What I learned from the first-ever, global eTouches User Conference, Aug 16-17, Norwalk, CT

At the point of commitment, the universe conspires to support you.
  - Anonymous

I have been an eTouches user and advocate for going on three years now. My company has implemented the tool globally as the standard, registration system for the majority of customer and internal events. Having taken the plunge three years ago with a relatively unproven company (in the mind of corporate America), and forming a great long-term partnership with them over the years, I had full faith and trust that spending two days at the conference would be well worth my time. I was definately going to go.

Before I had a chance to register, I got a call from Leonora, the eTouches CEO, asking if I would present our case study at their conference. “Of course!” I said. I was more than happy to share my story with 20 people in breakout sessions. As I think back on it now, she gave no indication that it would be just 20 people in a breakout session...

Then one day, a colleague passed me in the hall and said, “CONGRATULATIONS! I see you’re keynoting the eTouches user conference! That’s AWESOME!” I said (very eloquently, I might add), “HUH?” I ran to my computer and scrolled through my inbox to find an announcement that I would be keynoting the conference, followed by 4 more emails from other colleagues congratulating me on my keynote spot.

So I called Susanne Carawan at eTouches and said, “Yeah, hi… so what’s this about me keynoting?” She said, “I know! Surprise! Awesome, right?” Of course, it was totally awesome, and I give presentations all the time at work, speak to hundreds of people frequently by conference call and webinar format…but I had never actually spoken “for real” in front of an audience in any kind of “she’s our featured presenter” sort of way.

So the first thing I learned about eTouches at their user conference was that they were willing to show me the same level of trust that I’ve shown them. They trusted that I would come up with a story that would kick off their conference in a meaningful way. They trusted that I had some sort of ability to stand in front of people and speak coherently.

Only the survey results will truly tell how I did, but I sincerely thank eTouches for giving me the opportunity to share, learn, and grow. And I hope I didn't suck.

But about that conference… I really did learn actual useful stuff. So here’s my recap:

My first awesome moment was when I arrived at the offices. I was on a conference call about an event I have coming up, when a man entered the room - I'd never met him, but after three years of talking to him pom the phone, when I heard him say hi, I knew instantly who he was. Julian Ward!

I told the folks on the phone, "Hold on a sec - I have to put you on mute and hug someone." I know it sounds cheesey, but It was a magical moment!

A colleague of mine from Dell attended with me, and then I got the pleasant surprise of another colleague of mine from another Dell office showing up to attend – I had never met her in person, either!

eTouches CEO Leonora Valvo kicked off the conference with some great “burning questions”… and let me tell you that a crowd of 75 software users have tons of questions and ideas. The eTouches team graciously answered the questions, shared the solutions that already exist, and took in the ideas for consideration.

We learned about upcoming roadmap plans, new mobile features, and got some great demos of modules that many of us see in the tool, but have yet to use. The agenda was jam-packed minute-to-minute with great stuff.

One of the eTouches board members presented an industry perspective on content, sharing some best practices and ideas on how to generate and syndicate event content. Personally, I have no shortage of content at my events (and in fact find that we have to curate it down to the really important points before launching an event), so I would have liked to see a little more from him on the reuse of the content. I have other commentary on The Long Tail of Content, and I think his presentation could have been shaped to expand on that a bit – maybe next year!

On the evening of the first day, we attended a clam bake at the beach… but this was no ordinary clam bake… after getting some clams and clam chowder, we were each served AN ENTIRE LOBSTER. I have never seen anything like that at an event. I was blown away!

I have a mantra that when I attend conferences, the experience is whatever I make of it, so I officially designated our dinner table as “the fun table,” and hilarity ensued. Great conversations that ranged from the naming of grandparents to Facebook privacy to the death of email. We ended the evening with a surprise afterparty at a local dive with an AMAZING band call Tangled Vine. If you’re in the northeast, you must book this band. I’m from the Live Music Capitol of the World, and I was very impressed with this Greenwich, CT, group!

Our previous Death of Email conversation from was put aside the next day when we got a presentation from eWay talking about email marketing. Relevant points, great statics, and reinforcing metrics behind why email is still a viable marketing tool for events.

We had an interesting conversation about mobile apps for events… I think the topic still stumps everyone. Should we build? Should we buy? Should we ignore? No right answer has emerged.

We had an exciting and energetic conversation about social media and extending the life of an event community, led by Susanne Carawan, and the eTouches team announced their eSocial platform (replacing eConnect), and featuring a full private community portal for attendees to connect before, during, and after the event.

Finally, we ended the conference with some Meet the Experts and advisory-type sessions, which were extremely valuable and ton of fun (attendees love to provide input and ideas, and it turns out, I’m no exception!).

As a self-professed disruptor and early adopter, I was absolutely thrilled to be a part of eTouches first-ever global user conference. The people I met, the stories I heard, the experiences I shared will be with me for life.

Thank you to eTouches and to the loyal user-base for making my two days in Connecticut so very worth my while!