“Thought-provoking. Engaging. Fantastical. Fascinating.” 

No, we’re not regurgitating adjectives commonly used to describe the latest discoveries published by Forbes or the Harvard Business Review, these reviews come straight from Chicago, IL at the site of the Customer Success Festival in November 2023.

In November 2023, we touched down in the Windy City with two goals: To unite customer success professionals and help establish a common understanding of customer success. Too often we speak to customer success professionals of all seniority levels, and they all come back saying the same thing: “I didn’t realize other people are experiencing the same issues our team has been having.” 

The Customer Success Festival is a series of global events on an international tour, and we stopped in Chicago to unite over 100 Midwesterners to talk and learn about customer success. It was a riot, and we can’t wait to fly back to Chicago in November 2024.

If you happened to miss out on attending this strategy-saturated, eureka-inducing, networking haven, then find out what others who attended have to say. 👇

What CSMs loved about Customer Success Festival Chicago

We can toot our own horn as loud as possible, but really, it doesn’t matter what we say; it all comes down to our speakers and attendees – they’re the ones who make our conferences worth a dime. Without them, we’d be nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada. 

So don’t just take our word for it, let’s hear how two of our esteemed attendees found the event:

Patrick Nottingham, Customer Success Leader: 

“Impressive. Very informative, engaging, incredible networking, incredible people, incredible content.”
“What I really liked and what I've taken away is there are a lot of different verticals, a lot of different industries. Being able to kind of take those small nuggets of what makes each of those industries really tick, really work, and translate it to our own industry has been really impressive.”

Nichole Ray, Senior Customer Success Manager at Macorva: 

“It's been really great. It's been awesome to hear from customer success leaders about their experience and advice. advice that they would give to us.”
Top customer success events to attend in 2023
When we started Customer Success Collective back in 2021, it was with the ambition to establish a centralized hub for CSMs and CS leaders to learn, network and exchange expertise. Within our first year, we put on three virtual customer success events and we certainly got the bug for it!
Customer Success CollectiveGrace Gupta

What were the key takeaways from Customer Success Festival Chicago?

At the end of our two-day bonanza, we wanted to know what nuggets of intel people would be walking away with, and taking back to their office. 

But with 20 speakers and 15 sessions – all varying from the retention crisis and training CSMs to interactive panel discussions and the evolution of business reviews – there’s a lot to digest. A heck of a lot.

But in the interest of brevity, we spoke to two of our attendees to find out their salient highlights:

Samantha Mager, Senior Customer Success Manager at Macorva: 

“I think one of the most important things that I've taken away from today is that the problems or issues that we see in our organization are experienced elsewhere, too. It’s nice to have solidarity with other CS professionals and hear how they're also tackling those problems at their organization.”

Cristy Rahman, Customer Success Professional & Strategist

“The number of takeaways that I have ranges from value realization, to how empathy can impact the entire customer experience, right down to how leaders can hire the best customer success professionals for their organization."
Why customer success and product teams must communicate
In the fast-paced world of customer-centric businesses, the symbiotic relationship between Customer success and product management teams is not just a nice to have; it’s a necessity. The key to elevating the customer experience lies in the seamless integration of these two vital departments.
Customer Success CollectiveJess Galenski

Why should customer success professionals attend a Customer Success Festival?

If 2023 was anything to go by, 2024 is going to be even busier, and even more hectic. 

It’s so easy to get bogged down in your day-to-day routine you can often forget to stick your head above ground and take in the fresh air. Learning and development, continual personal development – whatever you want to call it, is essential to your own well-being. 

So if you’ve felt like you could do with a “reset,” or you need help with a complex onboarding problem you can’t seem to solve, or you just want to expand your own network, our series of Customer Success Festivals are your golden ticket. 

Nichole Ray, Senior Customer Success Manager at Macorva: 

“I think there are a few reasons why someone should attend an event like this. 

“If someone's new to customer success, then this is a really great place to understand the different pathways they could take toward a leadership role or the various ways to tackle common problems that arise. 

“And when it comes to CS leaders, this event offers great networking opportunities and a way to meet other leaders and learn from them.”

Cristy Rahman, Customer Success Professional & Strategist:

“There aren’t a lot of customer success conferences out there today. Coming to a conference where a number of professionals in the space and different organizations get together and talk about their specific experiences.

“To give you an example: being able to thrive in your role is so important to your professional career. So if that's something that you're passionate about, come to a Customer Success Festival.”

Samantha Mager, Senior Customer Success Manager at Macorva: 

“I think just having the opportunity to network with other CS professionals is the biggest selling point. To touch on what Nichole said earlier, this event has been great to be able to visualize the different pathways possible in a customer success career and gain experience and insights from other organizations, and other industries. 

“I think there's a lot of power and collaboration at work here. The fact that Customer Success Collective provided this opportunity to do that with so many different individuals… to me, it was a no-brainer.”

Patrick Nottingham, Customer Success Leader: 

“If you want knowledge bombs with great people you got to come here.”

Considering attending a Customer Success Festival?

Whatever the location, we’re on a world tour across the US, Europe, and Australia to bring together the best and brightest minds in customer success. 10 in-person events. 🌎

Nine cities. Two virtual conferences. One mission: To elevate the customer success function. 

Are you in?

Can’t wait? Access footage from every single event immediately.

Experience it beforehand with a CSC membership plan, which offers access to previous in-person and virtual event footage, including Chicago, OnDemand, entirely accessible from the comfort of your computer!