It’s back-to-school this September for anyone who wants to hone their inbound marketing skills. And there are a number of conferences that will simply knock your socks off. From learning boot camps, to shirt sleeve sessions to keynotes, attending a conference is a great way to meet new friends, share stories and pick up a tip or two.

We found three  inbound marketing conferences that we wanted share.  If you need to protect your pocketbook and if your inbound marketing focus is local (Toronto) anyway, we found a one-day and one-half-day conferences to consider.

But let’s start with the BIG one — this involves a trip to the great city of Boston.

INBOUND

WHEN: Sept 15-18
WHERE: Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, Boston MA
WHO: HubSpot
Cost: All Access Passes Start around $1,500 (Final Week to save $500 on the all access pass)
CONFERENCE TAGLINE: 4 Days, 5 Inspiring Keynotes, 170+ educational sessions

If you are going to invest time, travel and dollars in a conference – then going with the best in the industry is a great start.  HubSpot is an all-in-one marketing software experience. If you follow their blogs, you’ll know that they know their stuff.

The Hubspot conference – aptly titled INBOUND was designed to “provide the inspiration, education, and connections you need to transform your business. “ In 2013, 5,500 marketing and sales professionals from almost every industry across the globe attended, and this year it promises to be even bigger.

But who else is coming? Martha Stewart, Malcom Gladwell, Simon Sinek, Guy Kawaski to name just a few of the keynotes.  And Hubspot hits the podium aswell, with an address by Hubspot Co-founders Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah.  

What’s really interesting is how they have brokeen out their sessions. Choosing inbound marketing sessions  is difficult enough so having the sessions streamed makes it easier to be  in the right place. At Inbound can you choose among:

• BOLD TALKS Discover bold, powerful in 12 minutes or less! 
  
• INBOUND STORIES: Case studies. 
  
• INBOUND EXPERTS: Learning principles and skills from inbound marketing experts. 
  
• INBOUND INSIGHTS: Digging deep into details to gain more insight on inbound topics. 
  
• HUBSPOT DEEP DIVE: Demos into the all-in-one software firsthand. 
  
• Q&A: ASK ME ANYTHING: When did you ever attend a conference that offered that? 
  
• FUTUREM: What’s next in the inbound marketing world? 
  
• PARTNER TRACK: For Partners only 
  
• CMO TRACK: Learn how the CMO is evolving in the content driven, inbound world. 
  

 And while in Boston, make sure you see some sights!

Toronto is a hotbed of inbound marketing events starting with -

INBOUNDCON 2014

When:  Sept 18 @ 7:30AM – Yikes
Where:  St. James Conference Centre, Toronto
Who:  Powered by Search
Cost:  $297 (Early Bird Pricing until August 18th)
Conference Tagline: Canada’s Premier Inbound Marketing Conference. 

A conference for all ages and all levels, InboundCon brings together digital marketers to discuss SEO, PPC, content marketing, social media, CRM, CRO, UX, UI and of course inbound marketing.  And gauging from the advertised keynotes, sessions and interactive workshops – they are covering all those topics and more. 

Speakers are drawn from a number of different business brands and types including:  Shopify, HBC, Bing, Virgin Mobile Canada, CallRail, Matchstick, gShift Labs, Uberflip, BNOTIONs to name a few inbound marketing agencies in and around Toronto.

St. James Conference Centre is located in downtown Toronto, easily accessible by car, transit or bike – and accessible to some of the best hotels and restaurants for networking.

CONTENT MARKETING CONFERENCE

When: Sept 24 (morning)
Where: Bram and Bluma Appel Salon, Toronto
Who: Marketing Magazine
Cost: $200
Content is King! And great inbound marketing teams know that understanding how content fits into the mix is critical.  

Marketing Magazine will bring together a panel of  CMOs and others involved in inbound marketing to discuss, dissect and analyze… “From new digitally based distribution models, lower costs of production, decreasingly effective traditional advertising and an empowered, distracted, value seeking consumer have all created an environment where content is critical component of the marketing budget.”

Approximately 2-300 people regularly attend marketing events so check your business card stash. 

And that’s just the short list of conferences that occur all over North America all the time. Mixing and mingling with other inbound marketing teams is the perfect launch into the fall – with fresh ideas and keen insights. Let a conference or two be your self-investment this year.