#ET11 - Conversations, Clients, & Celebrities

Once a year the city of Indianapolis bustles with excitement, as business men and women make their way to a grand hotel for the long-awaited event.  What is this spectacle, you might wonder?  Why, none other than ExactTarget's Connections conference.  When thousands of visitors arrive to the city, they aren't disappointed.  From billboards along the highway welcoming them to the event, to the decorated race car outside of the hotel, Connections attendees have come to expect nothing but the extraordinary.   

As our neighbor on Monument Circle, we work closely with ExactTarget and are often just as excited for this event as they are. Since we're in a similar industry, many of our Compendium clients are also ET clients, and therefore come into town for the event.  The week offers a perfect time to get to know our customers, as well as meet new prospective clients.  

This year Compendium kicked off the week by hosting a "Cocktails With Compendium" event for all of our clients that were arriving into town.  Held at a local Asian fusion restaurant and nightclub, we had the perfect setting for a great event.  Cocktails and hors d'oeuves were served, and many clients attended.  We had the chance to talk about new product ideas, strategy for their programs, and of course life in general as well.  

In the main expo hall, Compendium had a booth - this is where the real fun took place!  We had many clients stop by to say hi, like Jeremy from Tampa Bay & Company.  

While it was great to talk to current clients, it was just as exciting to prospective clients who are actively searching for exactly what Compendium has to offer.  Let me give you an example...  

As I was standing at our booth, a prospective client came up and said "I have a problem, and I was told you might have the perfect solution for me."  As this person told me about his problem, it was all I could do to hold my tongue and not jump in on him mid-sentence.  His problem?  He has tons of customers that are passionate about his product, yet he has no way to collect their stories.  He wants an easy way to gather their stories, so they can promote certain features and products to his other customers.  Because, as we all know, current customers can be your best brand advocates.  As I began discussing our web to post feature, I could see his eyes light up.  "Yes!" he said, "This is exactly what I've been looking for!"  

And let me tell you...  I had more than one of these conversations.  The ExactTarget Connections event proved even more that Compendium offers the corporate blogging solution that businesses are looking for.  Between our web to post feature, email to post feature, content calendar and more, prospective clients truly "got it" and could see why they need Compendium - because their lives would be MUCH easier!

Meeting with current clients and the conversations with prospective clients made this an excellent event.  But I can't forget one other thing - the celebrities!  If you don't believe that ExactTarget puts on a phenomenal event, take a look at the picture below.  Is that me with Soledad O'Brien from CNN?  Why yes, yes it is.