Category Archive: Conferences
Where in the World is Emma in 2010? July Edition
Jonathan Gesinger & Taylor Schena presenting at HOW in Denver, June 2010.
We were all about representing in Denver & Portland last month, but we didn’t really have much going on in our other Emma city, Austin, TX. We’re making up for lost time now, attending two events there in July.
You all hear from me each month about these events, so — as much as you love that, I know – wouldn’t it be cool to hear from the Emma peeps who will be attending this time around? (I hope you said yes.)
MarketingProfs Digital Marketing World 2010
July 7 :: The comfort of your own computer
“We’ve participated in virtual conferences before, but we love the idea of this one being exclusively about email marketing and social media integration. There’s so much great content out there, and for this event, it’s free!”
- Rami Perry, Emma Small Business Manager
Technology Business Accelerators event at University of Texas
July 8 :: Austin, TX
“This is a really fantastic event for us to share Emma’s expertise with more than 300 marketers and small business professionals who are hoping to learn more about marketing their company online. We’re so excited to be partnering with the IC2 Institute at The University of Texas. Hook ‘em, Horns!”
- Jonathan Gesinger, Emma Satellite Business Development Manager
Alabama Franchise Alliance Kick Off Luncheon
July 13 :: Birmingham, AL
“This event is all about effective communication strategies, and I couldn’t think of a better topic for us to speak about for these franchisors and franchisees. They’re looking for better ways to communicate both with one another and with their customers, so I’m looking forward to showing them some best practices.”
- Casey McCormick, Emma Sales Associate
Online Marketing Summit’s Regional Tour
July 21 :: Austin, TX
“Our previous OMS sponsorships in Denver and Portland led to lots of great conversations about email marketing, so we’re glad to have such a popular, content-driven event here in Austin.”
- Jonathan Gesinger, Emma Satellite Business Development Manager
If you’re in the area for any of these events and want to say hello in person, just leave us a note here and we’ll set something up. Keep enjoying your summer!
Where in the World is Emma in 2010? June Edition
Steve and Frank representing Emma at our booth during the NRA Show in Chicago last month.
As you make your travel plans for some summer good times, we thought we’d let you know about some exciting places where we’ll be in June.
When you look at our list, you’re probably going to say to yourself, “Jeepers, these guys love Denver & Portland!” and you’ll be right. Denver & Portland are home to two of our Emma offices, and we’re looking forward to spending time with our Colorado & Oregon colleagues. If you’re nearby and want to meet with us, give us a shout and we’ll set something up.
Open Source Bridge Conference
June 1 – 4 :: Portland, OR
This is our second year in a row sponsoring the Open Source Bridge Conference. This is a newer conference organized for developers who work with open source technologies or are interested in learning more about open source. Not only is this a great opportunity for our Portland developers to connect and share experiences with other developers in Portland, but we also can show some local support to such an important group in one of our Emma cities. If you’re planning on attending, please say hello to Michelle, Mark and Jay, our Emma developers who will be attending. If you’re a developer and want to know more about our job opportunities, be sure to let them know. (You can learn more here.)
Creative Freelancer Conference
June 5 – 6 :: Denver, CO
This event kicks off HOW’s week of design conferences — it’s for designers, illustrators, photographers, copywriters and other creative professionals. We’re supplying some fun tote bag inserts here, so if you’re attending, you’ll receive some Emma love.
InHOWse Design Conference
June 6 – 8 :: Denver, CO
If you’re a manager or lead of an in-house creative team, this event may be right up your alley. This year, HOW is anticipating 400 total attendees from small to large-sized companies. We’ll have an exhibit table at this year’s event, so please do stop by and say hello to Sam Farkas. FYI, Sam plays guitar for a band that is playing at Bonnaroo this year. Pretty awesome, eh?
HOW Design Conference
June 6 – 9 :: Denver, CO
The HOW Design Conference is one of those signature events that we’ve really come to love being a part of each year. We put a lot into the design of our customers’ brands in email, so participating in these events gives us a chance to share more about Emma and gives us a chance to get to know what other creative professionals are up to.
Emma’s Jonathan Gesinger and Taylor Schena will be leading a session, providing helpful tips for creating stylish and effective email campaigns on Tuesday, June 8th from 10:45 AM – 12 PM. You can register for this session here. Not only will we have an exhibit space where you’ll find two wonderful folks from our sales crew, Gina LaMar and Theresa McLoughlin, but you may also run into two of Emma’s fabulous designers, Jennifer Kasdorf and Jimmy Thorn, who will be attending the overall conference.
Online Marketing Summit’s 22-City Regional Tour
June 16th (Portland, OR) & June 23rd (Denver, CO)
This year, OMS will be visiting 23 cities across the United States and Canada as part of their regional tour to bring best practices in online marketing to more than 250 attendees in each city. Each city will receive a single day of online marketing education and peer networking. This month, we’ll be speaking and sponsoring in two of our Emma cities, Denver and Portland. Then in July, we’ll be at the Austin event on the 21st.
If you’re going to be at any of these events or in the area, definitely let us know. Hope you all have a great summer!
A few of our YMCA friends
A quick note from the NAYDO conference in Charlotte, NC, where Steve Turney and I are meeting some really great folks from YMCAs all over the world. (Hi, Carlos from Kenya and Johan from Norway!) We’re learning so much about the YMCA organization and mission — these people seriously rock the philanthropy.
We’re also having the pleasure of chatting with Emma customers and hearing how we’re helping Y’s, big and small, reach out to their members, volunteers and donors in new ways.
One lovely story comes from Kevin Kosik of the Berkeley-Albany YMCA in Berkeley, CA. They used Emma to drum up support for their run at a $250,000 prize from Pepsi Refresh. They sent Emma email campaigns to encourage their members and friends to head to the Pepsi Refresh site to vote. It would have been an even better story if they’d actually won, but he was proud to say that the Berkeley-Albany YMCA, a small regional non-profit, came in ninth overall in a crowd of some pretty heavy contenders, and he credits Emma for their stellar showing.
Another quick shout-out to our friends at the YMCA of Middle Tennessee, who won a coveted Eagle Award for Excellence in Fundraising. This amazing team raised more than $77 million last year (um, wow) and continues to push the envelope with a lofty goal to create an endowment that equals their operating costs (um, double wow).
We’re so proud to be even a small part in these amazing organizations. With one more day of the conference to go, Steve and I are hoping to make some more connections and hear some more cool stories.
Where in the World is Emma in 2010? April Edition
Emma's own Jesse Worstell models one of our lanyards from the March SXSW Interactive Festival.
Hello, April! That’s what we Emma staffers are saying around the house here in Nashville. The weather is finally starting to get warm, the jackets are staying in the closet and no one has played any believable April fool’s jokes on me yet. With the arrival of spring, we’ve got another full list of events we’ll be attending.
If we’re in your area, please let us know. We’re always hoping to catch up with customers and new friends at these events and hear about all of the great things you’ve got going on. And who knows, if Emma’s own Sara McManigal is around, drinks may be on her.
NAYDO 2010
April 7-10 :: Charlotte, NC
We’re fans of all things YMCA. Everything from their philanthropic work to their focus on overall wellness and motivation is cause for us to support the North American YMCA Development Organization’s 29th annual conference. If you’re in the Charlotte area and want to meet up, let us know. Our very own Megan & Steve will be representing our gal at the conference.
Workology Conference 2.0
April 11-14 :: San Diego, CA
Workology is the user group conference for Workamajig, a web-based tracking and integrated project management software. We’re actually the only email marketing service that connects to Workamajig, which we like to think is pretty cool. What’s even cooler, my friends? There’s word around their office that they’ve got their own drink, Workamadrink. We haven’t tasted it yet, but we hear it’s darn good. We’ll have a table set up in the Crown Room, so be sure to stop by and say hello if you’re there.
Mirren New Business Conference
April 12-14 :: New York, NY
The Mirren New Business Conference happens in New York City during mid-April, and they’re expecting more than 300 advertising agencies from all over the country. We’ll be exhibiting at this year’s conference, and Mirren will be using Emma’s services to send out the event schedules each day of the conference. If you’re in the Big Apple and would like to meet Laura & Heather, our team members at the event, let us know ahead of time and we’ll try to set something up.
2010 Green Business Summit
April 13-14 :: Nashville, TN
Lipscomb University is hosting this green event in our hometown. We’re strong supporters of sustainability, including businesses that do what they can to better our environment. (We plant five trees for every new customer, after all.) This two-day event will be full of workshops, keynote luncheons and tips to help you become a little greener. (I promise that’s a good thing.) If you join the Nashville Sustainability Events Meet-up group by April 7, you can receive $45 off your registration.
AACSB’s ICAM
April 18-20 :: Anaheim, CA
This business school event brings together more than 1,000 educators and business school leaders from more than 45 countries and helps those folks network and gain insights on hot topics. This year’s event is in Anaheim, and Emma will be exhibiting. If you’ve got any questions or just want to say hello, look for Megan & Rami around the event.
More SXSW notes: collaboration, social space and science fiction
From looking at product design through the eyes of science fiction to searching for the most influential people using your product, topics at this year’s SXSW are as varied as usual, and they’re almost as thought-provoking as the queso is delicious. (Which is to say, very.)
A couple of main themes to talk about so far, from my perspective as Emma’s product manager.
1. Collaboration, innovation & expectations. As we all know, consumer expectations have changed. Not only do we want access to the latest information and support when we encounter problems, but as consumers we also want to be a part of the product itself. To that end, it’s important that companies don’t create new products in a vacuum. After all, we’re creating and building something that we hope will bring value to our customers, so we should get them involved early in the process and let them help shape the final result.
We’re also learning that releasing new products or features is just the beginning of the process. New technologies to collect and respond to feedback, paired with iterative development techniques, are giving users a more active voice in how products evolve over time. As product builders, our role is to listen to lots of single voices and ideas, and then synthesize and reshape that information to create innovative solutions that do more than just solve problems – they create value.
It’s not quite a haiku, but:
Collaboration leads to innovation…
Innovation is shaped through iteration…
Iteration validates the vision…
The vision inspires collaboration.
2. Social space trends: reach & influence. So if reach indicates how wide your network is and influence indicates how much your endorsements matter, it’s time to rethink what’s actually more important. Reach used to be all the rage, but influence is measurable.
And as for the science fiction, one session about “design fiction” emphasized that story-telling, including science fiction, can do things that science itself cannot. Imagining people in the future keeps ideas focused on how we’ll work and play, buy stuff, communicate with friends and coworkers and so on. As the stories of people emerge, the objects and gadgets and interfaces that they’ll use start to magically appear right along with them. And sometimes those objects look very different than if the conversation starts by trying to envision the “future version” of the gadgets we use today. People use products, so the more clearly we can visualize how people will change, the more clearly we can aim the technology to support those new stories.
And with that I give you the future of note-taking – maybe.
Top 5 words heard repeatedly at SXSW so far
One thing’s for sure: It’s a lot sunnier here in Austin at SXSW than it is back at Emma’s Nashville office … also, they have lots more retro neon signs here than Music City. And don’t even get me started on the cool bike cabbies (think overgrown tricycle, with room for three passengers). As for what’s happening inside the conference, here are the top five words I’m hearing so far (and a few other words to go along with them).
1. ITERATE: Don’t just do it once; keep reworking it. Daniel Burka, formerly of Digg, and Rob Goodlatte from Facebook talked about making iterative improvements to their products. One interesting point for us at Emma is that they talked about redesigning the registration process all the time – in most situations, users will only go through registration once, so it doesn’t affect everyone already using the product.
2. EXPERIENCE: Get to know your users, their needs and motivations. And do it early enough that what you learn can influence your design decisions.
3. FAIL: It’s OK to make mistakes — just be sure to learn from them. One person said that failure is when you don’t feel proud to show the work that you’ve done, while another described it as the thing that keeps him up at night because he didn’t do enough. A big theme is that all of the people who create something feel like it’s their fault if it doesn’t work. There’s no blame game here — it’s about taking personal responsibility. In a different session, the Gmail engineers talked about when Buzz launched: Many of the engineers felt so personally responsible for the problems that they slept in the office until the job was complete.
4. PSYCHOLOGY: We’ve heard so many examples of how to influence people and how they feel as they use your site and product. Referencing books like Nudge and Buyology, presenters talked about creating trust and using positive reinforcement in this ad-saturated environment. (They said we may be exposed to 5,000 branding messages a day.)
5. OUTLET: As in, “Have you seen an outlet? My battery is dying.”
And as a bonus round of SXSW info for you, people are all abuzz about the iPad and issues about mobile. As the mobile business grows, of course, people expect to have smooth, desktop-like experiences on their phones and in other mobile environments. One way for user experience teams to think about this is to pay attention to all the things that will make someone not want to use your product ever again. A speaker from Google UI mentioned that he believes mobile Web will be bigger than apps, even though everyone is more excited about apps now. If you really want to think freaky mobile thoughts, think of all things the phone could do without ever coming out of your pocket.
Emma’s third SXSW sponsorship
We’re at SXSW this week, meeting interesting people and helping backpacks mobilize to fight hunger. We’ve been proud SXSW lanyard sponsors for three years now, each year launching an initiative asking SXSW attendees to join us in doing a little good for a cause we care about.
If there’s such a thing as lanyard memory lane, we are now going to walk down it. In 2009, folks at SXSW helped Emma fund 40 classroom projects through DonorsChoose.org. SXSWers weighed in on their favorite regions and subjects, and we chose the projects accordingly. In 2008, Emma asked lanyard wearers at SXSW to vote YES for trees, because they’re tall and leafy and why would you vote no? For every vote we got — up to 5,000 — we planted a tree with our tree-planting partner, Plant-It 2020. (Of course, we decided we like trees so much that we haven’t really stopped planting them since. We plant five for each new customer who joins Emma.)
This year, we’re focusing on one of Feeding America’s national programs, the Backpack Program, which provides food-filled backpacks to hungry kids, giving them a convenient and discrete way to take food home to their families. Started in 1995, it now serves nearly 200,000 students a year through 3,600 individual Backpack Programs across the country.
Even if you’re not joining us at SXSW, you can click to turn an ordinary backpack into a super-awesome, hunger-fighting backpack. After 1,000 clicks, Emma will donate 1,000 backpacks filled with food to Feeding America’s Backpack Program. If you’re ready to super-awesomify a backpack, visit myemma.com/backpack.
More from SXSW soon…
Where in the World is Emma, Fall Edition
As usual, Emma’s got big plans across these United States to participate in conferences, sponsor events, and share email marketing tips & best practices. And the fall’s no different — from Chicago to Denver, Scottsdale to Dallas, Emma staffers are braving bag-check fees and peanut allergies and that guy who insists on putting his seat back and all sorts of other travel perils to make an appearance at a town near you. Here’s what’s on our itinerary — say hello if you’ll be there, too, or check out some of the discounts we’re able to offer through our sponsorships. Cheers!
MarketingProfs Digital Marketing Mixer
October 21-22 :: Chicago, IL
Our good friends over at MarketingProfs have put together another solid event with great content that will help you generate new ideas for your business. If you’re in the Chicago area and want to swing by and say hello, click here to register and take advantage of the $200 discount they’re still offering. Also, don’t forget to come by our booth and say hello to Emma’s Sara McManigal and Megan Feltes, who will be representing our gal at the conference.
Texas eMarketing Summit @ Innotech
October 29 :: Austin, TX
Emma’s latest satellite office recently opened in Austin, so we’re thrilled to be a part of this event for the technology and marketing community in Texas. Our very own Jim Hitch will be giving a presentation on elements of stylish email design at 9 AM, so be sure to sign up for that if you can. You can also say hello to Jonathan Gesinger, who’s heading up our efforts in Austin. If you are interested in attending, use the discount code PR9EMS for the special full-day discounted price of $65.
Building B-Schools Symposium
Nov 2-4 :: Scottsdale, AZ
If you work for a business school and are interested in learning new skills and strategies to grow your school, this workshop-style event may be right up your alley. Emma’s Steve Turney and Megan Feltes will be around to answer any questions that you might have. Be sure to click here and use the event code BSDC09 for an early registration discount.
TechJournal South’s Internet Summit
Nov 4-5 :: Raleigh, NC
This event in lovely Raleigh helps marketers and entrepreneurs hear the latest trends in internet marketing. Annie Williams, Emma’s Director of Business Development, will be participating on a panel about best practices in the email marketing realm. If you are interested in attending, we’ve got five tickets to share and we can also offer the VIP code, which is worth $50 off your registration. If you’re interested, please drop me a line. You can also register and learn more about the Internet Summit by clicking here.
Rocky Mountain DMA Workshop
Nov 4 :: Denver, CO
Join Emma’s Gina LaMar and Suzanne Norman for a morning workshop sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Direct Marketing Association filled with great tips and advice for creating your next email marketing masterpiece. If you are in the Denver area and are interested in attending, click here to register and get directions.
Enterprise LAMP Summit & BIG LAMP CAMP
Nov 6-7 :: Nashville, TN
Enterprise LAMP is an event unique to Emma’s hometown of Nashville, TN. The event is being organized by Marcus Whitney, part of the Emma emeritus team and air hockey champion extraordinaire. Nashville’s ever-growing technology community has expressed a need for an event like this one, so we are thrilled that we can help sponsor. The first day of the event will focus on the overall impact that Enterprise LAMP has had on CTOs from around the country, while day two’s BIG LAMP CAMP will focus on teaching many developers the ins and outs of LAMP. If you are a part of the Nashville Technology community and want to attend, please be sure to use our special discount offer when registering. Use the code 2009EMMA and you will receive $75 off of your registration or $25 off your BIG LAMP CAMP ticket.
If you have any questions about these upcoming events or want to know how you can get more info about the types of sponsorships we do, please feel free to let me know. Happy trails!
Post-Think Tank ’09: Thoughts from Emma’s Designers
:: The Better Late Than Never Edition ::
Emma and Adobe recently co-presented AIGA’s Think Tank Conference in Nashville. This conference may have been just a one-day event, but boy, did it a pack a punch. With 4 main sessions, the speakers included the dynamic duo, Jennifer and Ken Visocky O’ Grady, Dave Werner, Ian Dapot, and the lovely Paula Scher, who closed the day out.
Here at the Emma office, we were especially floored about this event, as it was the first design conference that our entire design team has been able to attend. Everyone on our team had such inspired and varying feedback, that it seemed only appropriate to share the love:
Lauren Johnston: The part that particularly stuck out to me was emphasis on process work, brainstorming, and research to initially organize design ideas. Usually, I mess around with my design on the computer until I get something I like. A lot of the speakers chatted about the importance of sketching and mindmapping to really hone in on a particular thought. Then, taking your process work to the client helps to communicate the design direction more clearly.
Researching seemed to be a key part of the process as well. Paula spoke about researching particular environments and spaces before designing it. Ken and Jenn chatted about the importance of researching the clients company and style to have a more successful outcome. I really enjoyed the conference overall. It really inspired me to get moving on some projects and to revisit my portfolio.
Daniel Brown: There was a lot that really stood out but I think one of the main things for me was the IDEO guy [Ian Dapot] saying that he only likes 1 thing out of 10 that he does. So, DO a lot. I can be inclined to not do something if I don’t think it will turn out well but that’s a bad way to look at it. You never know when something will take a turn for the awesome, so the more you do, the better your chances are of making something great.
Jennifer Crigger Kasdorf:
As designers, we generally take criticism about our work more than the average person. Use the criticism as a way to grow and to see your designs in a new light. – Jenn & Ken Visocky O’Grady
Problem-solve in creative ways. Sometimes we do need breaks, so take them! You might be surprised with the results. – Jenn & Ken Visocky O’Grady
+ “The Harder I work, the luckier I get.” – Thomas Jefferson (Dave Werner)
+ Self-promote. Be honest. Be yourself! – Dave Werner
+ Be inspired by your work. – Ian Dapot
+ Sometimes you have to design through the problem to see the solution. – Ian Dapot
+ Find new ways to create, new ways to be passionate about your work. -Paula Scher
+ Create for you. – Paula Scher
+ Surprise yourself. – Paula Scher
Jessica Saling: I really liked Paula Scher when she discussed creating a distinct style. At one point, her brand identity for the Public Theatre was ultra-successful. People liked it so much they actually starting mocking the style all around the city. While this was a compliment to Paula, it destroyed the brand. After the style caught on to many designs around town, the Public Theatre lost its presence.
This really spoke to me to always think about the context your work is displayed. Design can change its effect with the time or place. Designers need to always see the whole picture and not just the design. Also, while design can be effective at one time, it can quickly lose its effect if we don’t pay attention to what changes around us.
Elizabeth Williams: I was really impressed with the varied perspectives of each speaker. They each brought something different and thoughtful to the table without too much overlap.
I feel that the motivation to take risks is what I really took away from the conference. A couple of quotes I enjoyed: one from Ian Dapot who encouraged us to start, “exploring what you don’t know, NOT exploiting what you have”, and one from Albert Einstein via Jen and Ken reminding us that, “Imagination is more important than knowledge”. It’s easy to fall into the same routines and tricks that you feel comfortable with, but it takes much more courage and gumption to build upon the ideas stored in the “probably absurd zone” of your brain. So, three cheers for risk taking motivation!!!
Kelly McClain: During the Q&A discussion, someone asked all the speakers to share a piece of advice that’s stuck with them, and one of the panelists said how one of his instructors once told him that “everyone has the same 24 hours.” It’s a nice reminder that if you manage your time properly, you can complete even the most daunting projects that as long as it’s humanly possible, you have the same amount of time within each day that any other human capable of completing the task would have.
Taylor Schena: I liked with Ken and Jenn’s speech where they talk about how what you contribute is more than just the final piece and with OkayDave’s, where he talked about doing interesting things that aren’t related to your portfolio/body of work. Also, I enjoyed Paula Scher where she talked about how she did work to pay the bills and the work she loved on the side. I think it helps to keep a designer fresh and not burn out.
Jimmy Thorn: I think the thing that sticks out the most was Paula telling me to work the jobs to make money to afford the luxury of doing the projects you really feel strongly about, and to never let a project that you feel passionately about go by the wayside. She said that she would design 135 record covers a year, and be truly happy with five, but those five were her passion projects. I like that.
As for me, one topic that seemed to come up in one form or another, is the fact that a good designer usually spends the least amount of their time on the actual design. I was reminded how many other variables are so important to the design process and when one covers all these other bases, the design usually just flows right out. I believe it was Jenn & Ken who mentioned the phrase, “Design the system, not just the product.” I look forward to focusing more energy on this way of design thinking.
We hope you all enjoy our moments of inspiration and if you’re able to attend Think Tank: 2010, I highly encourage it.
My top five ideas from the HOW Design Conference
The Emma crew took a trip to Austin, TX last week for the HOW Design Conference, one of the largest gatherings of design professionals each year. Jessica and Allison went to represent our design team, Steve and Kendrick came to chat with the attendees about Emma and I led a breakout session about designing emails with clear goals (and revenue) in mind. After the conference, I sat down to summarize the ideas that will stick with me for a while. Here are the top five…
1. Creativity transforms the common into the extraordinary. Even the wrist watch has outer limits that are still being explored. Speaker: Rob Walker
2. Pretend like your email’s on the retail shelf. The same elements of humor, the unexpected, the obvious and the quirky are keys to success in the inbox and the store aisle. Speaker: Mitch Nash of Blue Q.
3. Powerpoint gets a bad rap, but it may be for bad reasons. Nancy, from Duarte Design, posed the question ‘Is Powerpoint broken? Or is the way we use it broken?’ It made me think of email marketers that aren’t quite happy with their results. It’s a hard question, but is email what’s broken? Or is it the way it’s being used? Speaker: Nancy Duarte
4. Good copy can (and should) come from bad. Wayne recommends writing the boring version of your headline first, and then creatively translating the idea from there. Speaker: Wayne Geyer
5. Wayne is a cilantro hater. For a good laugh, check out his anti-cilantro website experience.
Did you make it to HOW, too? What ideas will still inspire you long after the shock of 106-degree heat wears off?
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