Melodie’s Trip to ERA’s D2C Convention in Las Vegas
I had the honor of attending Electronic Retail Association’s Annual D2C Convention September 13th and 14th in Las Vegas at the Paris Hotel. In addition to attending I was an official Vlogger for the event. (Vlogs will be posted soon) Arriving Sunday morning, I dropped my stuff off at the Bellagio where I stayed then headed to the convention which started off with great connections at their networking lunch. I’m amazed at how much I accomplished during my short stay of less than 48 hours .
My colleague Michael Weisfeld from BusinessOnLine was a featured speaker in the Social Media Session. The session was full of information that enhanced my own knowledge of the space and gave our company an opportunity to showcase our robust capabilities and experience in the Social Media space.
The evening rolled around and the ERA hosted a grand opening reception at the Paris Hotel pool. Hosted hou’rderves and cocktails got everyone in the mood to mix and mingle. There was even a band that customized an “ERA” song which was quite amusing. I interviewed many prominent leaders and made some great connections.
After the reception the night was still young so I had some time to explore what some call Sin City with the best friend who was also in Vegas!
Day 2 of the D2C Convention started off strong with an exceptional presentation by Keynote Jack Myers. Jack speaks with such passion and accuracy about advertising trends. Ever since the 1920s advertising trends have aligned the economy’s fluxuation. The economy is down, advertising dollars are down. The economy is up, advertising dollars also go up. For the first time in history Myers predicts this trend won’t follow suite. I couldn’t agree more with his insights on this belief. Supply is definitely exceeding demand in advertising inventory as consumers become less responsive to interruptive information that is pushed to them. User generated content and social media will dominate as technology empowers marketers to engage directly with consumers. Myers recommends businesses need to start using the passion of their audience to extend the value of their content. Another praise I have for Myers’ is his ability to speak through visuals. His slides were strategically crafted to use more images than text to get his message across.
The next Keynote was one of America’s favorite talkshow hosts, Montell Williams. His presentation resonated with many in the audience who have a strong ambition to take their products to the next level just like Montell did with his Living Well line. What I enjoyed most about his presentation is the interactivity by allowing the audience to ask questions. This personalizes the session as 99% of the time someone’s question will answer the questions of many others.
After Montell wrapped up I spent the remainder of my time making my way around the expo area watching pitches, GoogleTV and SpotMixer demos and connecting with more great leaders. I even received a nice treat of a private limo ride (with champagne!) back to the convention after checking out of my hotel!
Before I knew it, it was past 5pm and they were kicking us out of the expo hall! I got in the taxi line and even networked on the way out to optimize my time in Vegas by sharing a cab with another attendee. Wow I’m out of breath just reading this I literally ran around Vegas nonstop for 2 days and had such an awesome time doing it. Thanks for reading about my trip. Enjoy the photos and upcoming vlogs! More photos posted on Marketing Melodie’s Facebook Page.
