More than a year ago, long before the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates had been determined, organizers of HubSpot’s Inbound event decided to shift the schedule for 2016. Years earlier, the company had selected November 7 to 10, based on availability at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. But that would have put the first full day of content on November 8—election day—and planners were concerned that would throw off attendance. So they shifted the schedule to November 8 to 11, opening with a keynote and entertainment on November 8 and then kicking off content November 9.
That morning’s first speaker was Ta-Nehisi Coates, a national correspondent at The Atlantic and author of Between the World and Me, a personal look at race in America that won the 2015 National Book Award for nonfiction. Coates chose to use his time to share his concerns about the election's outcome, rather than speaking about education as he had intended.
“Ta-Nehisi Coates started his speech by saying ‘I’m not going to give the talk that I prepared.’ That wasn’t what was discussed in our pre-call, but it was the morning that it was and the remarks were as they were,” said Kim Darling, director of events for HubSpot. “We pride ourselves at Inbound on bringing a diverse set of speakers that have a diverse set of voices and opinions to add to all business conversation. That’s how we looked at it.”
But that’s not how all of the more than 19,000 attendees looked at it. Some walked out of the room, and many took to Twitter to express their displeasure with the political commentary.
I do not care if you voted for Trump or Clinton, @HubSpot inbound event is not the place for political rants. #disappointed #INBOUND16
— Jared Broussard (@jaredbroussard) November 9, 2016
Using a keynote platform as a political opportunity instead if inspiring 19,000 attendees from 92 countries -very disappointing. #INBOUND16
— Fran Biderman Gross (@Strategista) November 9, 2016
But others praised Coates for expressing his views.
Brave talk by @tanehisicoates at #INBOUND16. Proud that this morning isn't just about marketing. Thank you @hubspot! pic.twitter.com/JBEfXX3tkw
— Jason Lynch (@jlynch_charity) November 9, 2016
Watching the great @tanehisicoates talking about injustice is exactly what I needed this morning. #INBOUND16
— Hayley Thayer (@hayleythayer) November 9, 2016
Darling and her team were watching all of this unfold in the room and on social media. “We have a social media team who monitors things around the clock anyway. We did understand going into this, it was election week. The event itself does not have a political opinion, but certain speakers might, and we wanted to make sure that we were understanding what was being said,” she said. They quickly crafted a post they shared on Facebook and Twitter to acknowledge what was happening.
We appreciate your feedback on this morning’s keynote. #INBOUND16 pic.twitter.com/3NbkfM8yCI
— INBOUND (@INBOUND) November 9, 2016
"By not acknowledging what the mood was potentially may have been just as much disservice, may have been like us ignoring things, like elephant in the room kind of thing,” Darling said.
While Coates was the only speaker who focused his remarks on the election, others did make reference to it, including a brief comment from Alec Baldwin on Friday regarding his role as Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live. Darling said while there was no way they could have predicted what this election cycle and outcome would be when planning began years ago, they have learned to be extra vigilant about scheduling for future events.
More than 19,000 people attended Inbound this year, up from 14,000 in 2015. New this year, organizers built a studio at the event where they hosted a variety of live and taped interviews. Ten interviews were shared in real-time on Facebook Live, including ones with Anna Kendrick, Ali Wong, and Randi Zuckerberg; 20 interviews were recorded with breakout session speakers giving brief summaries of their talks; and organizers interviewed four speakers, including Baldwin, for podcasts that will also be shared in the coming weeks.
“It’s the halo effect with our audience. Our goal at the end of the day with Inbound is to inspire a movement of Inbound professionals,” Darling said. “We are arming them with additional content that they can share … so we can keep the brand of Inbound itself top of mind while we don’t have a physical event happening."
