Last month I attended the Direct Marketing Association's Annual Conference and Exposition in Boston, MA. The DMA is the leading global trade association of businesses and nonprofit organizations using and supporting multichannel direct marketing tools and techniques. The DMA has been driving direct marketing innovation since 1917.
The Annual DMA conference is, as far as I know, the largest direct marketing event in at least the US. It was my first time attending this show, and I must tell you, I was pretty impressed.
The quality and diversity of the sessions was tremendous. Prior to leaving for the show, I plotted out which sessions I was going to attend. The show offers several tracks depending on one's focus, Acquisition & Lead Gen, Retention & Loyalty, Cross-channel Strategy, Mobile, Creative, etc., but the concurrent sessions could be easily attended mix and match. Let's just say that I wish there were three of me, because I had a really hard time choosing between sessions.
I attended a few of the keynotes, including the one in which @biz was supposed to present, but his wife was pregnant and due soon, so he presented via skype. The other keynotes were decent, but the learning sessions were so good that I didn't want to miss any for a less pertinent mass-presentation.
The expo floor was cool. I'll admit that when you are a marketing guy, and are used to standing in your company's booth working for leads, being on the other side as the attendee, with marketing guys actually marketing to you the marketing guy, is pretty fun. I spent quite a bit of time on the show floor, partly because I was looking for a few specific solutions, but also because it was really great to see all the emerging marketing technology.
The overall organization of the event was stellar. I had so many options, but never so many that I felt overwhelmed. And all the while, the layout, floor plan, session schedule and planning were very clear and easy to follow-definitely took a lot of the stress out of attending a show.
I also enjoyed that the conference included pre- and post-conference intensives. I chose the pre-conference focus which included four tracks of four sessions each. Very good stuff.
Let's just say that I came back with some amazing, concrete tools and ideas to incorporate into my marketing strategy that will improve our branding, advertising, content and ultimately increase sales.
So for what it's worth, I will definitely be attending next year, and I might even bring a colleague with me just to absorb even more quality information. If you have any questions regarding the show, or need greater detail, please leave a comment and I will answer them as best I can.
Hope to see you at next October's DMA 2012 show in Vegas.