Final month, group members from Bonfire attended three thrilling conferences: NIL Summit, VidCon, and Collaborative. Let’s take a more in-depth take a look at every of these conferences and listen to from these touring group members as they recount their experiences and share their takeaways!
“It was nice with the ability to share the entire motion occurring at these conferences and provides a enjoyable behind-the-scenes look on our social media pages. I needed our neighborhood to really feel like they have been part of the expertise and will observe alongside as we tackle such thrilling alternatives! We had a blast connecting with so many individuals, from all throughout the nation, and spreading the phrase about what we do right here at Bonfire.”
– Caroline Campbell, Neighborhood Engagement Specialist

NIL Summit

What’s NIL Summit?
The NIL Summit was constructed by student-athletes, for student-athletes. It’s an immersive multi-day skilled improvement expertise and gathering place for faculty sports activities’ most vital stakeholders to share cutting-edge concepts, uncover new pursuits, and discover ways to maximize NIL (Identify, Picture, and Likeness) alternatives to construct their manufacturers and amplify their voices. This was the first ever NIL Summit, and some people from Bonfire have been fortunate sufficient to attend! It occurred on the Faculty Soccer Corridor of Fame in Atlanta, Georgia (June Thirteenth-Fifteenth) and consisted of 350+ student-athlete delegates, 50+ audio system, and 25+ manufacturers.
Why Did Bonfire Attend NIL Summit?
For the primary time ever, faculty athletes can capitalize on their title, picture, and likeness, and Bonfire group members attended NIL to indicate them how they’ll use customized merch to construct their model and/or fundraise for causes they care about.

“That is an thrilling time for collegiate athletes as they’re chartering new territory and are actually in a position to leverage their very own title and likeness! We have been fortunate sufficient to be on the forefront of that, attending the primary ever NIL Summit to assist collegiate athletes learn the way they’ll associate with Bonfire to fundraise and earn a revenue by way of merch. It was an absolute blast chatting with these shiny and passionate athletes the place each had so many concepts for the way they need to impression the world with their concepts, beginning nonprofits, launching merch fundraisers, and creating youth camps of their potential sports activities. It was inspiring to say the least. I related personally with many athletes who are actually not solely associates on social, however are additionally within the works to launch Bonfire campaigns. Be looking out for once they launch!”
– Hannah Bass, Creator Enterprise Growth Consultant
VidCon

What’s VidCon?
VidCon is an annual conference for the world’s main digital creators, platform innovators, followers, media professionals, and types to converge all collectively in a single place, in actual life. This 12 months VidCon occurred on the Anaheim Conference Middle in Anaheim, California (June twenty second – twenty fifth), had round 50,000 attendees, and some members of the Bonfire group have been there!
“Attending Vidcon for the primary time was such a surreal expertise. It was so cool to see a few of the creators I’ve watched on-line for years, meet a few of the creators and brokers in individual that I’ve helped launch merch for over time, and join with so many new creators who’re concerned about our platform.”
– Raegan Thatcher, Creator Gross sales Marketing consultant

Why Did Bonfire Attend VidCon?
Enormous numbers of on-line creators collect at VidCon yearly, and Bonfire was there to attach with them and unfold the phrase about how they’ll make the most of customized merch to proceed constructing their model, develop their fanbase, and/or fundraise for causes they really feel strongly about. David Adley, Bonfire’s VP of Gross sales and Buyer Assist, gave a chat at VidCon that targeted on How To Use Your Story to Promote Your Merch.

“Promoting merchandise has change into such an integral a part of the creator journey, and it was extremely gratifying attending to current at VidCon about how creators could make their drops a lot extra impactful by way of nice storytelling.”
– David Adley, VP – Gross sales & Buyer Assist
Watch David current at Vidcon right here!
Collaborative

What’s Collaborative?
Collaborative, hosted by Stylish, is a two-day expertise devoted to nonprofit professionals. With a give attention to fundraising and expertise, audio system, panelists, and workshop facilitators discover the rising tendencies in fundraising and the way technological developments can be utilized to assist organizations increase extra.

“Collaborative was a good time to listen to from nonprofits doing wonderful work. To see the challenges and alternatives that they’re seeing sooner or later lets us be taught and perceive how Bonfire can serve their wants.”
– Josh Kelly, PR Supervisor
The convention unites changemakers, launches much-needed conversations and affords workshops and actionable takeaways, all targeted on fundraising and expertise. The objective of Collaborative is to supply methods and enterprise insights for everybody within the social sector. The convention occurred in Philadelphia from June Fifteenth – sixteenth.
“Our participation in associate conferences just like the Stylish Collaborative is a useful a part of the brand new consumer acquisition and buyer retention processes at Bonfire. In a 48-hour interval, our group had a number of high-impact conversations with organizations together with: Fb, GoFundMe, Charity Dynamics, St. Baldrick’s Basis, The ALS Affiliation, & The Trevor Challenge. The quantity of worth we gained from attending the 2022 Stylish Collaborative will come to gentle within the coming months (as we work on the alternatives generated), however suffice it to say Bonfire’s funding on this convention was cash properly spent.”
– Ryan Nelson, VP – Enterprise & Partnerships

Why Did Bonfire Attend Collaborative?
By attending Collaborative, the Bonfire group had the chance to talk instantly with greater than 500 like-minded people within the nonprofit world. This helped us proceed to create connections and develop our neighborhood of nonprofits who’re additionally searching for to construct a kinder world.

“I had an unbelievable time at Stylish Collaborative! Assembly organizational leaders in individual was such a enjoyable expertise. There have been so many individuals there who do extremely inspiring work. Sharing Bonfire in actual time gave me an opportunity to dive into an org’s particular wants with them and discover alternatives the place attire fundraising will be useful. Each time I get the prospect to do it once more, I’m going!”
– Maggie Paynter, Peer to Peer Specialist
At Bonfire, we’re all the time on the lookout for new and higher methods to serve our neighborhood. Attending these conferences helped us unfold model consciousness, join with new sellers, and keep updated on what creators and nonprofits want from us to be as profitable as attainable. We’re grateful for alternatives like these and look ahead to attending extra conferences sooner or later!
