Lessons learned: the 2015 Digital Ad + Marketing Summit

What I gained from not attending this year’s conference.

The Digital Advertising + Marketing Summit was a few days ago and the line-up was INCREDIBLE. You can say that when that includes speakers from Pixar, Buzzfeed, Google, the Packers, the Onion, Digital Kitchen and more.

Sadly, I wasn’t there.

As is when attempting to live an adult life, work and other commitments simply got in the way. Fortunately, my good friend Twitter kept me informed for most of the conference.

In the end, I learned three key things from not attending the event:

1. Twitter will continue to amaze.

Despite my lack of presence, Twitter practically made me feel as I was there. The live-tweeting was excellent as I got real-time updates on every speaker and their insight. My TweetDeck column set up specifically for the event made following easy and all the attendees never lacked on capturing all the humor and energy from the speakers.

Everything I needed to know was summarized online, and any visuals or links allowed me to learn more. It was a definite testament to Twitter’s ever –growing influence on providing real-time information.

2. Sometimes, it takes the small ideas to make a big impact.

Based on word-of-mouth, it seems that several of the best panels were the smaller companies.

While Buzzfeed provided interesting insight into the strategy of Internet’s biggest content developer, many expressed disappointment on not learning anything beneficial.

On the other hand, several raved about Digital Kitchen’s Molly Currey and Pinrose’s Christine Luby who offered giveaways that took the audience by storm. Buzzfeed had the bigger name, but ultimately it seems that the attendees benefited from the ideas of Digital Kitchen.

3. The strength of story-telling and getting personal.

Speaking of Currey, this years panelists focused on the getting personal. They broke down barriers and invited the audience in. It must’ve worked, as all the buzz on campus when I returned to campus were Currey’s panel and the closing keynote, James Murphy from Pixar.

Ultimately, brands should follow suit. Trends have long indicated how personalization and humanizing the brand makes for a better relationship with your consumer. The more your follower can relate to your message, the more they’ll likely to engage. Often, it takes adapting this mindset into your lifestyle before effectively translating that message for your business.