Surviving Boston

Rob: Welcome back to the boom boom boom Road to Unbound. I am your orange bespeckled. Is that a word?

Chris Carolan: Bespeckled.

Rob: Host. Is that a scrabble word? Rob, Mayor of Unbound Jones. I'm joined by my two greatest friends in this universe or any other, the one bearded wonder, Chris Carolyn, and the hatted hoodie color matching, the human.

Chris Carolan: Not orange wearing.

Rob: George B, don't ask him what it stands for, Thomas.

George B. Thomas: Benjamin.

Rob: Gentlemen.

Chris Carolan: This is why I'm driving, so you can come up with these great like bespectacled.

George B. Thomas: Bespectacled.

Rob: Bespectacled.

George B. Thomas: Bespectacled. Yeah. Not respectable, not speckled, bespectacled.

Rob: What? Wait, I think I just missed it.

Chris Carolan: Yeah.

Rob: AKA, I am wearing orange glasses on my face and everybody needs to take notice. I understand this may be confusing visually, but so is the new color scheme for Unbound after it's been bright orange for so long. So I'm doing a blend of both, guys. I'm doing the orange glasses.

George B. Thomas: There you go.

Rob: I have the pink background. I think if you, I didn't do very well in primary school or with colors in general, but I think this makes like the neon purple color scheme they're going for. Are we close here?

Chris Carolan: You're close. Yeah, you just need more purple, but you're close.

Rob: I need some more purple. Got it. Um, yeah, we're here on the Road to Unbound today and as a teaser for content we'll be releasing very soon. I Chris, I literally just shared the Google Drive with you.

Chris Carolan: I received it.

Rob: Chris and I, Chris and I got to speak with a headliner for the conference yesterday, Mr. I'm not going to tell you his name, but it rhymes with Ray Meddleson.

George B. Thomas: Oh, wow. If they don't get that, then come on. Like, he's got a great name. Um.

Rob: Yeah. So we talked with Jay yesterday. He's spoken at several conferences.

George B. Thomas: Isn't he a part-time postal worker? Like, doesn't he send mail? Or like, talk about sending mail?

Rob: He. Yeah, he one of his businesses, he has a few, is subjectline.com. He tests a lot of email. A lot of the things he finds are very interesting and useful and he does a lot of the stuff. AB testing so that you don't have to. And so he's got a super useful newsletter he puts out. He just wrote a book. He does all of the things. I found the conversation to be him putting me down a lot, which I, you know, humbly accepted coming from I had a lot of feedback for myself.

George B. Thomas: So he played George?

Rob: He played George.

George B. Thomas: He played George on the episode?

Rob: He did. Yeah, he did a very hilarious job.

Chris Carolan: He knew the assignment. He knew exactly who his audience was.

George B. Thomas: There we go. There we go.

Rob: Yeah. Um, he's great. Chris, your biggest takeaway from the conversation was.

Chris Carolan: Uh, uh, that was my first time getting to uh, interact with him at all. And um, super humble dude. Uh, and gets it. Like, basically, most of the stuff he's planning to share knowledge-wise, the books that he's writing, what he's going to be talking about at Unbound, is kind of like, take everything you know, throw it out the window. Like, this is what's real for the next five years. Like, so stop, stop messing around. Anybody can get in there and and start creating value. That was my my takeaway. And I look forward to to meeting him in person, like, for sure at the event.

Rob: Yeah, there's um, we've spoken several times. I've went up to him after his talk at Inbound 22, which was what it was called at the time. George, don't buzz me. Um, and just talked to him. He, I don't think was as, I don't know if famous is the right word, but he wasn't a headliner yet. He was just, you know, had a session. And then we met at the VIP club, uh, party thing the next year. I'm saying that because he has been the same every single time I've interacted with him in person or virtually. Very self-deprecating, very humble, very, I mean, he just wrote a book that's coming out on June 9th called Stupider People Have Done It, right? Like, it's 2026, maybe you aren't supposed to say that. Whatever. I all of that has created this like thread of continuity with his personal brand that is I respect a whole lot and I understand. And George, I would put you in the same category. Not the stupider people, you're a brilliant human. But it's somebody who every time I've interacted with virtually, I mean, one of your classes right now, like the cohort for AI learning, it's the same interaction every single time. Same phrases, same ethos, same mannerism, same like all of that is the same. You literally the hat hoodie is the same. Like there is such a value to continuity.

George B. Thomas: Yeah.

Rob: That. Yeah.

Chris Carolan: Because it's the same human every time.

George B. Thomas: Yay. I'm telling you, like, if you show up as a human to help humans and you just are an authentic version of you, stuff works out. Like, and and by the way, Rob, thanks for the shout-out on the AI content system. Um, I'm going to grab that thread and be like, hey, if you're wondering what that is, go to sidekickstrategy.com. July 6th is cohort number two. Save a seat. Okay, that's not why we're here. I'll stop there. I'll stop there. Go ahead.

Chris Carolan: Do it big, folks.

George B. Thomas: Yeah, yeah.

Rob: It's very big. And I think it was, I'll give another free plug for that. In the first class, somebody stopped and raised their hand and said, you can put it in what mode? Plan mode.

George B. Thomas: Yeah.

Rob: There's a plan mode. All right, that was worth the entire price of the thing just for that, like one sentence. So, definitely worth checking out. But speaking of things to check out, this is Road to Unbound. I had an idea for this episode that Chris voted no to and that's why we don't let him be in charge. But George said yes. So.

Chris Carolan: You need to turn this thing around. I will turn this bus right around.

George B. Thomas: I'll pull you out of the car right now, Mr.

Rob: Are we there yet?

Chris Carolan: Six episodes in, I finally get to say that. I've been waiting for the moment to say that.

George B. Thomas: Oh, that's good.

Rob: That's as good of a time as any. Uh, well done. Well played. I'll turn this damn bus around so fast, you'll get whiplash. Anyway, yeah, we're we're still on the road, uh, temporarily at least. So the idea was, um, for people who may not have been to a conference in the Cambridge, Boston area. People might not, I mean, who knows, have been to the Northeast or the US or any of those things. There's a lot of things that we've been prepping you for with how to attend. Should you attend every session or a certain few? George would say he shows up to be in the hallway to give people individually his time. There's a lot of different things you can do there and Unbound will prep you for that and we'll continue to do so. However, the caveat is, if you're not prepared to just be at a trip, a conference for three or four days, you're I would argue you'd have less of a good time and a good experience if you forget what to bring or maybe you're missing a charger or you don't know where to eat or how to get coffee. The very first thing I typed into Claude was like, Logan International, uh, is very small, but you shouldn't Uber, you should take the silver line, which I have done every time I've been. So stuff like that, like little tips and tricks for the. George, this is your cue. Humans.

George B. Thomas: Oh, see, I wasn't ready for that, but I can give you the. Yeah.

Chris Carolan: Work in progress, folks.

George B. Thomas: Yeah.

Rob: Chemistry is we've been on the bus too long.

George B. Thomas: Yeah.

Rob: Um, but tips for that. I can chime in with a few.

George B. Thomas: I take naps on the road.

Rob: Yeah, I can Chris has got a few. So that was the theme today is uh clippable, shareable hacks. George probably has written about this several times and he's he's going to pull from his own blog on uh on things like this, but maybe it looks different in 2026. How to survive Unbound as a human. George, take it away.

Chris Carolan: And maybe and maybe at the end though, we can get into like last year was a lot about if you've been to Inbound, doesn't matter because this year is going to be in San Francisco. Now this year, back to Boston, but it's now Unbound. So, maybe we can wax a little bit about what that could mean for the in-person experience.

George B. Thomas: Yeah.

Rob: To that to that point, this is very weird and very niche, but if you were there last year, you'll understand what I meant. I've never been to San Francisco. Somebody mentioned uh bring if you have what you consider to be walking shoes, get new ones and bring bananas because you will underestimate the hills and the elevation change in San Francisco and it's a what a weird way to be taken out is to have like cramps from walking at a 45 degree uphill to and from the hotel. That may have been the best piece of advice I got because we had to walk to and from the Moscone Center several times and it was a nightmare. So, those types of things, like you won't know unless you've been, types of insights.

Chris Carolan: Yeah, hotel strategy. Important.

George B. Thomas: Yeah. Yeah. Hotel strategy is is the dopest. I've stayed at multiple hotels. Um, the original Omni, uh, that you then get told that it was haunted, uh, when you're staying there, which is always fun. Uh, been at the Westin, been I probably like five or six different uh, hotels that I've stayed at in Boston. Favorite, Westin. Uh, Westin lobby, Westin lobby bar, uh, the serendipitous, uh, you know, nature of Nicholas Holland or Darmesh Shah or Brian Halligan, uh, or somebody else, uh, you know, uh, Doug Davidov or Remington Beg or whoever. Um, you know, maybe it's Marcus Sheridan or you just never know. Like people walking, maybe it's Rob freaking Jones walking through the like, you know, or Chris. Uh, but there's the serendipity of just being next to everything. Here's the other thing that I will say too. Don't know where I heard this, not even sure if I'm supposed to share it, but, um, oh, I did hear it on a public podcast. I can share this. Okay. Uh, sorry, getting old, having one of those moments. But, uh, they are using some of the Westin again this year for some of the event. So if you are staying at the Westin, you will be able to see some of the things at the BCEC and you'll be able to see some of the things at the Westin, so it does make a really good place to be in the center of all locations. So, so surviving, uh, Unbound. Can I actually just start, uh, 50,000 foot view and be like, hey, if you're planning on coming to Boston for Unbound and it's possible, you might want to, uh, have a day or two before, and and if you're coming for partner day, a day or two before that, um, or a day or two after to be able to do some things and see Boston. This is something that I would actually say about any event because, um, traveling and learning and networking is all good, but actually being able to do things around that is also what might bring you fulfillment and joy in life, in an integrated life where you're actually able to, um, be human for a little bit. I've brought my family there several years and we've been able to do some things along the way. Uh, uh, I can remember having the opportunity of going to Fenway Park, uh, and actually watching, you know, a a a good game, a really good game. Uh, I can tell you that you should definitely take time to go just hang out at the waterfront and there's like some tea party stuff that you can actually check out. Um, there's a great place where you can go and get cannolis and, uh, cookies and, um, is it Mike's? Man, it's failing me, but I think it's Mike's. Um, there's also like a Chinatown in Boston, which a lot of people might not know about that you could check out. There's literally, um, Paul Revere. Uh, you can go and see the Paul Revere place. We've done that. Um, but there's also like, uh, if you if you just do this Google, if you do like, uh, things to do in Boston close to the convention center, because it's not the BCEC anymore. It's actually called something else. Maybe one of you two can Google that for us.

Rob: You should probably.

George B. Thomas: Thomas.

Rob: Thomas M. Menino Convention and Exhibition Center.

George B. Thomas: Yeah. Which is so much easier to say than BCEC. I'm just, I'm just going to throw that out there. Um, but there's like, uh, Breva Spa, if you want a spa day, like before you do Inbound. Uh, obviously the Boston waterfront. There's Laugh Boston, so maybe you want to go see some like, you know, if you like this show, you like slapstick, you like comedy, you might want to go check that out. Um, there's just there's a again, Boston Tea Party ship. Uh, one of the things that I really remember and love too is just some of the food in Boston. So, um, turn up the double D drive-through, you know, the Guy Fieri show, uh, and be like, hey, what what, uh, where did he go in Boston? Uh, I can tell you one of the places is Yankee Lobster and one of my favorite memories is sitting there with about eight people. Building was not built for groups, by the way. But sitting there with about eight people and I had the most, I don't know what to word word to use that doesn't sound sexual right now. Uh, the most fantastic, uh, lobster mac and cheese I've ever had in my life. It was euphoric. I'll use that word. I'll use that word. Uh, it was just. And so, um, what what the moral of the story that I'm trying to get at here, and I have not talked about the event at all. I've not talked about learning at all. I'm talking about the traveling there. I'm talking about being there early. I'm talking about treating yourself to some special memories even before you get into the walls of Unbound. And so, um, I'm curious, Rob, or Chris, have you had, uh, pre or post memory-making opportunities, uh, while you're in Boston at historical Inbound, but this year Unbound that you're like, oh yeah, yeah, like that I would definitely do that again or that's a thing that I loved that I had the opportunity to do.

Rob: Chris, I'll let you go first.

Chris Carolan: Yeah, I am one to always uh, try and create the space for serendipity when I can. Um, and I know a lot of people aren't uh, in a position to do this, but when you can stay until Saturday morning, you know, and like avoid the rush out of there and like, you're going to you're going to meet somebody like for dinner, other people making the same choices, people, Hubspotters that live in Boston. Like, the Maxes of the world that are already nearby. They got they're not going anywhere else. Uh, maybe they can get together, right? Um, so that's usually the space. Uh, uh, and then if you get to go with, you know, um, my wife Isabelle got to join me last year. So that makes it easy to even easier to to spend some extra time, go see some landmarks. Um, things like that. But yeah, creating that space just like the buffer on either side of the week. I I think is huge and also just sets a better tone for me of like, is that big is the mistake that I made? It's hard to call it a mistake. It's still so valuable, but the first time I went in 23, it's like, all right, this is the schedule. And I'm going to.

George B. Thomas: Yeah.

Chris Carolan: I'm going to hit that schedule like right on the money. No. Nope. Like, so starting with a, hey, we're going to have some space here, we're going to have some space here, whatever's going to happen is going to happen. You know, maybe you talk to some people beforehand and set some stuff up, but just be prepared for everybody to kind of be flowing through and, you know, and allow for these these Darmesh moments. Uh, where I haven't had the pleasure yet, but I've heard stories from George, from Nico, like where you like line he's on the street, right? And like you get to say hello. Like that's always been interesting for me as like a differentiator for this experience where everybody's on the same level, right? And and as you were going through that, that uh, that list of names, George, um, there's been a lot of faces, uh, that have changed, uh, you know, in the last couple years. So, interesting to see how that, you know, may or may not mix up the the experience there. But I think one of our goals today and with this series is to doesn't have to be like 100% live. Can do so much leading up to Unbound if you want to have a conversation with somebody you might not normally be able to have a conversation with. You know, some posts on on LinkedIn, some tags and like there's lots you can do beforehand to kind of set yourself up for a a super valuable uh, experience that again, you're unlikely to get like anywhere else on your calendar.

Rob: Yeah, I will uh, I'll take it from here with with uh with something that ends in probably one of the coolest nights I've ever had. So, getting there is one thing, right? Like if you've never flown into Logan International, I would recommend whenever you get out of the airport and go down to the base level where uh ride shares and all that is, if you're staying at the Omni or Westy, Westy. If you're staying at the Omni or Westin, just take the silver line. It's a bus, it's public available, it's free. It drops you off within like a two flights of stairs and you're right there. You'll save 45 bucks on an Uber. It's a, you know, no-brainer. If you're not staying there and you're relegated like downtown, I think I don't know if that's the South end or not, then rebook your hotel and stay at the Omni or the Westin. It is such a incredible advantage to be staying in one of those from everything Chris and George just mentioned. I had a 15-minute conversation with Yamini in the hotel of the Westin like not the second year there. That's, you know, luck, planning, availability, stay at the Westin or the Omni. So that's.

George B. Thomas: Well, well, I just one second, one second. Uh, because I I don't disagree with you. However, let's give somebody a backup plan because by the time they watch this, they might call the Omni and Westin and be like.

Rob: Just tell them you're you're sleeping on the lawn on D. Like I I'm I'm willing to sleep on the lawn.

George B. Thomas: No. So here here's the backup plan. Um, because I I and I'm going to I'm going to transport you back to 2012. Okay? And then I'm going to come back to now and then I'm going to shut up so Rob can finish the story about the most fabulous, uh, night of his life. Okay? So we'll leave you with that little hook. Stay tuned, ladies and gentlemen. So, uh, the second thing here is like if you can't get the Omni and you can't get the, um, uh, Westin, then I would want you to find something that is waterfront. Meaning that when you're sitting in your hotel room late at night, you can overlook the water and you can overlook the sky and the city and you can have moments where you can just like decompress and there's this beauty. The reason I bring this up is in 2012, it wasn't where it is now. It was at a totally different location. We were over in Cambridge and we stayed at a hotel that was right off the water and I'll never forget, it was 2012, it was Zach Basner, it was me. Uh, it was a couple beers with our feet, uh, on a pier, uh, in the water going, wow, how are we here right now? Not knowing what here meant. Woo, getting goosebumps for the future. Right? And so again, I'm I'm just saying like, there's something about being intentional in the setting that you give your eyeballs to view in the times that you're actually standing down from the stuff that you're doing. So, if not Omni, if not Westin, then think waterfront view if possible. Rob, tell you said something about the best night of your life? Like.

Rob: Yeah, so to y'all both mentioned get there a day or two early and stay a day or two late. If you have to pick one, stay an extra day. Period. There are 15,000 or so people flying out of Logan on Friday afternoon, right after the last keynote or before that. Checking out of your hotel is nearly impossible. Traffic is is, I mean, beyond terrible. Actually, the year before last when it was in Boston, they had a strike that was going on. So getting like 0.2 miles in a car took an hour and a half. Um, there are, let's just say, there are complications and potential blockers to leaving Friday, right? Like if you're locked into that and you have somewhere else to be or back home to the family and kids, great. It almost doesn't you really have to hustle to get out of there and and be prepared with like, you know, checking your bag in or whatever to to beat the crowd because there will be a massive crowd. It just to me it makes more sense to plan to be there an extra day. With that in mind, I've done it every time that I've been there. And every Friday of Inbound, Unbound this year, we go to uh do something. My wife's birthday is also like right at this time. So we treat it like a birthday trip, birthday excursion, whatever. I love the Boston Red Sox. We usually go to Fenway and see a game. But, year before last, uh, we were with a group of people who had two birthdays in the group. So we went to a place, it's like what else is there to do? There's tons of stuff with that's like event related. People put on and sponsor a bunch of events at restaurants and and other places. One of them was at a place called Puttshack, right? I live in the South. Putt-putt golf is very much outside and is with a real golf club and a real ball. At Puttshack in Boston, this may not be, you know, news to anyone other than me, but I was blown away. The ball has a chip in it that keeps the score. It's all inside. It is the coolest thing ever. So, Puttshack is something to do if you stay an extra day. Also, there is a Lucky Strike arcade. There's there's tons of stuff to do, but Lucky Strike arcade is like the biggest arcade I've ever been inside of. Bar none ever. So we were with a group of people. Um, we had, you know, been partaking in stuff and beverages and, you know, having birthday fun. And there was a Sonic doll. Like there was a machine at this place that had a life-size, I kid you not, four-foot tall Sonic in it. It was the only thing in the machine. The game was to like do the scissor snip and cut the Sonic, uh, you know, one of those impossible things. I try, I spent probably 30 bucks failing. My wife, whose birthday it was, walks over, swipes her card and nails it on the first attempt. When I say, when I say that the thing opened, like, I I mean, if you've ever seen Stargate, that's what it looked like. Smoke billows out of this machine. Sonic comes out. Staff came over to check on us. We never even thought this was possible. We thought the game was rigged and we work here. So now we have a four and a half foot tall, 30-pound Sonic that we have to somehow either give up or get back to Jackson the next day. I'll save the details of the flight, but we spent the entire next day bringing Sonic with us in the Uber, through TSA, on the airplanes, to everywhere, took photos and videos the entire time. That was something, I mean, to to your point, like where am I going to land this plane? We didn't prep for that, but we put ourselves in the situation to like have additional memories. And so now when I think of the conference, when I think of HubSpot, it's that much more fond because of the things that happened surrounding it.

George B. Thomas: That's the thing.

Rob: I mean, to me, it's a misstep to not create opportunities like that. See, touring Fenway Park, right? One of they weren't there for one of the years we went and we got to go tour the park, which was amazing. Um, it was Mike's Pastry, by the way. Yankee Lobster is a good place, but we've also done a historical ghost tour.

George B. Thomas: One.

Rob: One, you know, one of the days we were there. So there's there's tons.

George B. Thomas: What are the duck tours? Is that like?

Chris Carolan: Yeah, I've been on the duck tours. Yeah.

Rob: Yeah, so there's tons of stuff and to the credit of a lot of the people that have sponsored an afterparty or whatnot, they've been either close to or even in like Puttshack I mentioned was pretty cool, in venues that are either adjacent to or that take advantage of some of the stuff you might want to do anyway. So if you think about how can I be doing something fun and memorable while networking or meeting new people, there are times and places to do that. And if I'm being really, I mean, I Mayor of Inbound has stories I can't tell and weird privileges I don't quite understand. But some of the most impactful things haven't come from in inside of the walls of the BCEC, now called the Thomas M. Menino Convention and Exhibition Center at all. They've come outside of those walls with people who were there for the conference as well. I just think it's an interesting thing to point that out, to not limit yourself by an eight-hour day filled with sessions.

Chris Carolan: Yeah, and we'll definitely have.

George B. Thomas: Hey, let's do this real quick. This came to my mind. Uh, if you are staying at the Omni or the Westin and you are a person who likes to drink coffee and you feel like you want to run on Dunkin' too, please let me save you time because what will happen is you will Google the nearest Dunkin' near me and it'll take you down to the waterfront, which means you'll be walking about four to five blocks to go get your coffee. The news flash is, hopefully it's still there, by the way. Uh, news flash is if you're at the Westin looking at the Omni and you turn right and go towards Lawn D, there is a Dunkin' Donuts right there that you can get your coffee right by the Westin, right by the, what is it called again? Not the BCEC, the name that's easier to say than that.

Rob: Thomas M. Menino Convention and Exhibition Center.

George B. Thomas: There we go. Yeah, it's right next to that instead of cleared on on the waterfront. So that's uh, news flash to know.

Chris Carolan: Okay. To make it easier for us. So I've been talking to the uh, the Unbound agent uh, and maybe we can share some some of those results. But I just asked what is the name of the convention center? It shared it and then in parentheses, MCEC.

George B. Thomas: Oh.

Chris Carolan: Is what it says. So Menino.

Rob: Menino.

Chris Carolan: The last name. Menino Convention and Exhibition Center. I don't know if that's going to stick. It probably has a better chance than Thomas M. Menino Convention and Exhibition Center.

George B. Thomas: MCEC.

Rob: Yeah.

George B. Thomas: Rob, there's a there's a there's a hip-hop song waiting for you to.

Rob: MC.

George B. Thomas: Yeah.

Rob: There's a thing about you.

Chris Carolan: We'll definitely do an episode towards the end like it's uh, it's kind of getting worse is not the right word, but there will be no shortage of posts in August about which happy hours and all that whole schedule that you should attend. So we'll definitely do an episode later later uh, as it gets closer once we have all that information, but that's always a huge opportunity uh, to um, to get some value outside of the event itself.

George B. Thomas: Yep.

Rob: Yeah, agree. So how to get there, where to stay, what you're doing. Again, we're not talking as much about the conference, but there's some other something I should point out as somebody that is now right at six months no alcohol at all. So me. Um, you're going to be talking, I don't know what you do for.

George B. Thomas: Yeah, I was trying. I was trying, but that button was being.

Rob: Sorry. The theme is like delay the response and let's see how I how I do coming up. But if you're somebody like me that was like, I'll have a beer, I'll be social and that turns into, you know, one or two, like alcohol being okay with you or not. It's not good for your voice and unless you're like a podcaster that does this all day, I mean, like you guys can speak to this, that do a lot of content. By the second day, my voice is shot and that is not good for anything. So, like the advice would be, even if you're going to be social and have a drink or a cocktail or whatever, I would strongly recommend limiting that or or planning to have vocal soreness. So bring some honey or cough drops or whatever you bring for that. But alcohol does not help. So there's going to be late nights, there's going to be a lot of networking and talking. It is it's like, I don't understand how I put myself in that position four years in a row to not to be whose job it was to talk to people and to have like a very strained, raspy, you know, no voice at all. So, on the alcohol thing, be careful.

George B. Thomas: So, um, which, you know, to each their own. I might have one or two, don't have any. There's been times I haven't had any. There's but I will say the whole yelling, uh, across people, the whole, uh, too much of the wrong liquids. But you're making me think about this too that I have started to do almost on every trip, by the way, is you'll want to get some of those like, um, vitamin packs, like the liquid, uh, IVs or like the gummies with all like the, you know, uh, 10 billion milligrams of vitamin C. Like what like those things, you know? So, and you take them in the morning, you take them at night. Here's the other thing too. Um, not to be the cat in the hat guy, like, but man, please use like the freaking hand sanitizer stuff and like because I can't tell you the amount of times I've come home from an event and like people, uh, left right in front of me or fallen down like, oh my God, I'm sick this week. And I'm like, hey, I'm good to go. But that's because you got to take care of yourself, fool. You're going to be around a bunch of humans who are like being human. So, and I'm not a germophobe. I'm not like Howie Mandel. By the way, if you go back and count the amount of people that you could tag into this post that I have mentioned names, I am doing a dang good job of mentioning names on this episode. I'm just saying. Howie Mandel, hopefully one day you'll be at Unbound like 2027 or 2028. That would be amazing. Uh, team, let's make that. No, I'm just kidding. I'm no part of the team. I'm no part of the team.

Chris Carolan: My first my first Inbound in 23, uh, there was definitely a uh, a sickness situation uh, after that event that uh, lots of people came back with COVID.

George B. Thomas: Oh, you're not supposed to mention it, man. That'll hurt that'll hurt the algorithm, maybe.

Rob: So algorithm be damned. This is one of the funniest things I've ever heard. Maybe it's kind of on the edge here, but.

Chris Carolan: Authenticity, I think we talked about at the beginning. Yeah.

Rob: Yeah, I would say this anyway. Uh, speaking of tagging people, Max, my buddy Max, we all love Max. Um, please sanitize your hands. After the, I think it was 23, Chris, your point. He let me know that he had uh, gotten sick with COVID and then called Inbound the biggest super spreader event since Wuhan, which I thought was.

George B. Thomas: Oh, jeez. Oh, jeez. Oh my God.

Rob: Which is very if you know him at all, that's very Max, but yeah, like that's that's not the point. The point is hand sanitizer is readily available. It's cheap, if not free, use it. Um, it's a preventive it doesn't make sense not to, especially when you're interacting with, I would wager, a thousand times more people per day than you're used to interacting with. So, make sure you're responsible with that.

George B. Thomas: Do we know if it's still called the spot? Is there is that it used to be like Black and Inbound and then like now it's is is it called the spot? Like, what what is that this year?

Rob: It's three different things. The spot, the sector.

George B. Thomas: Okay. So there's Okay. So and and by the way, I'm just making sure that there's here's the thing. The other thing I'm going to say is take time to find your tribe while you're there. If you're a HubSpot insider, find time to hang out with the other insiders. Uh, Black at Inbound, Christians at Inbound, um, people who wear only purple shoes at Inbound, uh, mayors of Inbound. Like all all the people need to find like their their groups of humans to hang out with. Um, that's that's another important piece of this. Also, by the way, we should mention while you're there, do some learning and networking. Okay, we we covered that part. Okay.

Rob: Yeah, learning, networking, finding your group of people, tribe. I think to George's earlier point about the Westin. We're not this is not sponsored by, I mean, as far as I know, any hotel.

George B. Thomas: Although you can call us Westin C4.

Rob: Yeah, hey, if we get free rooms, you better you better believe we'll be plugging you even more often.

George B. Thomas: This episode brought to you by the best hotel ever.

Rob: Yeah, I I've said this since I was in sales, was a sales manager, said this to kids and whatnot. Like it holds true in a lot of different areas and especially uh a conference. Like sometimes the best ability is your availability. And just being near where other people would naturally gravitate. George mentioned it's the Westin bar. For whatever reason, maybe it just makes the most sense, it's the most organic, it's where people like come down to get ready and, you know, hang out before bed. I would argue that the most interactions, other than the sporting club, which I think is I don't know if it's at the Omni or Westin, but the really nice bar restaurant area, is where people will gravitate.

George B. Thomas: The McKellisters, is that is that what you're talking about?

Rob: It's called TSC. It's the sporting club I know, but I don't know which hotel it's at.

George B. Thomas: So not the Irish pub, because the Irish pub is at the Westin. I love, by the way, they they make a mean uh lobster mac and cheese as well.

Rob: Yeah.

Chris Carolan: And the Westin is connected. Yeah. So we don't have to overthink the part where this is where people.

George B. Thomas: Rob, can I give you why I think the Westin lobby is so amazing?

Rob: Is it there's a big ass TV screen when you walk in?

George B. Thomas: Well, you know how there's like, there's like the Bermuda Triangle and like it's just but this is like a good version of the Bermuda Triangle. Um, one, there's a bar. Two, there's a Starbucks. Three, there's a restaurant. So if you're sleepy, you get coffee. If you want to get a buzz on, you go to the bar. If you're hungry, you go get food and it's all within like 13 or less steps.

Chris Carolan: Maybe from the Westin.

George B. Thomas: Yeah, it's a great triangle right there. Yes, yes.

Rob: It's also completely wide open.

Chris Carolan: Yes. Yes.

Rob: Like all of it is wide open. Yeah, and there's there's a ton of people.

Chris Carolan: It's a nice it's a nice open floor plan. I really like what they did with the place.

George B. Thomas: Oh yeah. And we should move in uh September. What's the dates again? September what at the MCEC?

Rob: September 16th through the 18th. Unbound agent says uh book before August 28th if you can.

Chris Carolan: There we go.

Rob: Book before tomorrow if you can. It's really important.

Chris Carolan: On the 15th, check out on the 19th. See, even the even the Unbound agent says the morning after the final day is when the checkout should happen.

George B. Thomas: I will say, I will say that it is so much better to leave Saturday midday afternoon than trying to run out of the last uh main hall session to run to a cab to in like traffic to then say like, oh my God, I'm going to miss my flight.

Chris Carolan: Anxiety builds, you're trying to like focus on Tom Brady and you're just like, all right, when am I going to like, when I got to beat the rush? Like, yeah.

Rob: So that's a neat idea at that point, right? Like you can only control so much and a lot of that exit strategy is outside of your control entirely. I mean, one year, um, it was kind of forced on us. We had like decided to stay and leave Saturday midday. But a lot of people that were, you know, we knew and were there were going to try to leave Friday. And there was like a horrible thunderstorm. I'm sure George, you were probably around for this, but there was like incredibly inclement weather that forced a lot of people to stay. And we ended up staying in the Westin Hotel uh lobby until like 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning playing cards and and talking. It was another one of those like core memories of the conference. Um, so in I know we're getting close to time here. Uh, there's specific things I would argue to do before you even go, which would be like debt hotels, make sure it has waterfront or is one of the places we mentioned. Um, plan the trip one or two days before, one or two days after. Like while you're there, you might as well see some stuff. It is Boston, Cambridge. Treat yourself. Like do it. Um, when you get there, right? Just be mindful of like there's a free option that takes you directly to where you need to go. So keep that in mind. Um, during the conference, which we have spoken at length about before and we'll continue to do so. We're going to keep that part separate for now. I will say take care of yourself. So sanitize your hands, hydrate, drink uh what was it George? The billion milligrams of vitamin C. That's needed. Um, and then alcohol sparingly just for your voice if for any other reason. And then stuff to do as far as like what are the attractions? There's ghost tours, there's Fenway, there's the duck tours, there's like all all manner of stuff, arcades that will be in general adjacent to the quote unquote professional stuff you're already doing. Like, to me, if you have people from work doing something that's outside of a happy hour, it's worth it. Right? Like bond with your team, your colleagues, your friends, your wife. Hello, like we make an important decision to do that every time. Um, and then you can come back and talk to us after we do a follow-up show uh after Chris turns this damn bus around and kicks all of us off. Chris, George, what did I miss on the recap?

George B. Thomas: No, no, I don't I think you're good.

Rob: Damn.

George B. Thomas: I think.

Chris Carolan: That's keep keep watching and listening on on the way to Unbound for endless endless tips on the way there.

Rob: One of our uh upcoming episodes, um, by the way, we'll we'll have Jay's interview. We're going to hopefully get a couple more important guests. Wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more. Don't know what I'm supposed to say. But Chris and George are going to uh morph into Hubterior decorators, uh inspired by the very open floor plan that is the Westin lobby. So, stay tuned for that.

Rob: And that's all.