Mark and Catherine Graham kickoff the 2016 skucon Chicago conference at The Virgin Hotel.

Our guest today is Gill Thorpe, CEO and Managing Director of UK based The Sourcing Team. Gill got her start in the promotional products industry in 1996 and built The Sourcing Team into one of the country’s most innovative distributors. Gill and her team are in the eye of the Brexit Storm so who better to help us wrap our heads around what this means for the promotional products industry in Europe, North America and the rest of the world.

Through learning to brainstorm with others, you’ll be surprised by how your BIG IDEAS can suddenly evolve and take a different shape than how the idea was originally presented – and, with the help of others – maybe even get you past obstacles holding you back.

In this episode of skucast we’re going to spend some time with one of our most recent additions to the commonsku team, Joe Kemple. Joe is joining Aaron Kucherawy as a customer success representative and we couldn’t be more excited to have him on board!

This episode is all about content. We are going to talk about how to create excellent content and why this matters to the modern promotional products professional. Our guest is Kirby Hasseman, President of Hasseman Marketing and Communications. In addition to Kirby’s successful distributor business, he is also a speaker, blogger, podcaster, video personality and author. Kirby talks to us about how he balances the demands of running a business with these content efforts. We’ll also discuss the impact content has had on his business and how you can get started today with your own content program.

Our guest today is Patrick McHargue. Patrick is a promo industry innovator and co-founder of PromoPlacement, the industry's leading search and placement firm. In today’s episode we are going to explore the world of hiring and Patrick will share his hiring playbook.

Our guest today is Ben Baker, President of Your Brand Marketing in Richmond, British Columbia. We talk about the ins and outs of trade shows and how they can generate high ROI. Ben explains exactly what you need to do before, during, and after a trade show to ensure positive results from your investment.

Our guest this episode is the talented graphic designer at RIGHTSLEEVE, Regan McDonell. Regan talks about how her designs have revolutionized the company, allowing them to stand out in the crowd of similar promotional product companies in the industry.

For anyone who has been trained on the commonsku software platform, they will be very familiar with our guest this episode. Aaron Kucherawy is commonsku’s Customer Success Manager and is responsible for training distributors on the platform, fielding support questions and offering comic relief to anyone in need.

Our guest today is Tonia Allen Gould, Founder and CEO of Tagsource. Tonia’s journey is a fascinating one and involves the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, all par for the course for most entrepreneurs in the industry. She will be sharing her story this summer at skucon Chicago on July 12, but this episode will whet our appetites for what’s in store.