Drive Top 5 (According to the Exit Five Team)
After Drive, we jammed out as a team on our highlights. And since we couldn’t help but notice all the feedback pouring in from attendees on LinkedIn, we pulled in some of that too. Here’s what we’re feeling and seeing after this year’s event.
1. Key takeaway: Humanity is the differentiator
I keep coming back to the appetite in that room for real examples from real people, a real desire to not only talk to AI. Yes, we’re going to use AI tools to run the back end of the business. But to win customers, you have to be more human than ever. The best example courtesy of Ann Handley: If a sewer district in Ohio can build a brand voice sharp enough to cut through the noise, the rest of us have no excuse.
Ann also challenged the room to stop asking what you need to do more of, and start asking what deserves more of you. One treats you like an engine, the other like a resource worth protecting. Seth Godin reminded us to be driven by our customer, not our process, because AI can’t fake that. Louis Grenier turned the volume up on intensity, to stand the f*ck out, you need to take risks and try things that others won’t.
For a room full of high-achievers and perfectionists – Kara Hardin provided the permission slip most of us needed: it’s okay to be a complex human with conflicting goals and desires.
Her fix was simple, not easy: laugh, cry, sleep, take care of yourself. Stop seeking external advice. With all your context and experience – you’re the expert you need.
2. The atmosphere was perfect for relationship building
Breakfast on the terrace at The Lodge.
Dan put it best: the combination of the venue, the layout, and the atmosphere, all worked together to make this year click. Being in the mountains felt welcoming in a way that’s hard to manufacture. Even the weather played a part. It threw a few things off, but a little rain and wind later replaced by sunshine, and campfires outside in the evenings, it all added up to a setting that got people to slow down and connect with each other. Not to mention the views from the terrace…
Inside the venue worked well too. The restaurant allowed people to break into small-group conversations instead of funneling everyone into one big room, and multiple bar setups spread across the property meant people never had to crowd into a single space to meet and connect. Overall, the hotel was adaptable to the format, and captured the summer camp backdrop we were going for.
3. Growing to 400 people made Drive feel more connected (not crowded)
The lobby abuzz with marketers doing what they do best!
A few of us on the team were worried that growing Drive from 200 to 400 people would kill the small-group feel we’d built. Anna put it like this: at 200 people over three days, you start seeing the same faces by day three. At 400 attendees, you were still meeting someone new at the afterparty on the last night.
One of our own team members sat down at an empty table for lunch, thinking she may end up eating alone. Instead, people kept joining until it was a full table of all kinds of marketers, comparing notes across industries and session learnings.
Sheery shared an example of two attendees who came from a 40-person team at a traditional bank, sent by their CMO. One had no traditional marketing background, she’d transitioned from the pharmaceutical world, and came to Drive for ideas and inspiration from real marketers.
The teammates split up to cover more workshops, and even where the content didn’t map directly back to banking, they knew how they’d translate it for their industry. They shared a few words on the connection they saw taking place at Drive: “Everyone was talking to somebody. I rarely saw anybody on their own. The community here was very profound.” We love that.
4. Hikes, bikes, and s’mores beat the conference room
B2B marketers hiking in Stowe, VT. (Photo: Courtesy of hikers)
The best moments of the week happened on the hiking trails, around the fire pits, and even on rented bikes people took out to cruise downtown Stowe. Matt put it simply: bonding over that stuff is just more fun than being stuffed into a conference room. Our workshop speakers ran some incredible breakouts, but watching the fun, vacation side of people come out made the week memorable.
Some of the most impactful connections happened between coworkers who barely knew each other. One team shared that even though the five of them work at the same company, they never get to work together – and spending the week in Stowe made it fun. One marketing leader brought seven people from her team, last minute, and for a lot of them it was the first time meeting in person. It just so happened to be a B2B marketing conference. For many, it was just a really fun trip.
5. These conversations aren’t happening on LinkedIn
100+ marketers speed networking on the village green.
Most conferences you attend for the takeaways, a new framework, a stat for a slide. Connections are usually a bonus. At Drive, the realest material came from strangers being honest with each other on the village green, during meals and activities, and in the workshop sessions.
One attendee shared how what struck them most was how different those conversations felt from LinkedIn. No one posturing about being AI-pilled or how their agents did all the work. People talked about what’s working and where they’re struggling, seeking input, eager to help.
Drive CEO Allison Saxon reflected on how, during speed networking, 104 attendees shared stories beyond marketing – from meeting their spouse over a shared interest in lava, or how a journalism career took them to Siberia to cover reindeer breeding. People discussed hobbies and passions – but also existential feelings about AI and the world, what they’re building, and their blockers.
Some got into the weeds: Where are you publishing your transcript so it gets picked up? What tool are you using, and what does it cost? How do you write a tagline for a multi-product company? Real, candid challenges without the polish.
We like to think that when you set out for Drive, you leave your ego at home. One attendee posted in the WhatsApp group thirty minutes before dinner, “who wants to talk about AI use cases over dinner?” Fifteen people said count me in. It felt like everyone already knew each other. That’s the vibe of B2B marketing we tried to capture with Drive this year.
So, who’s in for next year?
