Bonus Episode: Turning Event Meetups Into Lasting Partnerships with Marielle Bobo

Marielle Bobo is the VP of Content at Shoptalk Spring and Fall, where she curates programming and secures industry-leading speakers to spark the most important conversations in retail and ecommerce. She’s spent 25 years in cross-platform media, serving as Editor-in-Chief & SVP of Programming at EBONY, Fashion Director at Essence, and shaping fashion, beauty, and retail narratives at Womenswear Daily, Allure, and Cosmopolitan.

Before taking the helm at Shoptalk’s content strategy, Marielle built a career telling stories that resonate: across print, digital, video, and live events, earning a reputation for translating trends into actionable insights. That lens now drives how she programs Shoptalk, ensuring attendees walk away with strategies they can implement immediately.

Marielle shares what’s different about Shoptalk Fall this year compared to year one, the genesis of the brand-new Leadership track, and why now is the moment for retail leaders to think differently about org design, planning, and agility. She also reveals which sessions ecommerce store owners and DTC brands can’t afford to miss, plus how her editorial background influences the way she curates content for maximum impact.

Whether she’s explaining how to navigate a packed agenda or uncovering the most relevant themes for today’s volatile retail landscape, Marielle offers a candid look at how great content can transform an industry event into a growth engine.

In This Conversation We Discuss: 

• [00:40] Intro
• [01:01] Exploring global event series for innovators
• [02:05] Kicking off with immersive retail experiences
• [04:13] Planning your conference strategy in advance
• [06:20] Recapping key learnings before the show ends
• [09:50] Learning from leading retail and DTC brands
• [11:51] Finding solutions through casual conversations
• [12:58] Highlighting brick-and-mortar’s role in Ecommerce

Resources:

• Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
• Organizing retail’s industry’s very best events shoptalk.com/ 
• Providing senior execs workshops, strategy sessions, Chicago retail tours, insights from 130+ leaders, and targeted connections fall.shoptalk.com/ 
• Follow Marielle Bobo linkedin.com/in/marielle-bobo 

If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

 

Transcript

Marielle Bobo

So it really is 3 days packed with tons of programming where you can really connect and learn about what's happening across the industry.  

Chase Clymer

Welcome to Honest Ecommerce, a podcast dedicated to cutting through the BS and finding actionable advice for online store owners. I'm your host, Chase Clymer. And I believe running a direct-to-consumer brand does not have to be complicated or a guessing game. 

On this podcast, we interview founders and experts who are putting in the work and creating  real results. 

I also share my own insights from running our top Shopify consultancy, Electric Eye. We cut the fluff in favor of facts to help you grow your Ecommerce business.

Let's get on with the show.

Hey everybody, welcome back to a bonus episode of Honest Ecommerce. Today, I'm welcoming the show, Marielle Bobo. She is the VP of Content at Shoptalk Spring and Fall. She is responsible for curating the event programs and securing industry-leading speakers from across retail and Ecommerce. Marielle, welcome to the show. 

Marielle Bobo

Thanks so much for having me. I'm happy to be here. 

Chase Clymer

Absolutely. So I love conferences and I have been going to Shoptalk now for quite a few years. But if a listener has been living under a rock and they don't know what Shoptalk is, could you let them know what Shoptalk is? What are those series events that you guys are curating? 

Marielle Bobo

Absolutely. So Shoptalk is a global event series focused on retail innovation. So we gather everyone from every facet of the industry, from retail and brand leaders, tech solutions providers, venture capitalists, everyone that's sort of involved in the business of commerce, to gather for networking and learnings on what's happening in the future of retail across our portfolio. We have five events, Shoptalk Fall, which is coming up, of course, this fall. We have Shoptalk Spring, which happens in Vegas.

have Shoptalk Europe in Barcelona, Grocery Shop, which is our CPG-focused show, and our newest show, Shoptalk Luxe, which will be launching in Abu Dhabi in January. So all things global retail are what we focus on in our event series. 

Chase Clymer

Absolutely. And like you said, it is people from all over, different job titles. Every time I go, I meet founders, I meet people in the investment space like you mentioned. People that are on the tech side, people that are on the brand side. It's amazing the networking opportunities at these types of conferences. 

But not only networking. And this is probably more akin to your role at Shoptalk, but it is the content and the educational piece of it. Let's just talk about Shoptalk fall that's coming up. What are some of the awesome programs that you guys are bringing this fall? 

Marielle Bobo

Yeah. So I mean, there's so much that's happening across the three days. I think it's a pretty jam packed schedule that we like to intentionally prepare so that you feel like you're really coming away with the best learning. We're kicking off our show with our Shop Walks program, which we're really excited about. We are really leaning into the idea of these sort of in-store experiences where we are curating a portfolio of innovative retailers in Chicago that you can go to and see sort of what's happening on the show floor.

And then you can come to Shoptalk and actually hear from those same retailers about what's happening within their stores. So some of  the brands that are participating in Shop Walks this year are Wayfair, Jonathan Adler, who also is one of our keynote speakers. So we're kicking off the show with this really great experiential idea where you can kind of go to the stores, see what's happening in Chicago with retail, and then you can then spend the next three days actually going to the show and hearing from those retail and brand leaders as well.

And then across our three days, we have a host of different sorts of programming from, of course, our main stage keynote speakers to panel discussions, workshops, case studies. We have our meetup program, of course, where you can have one-on-one meetings for 15 minutes with specific retail and brand leaders that you're looking to connect with, and so much more in between. So it really is three days packed with tons of programming where you can really connect and learn about what's happening across the industry.

Chase Clymer

Absolutely. Now, if you were to bump into a brand founder on the street or on the subway, what have you, and they're like, you know what, I'm thinking about going to a conference for the first time. What advice would you have for them about attending Shoptalk?  

Marielle Bobo

So I would say first and foremost, to make sure that you go in with a plan. Because we have so much that you can take part in. And so you really want to be intentional about where you show up across the three days. So we always tell people to make sure that they download the Shoptalk app because that's where you can sort of get all of the latest on what's happening across our agenda in real time. Sometimes there are some changes that are made on site in the world of the, in the events world, you never know what sort of things might happen the day of. So the app is where you can kind of stay most up to date on everything that's happening across the three days.

And really, you recommend that people go to the website, take a look at the app, really go in with sort of a game plan of where you want to show up. If you're going with a colleague, we say, you know, it's always great to divide and conquer so that you can kind of both come back to  each other post show with the learnings on what you've discovered across the three days.  

Of course, we also say to dress comfortably. It's a lot of walking. Our fall show is a little bit smaller than the Vegas show, but it's still over 3,500 attendees and a lot of programming that's happening across the show floor. So we always say, make sure that you're dressed comfortably and make sure that you're able to make your way around the convention center in a pretty comfortable way.

And also we say, you know, try to take advantage of all the different sorts of programming that we have. If you can make time to schedule the meetup sessions, those I think are really beneficial because there's so many people that attend the show and it's hard, it's easy sometimes to miss folks. And if there's someone that you really wanna connect with during the three days, the meetup program is the best way to do that. So we would say like, definitely make sure that you look at who's registered and try to make some time to schedule some meetups while you're on site as well.

Chase Clymer

Yeah, I can only agree with you on all that. First and foremost, being intentional about your time. I remember  before actually Shoptalk, I went to a show called Magic out in LA. Another huge. But we had zero plan and no idea what we're doing there.

It was educational in a way that you make a mistake. And it's not having a plan to make the most of your time. Not trying to set up those meetings in advance. Just like you said, the hosted meetings that Shoptalk enables people to have is amazing. Every time I meet awesome people. And I love those things as well. But yeah, going in with a plan, knowing what you want to see. And also scheduling downtime, I think, is something people need to do. You can't just go all day. We're not robots. 

Marielle Bobo

Give yourself a break for sure. 

Chase Clymer

Yeah. Comfy shoes for sure. And then outside of the shop, there are also some curated happy hours and dinners and all sorts of other stuff going on. Once you start to get friendly with a lot of the people there, there's so much happening. But yeah, it is 3 days. So make sure that you are also taking time for yourself.

Marielle Bobo

Yeah, and I'll also say, you know, from a content perspective, we try to make it really  straightforward for folks who are coming there with specific intentions of getting certain learnings. You know, we have our four track stages and they're each seen to a specific topic.  

So we make it really easy, I think, for attendees to really be able to figure out where they want to go, where they want to spend their time. We have four sort of track stages that are going to be doing these deep dives into these specific conversations that we are curating across the three days. So I think, we would definitely recommend folks to look at how the agenda is set up, you know, by a theme and use that sort of as a guide point for where you want to go and where you want to spend your time. So if you're looking for conversations around AI and what's happening there when it comes to search and data, we have a whole track dedicated to that, across the three days. 

If you're looking for conversations around brand storytelling, we have a whole track dedicated to that where you can really show up there and get those learnings over three days. If you're looking for conversations on merchandising and product curation, we have a whole track dedicated to that. And then we've also added a leadership track, which is new for us this year, which we're really excited about as well, where there'll be two days of conversations specifically dedicated to the new challenges that retail and brand leaders are facing during these really volatile times and how they need to be thinking differently about org and planning and how to build more agile systems internally.  

And so that's another part of our programming that we're really, really excited about as well. So, you know, we really recommend folks to take a look at the agenda beforehand and figure out, you know, where you want to spend your time so that you can come away with those learnings.  And then the last thing I would add that I didn't mention earlier is to be sure to check out our key takeaway session, which is where we, the Shoptalk team curates a session where we do sort of a recap of all of the big learnings from the three days. 

So if there are things that you missed, sessions that you didn't get to sit on, we, you know, take it all, we break it down and we give you sort of those key learnings that you should leave with when you are done with the show. So that's really helpful and we definitely recommend that folks attend that as well. 

Chase Clymer

Absolutely. I have attended that every year actually when I can make it. Now, obviously, the name of the show is Honest Ecommerce. We got a lot of Ecommerce store owners or just people that are working for DTC brands out there. Is there any content that comes to mind specifically that might be relevant to that type of attendee? 

Marielle Bobo

Yeah. I mean, Shoptalk is doing a big focus on stores and Ecommerce and sort of unified commerce across our programming over the three days. As I mentioned earlier, with the shop walks tours that are going to be happening earlier, it sort of kicks off, you know, what's happening at retail and how are folks thinking differently about merchandising and experiential and creating more of an innovative in-store. 

And then when you get to the stages, there really are going to be those conversations that really break down sort of what are the strategies that folks are putting in place when it comes to merchandising. We have a lot of sessions that are focused around how folks are thinking differently around planning  during these volatile times. We have a bunch of sessions focused on supply chain and how folks are thinking differently around inventory during these really, you know, transformative times where things are in flux.

And we have a lot of great speakers that are gonna be talking about how they're sort of thinking differently about how they're building out the merchandising programs and how they're thinking differently around Ecommerce. So tons of great speakers there. And we're really excited about how that's also gonna sort of translate to the main stage as well with some of the speakers that we have, you know, folks from Sam's Club and like I said, Jonathan Adler and so many others that are gonna be joining us.

Wayfair, who will be talking about what they're doing in that space as well, as well as taking part in our Shop Luxe tours as well. So really great brands that are going to be really giving a lot of great insight on some of the different ways that you should be thinking about merchandising and commerce at retail. 

Chase Clymer

Absolutely. Another thing I always like to point out is the floor, the main area where all the vendors are. One, you're going to get a bunch of awesome swag. But if you are looking for a particular solution, you're going to have a lot of conversations with very smart people very quickly by walking around that floor outside of the meetup areas, like those more scheduled meetings. 

The vendor area, you can learn quite a lot. And obviously with my audience, and something I want to point out is like, you can go to Shoptalk for free. Just go to the website and apply. Retailers and consumer brands.

There's some limited space there. But if you qualify, the ticket is absolutely free. It's a $3,250 ticket. So just go on the website and apply and see if it works for you. And again, I don't know if we highlighted this. This is in downtown Chicago. I forget the conference center though. I'm going to remember it really quickly. 

Marielle Bobo

McCormick Place. 

Chase Clymer

Yes. McCormick Place. It's an  awesome little spot out there in Chicago. Marielle, is there anything I didn't ask you about that you think would benefit our audience?

Marielle Bobo

Yeah. I think, definitely hearing more about our main stage speakers and also going a little bit more into our leadership track, which is new for us. The leadership track, I think, is something that folks will be really excited about because it's the first time that we've created a section of our programming that specifically is dedicated to how retail and brand leaders need to be thinking differently about org and strategy and teams.

And that really came out of a lot of the conversations that we have been having with our retail and brand community around  sort of the challenges that they're finding themselves in during these times and wanting a space where they could have more detailed conversations around  how they need to strategize around the business.

And so since Shoptalk Fall is our senior most show, one in three of our attendees are on the C-suite, we thought it was like the perfect place to create these sessions. And so we've curated these really dynamic sessions  where you have two C-suite leaders from different brands and engage in one-on-one conversation with the moderator followed by Q&A. And it's going to be really fun. We're going to have live polling and Q&A. And they're meant almost to be sort of like an incubator for senior thought leadership. It's all C-suite speakers that are on those stages.

And we have really cool conversations that we've curated. Like we have, you know, the new CEO of Elie Tahari with the president of Fabletics. And we have, you know, CEOs from Anthropologie and so many other folks that are going to be engaged in those conversations. And they're really meant to be almost like, you know, workshops where you can come away with real strategies on how to think differently around leadership. So we're really excited about that. And that's new for fall.

And that really came out of a lot of feedback that we have been getting from our audience wanting something that felt a little bit more tailored to the decision making on the highest levels when it comes to org and strategy and sort of building more agile systems during these times where things are so much in flux. 

And also I would say again, our main stage, we have yet to fully announce, so I'm not gonna give it away, but we have yet to fully announce sort of our main stage lineup, but like, you know, we have everyone that really spans the gamut from folks in the home space to sort of like those big box retailers that are really talking about how they're connecting with with shoppers. We have Sam's Club. We have two of their technology leaders that are going to be talking about the tech that they're imparting to create more agile future forward retail systems. 

So we're excited about that. We have Jonathan Adler, who's going to again be talking about why brick and mortar is still so important to him and how he's really doubling down on stores and thinking differently about what brick and mortar looks like in this landscape and how that translates to Ecommerce. We have so many exciting brands that  we're looking forward to sharing. And so I think just excited for folks to really engage in the different sorts of perspectives that we're curating across the three days and also again, the shop walks, which we are really, really excited about.  

There's something that we did have a fall last year, but we really built out that program in an even bigger way this year. And so we just can't wait to get the feedback from folks and being able to actually go out to the stores and then hear from those exact leaders on the stage afterwards about the different insights that they're imparting across the business. So a lot of great stuff. And I won't give it away either. 

But on the last day we have a special big announcement that's going to be happening towards the end of the day  on that third day. So we encourage folks to stick around and just stay tuned for all the amazing programs that we have in store. 

Chase Clymer

Awesome. Marielle, thank you so much for coming on the show today. 

Marielle Bobo

Thank you for having me.  Can't wait to see you in Chicago. 

Chase Clymer

Absolutely. And there's a quick recap for everybody. You should go to conferences, all of them, Shoptalk included. But again, it's amazing content, amazing networking opportunities, wear comfy shoes.

Marielle Bobo

Yes. And plan ahead. 

Chase Clymer

Yes. 

We can't thank our guests enough for coming on the show and sharing their knowledge and journey with us. We've got a lot to think about and potentially add into our own business. You can find all the links in the show notes. 

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Lastly, if you're a store owner looking for an amazing partner to help get your Shopify store to the next level, reach out to Electric Eye at electriceye.io/connect.

Until next time!