For Eloqua enthusiasts, this time of year can be particularly difficult. Adjusting to life post-conference can be a struggle—particularly when coming off of a marketing automation high from Eloqua Experience.
As the editors of All About Experience, we were excited to hear from some of the attendees about their experience at this year’s annual user conference. We had the opportunity to connect once again with Michelle Burrows, Vice President of Demand Marketing at inContact; Autumn Coleman, Senior Marketing Operations Manager at Manhattan Associates; Tom Disantis, Senior Director at CEB; and Angela Smith, Senior Marketing Lead and Matt Jacobson, Digital Marketing Lead, both of Runzheimer International. Here’s what they had to share:
What was the most informative aspect of the conference?
Michelle Burrows: I loved interacting with other demand marketing executives.
Autumn Coleman: The customer sessions and networking was great. Learning what other best-in-class marketers are doing to raise the bar for using marketing automation technology is the biggest takeaway. Eloqua customers continue to innovate and push the envelope by turning big ideas into complex programs that impact their company’s bottom line.
Angela Smith and Matt Jacobson: Joe Payne’s presentation was extremely informative – learning about the new products Eloqua will be developing, as well as refreshing us on the existing products that we may not be taking full advantage of. The hands-on sessions were also useful, especially learning more about Eloqua’s blind forms.
Tom Disantis: The most informative aspect of the conference for me was the introductory session led by Eloqua’s CEO, Joe Payne. During this session, Joe laid out the most pressing challenge faced by marketing and sales executives, which is the fact that the customer is doing a lot more work on their own before wanting to engage with suppliers.
So what Joe talked about, and what we here at CEB assert, is that marketing and sales need to think differently about how to engage customers in their buying process.
And what I liked about Joe’s presentation is the (rightfully) optimistic message that THIS PROVIDES A HUGE OPPORTUNITY FOR US! Because if we can unlock this potential, we can better position our organization to grow with customers.
Was there any disappointing aspect of the conference in your opinion?
Michelle Burrows: I wish there were more sessions for executives.
Autumn Coleman: Overall, I was impressed with the conference. Next year my goal is to take home a Markie, however it was an honor for Manhattan to be a finalist this year. Not winning this year makes me work that much harder for next year’s conference.
Angela Smith and Matt Jacobson: There were a few technical issues that hindered our experience just a bit. For example, there were no power strips in the 3-hour “hands on” session so many people’s laptops died during the session in which we were supposed to be learning within the actual Eloqua training demo. The WiFi was also a little spotty which hindered the actual presenters who were trying to present within the actual Eloqua application.
Do you have any funny stories or anecdotes you’d like to share?
Michelle Burrows: My team was so excited to win a Markie that one of our colleagues fell off the stage when we went to collect it. And he wasn’t drinking!
Autumn Coleman: A few Eloqua Advocates participated in a flash mob during Wednesday’s lunch break. It was hilarious to see the look of confusion on everyone’s faces at my table when it started. I sat there like I had no idea what was going on and then, when my queue came, suddenly got up and joined the flash mob. It was definitely a fun addition to the conference.
Angela Smith and Matt Jacobson: The flash mob during lunch was awesome and very unexpected! There was background music pumped into the ballroom during lunch, but then it started playing SO loud that I commented to my colleague that they must not want us to have a conversation—which turned out to be the case so the flash mob could take full effect!
