Seemingly overnight, the term “AI” has infiltrated every conversation around data. But looking beyond the buzzword, artificial intelligence is creating impact at scale through advancements in deep learning, machine learning, conversational interfaces, natural language processing and more. The best way to stay up to date on new developments in the field, learn new skills, and network with industry peers? Conferences.
In this edition of our credTen series, we’re featuring the top 10 events in AI.
Events present a great opportunity for people across any industry to practice their social skills—both in real life and online. Whether you have 10 or 10,000 followers on Twitter, sharing your takeaways and experiences at conferences gets you involved in conversations and boosts your social media presence. You don’t have to be an influencer or represent a brand account to be heard on Twitter—but there are a few things that can take your live Tweets to the next level.
Here are some tips for live-Tweeting at your next event.
At times it feels like it was yesterday, and others like it’s been decades since the seed for cred was planted. I sat down to write this and decided to look at our first ever blog post. What a proud moment realizing that, even though we’ve changed over the years, at our core, we’ve still managed to keep the extreme focus and simple offering we started with 4 years ago; not many can say the same. Sure, our vision and mission have evolved, but our why remains intact: We believe that bringing knowledgeable, passionate speakers to engaged audiences builds awareness and excitement for you and your brand.
After 4 years and successfully placing 320+ speakers in 3,323 events all over the world, we’ve enabled ourselves to think more strategically and bigger about how a formal speaking programs impact a business’s brand and position in the market.
Last week, the events team had the pleasure of coordinating an intimate dinner on behalf of MightyHive, a global leader in advanced marketing and advertising technologies, at Birdsong in San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood. The event was well-timed to take place directly after AdExchanger’s Programmatic I/O, where MightyHive was participating and held a presence with their booth.
The night began with cocktail hour and canapés, with guests happy to mingle and unwind after their considerable day at Programmatic. Before inviting everyone to take their seats, MightyHive President of the Americas Emily Del Greco presented welcome remarks and housekeeping notes. Once everyone took a seat in the warm and focused atmosphere of the first floor space, attendees listened to a fireside chat between Emily and Electronic Arts Global Head of Media Belinda Smith.
During the discussion, Belinda and Emily looked back at their careers to trade lessons they’ve learned over the combined 30+ years they share in sales, marketing, and strategy experience. They debated the rewards (increased transparency, control of data, faster execution) and risks (steep learning curve, talent, startup cost) associated with in-house marketing. They marveled at how far in-house agency penetration has come even just in the past 10 years. Toward the end of the chat, it was clear attendees were intrigued by Belinda and Emily’s experiences and hoped to dive deeper into their own in-housing exposure during the Q & A session.
Before heading upstairs for the five-course meal, Emily suggested, “Of course talent is just one component of in-housing—I welcome you to discuss other challenges and opportunities that you have found along the way. Support each other, learn from each other, and share your wisdom.”
After the fireside, more than 15 MightyHive Partners were treated to a delectable tasting menu featuring dishes inspired by the Pacific Northwest. Birdsong, a recent recipient of the coveted Michelin Star honor, appeared to have its service down to a science as evidenced by the harmonious presentation of each plate. Wild boar, aged duck with mustard greens and Sonoma lamb were just a few of the mouthwatering items that graced the menu for the night. Conversation flowed as smoothly as the grilled butter atop the Peruvian purple cornbread, and topics rotated between specific in-housing accounts to the process as a whole.
Guests walked away from the night with inspiration from fascinating speakers along with new tactics for their brands’ in-housing strategy. As a parting gift, MightyHive gave each attendee a branded smart home plug that guests seemed eager to get home and test out.
Looking for help with planning your next event? Connect with us at events@credpr.com.
This week, I attended the Women@DockerCon Summit, a private forum for women in tech to connect, discuss, and engage with each other, at Moscone West in San Francisco. This Summit preceded DockerCon, a 3-day technology conference organized by Docker, Inc., and brought together women (and a handful of curious men) in tech in a space where they could freely discuss the issues and opportunities facing professional women today. The event included a workshop and two panels complete with a stage full of lady bosses.
Women@DockerCon allowed attendees to share their success stories, voice their concerns, and ask for help in a room of supportive strangers. Everyone—from pioneers in the modern women's movement, to the software development directors, to the participants in the audience—had something impactful to say about their experiences while working as a woman.
Communicating with Presence
“Half the people have Imposter Syndrome, the other half don’t know what they’re doing.”
Have you ever felt like a total fraud and that at any moment everyone around you was going to realize how little you know? Good news—you’re not alone! Francine Gordon, a professor at Santa Clara University has spent years working with women who consistently doubt their abilities, a sure sign of imposter syndrome. She explained that, like a duck swimming, you see the movement, but not the vigorous peddling underwater—everybody is working equally as hard, you just don’t see it!
Francine’s workshop began three questions:
What situations trigger your feelings of being a fraud?
What have you held yourself back from because you felt like a fake?
What has been the most effective way of managing these circumstances?
One participant shared that she makes sure to speak up within the first 10 minutes of a meeting. She uses this tactic to hold herself accountable and ensure that she doesn’t succumb to self-doubt. Another shared that she was hesitant to ask the dumb questions in an important meeting, but she wished she had after Bill Gates came in confidently asking all the “dumb questions” she was thinking.
Investing in an Inclusive Future
Next were the panels where a wide range of fields were represented, such as venture capital, human resources, insurance, and more. They spoke on best networking practices, how to handle awkward situations in the workplace, and what they’re excited about going forward in their careers.
XFactor Ventures Investment Partner Erica Brescia focused on investing in companies with at least one female founder. She built her network by leveraging supportive communities like the Female Founders group on Facebook.
Angel investor Susan Kimerlin shared the best way to learn about your industry: finding somebody doing something interesting and seeing how you can help.
Backstage Capital Director Brittany Davis is excited about seeing a positive trend in female founders at the companies she’s investing in.
Working While Female
CloudBees Senior Director of Global Human Resources Ellen Thorne explained that surrounding herself with a highly technical team allowed her to build important skills that wouldn’t have evolved otherwise.
New Relic Senior Director of Customer Marketing Cynthia Hester shared her best kept secret, “saying ‘thank you’ is the best way to say ‘no’ without pissing anybody off.”
Cisco Vice President of Global Marketing Aruna Ravichandran mastered the art of calculated risk, even if it meant taking a demotion and leading her family to think she was having a midlife crisis.
Liberty Mutual Insurance Director Honey Williams recounted how working at Subway and later dropping out of the AirForce sounded like failures, but those experiences taught her that you can’t be scared to make the decisions that are right for you, even when everyone around you tells you otherwise.
Being surrounded by so many powerful, bold women at Women@DockerCon reminded me of how much we can accomplish if we join forces and help each other take the next right step.
Interested in speaking at an event like Docker Con? Reach out to hear more about our speaker management services: speak@credpr.com
With more than 500 million users on LinkedIn, it’s no wonder why the professional network platform is a powerful tool for promoting events. LinkedIn’s user base consists of 40 million decision-makers, 61 million senior level influencers, 40 million recent graduates and students, and more. If this sounds like the audience you’d like to attract, here are five ways to promote your event on LinkedIn:
Keep your audience engaged: Posting a status on your page is an easy way to promote your event within your network. Use this as a tool to announce event updates on venue, speakers, sponsors, and more.
Pro-tip: The best time to publish a post is on Tuesdays through Thursdays between 10am and 11am when LinkedIn users are most active. Also, don’t forget to use hashtags! #eventtips
Leverage your company profile: Use your company profile to keep your audience updated on event productions, while simultaneously building up your network of followers. Make posts announcing call for speakers, ticket sales date, topics to be discussed, and such.
Join LinkedIn groups: A great way to reach people outside of your network is to join groups that are relevant to your event’s focus. You’ll be able to post to this new set of audience, but keep in mind that these posts should always be tailored to attract the pool of professionals you’d like to see at your event.
Become a publisher: Go beyond a typical status update and write an article to share on LinkedIn. Keep your article engaging and relevant, and use this opportunity to share the nitty gritty about your event, such as a recap of the previous event.
Pro-tip: Keep in mind that your article can be made public to increase viewership on and off LinkedIn!
Create boosted content: Choose from many of LinkedIn’s offerings, including Sponsored Content, Sponsored InMail, and Ads. Promote your event in people’s newsfeed with Sponsored Content, in people’s inbox with Sponsored InMail, and across the platform with Ads.
Interested in learning about how cred can promote and plan your next event? Connect with us at events@credpr.com.
When building a business, raising capital and maintaining healthy revenue is the first hurdle—but not the last. In a recent study of 2,700 entrepreneurs, respondents also listed marketing and advertising, recruiting, and employee culture as top challenges when running a successful company. Entrepreneurship events allow founders, leaders, and innovators to connect and share lessons on all the aspects that create a successful entrepreneur growing and scaling your company’s business, presence, and culture.
In this edition of our credTen series, we’re highlighting 10 events celebrating the entrepreneurial spirit.
Last week, the events team headed south and joined Equifax for their first ever customer conference in Atlanta. More than 250 of Equifax’s customers and partners from financial institutions and Fortune 500 companies, including SunTrust, Bank of America, Cox, and CreditKarma, attended Spark to learn about the latest trends and industry insights in consumer credit.
In the spirit of sparking inspiration and innovation, Equifax Chief Data and Analytics Officer Prasanna Dhore opened the conference by sharing his personal journey as an immigrant and how he built his credit from zero over the decades. His talk highlighted the information asymmetry that can exist between credit consumers and financial institutions.
Day 1 of Spark continued with the announcement of a new strategic partnership between Equifax and FICO. In today’s information age, Equifax and their partners have more data, technology, and analytics than ever before. More accurate customer views allow for smarter decisions for financial institutions and lenders, and more importantly, better credit access for consumers and a stronger economy for everyone. To accompany this philosophy, the new partnership serves help lenders better understand their consumers.
The rest of the content followed the key themes of data, analytics, and identity. Notable sessions covered the significance of data indicators such as student loan history, employment trends, generational differences; new analytics technologies such as explainable AI that are powering tools to better understand and predict consumer habits and behavior; and the role of identity to combat fraud and mitigate risk.
Artists from the Sketch Effect were onsite to help capture all the key session points and spark-worthy ideas. Other conference highlights included:
Equifax and Moody’s Economic Outlook session: A deep dive into current consumer trends and indicators for 2020
Equifax’s Innovation Studio Expo: Hosted at the Infinity Club of SunTrust Park, data and analytic leaders demoed some of their latest cutting-edge tools and solutions
Erik Qualman’s energizing keynote: Voted the 2nd Most Likeable Author in the World behind J.K. Rowling, Erik offered a guide for leaders in the digital age
After an eventful two days of thought-provoking content and demos, Spark left attendees feeling inspired and empowered to tackle the biggest challenges for our economy and consumer credit.
Interested in planning a customer conference like Spark? Let’s connect at events@credpr.com. See more of our event management here.
