Laura Wheeler, Founder of Renegade Operations, recently attended our first-ever Revenue Operations Summit in Austin. 

We caught up with her to learn more about her experience as a speaker and attendee of this exciting RevOps event.

Laura has held roles from inside to outside sales, leadership, sales operations, and enablement. She now applies her expertise to consulting early-stage start-ups on how to build, hire, and optimize their GTM operational strategy.

Laura discusses:

How Laura discovered the Revenue Operations Summit in Austin

Laura has been a part of our sister community Sales Enablement Collective for the last two or three years and has spoken at SEC events in the past. 

Then she discovered Revenue Operations Alliance and started to follow our events and webinars.

“I love joining ROA’s virtual events. So, when I found the Revenue Operations Summit in Austin, which is pretty close to me, I definitely wanted to attend. 

“I’m really passionate about this topic, so I also wanted to apply to be a speaker.”

Laura continues her exploration of Revenue Operations Alliance and our sister communities: 

“As I joined the community, I started to do my own research into what events were being held. ROA does a good job of making everyone in the community aware in the Slack channel.

“I had no idea that all the sister communities were combined into one event. So being a member of a couple of different communities, I saw the Austin event being announced.”

The value Laura gained from attending the Revenue Operations Summit 

“The value for me is twofold. One is that I want to network with like-minded people, I always want to be continuously learning. 

“However, I also think that we're in this world now where we sit in this virtual box, and can attend many, many webinars, and it's back-to-back in our normal routine. 

“It was really nice, leaving this box and going to an in-person event. You can minimize the distractions that are happening. Online, you're constantly being pulled in different directions. 

“So really, I think the main impetus of me wanting to attend an in-person event was to shut off all of the other things and take dedicated time for myself without those distractions. And be really present with the content in an environment where I can have learning at the top of my mind and be a sponge. 

“That was super important.”

Networking at the summit

“ROA did a really wonderful job of giving us resources to connect with people before the event. If I'm going to go to an event, especially if I'm speaking, I want to know who the other speakers are and connect with them on LinkedIn. 

“Having access to the speaker assets and having a hashtag made it easy to pre-connect, especially as the branding is very recognizable in the communities.

“During the event, everything was really well organized and easy for me to network with other people.”

Speakers at Revenue Operations Summit in Austin

Laura’s experience as a speaker at the event

Laura explained she was “a little bit late in applying” to speak so secured a spot on the waitlist and was later selected to speak at the event.

“It was a really easy process. Jack Debono, Head of Community at ROA, met with me, and we talked through the topic to make sure it was relevant for the audience and wasn't duplicative.

“Leading up to the event,  it was really cool to be able to tease some of the ideas with the people that I networked with pre-event. 

“And because the event was one-track, everyone attended each talk, which is great. People were really looking forward to hearing from all of the speakers and the topics were wonderful. 

“The setup was great. It was very easy to deliver my presentation because people were so eager, kind, and present. Saving time for Q&A afterwards, and opening up those lines of communication was really cool.”

Laura’s key takeaway from the Austin summit

“The event was a constant reminder we all have these challenges. And we're all we're not alone in trying to solve it. 

“I actually heard that multiple times at the event.

“Often, after just being in this virtual box, we forget we have an entire network and community of people that we can actually ask for help from. 

“So, my biggest takeaway is the reminder we don't have to do this alone, other people are still struggling with it. 

“The cool part is: maybe I’ve solved that problem before. Being able to listen to someone struggling through what I had struggled through, and being able to say, ‘Hey, have you thought about XY and Z?’ And having their minds blown, the act of helping other people and sharing expertise was also very rewarding. 

“So, it goes both ways, where you feel really empowered by the knowledge that you have, and you feel empowered that people are also struggling with things and you can learn how to solve those problems too.”

What Laura would say if you were considering attending a Revenue Operations Summit

“I would say: absolutely choose to attend an in-person Revenue Operations Summit.”

“Whether it's in a location far away or close to you – whatever floats your boat. But plan ahead, and use the event as part of your learning experience. 

“I would just say: do it.” 

“When I posted about going to this event, a lot of people were like, ‘We’ve never heard of this event before, tell us how it is. Was it worth it?’ 

“For me, it's always worth it if you put the energy and effort toward it.” 

Laura suggests connecting with attendees and speakers in advance, so you can plan to connect with them at the event. You can even plan meetings in the days before or after the event to catch up with your connections in the area. 

“I even gained some followers on LinkedIn from just posting about the summit and they weren't even joining. 

“While you're there, take great notes and takeaways and then connect with everyone afterward. I've already had three or four conversations with people afterwards where they've asked for a framework or I connected them with a vendor because I heard they were having a problem. 

“It's not just an event. It's a way to make sure that you are staying on top of your RevOps game. You can share your ideas and gain a network. 

“Your network is your net worth, so investing in that is definitely worth it.”

Feel like you’re missing out?

Did you get FOMO after reading what Laura had to say? Don’t worry - there’s more where that came from. 👀

Check out our event calendar to discover when the next Revenue Operations Summit is happening near you and book your ticket now!

📍Find your nearest RevOps Summit!