If you've followed my blog for the last couple of years, you've probably noticed that I've spent much less time this year talking about X Change than in years past. I haven't even finished my short series on X Change topics - and except for a few notes here or there, I haven't said much about the Conference proper. There's a simple explanation; I haven't needed to. X Change registration has been running ahead of any previous year pretty much since we announced the event and since X Change is an event with a pretty hard attendance cap (because of the conversational format), I've been able to focus on my ongoing database marketing series.
With X Change just about at capacity, this may not seem like the best time to change. Still, we did our "Last Call" email this past week and I realized in writing it that I'd never really provided a good overview of the Conference in my blog.
For the folks who've been out to X Change before, that may not matter much; you know what the Conference is like and while each year is a little bit different, I don't think the changes this year are that significant. And, of course, the majority of attendees this year are returnees from previous years. If you haven't been and are considering it, here's what we have planned...
Let's start with the single thing that makes X Change so popular and special. It's the format.
X Change is all conversational. There are no presentations. Almost the entire Conference is spent in small group sessions with fellow practitioners discussing topics in digital measurement. Each session is led by an enterprise measurement leader (no vendors, no consultants) and delves into a specific topic. Check out the Website, and you'll see not only that X Change offers a staggering amount of content (more breakout sessions and far more break-out time than any other Web Analytics conference), but that the focus is laser-sharp and the topics unusually advanced.
Believe me, these discussions are open - often surprising so - and you'll hear straight-talk about what works, what's hard, and what looks easy but turns out otherwise. And here's the really cool part - you'll hear but you'll also talk. Every attendee is a full part of the conversation. You can air your concerns, talk specifics, ask and answer the questions that matter. I liken X Change conversations to Graduate Seminars. To really learn the interesting stuff, you have to be part of the conversation, not a passive receptacle to someone else's ideas. And one of the really nice aspects of X Change's success is that we draw a great group of attendees. Each year, we get a more sophisticated audience and that means the conversations just get better and better.
My email contained a small sampling of the companies participating this year: American Airlines, Apple, Charles Schwab, Comcast, Dell, eBay, Facebook, HP, Intel, Kaiser Permanente, Marriott, Nike, Sony, Turner Broadcasting, and Walmart. That's just a smattering - X Change pulls top brands from every vertical and brings them together in focused conversation.
Content, conversation, focus. That's what X Change what it is. Everything else is just gravy.
But there's some pretty good gravy too, and here's another really cool aspect to X Change - especially since it's hosted by a vendor. The signal to noise ratio is phenomenal. We don't have booths, we don't have paid presentations. You won't hear Semphonic ads over lunch. We don't serve you drinks the color of our logo (unless, this year, you count Sangria as our logo color). We have lots of vendors out to X Change (including many competitors), but we limit them to no more than 2 senior folks - and we ask them to participate in the conversation and leave their sales hats at the door. That's hard for all of us, but you'll be surprised at how good job most of them do. It makes for a completely different Conference experience and it's a core part of what makes X Change special.
In addition to the conversation (we call them Huddles), there are a couple other aspects of X Change worth touching on. Our Keynote speaker this year is Elea McDonnell Feit of the Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative. If you're not familiar with the Initiative, it's worth knowing about. Essentially, they've created an academic consortium available to enterprise clients (on a kind of subscription basis) who would like to find deep answers to customer analytics issues. Academic researchers can attack problems at a deeper, more sophisticated level than most of us - even at places like Semphonic - can hope to do. Elea will not only overview the program (which is interesting in and of itself), she's going to talk through some of the projects they've been working on and some the results they've turned out. This is a rare opportunity to see what CAN be done in advanced customer analytics when you're willing to really push the envelope.
A totally new aspect of X Change this year is the Non-Profit Analytics Challenge. It's a kind of analytics
"barn-raising", where we'll divide up into small groups and tackle the real analysis problems of two great charitable organizations - the United Way Bay Area and Oceana. This is an extra half-day event after the Conference and its free/optional on a first-come, first-served basis. The goal is to get a chance to share a hands-on experience of real analytics. I have no idea how it's going to go (this being our first year) but I think it will be a blast.
Of course, we also provide a full-day of our Think Tank training right before the Conference. Think Tank is highly targeted, advanced training. We keep the groups quite small and each session is taught by one of our senior consultants. I'm doing three classes (one covering the data model work I've been writing about, one on Customer Analytics, and one on Use-Case Analysis), but the range of topics is pretty impressive. You can check out the full list here. Like X Change, it's an opportunity to delve into topics that just aren't covered in most training or Conference sessions.
So that's the real meat-and-potatoes of X Change. It's different than other Conferences in shape, in feel, and in value. If you are seriously involved in enterprise measurement or analytics, it's the right Conference to go to.
But I should mention that we try to treat you right as well. Comfort is an aid to great conversation, and we do our best to promote yours.
In years past, we've chosen some pretty posh settings (the Ritz and St. Regis in SF) and some pretty spectacular settings (Napa and Monterey Bay). This year falls more into the latter category. We're going to be at the Coronado Island Resort in San Diego (not the Del Coronado by the way - which is lovely but doesn't have the meeting room setup we need) - it's on a long spit of land right across from San Diego and has a great SD vibe. Relaxed, fun and beautiful. The views are awesome. San Diego in September should be pretty fine. For our opening reception we're cruising out on the Bay and we'll follow that with a wine and chocolate tasting. If you're not in a good mood after that, something is wrong with your body chemistry! On Tuesday, we're doing a spectacular tapas-style dinner under the stars and on Wednesday, we'll close with a pool-side reception.
Yes, X Change packs a formidable amount of content, but like any really good Conference, it's a lot of fun too.
It all adds up to the most unique, enjoyable and valuable Conference experience you can imagine. Which is why, of course, it can be so hard to get into.
We can't wait to see you!
Comments