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The essential conference for customer success leaders.

October 8-9, 2025   |   Chicago, Illinois

 

 

 

 

 

Customer growth starts here.

 

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MEET THE SPEAKERS
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see agenda
MEET THE SPEAKERS

Session snapshots

Learn from leaders who’ve built customer growth through scale, disruption, and transformation. 

KEYNOTE

The Future of Software, AI’s Hype and Opportunity, and What Still Matters.

Godard Abel

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BREAKOUT SESSION

Onboarding That Scales: Setting the Stage for Long-Term

Emily Alexander ZERO-IN 2025

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See the full agenda.

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BREAKOUT SESSION

Getting Your Managers to Step Up and Prevent Costly Problems Before They Start
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BREAKOUT SESSION

You’re Defining Success All Wrong
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KEYNOTE - PANEL

Day one

Designing CS Teams that Delivers with The Customer Success Talent Playbook

The customer success talent playbook 2025

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BREAKOUT SESSION

From Guardrails to Growth: Reimagining the CS Advocacy Power Duo with AI-Powered Trust

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Customer training day.

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WORKSHOP

From Yellow to Gold: Turning Medium-Risk Customers into Revenue Drivers

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Meet the speakers

WORKSHOP

Revenue Drivers: Building a Customer Success Strategy for Growth
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PANEL

Revenue Metrics that Matter to the C-suite & the Board

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“This was, without a doubt, the best conference I have ever attended.”  — Ellie P., Customer Success Director

The Location

Revel Motor Row, located at 2400 S. Michigan Ave, is a Chicago landmark and iconic South Loop location, steps from McCormick Place. Built in the 1930’s by architect Philip Maher, the building was previously home to the Chicago Illinois Automobile Club and the Chicago Defender.

Revel Motor Row

KEYNOTE

The Future of Software, AI’s Hype and Opportunity, and What Still Matters.

G2 CEO Godard Abel joins ChurnZero’s You Mon Tsang for a candid conversation about the evolving software landscape, the real opportunities around AI, and the timeless principles that still drive success.

SPEAKER

  • Godard Abel, Co-founder and CEO, G2
  • You Mon Tsang, CEO and Co-founder, ChurnZero

BREAKOUT SESSION

Onboarding that Scales: Setting the Stage for Long-Term Success

Onboarding isn’t a one-size-fits-all process; it sets the tone for the entire customer relationship. In this session, you’ll learn how to design an onboarding process that scales with your business while still delivering the foundation for a strong, lasting relationship. You’ll explore how to balance efficiency with engagement, define the right milestones and metrics, and create a repeatable framework that drives retention and long-term success.

Key takeaways

  • How to build a scalable onboarding process
  • Milestones and metrics that matter
  • Setting the tone of the relationship

SPEAKER

Emily Alexander: VP of Customer Success, WelcomeHome Software

BREAKOUT SESSION

Moving Beyond Fire Drills: How to Get Your Managers to Step Up and Prevent Costly Problems Before They Start

Too many managers are thrown into leadership roles without the tools or training to succeed, and the result is costly, chaotic, and frustrating. In this session, you’ll find out how to shift from reactive management to proactive leadership development using strategies you can implement right now. You’ll uncover practical, low-resistance ways to grow your managers, reduce workplace stress, and future-proof your organization’s talent pipeline without adding more complexity or cost.

Key takeaways

  • Three low-cost strategies to upskill your managers using tools you already have
  • How to spot and fix development gaps before they lead to burnout and intervention
  • Why building real leadership capability is key to long-term impact and financial success

SPEAKER

Megan Robinson: Founder and CEO, E Leader Experience

BREAKOUT SESSION

You're Defining Success All Wrong

Most CS teams are chasing the wrong definition of success, and it’s holding them back. In this session, you’ll reframe success from the customer’s point of view, uncovering where internal assumptions lead to missed expectations, shallow adoption, and stalled growth. You’ll walk away with a practical framework to realign your team, focus on what truly matters, and turn clear outcomes into long-term value.

Key takeaways

  • How common success myths limit retention, adoption, and expansion
  • A practical framework for defining success through the customer’s lens
  • Ways to connect real outcomes to advocacy, growth, and long-term value

SPEAKER

Chris Sachs: VP of Value Enablement, seoClarity

KEYNOTE SESSION 

Designing CS Teams that Deliver with The Customer Success Talent Playbook

What makes a world-class customer success team? Six award-winning CS leaders answer that question in a rapid-fire series of talks—each sharing insights from their new book The Customer Success Talent Playbook. From recruiting to retention, these actionable strategies will help you design a CS org that scales with strength.

Key takeaways

  • How to recruit with purpose and create exceptional candidate experiences
  • Ways to standardize titles and compensation for fairness and scale
  • Why career paths, culture fit, and inclusion are essential for retention
  • How to tap into community, networking, and continuous learning to grow your team

SPEAKERS

  • Swati Garg: CEO of Melo Associates, Top 10 Recruiting Experts by USA Today and Serial Entrepreneur
  • Parul Bhandari: Customer success consultant, Inc.com columnist, and founder of South Asian Success
  • Elizabeth Blass: Two-time CCO transforming CS at scale
  • Ejieme Eromosele: Customer-led growth expert and founder of Success in Black
  • Kristen Hayer:  CEO of The Success League and host of Success League Radio
  • Julie Fox: Global CS leader, expert in scaling customer experience

BREAKOUT SESSION

Guardrails to Growth: Reimagining the CS Advocacy Power Duo with AI-Powered Trust

When requests for references or case studies show up, CSMs often sidestep. But what if it doesn’t have to be that way? This session explores how to shift the CS–Advocacy dynamic from tension to alignment. You’ll learn how to turn customer storytelling into a strategic advantage, using AI to surface trust signals and success stories that support onboarding, adoption, and retention. With real-world examples and insights, you’ll see how to automate the handoff and build a flywheel of value across CS and Marketing—no spreadsheets required.

Key takeaways

  • How advocacy content can help CSMs accelerate onboarding, boost adoption, and reduce churn
  • Ways to inspire CS teams to contribute to advocacy without adding overhead
  • How AI can identify customer success stories and advocacy opportunities automatically

SPEAKER

Dana Alvarenga: VP of Customer Experience, SlapFive

WORKSHOP SESSION

From Yellow to Gold: Turning Medium-Risk Customers into Revenue Drivers

Most teams focus their time on red or green accounts, but what about the yellow ones? In this hands-on workshop, you’ll learn why medium-risk customers hold overlooked potential for both retention and revenue growth. You’ll walk through real-world customer scenarios and leave with clear strategies to refine your health scoring and interventions.

Key takeaways

  • Why medium-risk (“yellow”) customers are often the most strategic segment in your portfolio
  • How to use the bell curve model to identify, prioritize, and act on yellow accounts
  • How to spot and avoid common pitfalls when managing across the full risk spectrum

SPEAKER

Naomi Aiken: Founder and Principal Strategist, Techtonic Lift

BREAKOUT SESSION

Revenue Drivers: Building a Customer Success Strategy for Growth

Customer success leaders are being asked to step up as revenue drivers but the path isn’t always clear. In this interactive session, you’ll map out how CS can lead and influence revenue through retention, expansion, and advocacy. You’ll build a practical, customized revenue plan that aligns with your team’s charter and supports broader company goals without asking CSMs to become sales reps.

Key takeaways

  • The difference between revenue influence and ownership
  • How to identify key points in the customer journey for driving retention and expansion
  • How to build a practical, CS-led revenue plan aligned with sales and product

SPEAKER

Kristen Hayer: Founder & CEO, The Success League

PANEL SESSION

Revenue Metrics that Matter to the C-suite and the Board

Customer Success leaders must speak the language of revenue. This session outlines four key pillars of a CS strategy that resonate with the C-suite. You'll explore how customer teams can fuel revenue growth through qualified leads, build stronger GTM alignment, and use AI-driven personalization to improve outcomes across the customer journey. You’ll also learn how to focus on revenue-centric metrics—like CLV, TTV, COS, and ARPU/CSM—that directly tie CS impact to board-level priorities.

Key takeaways

  • How to drive customer-led revenue growth by surfacing CSQLs
  • GTM strategies that align CS with Sales, Marketing, and Product
  • How to use data and AI to personalize and optimize the customer journey
  • Which revenue-focused metrics matter most to executives and boards

SPEAKER

De’Edra Williams: Chief Customer Officer, Deephow
Lawrence Waldman, Global Head of Customer Experience, GLMX
Jeremy Donaldson, Sr. Director of Customer Success, LifeLoop