Light breakfast. Genius Bar and ChurnZero office hours open all day.

Windy City Wisdom: A Chat with Julie Brinkman, CEO of Beyond, on Growth, Success, and Leadership

What does it take to lead through rapid change while staying focused on growth and customer experience? In this fireside chat, ChurnZero CEO You Mon Tsang sits down with Julie Brinkman, CEO of Beyond, to explore her unique path from sales,  CS and operations to the C-suite, and the lessons she learned scaling leading Chicago tech companies. Expect insights into what wins in CX today, including how Beyond helps its customers succeed. They’ll also dig into leading through turbulent times, and what it means to stay steady, strategic, and human at the helm. Key takeaways

• Career and leadership insights from Julie’s journey across Sales, CS, and Ops
• How Beyond approaches customer experience—from property owners to end users
• Real-world strategies for navigating uncertainty, growth, and constant change

Speakers

• Julie Brinkman, CEO, Beyond
• You Mon Tsang, CEO and Co-founder, ChurnZero

Building the Future of Customer Growth: Augmented, Automated, Autonomous

Speakers

• Abby Hammer, Chief Customer and Product Officer, ChurnZero
• You Mon Tsang, CEO and Co-founder, ChurnZero

 

From Yellow to Gold: Transform 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 of customers

Speaker

• Naomi Aiken, Founder and Principal Strategist, Techtonic Lift

You Can’t Automate Chaos: Why Digital Success Starts with Human-Centered Process Design

There’s a hard truth at the heart of digital customer success and revenue enablement: You can’t automate a broken process. Too many revenue teams try and fail to scale through systems that don’t match how people work. Their playbooks, cadences and automation flows lead to burned-out teams, wasted tech investments, and automated noise that doesn’t help the customer. Learn why digital CS (and yes, pre-sales automation, too) hinges on the operational empathy to build around real workflows, not idealized ones. If you’ve ever watched your sales team revolt against a “perfect” process or your CS team ignore the new workflow doc by week two, this session is for you.

Key takeaways

• Spot the red flags that your digital strategy is enabling dysfunction, not solving it.
• Debunk the myth of the “ideal” workflow; why most digital strategies ignore how people actually work.
• Practical ways to map and digitize customer-facing processes that reflect human behavior, not wishful thinking.

Speaker

• Marley Wagner, Head of Customer Success Programs & Strategy, EverHealth

The AI Reset: Redesigning Customer Success for What’s Next

How did one manager of CX achieve a drop in CAC of more than 75%, 25% of new revenue driven by referrals, a shift from 50% “red” accounts to 90% “green” and 0% “red”, and a Head of CX title? By rethinking and rebuilding her company’s customer strategy around a revamped ICP, advocacy programs, and financial insights.  Discover how to lead your own CX redesign for a similar impact, adapting your team and customer experience, and leveraging AI to drive smarter (not just faster) decisions across four scalable, cross-functional frameworks that strengthen your CX organization for what comes next.

Key takeaways

• What it takes to move from reactive to strategic, future-ready leadership.
• How AI and shifting economics are changing the way CS teams deliver impact.
• How to assess whether your current structure supports scale and executive alignment.

Speakers

• Jan Young, Founder, StepUpXchange
• Virginia Bloom, Head of CX, Aclaimant

Grab a bite and connect with speakers and your peers.

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

Humans in an Agentic world: The Future of GTM

The old playbook is dead. As AI and agentic systems rapidly automate go-to-market functions, customer-facing teams must adapt or get left behind. But the future isn’t about humans versus agents; instead, it’s about humans leading them. Learn how to transform your approach to customer engagement by strategically leveraging AI to amplify human expertise, not replace it. You’ll gain a new operational playbook that scales with your business while preserving the crucial personal touch, ensuring that every customer feels like your most important one.

Key takeaways

• Embrace the agentic shift in GTM and understand why the old playbooks are obsolete.
• Use strategic segmentation and AI to amplify human value and focus on high-impact customer relationships.
• Build your “personalization playbook” to operationalize scalable, human-centric success.

Speakers

• Aaron McReynolds, Co-founder, Alysio
• Kyle Shepard, SVP of Customer Success, Teramind
• Jaime Acosta, MBA, Fractional VP of CS & CX, SAAS Advisor, and Board Member, TopSpin Advisory

Train for Performance: Internal CS Training that Delivers Results

Most CS teams train their customers, but what about their own people? In this session, you’ll get hands-on with how to build a high-impact internal training program that drives consistency, efficiency, and results. You’ll learn how to cover everything your team needs—from company history and market context to tools, use cases, and culture—and how to phase that training across onboarding and ongoing development. You’ll also learn how to phase training, scale it as your team grows, and decide when to bring in external partners.

Key takeaways

• How to design a structured internal training program for your CS team
• Why training improves efficiency, consistency, and overall performance
• When and how to bring in external training partners to support your efforts

Speaker

• Kristen Hayer, CEO, The Success League

Creating the B2B2C Ripple Effect: Empowering Clients for End-User Success

In the complex world of B2B2C, driving success means empowering your clients to do the same for their customers. This session will show you how to create a ripple effect that starts with your direct clients and reaches all the way to the end user. You’ll learn how to build onboarding around your clients’ workflows, embed your solution into their customer journey, activate key personas, and amplify engagement with end users—reducing effort and increasing adoption at every level.

Key takeaways

• How to lead customer conversations that prioritize both client and end-user success
• How to align your solution with your clients’ customer journey for deeper impact
• How to create scalable resources that empower champions and drive growth

Speaker

• Devin Joyce, Director, Customer Success – SMB + Emerging, Clerri

PANEL DISCUSSION

2:00 pm – 2:45 pm

From Cost Center to Revenue Engine: Building CS as a True GTM Partner

Customer success teams are under increasing pressure to demonstrate revenue impact while maintaining their role as trusted customer advocates. This interactive panel brings together seasoned revenue and CS leaders to share proven strategies for transforming CS into a revenue-driving GTM partner without sacrificing customer trust. Hear real-world case studies with before-and-after metrics, discover strategy and process changes that don’t require new technology investments, and submit your biggest revenue-related challenges to our panel for live brainstorming.

Key takeaways

• Five tactical changes you can implement in the next quarter to demonstrate measurable revenue impact.
• How to build genuine partnerships with Sales and RevOps that benefit customers AND drive expansion.
• Know which KPIs actually prove CS revenue contribution to skeptical executives.
• Practical steps to upskill your CS team for revenue responsibilities without losing customer focus.

Speakers

• Shannon Plumb, CEO & Founder, Purl Advisors
• Emma Lo, CEO, CS in Focus
• Ashley Stamps-Lafont, VP of Customer Success, QuotaPath

The Predictable Growth Playbook: Win More Renewals and Expansions

Renewals and expansions fuel long-term growth but they don’t happen by chance. Discover the practical, field-tested strategies that build repeatable frameworks for predictable growth while also reducing churn risk. Learn how to spot subtle warning signals in customer behavior, uncover expansion opportunities earlier in the lifecycle, and equip your team with the accountability markers they need to stay aligned and proactive. You’ll leave with a playbook to increase renewal confidence, accelerate expansion velocity, and position customer success as a revenue-driving function.

Key takeaways

• Design and execute a proactive renewal process that dives into non-traditional markers for predictability risk.
• Proven techniques to identify customer needs earlier, align value delivery, and expand accounts with precision.
• Turn customer data into actionable insights that power executive-level conversations and long-term partnerships.

Speaker

• Daniel Stern, CXM, MavenAGI

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

Know Who You Are: The Importance of Having (and Championing) a Customer Experience Philosophy

Customer Success teams are often asked to be everything to everyone—which means that priorities blur, plans shift, and it’s hard to measure our true impact. Discover how a Customer Experience Philosophy, driven from within CX, provides the focus and guardrails we need to cut through the chaos. Learn how a clear philosophy helps Vehlo’s customer teams define their identity, make faster decisions, and create consistent experiences for not just customers, but across sales, product, marketing, and support.

Key takeaways

• Understand who you are, and who you aren’t, so your stakeholders know what to expect, and you know how to prioritize, plan, and lead.
• How to measure success as well as communicate it across stakeholder groups with qualitative and quantitative proof points.
• Leverage a 3Cs framework of clarity, consistency, and communication to deliver consistent, connected customer experiences.

Speaker

• Jennifer Courchaine, Vice President of Customer Experience, Vehlo

How to Coach Non-Traditional Talent into High-Impact CSMs

Many of today’s top CSMs once taught in classrooms, ran hotel front desks, or coached Little League teams. Learn how to spot that hidden gold and polish it fast. We’ll break down the core moves of an elite CSM and map them to the skills people learn in retail, hospitality, teaching, and other non-SaaS worlds, creating a “skills translation” sheet to see the talent that most résumés hide. Next: a 90-day coaching plan to ramp these hires from eager rookies to trusted advisors. We’ll also flip the “nice to have” narrative on its head by lining up the numbers that matter—quick-hit leading metrics plus the lagging stats executives love—so you can prove impact and earn more support to keep hiring outside the box.

Key takeaways

• How to map common competencies from non-SaaS backgrounds to the core behaviors of a high-performing CSM, creating a skills-translation matrix.
• A step-by-step, 90-day coaching blueprint that accelerates non-traditional hires from novice to independently managing a book of business
• Identify leading and lagging metrics (such as time-to-first-value coaching score and gross retention rate) to quantify the performance of your non-traditional CSMs.

Speaker

• Arit Nsemo, Founder, woowoo for winners

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: Founder & CEO, Melo Associates
• Parul Bhandari: CEO, CustomerXSuccess
• Elizabeth Blass: Chief Customer Officer, Karbon
• Ejieme Eromosele: VP, Customer Growth, Quiq
• Kristen Hayer:  CEO, The Success League
• Julie Fox: Global Director of Customer Success, Cin7