Day three of Sage Summit Atlanta was a knockout – pun intended!
The last day packed a punch, featuring keynote speaker and two-time heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman.
Keynote kickoff
Foreman captivated our audience with a motivational overview of his life – detailing his rough beginnings in Houston, TX, to his unconventional path to winning an Olympic medal, to his big wins and losses in the ring. For someone who “never wanted to fight,” he shared how memories of being told he wouldn’t amount to much pushed him to become the best boxer despite “not wanting to get hit.” He also shared rare stories of his post-boxing career, like why he got into sales and how his uber-successful association with the “lean, mean, fat-reducing grilling machine” George Foreman grill.
The Big Give Live winners
Congratulations to Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta on winning $15K, sponsored by our friends at Philanthropitch.org! The Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta pitched to a panel of partners, Sage colleagues and Sage CEO Stephen Kelly for a chance at a cash donation.
AI and bots: The future of the future
Josh Browden, the Red Robin of the Internet, chatted with our VP of AI and Bots Kriti Sharma about his DoNotPay, the first chatbot that allows motorists to appeal their parking tickets automatically – down to creating an official legal document stating your defense. Knowing that the success of all future chatbots will depend on how functional they are for their users, Josh encouraged emerging engineers to focus on creating bots that solve big problems.
Hassan Sawaf, an AI veteran with over 20 years of experience in research, development, and management of Human Language Technology (HLT) and pattern recognition, gave his unique predictions on how creating AI and voice recognition will get easier for engineers, and more dynamic for users.
Embrace technology and thrive
Robert Terseck joined to talk about digital disruption and transformation, and why small businesses should adopt early. With more than 25 years of experience in designing and launching digital services, Robert gave examples of future applications of digital disruption within the retail industry and how this type of disruption will permeate throughout society sooner than we think.
Session highlights
Design to Grow: How Can Any Company Learn to Use Design as a Growth Strategy and Become a Design-Driven Company?
What is “good” design and how can you use it to drive scale and agility? David Butler shared how design can and should influence multiple aspects of your business, and used examples from his experience with big brands like Coke.
How to easily attract and retain your dream customer
Your ideal customer should be one who finds value in what you offer and is willing to pay the price for it. Small business coach Niquenya Collins offered advice on how to identify the characteristics of your ideal customer and how to target them. Spoiler alert: it’s not just about Facebook!
It’s been an information and fun-packed week! If you didn’t catch it all or need a refresher, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Periscope. You can also search #sagesummit across all social media for coverage from our showroom, live interviews, and fun behind the scenes.
See you next year!
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