Category: Events

Adobe Summit 2013: Breaking Wind In Stratospheric Freefall

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LEGO ManWith less than 10 minutes of oxygen, the Adobe Sales Machine took one last look at the  heavens before plunging towards the curvature of the Earth Baumgartner-style.  The audience was surprisingly calm during flat-spin moments like the windy soliloquy from Deloitte, sporting a ‘Felix’ haircut and inspiring most of us to take up BASE jumping without a parachute.

When Felix (yes…the Felix) appeared on stage the over-30 crowd silently begged him to shout “You ah a girlie mahn!  I whant to pump YOU up!!” at the other sissies twittering about their make-up time.  Robbed of hypnotic LED waves and glowing podiums, Adobe Summit 2013 had no choice but to jump down-to-earth towards hard, rocky content.  And for those of us watching from ground zero, it was an awesome spectacle.

Adobe Summit 2013 hit its stride when it simply gave in to moments of rock star content.  The flat-spin focused into a supersonic free-fall that pushed hard against barriers acoustic, industrial and institutional.  Salman Khan, founder of The Kahn Academy, earned every ounce of standing ovation by connecting Summit to a larger social cause.

Carrie Brownstein, sharing an internal monologue about her personal dilemma relating to the social internet, graced Summit with an artistic spark.  In contrast to the poor nerd begging for applause after recreating the WIPRO sunflower (something to do with sentiment analysis), Carrie pulled off poetry on a screen the size of house.

And yes, The Black Keys literally broke sound barriers at Adobe Summit 2013 with a performance that was nothing short of stunning.  With 5000 conference attendees this year, some of the edges thinned (food was underwhelming) but nothing brings analytical nerds together like a mind-blowing performance from a grammy winning rock band.

Oh right, about those Digital Marketing sessions…

I attended the Adobe UnSummit again this year a day before The Main Event.  We spent the afternoon in a sunlit venue at the top of The Leonardo Museum downtown.  Industry practitioners from leading organizations presented their latest achievements and challenges, while a few consultants hung out on the sidelines. Afterwards, the general consensus was that Adobe would be hard pressed to deliver richer content for only $57.

At the Adobe Summit I attended sessions on Mobile Optimization, Personalization, and the Creative Process.  I had received a few insider tips to help me select the sessions, and in a totally informal, non-scientific poll afterwards the results were not surprising.  When Adobe ran the show, attendees spent more time checking Facebook and sneaking out for snacks.  When a live human client was given the stage to tell a story, Q&A ran into overtime.

I was swept into the uber-analyst crowd later one evening…people who slide into a posh bar after 11pm, order soft drinks, and talk eVars and props until it becomes even more weird to continue the conversation at the local Denny’s over a 1am skillet breakfast.

The uber-analyst crowd was excited.  There was plenty of geek twitter over Sneaks such as AutoMagical-SAINT-watcha-ma-call-it, and the inferno of something called BoomData (BOOM!) feeding a dark, black Marketing Cloud.  Hey, they may be a bit slow to implement stuff but you have to give Adobe credit for knowing its customers’ hot buttons.

I returned to Boston a few days later, unpacked and bumped into a small box adorned with the trademark Adobe Summit neon-digital wave pattern.  Inside was a TUMI smartphone charger in a neat leather case.  It’s a high-quality, useful sort of thing.

Adobe Summit took a stratospheric leap of faith in 2013, landing on solid ground by ultimately delivering a high-quality, useful sort of experience.

Adobe Summit 2012: The Kouing Aman of Conferences

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About two hours after enjoying a Kouing Aman, you ask yourself “whoa…what did I just eat?  It was crunchy and sweet on the outside, thick and moist and the inside, and I think it will stick with me for another eight hours.”  I just returned from Adobe (Omniture) Summit, the Kouing Aman of all Conferences.

It’s a big event that descends on Salt Lake City every year…and it got a lot bigger this year.  The venue was larger (Salt Palace), there were twice the number of attendees (~4000), the band was big (Foster the People), and  even the breakout sessions had a pastry-puffed quality.

I also attended the Adobe Un-Summit at the University of Utah the day before.  Although the balance of participants was tilted a little too far towards consultants and academics (and MBA students), the spirit was there.  And I’m not sure that the 10 min rocket pitch approach supports discussions.  But it is an effort to get back to the roots of analytics without the Adobe uber sales engine.  And they served a box of Kouing Aman at break.

It’s a few days later and I’m not sure what I ate.

At the Adobe Summit I attended presentations in the Personalization track.  Most were brief, heavy on images, and tried to split time between a client case study and spiel on the supporting Adobe technology.  I left wanting to learn more about integrating Test & Target with Insight, and about CQ5.  And in general I left early.  But that may have also been because the weather was fantastic and Salt Lake is a very walkable city.

Adobe (Omniture) Summit was great because of the amazing people who attended.

In the hotel lobby and over dinners I spoke with brilliant analysts from REI, The Home Depot, L.L. Bean and American Express.  We talked shop and agreed to keep talking after Summit.  I hung out with the Keystone gang, ate too much sushi, and enjoyed a back-seat view of getting lost in Salt Lake despite 4 smartphones, a lot of digital analytics smarts, and a grid city with super-sized lanes.

Despite all of our Social Media tools and incarnations of “The Digital Self” there is nothing like face-to-face time to accelerate an industry.  So while the Adobe Summit was thick in sales sugar & crust, it was pretty rich on the inside.  And I’m not sure how the right ingredients might have otherwise mixed together.

 

ETail Boston: Noodles, Networks and Noses

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I wandered away from eTail Boston a little early to get some fresh air.  Mobile commerce and Social commerce were big topics this year.  My problem is that I’m simply not that mobile or social…I wake up, get the kids ready for preschool, scan gmail on my aging Blackberry, drop the kids off, and work in front of a laptop for most of the day.  So I went mobile and decided to enjoy a walk down Boylston St. instead of listening to another talk about the amazing ways to shop using phones or tablets that I have yet to adopt because I really need to spend the money on repaving the crumbling heap that is my driveway.

I also decided to get some fresh air because my cold from last week went mobile, invading my sinuses so badly that even a broth of spicy Asian noodle soup from Wagamama washed blandly down my throat.  A few blocks and cough drops later, I gave up and headed back to my car to make the early bird rate at the Prudential garage.

And then I did something remarkable…

I opened Google on my ancient Blackberry and held the little green phone button as instructed to voice search.  I croaked the name of my doctor’s office…and waited a few minutes for the number to appear.  I called and shared my woe with the receptionist, who asked me to hold for a moment to speak with a Nurse Practitioner.  While holding, I followed my Garmin GPS’ commands to escape Boston via the Mass Pike.  The nurse arrived before I made it to the tolls, asked about my symptoms, and promised to call in a prescription for antibiotics if I would please stop using my phone while driving.  It was an easy sell.  I hung up and drove the remaining 20 minutes to the CVS in Wellesley (on my way home) to pick up the prescription and a box of industrial strength tissues.  I scanned my CVS card while making the purchase, and watched my receipt grow into a small Torah of coupons for things I don’t believe I need.

At eTail Boston I listened to lots of presentations about mobile and the challenges surrounding multi-channel marketing.  I didn’t pay my doctor or purchase my prescription or even look for a discount on my box of tissues from my mobile device.  Mobile shines as a lifeline that quickly assembles information from people and systems while you’re on the go.

A Walk Off the Ferris Wheel

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I just returned from the Omniture Summit and it was an eye-opening experience.  Dots and people connected in new and unexpected ways.  Adobe made an easy bet, and armed the hyper-creative audience with free video flipcams to record the experience.  Attendees also received a nice free pen and The Grand America Hotel provides classic, ivory stationary.

I started Tweeting at the conference.  Not to say that I haven’t before.  But this was the first time I felt an imperative to Tweet about the amazing ideas and happenings at the conference.  My piece of ivory stationary is covered, front-to-back, with notes and ideas.  My flipcam is still in the box…but I can’t wait to use it for something.  At the end of the Lenny Kravtiz concert, when he (finally) dug hard into the classics, the audience stood with arms raised and iPhones/Droids/Flipcams glowing.  So much for lighters.

The tools don’t matter.  The place and people do.  Many people ride a Ferris wheel in life or for a living.  Some days are low and some are high.  The view is great but after a few rounds it becomes all too familiar.  Would you tweet about the tenth circle of the same Ferris wheel…in the same amusement park?  Are you still wondering why so many people shrug at Twitter?

I brought my notebook from work but left it in my bag.  When you step off the wheel (literally or figuratively) it’s important to bring a different set of tools.  So I lied.  The tools do matter.  Use whatever reduces the barriers to recording and sharing ideas whenever ideas strike.  I can’t think of anything better to record a good idea than a scrap of paper and pen, but not the notebook cluttered with my daily scrawl.  It needs to feel different.  And when something worthwhile and immediate hits, Twitter is a great way to sound the alarm.

Still unpacking my ideas from Summit.  Still wondering what to do with that flipcam back on the Ferris wheel.