Why I am attending Marketing Technology Conference

Marketing Technology Conference  is the first ever event for the practice of Marketing Technologies. I go to many conferences but I never write about them and especially before the conference. Few of my friends have recently inquired me on why I am attending the Marketing Technology Conference and what are the benefits I see by attending Marketing Technology Conference (MarTech Conference).

The first Marketing Technology Conference (MarTech Conference) is very special for me as it is about my passion and it is a conference that I was praying for few years now. So this is my attempt to share with you why I am attending Marketing Technology Conference (MarTech Conference) and why you may also like to attend it next time (they are already sold out). After the conference I plan to post another article on what I learnt at Marketing Technology Conference.

Rising Role of Marketing Technologist

Almost 3-4 years ago I came to know the term that describes the role that people like me play in the business world today. This was the time when I was introduced to the role of Chief Marketing Technologist. Marketing Technology Conference (MarTech Conference) is the first ever conference that will bring all of us in this practice under one roof for a day.

Here are some of great reads on this role that have helped me understand the role better and also educate others on this role and its importance.

• Rise of the Marketing Technologist by Scott Brinker

• Two reports from Forrester gave a huge support to this new role:Investing In Marketing’s Technology Future and Three Approaches To The Marketing Technology Office.

• The Rise of the Chief Marketing Technologist by Harvard Business Review
• The hot new CxO: Chief Marketing Technology Officer? [infographic] by Venturebeat

  

• 10 Reasons why you need a CMTO

Here are some of the profiles of Chief Marketing Technologists who are already impacting the success of some big companies (collected from from LinkedIn Search and Scott Brinker’s blog)

• Bala Kudaravalli, Leading marketing technology at Symantec
• Saad Hameed, LinkedIn’s head of marketing technology
• Sheldon Monteiro, CTO of SapientNitro
• Mayur Gupta, Global Head of marketing technology at Kimberly-Clark
• Chris Davis Chief Marketing Technologist at Crimson Marketing
• Shawn Goodin Director of Marketing Technology at The Clorox Company

Few of the above Marketing Technologists, CTOs, CMOs are also speakers at Marketing Technology Conference (MarTech Conference)

Scott Brinker “The Pioneer of Marketing Technology”

I was introduced to Scott Brinker’s blog by my previous manager. It has been almost 3-4 years that I have never missed any update from Scott Brinker. I have always tried to attend as many events where I can go and learn from him. He is the person who put this concept together and really guided the entire industry why there is a need of such role and why it is no more a choice. Scott Brinker may have spent hundreds of hours in putting together the vision, thought leadership and detailed plan on how to make this happen. There is not one other than Scott Brinker who is the ultimate expert in this field. Scott is the chair and the key speaker at Marketing Technology Conference (MarTech Conference).

Why I  am attending Marketing Technology Conference (MarTech Conference) 

I have discovered that great people are willing to share their ideas and you can learn only if others are ahead of you. There are many professionals in this space who are definitely ahead of me in this field or atleast they know what I may not know.

Here are the top few reasons why I am attending the Marketing Technology Conference (MarTech Conference)  at Boston.

• This Marketing Technology Conference is Chaired by Scott Brinker. So obviously this is the best chance to learn from the pioneer in this field.By now you may have already noticed that I am firm follower of Scott Brinker.

• Connect with peers: Marketing Technology Conference (MarTech Conference)  is the only and the first event in the industry where I can connect with all my peers. A great chance to network, connect, learn, share with them.

• A great place for personal development in this space.

“A man only learns in two ways, one by reading, and the other by association with smarter people.” – Will Rogers

• Marketing Technology Conference (MarTech Conference) is vendor-agnostic hence no hidden agendas & no sales pitches. The reason I got to conferences is to learn and not to buy. It is good to connect with vendors but the main reason I go there is to learn.
• Broad Agenda : The agenda very well covers the following main questions that most probably each one of us face today:
  • How do we support new marketing strategies with the right technology strategies?
  • How can technology transform our marketing operations and customer experiences?
  • What management practices do we need to govern this new breed of marketing?
  • How do we develop talent and culture to leverage marketing technology investments?

• Better understanding the complex world of Marketing Technology: As you may already know that the world of marketing technology is getting complex day by day with new products and more consolidations by big companies. If you are unaware, here is the best illustration of the complexity:Marketing Technology Landscape Supergraphic (2014)

  

• With more in depth understanding of the marketing technology space I will be more equipped to better design my marketing technology stack.

• Marketing Technology Conference (MarTech Conference) is a great place to share your own challenges with other and help other with the challenges they are facing in this field. A great quote on collaboration

“Collaboration is important not just because it’s a better way to learn. The spirit of collaboration is penetrating every institution and all of our lives. So learning to collaborate is part of equipping yourself for effectiveness, problem solving, innovation and life-long learning in an ever-changing networked economy.” -Don Tapscott

• Marketing Technology Conference has a very good line of speakers. Most of them come from different perspectives and can help put together the right & complete picture. Here are some of the speakers on the agenda (Pasted from PR2020 )

1. Scott Brinker (@chiefmartec), Conference Chair & author, chiefmartec.com

2. Mayur Gupta (@inspiremartech), Global Head of Marketing Technology & Operations, Kimberly-Clark

3. Laura McLellan (@lauramclellan), VP Marketing Strategies, Gartner Research

4. David Raab (@draab), Principal, Raab & Associates

5. Paul Roetzer (@paulroetzer), CEO, PR 20/20, author of The Marketing Agency Blueprint and The Marketing Performance Blueprint

6. Jascha Kaykas-Wolff (@kaykas), CMO, BitTorrent

7. Erica Seidel (@erica_seidel), CEO, The Connective Good

8. Jane Hiscock (@janehiscock), Founder & CEO, Farland Group

9. Wes Hunt, Chief Data Officer, Nationwide Insurance

10. Lisa Ritchie, SVP Customer Knowledge and Insights, Scotiabank

11. Travis Wright, CEO, MediaThinkLabs

12. Erik W. Holt (@erikholt), Partner Strategy Leader – Technology/ISV, IBM ExperienceOne

13. Lou Pelosi, Sr. Director LaunchPoint, Marketo

14. Suresh Vittal (@sureshvittal), VP Product Marketing and Strategy, Adobe Marketing Cloud

15. Erik Brynjolfsson (@erikbryn), Director of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy

16. Sheldon Monteiro (@sheldon_tm), CTO, SapientNitro

17. Sheryl Pattek (@sherylpattek), VP & Principal Analyst, CMO and Marketing Leadership Practice at Forrester Research

18. Jason Heller (@JasonHeller), CEO, Agiliti

19. Sean Ellis (@SeanEllis), Founder & CEO, Qualaroo and GrowthHackers.com

20. Christopher Penn (@cspenn), VP of Marketing Technology, SHIFT Communications

21. Shawn Goodin (@shawngoodin), Director of Marketing Technology, The Clorox Company

22. Michael Krigsman (@mkrigsman), Co-Host of “CxO Talk”

23. Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar), Chief Marketing Officer Extreme Networks

24. Robert Tas (@TasRobert), Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President, Pegasystems

25. Steve Mann (@stevemann), Chief Marketing Officer, Research Solutions, LexisNexis

26. Dharmesh Shah (@dharmesh), Co-Founder and CTO, HubSpot

 Check out Twitter list by PR2020: MarTech Speakers

• Case studies make great collateral for sales. In the role of Marketing Technologist we play a sales role on a daily basis when we have to influence our colleagues, managers and senior leadership. Case studies are a great asset for winning those pitches.

I look forward to Connect with you

See you at the Marketing Technology Conference (MarTech Conference), I look forward to connect with you and learn from you. Please feel free to reach out to me via

My Background

Today I live on the cross roads of marketing & technology. Marketing Technology is a new practice that is become more and more prevalent today in every company. I would like to share my background so that you can  better understand my perspective on attending Marketing Technology Conference (MarTech Conference)

I started my career as a software engineer. Java, Struts, SQL, Hibernate, Spring, etc. were the technologies that I spent my first 7 years of my professional life. Got a great opportunity and moved into a sales and relationship management, it was fun. It was a period of great learning. Really understood what happens in the business world on a daily basis and the challenges of customer relationship management. Since last 5 years my professional journey took me into Marketing teams. I got into Marketing because of my passion to bridge the gap between tech and business.

Today my key focus is on Digital Marketing Strategy and Marketing Technologies but that is not what I have always done. I understand technology, have a passion for sales and I love marketing. On a daily basis I have to connect these dots and that needs a great amount of understanding of all these fields.

Connect with Me

MyBlog, LinkedIn or Twitter

Some other great posts on this subject:

10 Reasons to Attend the Inaugural MarTech Conference (Aug. 19-20)

8 Reasons Why You Should Register Now for MarTech: The Marketing Tech Conference