Retrospectively, as we think about our recent Engaging Times Summit, we’re very pleased with the outcome and elated with the amount of positive feedback we’ve received.  As we planned the event we considered both the desired outcomes, and also the benefits to the Alterian community.  This year in particular we took contrarian points of view on a number of topics in the hopes that we’d instigate some new and different thinking. 

We believe we achieved our goal in part, as clearly the whole notion of the customer engagement agency caused a bit of stir – those that agreed with the categorization of a customer focused agency that integrates such skills as analytics, strategy, creative, technology and execution across each account made passionate pleas around the category’s validity, while in the marketing services community we heard vociferously that such services may not be integrated and that buyers will continue to buy in disparate fashions.  Truth be told, no one has the answer, but the debate was interesting, and generated some of the following feedback from Alterian community members. 

 “The meeting was very good and effective. Glad we came. Is there any chance that I could get a copy of the video tapes of the panels?” Targetbase    

 “I think this was the most interesting conference of its kind that I’ve attended. The thought-provoking discussions and differing opinions provided for an interesting and entertaining couple of days.  I’ve said it was ‘typical Alterian’, in that you guys continue to come at things in different ways…we’re looking forward to expanding our partnership.”  Epsilon

 “First rate event all the way!!!!”  Acxiom

“Thank you for the opportunity to come and take part in the Engaging Times Summit. Always enjoy the time and this was time well spent.”  GE

“It was a pleasure attending your Alterian Summit last week in Chicago, and I thank you for including me in the fun at the Cubs Game as well. The content and discussions were thought provoking, and you assembled a real first rate group of thought leaders.”  DM Solutions

“I wanted to thank you again for the conference this week.  I was very impressed at many levels.” UNISYS

“The Summit was both eye opening and invigorating.  It is great to see individuals and agencies willing to turn things upside down to drive where our industry needs to go.  Alterian clearly is on the forefront of this movement and RAZOR is glad to have such a great partner.” Razor Driven

“Consumer engagement is not a trend or the next big thing, it’s what our goal always should have been, Alterian has recognized this and has placed customer data and insights at the center of it, where it belongs…The panel discussions at the Alterian Engaging Times summit sparked some much needed dialogue on how to succeed in using consumer engagement as the core component of marketing strategy.” Engauge

Overall, we’re extremely pleased with the event, the subject matter experts, the attendees and the positive feedback.  We are very thankful for all of those that attended, participated and presented – the participation of the Alterian community really drove some thought provoking ideas and commentary.  In addition, we’d like to thank our sponsors, Unisys, Epsilon, infoGROUP, and Merkle.  While the event was a success, there’s no rest for the weary as we’re already thinking about what we can do better, differently and what approach we need to take for our next summit and, as always, we welcome and encourage ideas and feedback.

The next year will be interesting for our industry and our community.  Alterian will certainly be focused on the evolution of the customer engagement agency – we heard loud and clear from the marketing service providers and agency partners that the Customer Engagement Agency is arrived, and it appears as though it is here to stay.

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