Atomicon 2025 - the lowdown!
Atomicon was a blast; it was exhausting but really good.
I've just about recovered from the intense amount of people-ing 🤣
I bought a ticket last year after years of FOMO, but as the date approached, I wasn't going.
It all felt too much, and I wasn't "feeling it".
BUT after messaging the lovely Sophie from Happy Marketer and having a word with myself, I booked my hotel and train (the week before!).
And I'm so glad I did!
Here are my top tips and the second part of the blog are my takeaways.
What’s it all about? And is it a boring conference?
The Atomic Team (and all involved) know how to "conference".
But let’s get this straight, it is not your typical conference. It’s much more than that - it’s honestly *THE* best event I've been to.
The before, during and after, plus the attention to detail, is absolutely off the charts 💛
Amazing value - even if you pay full price! (I got an early bird ticket)
It’s not just a day - you get so much before & after - a whole year of stuff! (I did not take advantage of this!)
Multi-track session options (pick what you are interested in)
No hard sales from the stage (odd book mention or whatever, fair play they should!)
Building connections - before, during and after
Inspirational and high-end speakers
Fun and more fun- think pink, pineapples, pink sofa, glitter, popcorn machines, stilt walkers, pina coladas - anything goes! Jazzier the better!
High quality - AV team, photography, materials, Event app, delivery, attention to detail - all of it is high quality.
Neurodivergent friendly - support and proper quiet spaces to escape to if you need it
Where I stayed
Roomzzz Aparthotels—Newcastle - it was fabulous.
5-minute walk from the station, a
15-minute walk to the Glasshouse (where the conference day is)
on the right side of town for heading back after the evening socials.
The rooms are little mini apartments!
Free hot drinks and morning croissants
A little “shop” to buy drinks/snacks
The lobby is a great place to work or meet people
Customer service is friendly and excellent
Note - there are a lot of steps directly to the Quayside but you can get a taxi or walk the “longer way around”. There are lots of alleyways with steps in Newcastle
It was the perfect spot, in my opinion.
What if you don’t know anyone who is going?
Do not let this put you off. Honestly, you will not be alone company is on tap! People expect to be randomly spoken to, introduced to - so go for it!
I met some amazing people and spent time with lots of fellow Mum’s In Marketing which was so lovely because I’d not met many of them in person before.
Connect with people on the app (available around 1 week before the conference) and arrange to meet up or chat.
How do you cope if you are neurodivergent?
Well, most important listen to yourself. Do what you need to do.
Do not, I repeat, do not book anything in your diary the two days after Atomicon (thank me later!)
Need a break? Take one. Head to the quiet space and recoup. 5/10 minutes can be enough. I had to leave a session early because I felt overwhelmed. It’s absolutely fine.
Don’t try and do it all - it’s OK to skip a session or not go to the after party. I didn’t, I hung out with a few people instead and had a lovely time.
Leave when you’re ready - head home from socials when you’ve had enough. No one cares or notices!
Take snacks and water in your bag to keep hydrated and refueled. It’s easy to forget, feel rushed or not want to queue to get something.
Arrive on the day at 8am, the time whizzes by until the opening session (8.50) and that can start you off on the back foot. This way means you can catch a get a few minutes to yourself before the start of the sessions.
Want in? Grab the 70% off early bird tickets by midnight 20th June, but will be on sale after that date
Takeaways that I want to share with you
If you don’t ask, you don’t get
Andrew and Pete’s opening session was all about cheeky asks and leverage. They talked about how to land these without putting yourself in a position where you feel “someone is doing you a big favour”
The 3 key components of the leverage ladder: Skills/knowledge ➕ Audience/Access =Results
But it goes much deeper than that…
What do people WANT, right now?
What do they CARE about, right now?
How can you help them with that, right now?
Find your “currency” (skills/knowledge/things you are good at)
Match their desires (what are their needs/wants, right now)
Scratch their itch (solve the problem, aka create leverage)
You’ll get your needs met (the cheeky ask)
And the cheeky ask is no longer that - it’s a mutually beneficial “transaction” for both sides.
I’ve listened to the Happy Place podcast for a few years, and seeing Fearne was a real fan girl moment.
Fearne Cotton - How to build a brand that feels like home
The biggest takeaways for me were…
Passion is the driver. If you don’t have the passion for your “thing, " everything will be harder.
For me, the definition of success is making good decisions. Enjoy the journey, the moment, because you never “get there” to feel done/complete/achieved it mate, because there will always be something else. So enjoy all the tiny things as well as celebrating the big things.
Yes Fearne! I always talk about this with clients, and it's a great reminder to myself when I’m not practising it.
Laura Belgray - Emails that sell
Laura is the author of the national bestseller Tough T*tties, founder of Talking Shrimp and a genius copywriter. She injects humour and fun!
Emails should be like getting an email from your bestie - something you WANT to open and read!
Write to one person, not hey everyone because people skip on.
Write them like you talk (or twaaak if you are from New York!)
Read it out loud, if it sounds off/odd, then tweak because that’s how it will land.
Play with punctuation, don’t be boring.
Subject lines matter, don’t be businessy.
Optimise your preview text - you are missing an opportunity here!
Make sure you are doing a welcome sequence, again you’re missing a great opportunity here if you don’t.
Get regular, prolific in fact. Emails don’t need to be long or epic. No one unsubscribed for an email being too short.
Don’t get caught in the value trap - value can be
To feel something
Gain a new perspective
A welcome break/distraction
Feel less of a freak/weird about something - connection
A recommendation for a book/tv show
A push to try something new
Sun Yi - How to grow your social media to over 10K followers
First, I loved that he said 10K is a BS figure and so out of date! It dates back to the old Instagram rule where you needed 10K to add a link to stories.
So, what are you actually looking for with your content? Attention or influence?
Attention does not equal sales.
1 subscriber = 100 followers
(YT/email/podcast) (instagram/TikTok)
Quality over quantity! If you are looking for sales.
Good content gives people the answers. Great content gets them asking questions.
And don’t forget about who you are selling to, have you got your content right?
Corporation
Community
Consumers
E.g. A yoga studio selling to people who have never done yoga = consumer
Yoga studio selling to an established business/yoga teacher = community
When writing content, think about
Topic
Type (story, tips, lesson etc)
Length of content
Tone of voice or rate of speech
Quality of video/audio/image
Readability (font, colour, sizes)
Emotion (inspirational, funny, urgent)
Look at your best and worst performing posts and come up with a hypothesis on why its working/not working
Test your hypothesis with at least 10 variations
Repeat
Create 50 amazing posts and reuse, over and over. You might need to do 500 crap ones to get there but eventually you will have a bank of amazing posts that work. It’s fine to repeat.
Spending time on content and only posting it once is like making a commercial and only airing it once
Grace Andrews - The Unfiltered future of content
Grace is the Brand & Editorial Director at Flight Story, the media company behind The Diary of a CEO and other globally successful podcasts.
For all the latest on Instagram, follow Adam Mosseri to find out what is going on directly from the horse's mouth. If they are pushing something new, jump on these to maximise reach, but it’s ever-changing, so keep current.
Schedule 70% of your content, but keep 30% for relevant/current trends and news.
Join relevant conversations —don’t just jump on trends for the sake of it; they should align with your mission, vision, and goals.
Act fast, and don’t miss the window. You have a short moment before you’ve missed it.
Test, test and test some more.
Even with a huge brand like Diary of a CEO they split test every single launch the week before with a small amount of budget. Don’t get complacent. Test, tweak, learn - all the time. Every time in fact.
Bin your ego! Consistent experimentation is what will take you far. It’s the only way to succeed.
Same goes for business, right? Not just content this applies to.
Rory Sutherland - Why marketers need to think small (to make a big impact)
How have I missed this guy? He's an absolute genius at conveying ideas and making you think differently.
Big takeaway - Present things differently to make it sell
Take the London Overground. Previously named Silverlink, it was underused and frankly sat there.
A rebrand to The London Overground and a great campaign meant x4 usage on day one. A tube sign was used, and there was no reference to trains…. The same “train system” was now being used because the underground was a known legacy brand.
James Watt's improved steam engine was set to replace water wheels and animal power (like horses) during the Industrial Revolution, but people were not interested. It wasn’t until he started saying 20 horsepower would replace 20 horses that people started to listen and buy in.
Both were the same thing, presented differently.
It doesn’t necessarily mean that the thing you are trying to sell is rubbish, maybe you're just not presenting it in the right way…
Big takeaway - Benchmarking is BAD!
Reverse benchmarking is where it is at - spot what your competitors or within your industry do poorly and do that amazingly well.
Great disruptors who have done this include…
Apple - we all know that story!
Buc-ee's - amazing bathrooms at gas stations in the USA
Moxy Hotels - Small but mighty rooms and standout communal spaces
Uber - track your driver! No more…it’s just around the corner. Transparency.
Geoff Ramm - Celebrity Service 2 (The gap in your service you never knew existed)
Wow - what an engaging speaker. I’d never heard of Geoff before, and I’ve definitely been missing out!
Make people feel like celebrities, make it personal, stand out, and provide an experience they will discuss years later. You can do this in any business, no matter how much you think you can’t. You can!
Respond in a greater way. Create a greater impact in every single touch point.
Check out the Hamley’s video on his website to see what I’m talking about!
Useful links
Atomic - The company behind the epic Atomicon
Rory Sutherland - head over to YouTube to see lots of videos and his books are on Amazon
Grace Andrews - Connect on LinkedIn and Instagram
Want in? Grab the 70% off early bird tickets
*affiliate link. You can see I had a blast so I wouldn’t recommend if I didn’t have a great experience. I get a little reward for sharing this link. You don’t have to use it but it would be a appreciated ;)
Official photography credit: Photography by Thomas Jackson for TyneSight Media
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