Last week, Refersion sponsored an exciting Shopify meetup in New York City. Shopify meetups are hosted across the world, and they are a wonderful way for merchants to connect with each other face-to-face. Lucid and Icee Social came together to host a meetup filled with networking, lightning talks, and a fun giveaway!
The night kicked off with a happy hour that allowed event attendees to chat and meet one another. While we loved seeing all the lightning talks, networking with other merchants was one of the best parts of the night. You can’t beat the experience of getting to know other merchants in your city and making new connections, and business is just better when you can grow with other people!
After our happy hour concluded, the crowd took their seats for three rounds of lightning talks. These talks were hosted by some seriously talented people, including our very own Erica Roth!
The first chat was all about tax changes in 2019 that can affect Shopify merchants. Jordan Tobler and Drew Jennings from Avalara shed light on this critical topic. Specifically, they talked about how Wayfair vs. South Dakota impacts store owners. Tax laws are constantly changing so this chat was a great way to kick off the round of lightning talks.
Next, Erica talked about using affiliate marketing to increase your ROI in 2019. One of our favorite parts of going to events is talking with interested audiences about how they can convert more sales. Affiliate marketing is our lifeblood here at Refersion, and it’s not going anywhere any time soon.
After our presentation, Matt Schlicht of Octane AI gave a fascinating chat about using AI with Facebook Messenger. It’s essential to meet your audience where they are, so this lightning talk was informative for Shopify merchants who wanted to increase click-through rates on their sales messages.
After the lightning talks were done, Mark Perini of Icee Social moderated an excellent Q&A panel with all the lightning presenters and Anshey Bhatia, the CEO of Verbal + Visual on the best practices for growth in 2019.
The Q&A was a terrific chance for the Shopify meetup attendees to ask questions tailored to their specific businesses. These talks were an incredible chance for the speakers to share their expertise, but the Q&A session truly helped solidify the meetup and bring the event to the next level.
At the end of the night, the event wrapped up with a few closing remarks and a quick giveaway that awarded the company with the most team spirit. One lucky company scored a $200 bar tab for the team members in attendance. Attending events with your team helps you network with more people and absorb more information from event speakers.
We have some seriously amazing events on the horizon and throughout the year. We’re giving away swag, free cocktails, prizes, and most importantly you’ll be part of the growing ecommerce community.
Do you want to meet members of the team or see what we’re up to next? You never know, we might be in your town soon! Join our official Meetup group for the latest updates on events we plan to host or sponsor. Tickets for these events are usually limited, and we want to meet as many of you as possible!
