CircleBack’s Guide to the 2015 Modern Marketing Experience

You’re going to Oracle’s Modern Marketing Experience in Vegas next week, right?…  That’s awesome. We are too!

Most conferences are worth the trip, but everyone who knows anything about marketing automation (and hopes to have a future in it) know’s that this one’s solid gold.

And there’s a lot to do–educate yourself on future marketing automation trends and technologies, network, check out CircleBack’s booth in the exhibitor space(!)–and only a short time to do it. That’s why we’ve put together a Modern Marketing Conference Survival Guide.

CircleBack’s Guide to the 2015 Modern Marketing Experience

Planning for the 2015 Modern Marketing Experience

• Pack sensibly. When packing your suitcase, be sure that you pack to walk / be comfortable. Because you’ll be spending several days in the desert (and mostly on your feet), you’ll want to be considerate of that fact. I don’t know what the weather’s like where you are, but your normal work attire may not cut it in this climate.

• Pack apps on your phone! While I haven’t found an app specific to the conference (it may be in the registration materials I haven’t quite gotten through yet), the right apps give you an advantage in networking, setting your agenda, tracking your expenses, and really getting involved in the conference community. This is what we’ll be bringing:

• • Twitter: By not having Twitter, you’re really only experiencing about 2/3rds of the conference. Watch #MME15 to see everyone else’s take, get tips from sessions you missed, and to really be part of the action. Also watch got for the latest apps, announcements, and successes that are coming out of the conference.
  • Evernote: Because no one wants to carry a notebook from session to session, there’s Evernote. With the ability to snap and tag a pictorial history of the sessions / events you attend, and to create, manage, and search notes, it’s easy to get the info you need and keep it organized on the go.
  • CircleBack: Having a top-notch contact management app is vital at any event where networking is even a possibility. Equipped with powerful OCR business-card-scanning technology and artificial intelligence working to keep your address books updated and accurate, CircleBack makes it easy to add and manage your new contacts.
  • Shoeboxed: Tracking your expenses is part of any business travel, and Shoeboxed is ideal in its simplicity. By scanning receipts, Shoeboxed creates itemized expenditures, allows for quick creation and export of expense reports, and even syncs with Quickbooks.
  • OpenTable: In a city that’s as ultra-booked as Vegas, just skip Yelp. OpenTable offers restaurant reviews and the ability to see which of those restaurants have tables available.
  • Your Uber, Lyft, and Curb apps won’t work here. Because of an arrangement between hotels and taxi companies, the only way to get a taxi is to go to a cab stand.

• Make your schedule. Go through the official agenda; because it’s a marketing automation conference (and the assumption is that we’ll all be, in some way, marketers), there aren’t multiple panel “tracks” that curate your schedule toward your job. A quick scan of talk titles makes it pretty clear which what you’ll want to attend. Once you’ve sorted this out, make two lists: an “A” list of must-sees and a “B” list for when your top choices are too full and/or not what you expected.

During the Conference

• Attend the Scheduled Networking: For these few days, burn the candle at both ends, meet everyone, and rest when you get home. With little 30-60 minute breaks scattered throughout the agenda for networking, it’s tempting to say “yeah, I’ll make it to one of those,” only for that never to happen. This is a mistake.

• Strategize Your Exhibition Hall Experience: Exhibitors and sponsors roll out the whole shebang at these, and they can be very aggressive. Use the sponsor list to strategize an exhibition hall experience that shows you the future of marketing automation as relevant to you! Be sure to stop by the CircleBack booth to experience the world premiere of our CircleBack for Business Eloqua connector, allowing Eloqua users to connect their database to CircleBack and have their contacts cleaned, de-duped, and updated via artificial intelligence.

• The Keynotes are Always Worth Your Time: Even if you don’t believe a keynote address is relevant your job, it’s important to attend the keynotes because, well, you can. These are always the most “buzzworthy” moments of a conference, and the knowledge is great when making connections, leveraging conference hashtags to grow your Twitter following, and, chances are, it’s relevant in a way you just don’t know yet. It’s not every day that you get to see highly influential people show you how they see the world, your work, the innovation you’re a part of.

• Meet At Least 6 People: It’s easy to casually meet dozens of people at industry conferences like this, but really try and connect with at least 6. Use the #MME15 hashtag to see who’s going, who it’d be beneficial for you to know, and start laying groundwork. These are the actual relationships you’ll walk away from the conference with, people you’ll keep in touch with, work with /partner with to enhance your career and/or company’s success.

After the Conference

• Follow Up With Your Contacts: Now’s the time to reach out to your 6 (or more) meaningful contacts. This final connect (and, of course, LinkedIn add) cements the relationship.

• Hold At Least 1 Meeting: Brief your team about everything you learned at the conference. Whether you’re giving an overview of the new tech you say, recaps of the salient lessons you learned, or something else, sharing what you got from the experience is vital to getting the most (and sharing the knowledge) from the conference.

This week will be intense–there’s no doubt about that–but with your head in the right place, you’ll do more than survive. You’ll thrive. Just remember to set yourself up for success: wear comfy clothes, have the right apps, know where you’re going, meet people, see stuff, and share your experiences.

Do that, and you’ll legitimately come away from this week better than when you entered it. And, of course, stop by our booth and say hello!