Category: Opinion

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.

 

A Tale of Two eCommerce Companies

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“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…”

There were two major eCommerce companies who sold the same wares.  One company was based in an expensive city, outsourced IT and paid its local architects in coal.  Any change to the Web site was met with layers of fear, process, and expensive consultants.

The other company was smaller and grew a team of Software Architects in an area of the US deemed barren of any technical talent.  It never needed to offshore or downsize.  Any change to the Web site was met as an opportunity to build something new.

Five years and a few recessions passed.  Along comes Web Analytics with the ability to identify, quantify and exploit opportunity faster than anything eCommerce has ever seen before…as long as your Web site can be quickly modified for a/b and mulitvariate testing.

Which eCommerce company do you think is chasing tail today?

 

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.

Anxiety Performance

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In the dark recesses of companies, bedrooms and analytical blogs lurks the specter of Performance Anxiety.  Are we going to hit our numbers?  Have we chosen the right metrics?  Will we meet expectations?

What about Anxiety Performance?  Are we concerned about the right things to begin with?  Lets consider a few examples…

Insurance policies are regulated contracts that mitigate fear and the risks of disaster by spreading both across large groups of people.  The details of insurance policies are so complex that we trust our regulators, focus on price, and buy from “big” companies.  A big part of buying an insurance policy is evaluating the company’s ability to make a big payout.

If you have a home, auto, family, medical or dental issues shouldn’t you be more concerned about the insurance company’s willingness to make a big payout?  How would we measure that?  The ratio of claims to payouts?  Percent of claims paid?  And can we compare these ratios across companies and coverages?

When buying a home, we learn more about the property as we get closer to making the purchase.  We pay a questionable list of standard fees and learn about the history of utility payments somewhere in the process.  But only after we’ve moved in, unpacked and settled in for a season do we really understand the hidden costs of maintenance.  What if the real estate market was required to provide an estimated, total cost of ownership up front?  Land Value + Home Value + Avg Annual Utilities + 5-year estimated maintenance based on the data gathered during the inspection?

Anxiety Performance.  Are we asking the right questions or just comparing the answers we’ve been given?

 

 

Knights, Beer and Paid Content

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Newspapers and books have been under fire lately.   Amazon’s Kindle has created a healthy market, and newspapers are looking more appealing for starting fires either to keep warm or to get the BBQ started.  Over the long weekend I purchased a copy of the Saturday Boston Globe on a whim.  And it was the best dollar I have spent in a long while.

I read about the Higgins Armory and decided to take the kids after learning that the museum was open on President’s Day.  We spent the morning enjoying a guided demonstration of armor and swords, and learning about the styles and evolution of armor around the world.

I read a review of seasonal beers, and decided to try a Samuel Adams Noble Pils this evening at The Met Bar & Grill.  It’s easy to drink and amazing with a burger.  I purchased a six-pack to share with the neighbors when they drop by.

I read most of my news online, using tools such as Feedly to organize the RSS feeds that interest me.  And while I feel well informed, my experience this weekend was a reminder that when buying a paper or a book I’m not simply buying news or information.  I’m also buying someone’s editorial or literary guidance.

And in an era of information overload, I’ll pay for sound guidance.

Can there be an app for that?