Our team had an exciting week at the 2025 CSIA conference in San Diego, CA. The theme this year was Elevate Your Game, and we really did this year. Georgia, Christine, and Kirsten had a great presentation, Building Your Essential Marketing Strategy Step by Step, at the Marketing Workshop to kick off the conference, and we spent the rest of the week enjoying the sessions, podcasting, hanging out with friends and clients, and making new connections.

We are looking forward to next year’s conference in Baltimore! Read each of our conference reflections below.

Georgia Whalen

I look forward to attending the CSIA Conference every year and without fail, it never disappoints. For starters, having attended the conference every year since 2016, it was just good to see everyone again! Many of our clients are regulars at the conference and through the years we have enjoyed meeting and learning about the many other CSIA members and partner members.

For the second consecutive year, our team helped organize and present at the Marketing Workshop the day before the start of the conference. We are always happy to share our knowledge and experience formulating successful marketing strategies for the complex dynamics of trying to reach and nurture multi-stakeholder buying teams in manufacturing and industrial industries. Not an easy undertaking for sure! 

I enjoyed seeing how engaged our workshop participants were in completing the exercises for formulating their own company’s strategy. One attendee shared with me that the collaboration and open discussion that took place during the working time was also a great learning experience, which was great to hear as it supports the foundational spirit of the CSIA that collaborating and learning from each other makes our collective companies stronger and better.

Christine McQuilkin

I’ve been attending the CSIA Conference since 2018 (San Francisco!), and I have to say, this year’s event was my favorite so far. What keeps me coming back is the chance to reconnect with my “once-a-year” extended family. I’ve followed their professional journeys over the years, and I’m always excited to catch up.

One standout session for me was the economic forecast by Alex Chausovsky. I appreciate his data-driven approach; Alex presents the facts without spin, making complex economic trends understandable. Just the facts, please!  If you haven’t seen his work before, check out some of his past presentations.

The networking at this year’s conference was especially strong, with more informal meetups and gatherings than in previous years. I was surprised (and delighted) to learn that nearly 30% of attendees were first-timers. It’s exciting to see the event drawing in new voices while continuing to serve longstanding members.

Another highlight was the second annual Marketing Workshop, which once again was well attended. Six presenters shared insights on topics ranging from marketing strategy and content creation to SEO and KPIs. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and we’re already looking forward to helping plan next year’s workshop.

It’s been incredible to watch the CSIA Conference evolve, especially as it grows to include programming for emerging leaders and marketing professionals. The future looks bright for the system integration community.

Brittany Smist

As this was my first CSIA conference, one of the biggest highlights for me was finally getting to put real faces to so many names I’ve been hearing for a long time. It was also great just to get to be surrounded by people who work in this industry– most people in my life have no idea what I do, so it was really cool to be in a hotel full of people who get it.

At the marketing workshop, I was very cool to see how diverse the group was—not just system integrators, but folks from the supplier side too. We had marketers, engineers, managers… the variety of perspectives really added depth to the discussions. I also learned a ton from our co-presenters, especially Jen Palumbo from E Tech. Her presentation on reporting and metrics was packed with useful takeaways, and I appreciated how candid and straightforward she was.

I was really excited to get the chance to spend some time chatting with Adrienne Meyer, incoming CSIA CEO. As someone who’s still pretty new to this community, I didn’t know Jose Rivera (outgoing CEO) well, but it’s clear he left some big shoes to fill. That said, Adrienne was super thoughtful and seemed genuinely interested in hearing from people. I got the sense that she really cares about the future of the organization, and I’m looking forward to seeing where she takes things.

I also really enjoyed being part of the Emerging Leaders activities. It was great to connect with other people who haven’t been in the industry for 20+ years– it made the whole experience feel more approachable and reaffirmed that there’s space for newer folks, too.

Overall, I was blown away by how thoughtful and well-executed the conference was. From the presentations to the little details like meals and amenities, you could feel the care that CSIA put into the experience. I walked away energized and grateful to be part of this community!

P.S. Big thanks to everyone who stopped by the Rivergate Marketing booth during the expo and let me wrangle you over to the podcast table! There are going to be some great episodes and we really appreciate you jumping in.

Rosie McQuilkin

I really enjoyed this year’s CSIA conference. It was a great opportunity to gather a ton of great content for our podcast – we had the chance to interview several industry leaders, and I’m excited to start editing and sharing those episodes.

Even though we didn’t see much of the sun, I really enjoyed the resort and seeing San Diego. One of the highlights for me was the Marketing Workshop. The presenters were very informative and it was great to see the audience collaborating. I enjoyed reconnecting with people I’ve met at past conferences and to make some new connections as well.

I’m already looking forward to next year’s conference in Baltimore. In the meantime, I’m focused on turning all the great conversations we recorded into podcast episodes.  Stay tuned!