niche, something more powerful, something wholly more beneficial to a PPC professional. So he created himself.
Our first event was an intimate affair (yes, that’s really one of the original ads). Less than 100 attendees made their way to Indianapolis for 2 days of training. But it was a homecoming of sorts for a driven and dedicated group of marketers who’d found shared interest and knowledge, but had only interacted digitally to that point. As first time events go, it was a learning and growing experience. One that would shape the direction of content, experience and speakers for our coming events.
Years 2 & 3 in Austin saw exponential growth in attendance as we added dedicated after-hours networking, more clearly defined expectations for content and sessions, focused on getting the most relevant info front and center, and brought on important partners like Bing Ads. We begged for feedback and continued to refine our ideas to create a truly actionable experience, the largest of it’s kind in the world.
Portland and Philadelphia were home for events 4 & 5 as we brought on the biggest names in the business. Google, LinkedIn, Twitter, Adobe and the like joined our growing list of respected brands as we scheduled even more advanced PPC content. It’s been refreshing to see the event evolve from niche gathering to world-class conference, as our efforts were truly realized in 2016
– when 94% of attendees said they’d return for 2017.
It really is great to see all the hard work pay off and know that we’re providing an experience that people want. Moreover it’s exciting to think about what comes next. So we take the next step in our evolution as we head to Hero Conf Los Angeles, April 18-20 at the JW Marriott Los Angeles LA Live. We’ll be bringing you the same great content and networking (with some exciting new twists).
But we’re also pushing forward to make Hero Conf a yearly event that PPC professionals simply can’t miss. We’ll welcome exciting major announcements from the likes of Google and Bing. We’ll provide a platform for some of the industry’s most trusted software and service companies to roll out brand-new products. We’ll continue to use your feedback to bring in the most relevant sessions, the most respected speakers, and the most innovative new ways to learn. And we can’t wait to show you.
As always, we promise the same actionable, insightful content you get here daily, in live form.
And for a limited time you can reserve your seat at Hero Conf Los Angeles at 35% off our conference rate. Join us at The World’s Largest All-PPC Event and experience for yourself what all the buzz is about.
