I was fortunate this year to get to go to Adobe Summit in Las Vegas. If you work in analytics, or marketing and you haven’t been to one I would highly recommend it. Now obviously because it is put on by Adobe they talk a lot about their products, but even if you’re tool agnostic, or prefer another brand it is still worth going.
The theme this year that I took away was customer experience trumps everything; and is going to be the next wave in business. In that we need to recognize our customers, remember who they are their preferences, and recommend products or services that will appeal to them. But these recommendations have to be relevant to the customers.
What I found interesting is that Adobe put this into practice at the event. Everywhere I went, staff would greet me by name. Now of course I am wearing a nametag which makes it a bit easier to recognize my from the ten thousand other attendants, but it still has an emotional effect when you’re greeted every morning with “Good morning Dave”. They also provided everyone with a backpack which was very relevant (and appreciated) because you’re collecting notes and handouts at each lecture. They would have people walk through the venue reminding everyone when the next set of sessions would start. And they had these recommended meet and greets.
At summit you will meet a very eclectic group of people. For example I met a fellow named Phil from New Zealand. I wish I had taken a photo of him because he looked like Billy Connolly but more hip. He was in education and was looking at what they should be doing to help their students and the organization. He was looking for not only tools that could help them stand up the various sites that needed to be developed but also meet their future needs. I met a lot of analysts and developers such as myself, which was nice because there isn’t really anyone at the bank I can speak to about this stuff from a dev perspective.
Summit will also confirm that you’re not alone in your organizational struggles. All large organizations have the same issues with silos and fifedoms, analysis paralysis, and education. One of the things you can get from summit is strategies around how to beat these issues from people who have done it in their own companies.
Now there are lots of parties and dinners and things you will get invited to. Some are vendors looking for new customers. Some are vendors thanking existing customers for their business. The best party is Bash, which is the one Adobe throws.
This year had xGames motocross, fireworks, food trucks, lots of booze and Weezer!
On top of all this, Las Vegas itself is an experience. I described it as being in a busy mall you’re in 24/7. There are lights and noise constantly, people everywhere; which quite literally stimulus overload; which is intentional. If you look at the way the buildings are designed they are intended to keep you in the casinos and distracted so that you gamble more. For us this became overwhelming so on the last day in vegas, after Summit we decided to rent a car and get out to the desert.
All in all it was a very successful Summit for us. I think everyone had a good time and I have some items I will try to put into practice at the bank.