At the B2B Expo podcast, Antonia Ferrero, CFO of her LLC Dragonfly Financial Consulting with 30+ years across industries including tech, discusses why cross-functional relationships fail when departments don’t communicate, harming both external customers and internal “customers” (employees and executives). She emphasizes transparency, empathy, and understanding other teams’ pressures (sales quotas, marketing’s big-picture messaging, finance’s service and process needs) to streamline workflows and improve results. Ferrero recommends asking, “What can we do to help each other?” and encouraging teams to learn each other’s roles through job shadowing and sitting in on executive meetings for context. She outlines a leadership philosophy of teaching, sharing wins with the team, taking responsibility for faults, and leading by example. Her advice: work hard, keep learning, ask for help, build confidence, and stay empathetic.

00:00 Meet Antonia Ferrero
01:43 Why Departments Disconnect
03:24 Internal Customers Matter
05:36 Asking Better Questions
07:33 Leaders Normalize Curiosity
08:49 Job Shadowing Builds Empathy
11:05 Leadership Versus Bossing
12:09 Leading by Example Story
14:58 Advice for Aspiring Leaders
17:08 Closing Thanks and Wrap

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At the B2B Marketing Expo, Alex, who leads go-to-market at SlashExperts, explains the company’s focus on building trust through “social proof” by connecting existing customers directly with prospects to generate leads, speed sales cycles, and provide insights. He shares the founding story: founder Brayden Young (formerly of Sendoso) saw that prospects increasingly resist demos and trust customers more than salespeople. Alex discusses survey findings from 450+ GTM leaders (with Heinz Marketing) showing social proof as a top obstacle and notes deals convert over 3x higher when relevant social proof is delivered within 48 hours versus 3+ days. He describes an upcoming AI agent, Carly, to deliver social proof autonomously and cites customer results of ~25–30% sales-cycle reduction. His key advice: systematize customer references and social proof to avoid late-stage fire drills, while using community and in-person connections to build trust.

00:00 Meet Alex SlashExperts
00:34 Trust And Social Proof
02:02 Founding Story Sendoso
03:48 Expo Themes And Data
05:39 Speeding Up References
05:52 AI Agent Carly
08:16 Experts Network Badges
09:04 Community Builds Trust
10:25 Top Tip Systematize Proof
12:01 Wrap Up And Thanks

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Clarity Coaching for Leaders: Decisions, Fear, and the Human Element of AI

In a conversation at a B2B expo, Veronique explains her work as a clarity coach for CEOs and C-suite leaders who lack a safe space to exchange ideas. She describes “holding the pockets” for clients to unload thoughts, “holding the mirror” to help them decide and stay accountable, and removing “baggage” that blocks progress, often tied to fear—especially fear of rejection and concern about what others will think. She discusses how emotions can derail thinking, the “tyranny of how,” prioritization challenges, and the impact of starting days in reactive email mode. The discussion also covers the prevalence of AI at the expo, the need to balance AI with the human element, and the value of community and in-person connection. Veronique emphasizes daily centering practices, choosing grace, and simple breathing to regulate emotions and reset.

00:00 Meet Veronique
00:14 What a Clarity Coach Does
01:20 Baggage and Taking Risks
02:13 Fear of Rejection
03:40 The Mirror and Decisions
04:12 Tyranny of How
04:38 Time Priorities and Momentum
06:32 Cause vs Effect Mindset
06:59 B2B Expo and AI Everywhere
08:09 Human Element and Community
10:20 What Business Are You In
11:26 Daily Reset Choose Grace
12:46 Breathing to Regulate Stress
13:18 Wrap Up and Thanks

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Todd Krise on Making AI Marketing Accessible for Small Businesses at the B2B Expo

At the B2B Expo, Todd Krise, CEO and founder of MercenaryMarketing.ai, discusses his background in agencies and his focus on supporting small businesses and solopreneurs who often can’t afford traditional retainers or consistent strategic support. He describes building a platform that curates AI tools and plans for a community launching next year called the Mercenary Network, with a future in-person “safe house,” aimed at providing ongoing access to knowledgeable people and increasing clients’ ownership of their digital assets. Todd explains how AI can enable consistency and quality by handling mundane tasks so teams can be more present and human, and he notes that many small businesses need guidance because AI feels nebulous. He also reflects on the rollercoaster of transitioning from agency work to founding a company and shares takeaways from his talk, “How to become your own AI Marketing Agency.”

00:00 Meet Todd Krise
00:28 Mercenary Origin Story
00:57 Marketing for Small Business
02:12 Community and Access
03:24 AI Tools Any Industry
04:36 Human First AI Workflow
05:33 Educating Clients on AI
06:55 Agency to Founder Rollercoaster
08:48 B2B Expo Experience
09:26 Talk Takeaways
11:28 Wrap Up and Thanks

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AMA Las Vegas and Phoenix Leaders Share Chapter Updates and B2B Expo Takeaways

At a B2B Expo, Franisha Hayes, president of the American Marketing Association (AMA) Las Vegas chapter and director of marketing at KMJ Vegas, discusses shaking up a 90-year luncheon-focused chapter by adding evening “fireside chats” centered on personal growth, while continuing monthly luncheons on topics like short-form video and upcoming influencer podcasting. AMA Las Vegas also introduced “play mixers,” including a game-night event. Franisha highlights seeing a booth focused on AI-driven workflows and notes she’ll join an American Advertising Federation panel on how AI is changing creative workflows. She advises that all marketing channels matter but should be used within reason, emphasizing that audiences aren’t always on social and that traditional and in-person networking remain important. The host shares similar changes at AMA Phoenix, including more in-person panels, community partnerships, and evolving board leadership.

00:00 Meet Franisha Hayes
00:48 AMA Vegas Shakeup
01:20 Fireside Chats and Mixers
03:02 Leading Through Change
04:00 Expo Find AI Workflows
05:25 Marketing Advice All Channels
07:05 In Person Connection Matters
08:14 AMA Phoenix Updates
09:46 Phoenix Visit and Wrap

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AI for Small Business: Policies, Training, and ROI-Driven Automation

In this podcast episode, Barry introduces his full-service digital marketing agency and AI-focused consultancy, drawing on a background that includes a film degree, about 20 years at IBM as a product manager, and business consulting. He recaps his expo session on ChatGPT and AI for small business owners, emphasizing why businesses should care about AI and warning that employees may already be using it without guardrails, creating risk around PII and proprietary data; he offers a free internal AI usage policy template. Barry explains “AI-enabled” as using AI to improve daily work, sharing a workflow using Read.ai transcripts and ChatGPT as a sales coach and to generate meeting decks, while keeping humans in the loop. He outlines his methodology: baseline assessment, customized training, mapping tasks step-by-step, identifying automation opportunities, selecting off-the-shelf vs custom tools, and estimating ROI, plus establishing an internal AI council for ongoing strategy, adoption, customer communication, and talent attraction. He closes by urging businesses to use AI not only for cost savings but also to create new revenue-generating offerings from customer data insights.

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Ellen Robinson on Bespoke Executive Coaching and Closing Stress Cycles to Prevent Burnout

At the B2B Expo, executive coach Ellen Robinson of Robinson Coaching Group describes her 15 years of bespoke leadership and team development work, grounded in adult development theory to assess where clients are and tailor frameworks to their maturity and leadership readiness. She explains that beyond learning skills, leaders must address what holds them back and avoid being limited by strengths. For her 25-minute expo talk, Robinson focuses on burnout, noting common leadership fixes like delegation, prioritization, and clearer communication, but emphasizing the need to close stress cycles to prevent chronic cortisol buildup. She shares using brief moments of creativity without purpose or outcome to express oneself and regain perspective. Robinson recounts her high-stress background at Frito-Lay, Pepsi, managing the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche business operations, and a SaaS startup that led to burnout, prompting her transition into credentialed coaching.

00:00 Meet Ellen Robinson
00:51 Bespoke Coaching Approach
01:10 Adult Development Framework
02:29 Burnout Talk Preview
03:32 Closing Stress Cycles
05:20 Expo Impressions
06:22 From Pepsi to Sports
07:04 Burnout to Coaching Pivot
07:46 Curator of Growth
10:01 Wrap Up and Thanks

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B2B Expo Marketing Advice: Prioritize, Take Action, and Don’t Rely on Social Media Alone (with Dave Chire, Constant Contact)

At the B2B Expo, Meredith interviews Dave Chire, Director of Small Business Success at Constant Contact and host of the Be A Marketer podcast, about what small businesses are struggling with in marketing. Dave says many feel overwhelmed by noise and pressure to be everywhere, so he encourages prioritizing based on business goals, ignoring cookie-cutter advice, and scheduling non-negotiable time—even 15 minutes a day—to take imperfect but consistent action. He emphasizes momentum, repeating core messages with clarity, and staying consistent because audiences aren’t thinking about your business as much as you are. Dave shares how he uses AI daily to repurpose transcripts and ideas into posts and blogs. His key takeaway: don’t expect social media to do it all; real progress comes from follow-up, one-to-one conversations, and intentionally guiding engagement to next steps.

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At the B2B Expo, career B2B marketer Alex Outwater (formerly at IBM and ADP) shares how he’s bringing enterprise storytelling and product-launch experience to smaller companies trying to break through the noise. He emphasizes that many marketing fundamentals don’t change with scale: clarify your story, differentiation, competitors, and especially the real competitor—status quo—since much B2B buying is emotionally driven by trust, confidence, and empathy. Outwater discusses tailoring one core story for different roles on buying committees and how “jobs to be done” varies across stakeholders like users and finance. He urges attendees not to get distracted by “AI-washing,” to ask tough questions, review contracts and risks, and start with simple AI use cases like content and basic automation—only after ensuring strong, clean data foundations.

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