The 2019 Crisp Game Changers Summit was unlike any legal event on earth.
The largest law firm growth conference on earth brought together 1,000 of the nation’s most ambitious attorneys, fastest-growing law firms, and industry experts from far and wide.
Convening at the Hotel at Avalon in Alpharetta, Georgia, this dynamic crowd spent two days together learning the latest in legal marketing, leadership, personal growth, company culture, and law firm development.
Besides hours of valuable strategies, stories, and exercises, the Game Changers Summit also featured the highest-energy atmosphere, from the 80-foot screen on stage to the always-bumpin’ beats from one of Atlanta’s top DJs. Amenities were top-notch, gifts and exclusive swag contributed to the event’s luxury experience, and meaningful connections were forged at every turn.
If you were one of those 1,000 lucky ones in the room — thank you so much for spending the Summit with us. The Crisp team had an incredible time, and we are infinitely grateful for the honor of working with the best attorneys in the business.
If you were not able to join us for the Game Changers Summit this year — here’s a glimpse at everything you missed:
The Speakers
The lineup of featured speakers at the Summit kept the crowd on the edge of their seats and their workbooks filled with actionable notes and quotable takeaways. Check out what each speaker and panel covered at the Game Changers Summit:
Michael Mogill
Crisp Founder & CEO Michael Mogill covered a broad range of topics in his keynotes at the Game Changers Summit. In the Summit opener, he emphasized the importance of being open-minded, honest about where you and your business are, and engaged in the present moment to get the most out of an event like the Game Changers Summit.
In his first major session, entitled “It’s the End of Marketing As We Know It,” Michael broke down the current state of the digital landscape, sharing the lessons the Crisp team has learned in the past year. While digital consumption is higher than ever, organic reach has hit rock bottom. As a result, digital ad spend has surpassed traditional for the first time ever. The answer to these challenges is simple: be real, be relentless, and be willing to buy the traffic you want to see in the world. After all, in today’s fast-paced world, best known beats best.
In his Day 2 keynote, Michael got vulnerable and discussed the challenges Crisp has faced in the past year since the first Game Changers Summit. He shared the harsh truth that what got you here won’t get you there, and shared the key lessons he learned as Crisp battled from one level to the next level of success. Team culture, fearless leadership, and committing to big goals were the focus of this game changing keynote, and these topics inspired the roomful of law firm owners to bravely play a bigger game.
Ted Jenkin
Everyone’s favorite financial advisor Ted Jenkin returned to the Game Changers Summit stage in 2019 to share little-known, innovative financial strategies to save your firm up to $1 million in taxes. An ideal blend of entertaining and insightful, every workbook in the room received a pageful of actionable notes during Ted’s presentation.
Gary Vaynerchuk
Serial entrepreneur, celebrity marketer, and social media sensei Gary Vaynerchuk made a big splash and received a huge response at the Game Changers Summit. His electrifying off-the-cuff session was all about staying ahead of the latest in digital media, prioritizing meaningful marketing, and providing real value without an ask to differentiate and connect with potential clients. The key takeaway from Gary’s frank conversation with the 1,000 attorneys in the room was how critical it is to prioritize brand building over search or conversion in the current marketing conversation.
Gloria Allred
Industry legend Gloria Allred took the stage Friday to share her story of standing up for what’s right and making an impact on some of the most historically discriminated-against populations in our country. Gloria provided an insider’s perspective on the current state of civil rights in America, and inspired the 1,000 attorneys in the room to fearlessly dedicate their lives to fighting against injustice.
George Foreman III
Undefeated 16-0 boxer, influential boxing coach, and successful entrepreneur George Foreman III (yes, son of that George Foreman) lit up the Game Changers Summit stage with an interactive and entertaining session on Friday evening. He taught the Summit attendees about fighting as a spirit and not a sport, how to keep moving forward after getting knocked down, and the critical mindset needed to truly fight to make your dreams a reality.
Hal Elrod
Creator of the global Miracle Morning movement, Hal Elrod started Day 2 of the Game Changers Summit off on the perfect inspirational note. By telling his own incredible story of survival, resilience, and positivity, Hal shared practical strategies for taking control of your outlook on any situation in life, no matter how challenging. One of the key takeaways from Hal’s miraculous session was that “the greatest gift you can give to the people you love is to fulfill YOUR potential so that you can show them how to fulfill theirs.”
Chris Voss
Chris Voss shared badass stories about his time as the lead international hostage negotiator for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, both entertaining and instructing the Summit attendees on negotiation tactics to get what you want in the courtroom, in the office among colleagues, and in life. From big-picture truths to actionable wisdom like “Stop getting people to say yes” and “End with the positive,” Voss taught the game changers in the room how to up their game and achieve their desired outcomes.
Jessica Mogill
As Director of Operations at Crisp, Jessica Mogill knows a thing or two about hiring a game changing team and empowering them to maximize team alignment and organizational output. Jessica’s Summit session was all about decoding the PRINT assessment, diving into how unconscious motivators impact our behavior, and how to move from shadow behavior into “best self” behavior. Her presentation also covered how to leverage this knowledge to hire better, place the right people in the right roles, and empower your team to communicate, collaborate, and create a “best self” environment in your law firm.
Mark Lanier
Although preparation for a huge opioid trial kept him from joining us in person at the Summit, we were able to patch Mark through so he could share his presentation via live feed with the 1,000 attorneys in attendance. He demonstrated the power of impactful visuals on message delivery, and went into detail on how to structure your story with both “good” and “bad” facts, along with tactics to keep your judge and jury engaged and emotionally invested in the story you are telling.
Industry Veterans Panel
Legal marketing expert Harlan Schillinger moderated this panel of legal industry veterans. These leaders have helped hundreds of law firms grow, and had plenty of wisdom from their decades of experience to share with the Game Changers Summit.
Seth Price of Price Benowitz and BluShark Digital, Randy Kessler of Kessler & Solomiany, Tanner Jones of Consultwebs, and Chris O’Brien of Captorra and Intake Conversion Experts discussed the current state of the legal landscape and how they and their clients have grown with the industry.
Harlan kept this panel in line, and this panel kept the Summit attendees in the loop.
Power Players Panel
Six leaders of the fastest-growing law firms in America took the stage on Day 2 to share their stories, challenges, and proudest accomplishments as they grew from legal startups to the market leaders they are today.
Suzanne and Michael Ettinger, Alexander Shunnarah, Seth Bader, Roopal Luhana and Eric Chaffin shared the stage as Michael Mogill moderated, asking the tough questions to get at what it really takes to grow a firm to the highest heights. These leaders discussed the lowest lows in their careers, what it would take to put them out of business today, and what were the most beneficial investments they ever made in their firms.
The Venue
The Hotel at Avalon provided a luxurious setting for the Game Changers Summit, from the expansive ballroom where all the action went down, to the scenic rotunda that transformed from the registration site to the law firm growth wonderland from Day 2 (stay tuned for a sneak peek…), to the catered breakfasts and lunches each day, to the comforts of the South City Kitchen bar and the rest of the amenities in the unique Avalon community.
The Prizes
As you may have heard, we gave away three Teslas and a Ferrari at the Game Changers Summit…
The grand finale of the Summit was definitely these awesome giveaways!
The black Tesla Model 3 went to the top Crisp Ambassador Partner, who brought the most new law firms into the Crisp family over the course of the year. This first Tesla went to none other than Harlan Schillinger!
The red Tesla Model 3 went to the top Crisp Client Ambassador, who introduced us to the most legal colleagues that became Crisp clients during the 2019 Crisp Ambassador program. This one went to Tim Jarvis of Jarvis Law Office! Jarvis handles elder care planning for Ohio seniors, and is an integral part of our vibrant client community here at Crisp.
The final Tesla Model 3 was raffled off onsite to one of the Crisp team members! Throughout the entire year leading up to the Game Changers Summit, Crisp team members have been earning “Tesla tokens” to gain entries into this drawing. Each week, a team member was voted by their peers to earn that week’s token; each month, the peer-voted Team Member of the Month earned another token (and a week to drive the Tesla to work); and one-off tokens were awarded throughout the year when a team member went above and beyond the call of duty.
There were many, many entries, and many Crisp team members in the running. But the one who came out victorious was none other than Production Coordinator Zain Jiwani!
And finally, the Grand Prize itself: the Ferrari California! This badass roadster was raffled off to one Game Changers Summit attendee at random. And the winner was…Lawrence Morizio of Morizio Law Firm!
The Next Chapter
The theme of the 2019 Game Changers Summit was “Play Bigger.”
Although the event has ended and all the attorneys in attendance have gone back to their firms, our wish is for that spirit to carry through their day-to-day work and in their next-level visions for their businesses, teams, and clients.
We can’t wait to see many more of you at the 2020 Game Changers Summit, taking place November 13-14 in Atlanta! Leadership expert John Maxwell and insightful author Malcolm Gladwell will be headlining the 2020 Summit, with many more game changing speakers to be announced in the coming months.
Tickets to the 2020 Game Changers Summit are available now — don’t forget to lock in your Early Bird Rate before the clock runs out!
If you think 2019 was huge, just wait for the 2020 Summit…
