Steve Voith, Director of Marketing & Demand Generation
Spring has sprung (for most of the country anyway), 2018 B2B marketing plans are actualizing, but you’re also keenly aware you need to be doing something better or different. It can only mean one thing. The SiriusDecisions Summit is here!
This is hands down one of our favorite B2B marketing events of the year. And next week over 2,000 B2B marketing and demand generation professionals will descend upon Las Vegas. This conference has it all:
- Expert analysts sharing best practices, cutting edge marketing approaches and frameworks
- Inspiring key note sessions from world renowned authors and innovators
- Networking opportunities to connect with your B2B marketing peers and practitioners
- Fall Out Boy
- And all the Vegas buffets and gambling opportunities you can squeeze in between learning
With so much going on at a single event it can get overwhelming trying to map out the sessions and speakers you want to sign up for. To help our fellow content marketers, we’ve crafted a custom agenda that prioritizes the must hit sessions and provides purposeful opportunities to cross-pollinate your best practices into complimentary areas of B2B marketing (things like Sales Enablement, Demand Generation, etc.). Check out what we’ve highlighted below and use our recommendations to build your own custom agenda!
Tuesday, May 8th
The morning of the first full day of the conference is dedicated to two main activities:
- SiriusFoundation sessions (designed to help reinforce some of basic SiriusDecisions concepts and frameworks)
- Case Study Sessions (various B2B marketing vendors will invite their clients to take the stage and share their approaches to driving results using a variety of strategies and tools)
SiriusFoundation sessions must-hits for content marketing professionals include:
- Account-Based Marketing | If you’re not doing something in this space, you’re missing a huge opportunity to drive focused marketing and sales pipeline
- Content Strategy & Operations | take in all the foundational areas that make up a solid content strategy and map areas where you feel you could be doing more, starting or even doing less
- Demand Creation | ensure you’re partnering with your demand generation counterparts as so much of content is meant to help your organization better engage potential customers and drive demand
Opening Keynote
The first conference keynote session kicks off at 1:15, featuring SiriusDecisions’ own fearless leader, company President and Chief Product Officer. Tony will set the tone and theme for the conference and we are very excited to hear what author, athlete and former “Poker Princess” Molly Bloom has to share with us marketers.
No doubt there will be plenty to take away from both Tony and Molly’s experiences. If you’re unfamiliar with Molly Bloom, her memoir was recently made into a feature film.
Practioner Case Study Presenations
Round out the day with more case study presentations from B2B marketing practioners. The Content4Demand team is thrilled to have two of our favorite clients present their amazing work during two action-packed case studies:
Telling Stories, Not Selling Products: Oracle Cloud-Ready Infrastructure Shares Best Practices to Apply to Your Content Strategy
Equifax Takes A Buyer-Focused Approach to Content & Campaigns: Best Practices & Lessons Learned for B2B Marketers
Opening Day Welcome Cocktail Reception
Round out your day with the cocktail reception inside the SiriusDecisions Summit Expo Hall. Catch up with your team members, new colleagues and check out what’s new in B2B marketing technology and services.
Come say hi to the Content4Demand team at booth #240—we’re always excited to talk about content and we will also be giving out t-shirts that espouse the awesomeness of content marketers…
Wednesday, May 9th
Wednesday Morning Keynote
Building An Inspiring Brand Through Customer Engagement
The event is back in full swing early on Wednesday with a keynote session from SiriusDecisions Service Directors, Lisa Nakano and Julie Ogilvie—experts in Customer Engagement and Brand Communication, respectively.
Session highlights and takeaways include:
- Gain a deeper understanding of the attributes of great b-to-b brands and how they strengthen customer engagement
- Learn how to empower employees to deliver against your company’s brand promise to engage and inspire customers
- Pinpoint the brand enablement and customer engagement activities that drive the greatest impact
Wednesday Keynote Session
Building the (Artificially) Intelligent Revenue Engine
After a quick break it’s back in the ring for the second keynote session of the day. This time you’ll hear from SiriusDecisions VP and Group Director for Demand Services, Monica Behncke and Senior Research Director for Demand Creation Strategies, Kerry Cunningham.
Core takeaways from this session include:
- Separate hype from the current and future reality of AI in b-to-b
- Understand why judicious application of artificial smartness is critical for b-to-b organizations
- Learn about a framework for assessing the likely impact of adopting artificial smartness and planning your organization’s adoption strategy
- See examples of leading organizations that are adopting artificial smartness and the results they have achieved
Conference Track Sessions
After lunch, conference attendees can select from a myriad of conference track sessions—deep dive meetings where both analysts and practioners come together to share ideas and best practices. These are going on simultaneously in the afternoon so here are just a few that jump out at us:
- Content Strategy & Operations | Reimagining the B-to-B Content Factory
- Sales Strategy & Operations | The SiriusDecisions Sales Intelligence Model
- Marketing Strategy & Operations | Naked & Afraid: Surviving Business Disruption and Showing Marketing’s Impact
- Account-Based Marketing | Creating Demand Maps to Power Account-Centric Planning
- Customer Engagement | SiriusLab: Harnessing Customer Data for Post-Sale Engagement
Wednesday Closing Keynote Session
The final keynote presentation of the day features award winning photographer, storyteller, author and philanthropist Platon. Best known for his incredible portrait photography, Platon has shot for a multitude of international publications including Rolling Stone, The New York Times magazine, Vanity Fair, Esquire, GQ, The Sunday Times magazine and TIME magazine.
With such an accomplished and varied background, there are likely a lot of different takeaways for marketers. We are really looking forward to hearing what Platon has to share.
B2B Bash
Be sure to swing by the B2B Bash on Wednesday night in the Summit Expo Hall. The C4D team will be at Booth #240 taking requests to add to their B2B Marketers Rock custom Spotify playlist. Check out the songs marketers like you are listening to while they create content that rocks!
Thursday, May 10th
Thursday Opening Keynote Session
Stronger Together: Aligning Sales and Marketing Planning
SiriusDecisions Craig Moore, Service Director – Marketing Operations Strategies, and Steve Silver, Senior Research Director, Sales Operations Strategies will tell you all about sales and marketing planning and everyone’s favorite topic: budgeting.
Key session takeaways include:
- See the elements that comprise best-in-class planning for sales and marketing
- Learn how to implement a planning process that aligns to corporate goals and objectives and sets sales and marketing strategies that both functions agree on for an effective annual plan
- Understand how good planning drives improved measurement and reporting throughout the year
- Understanding the links between product, sales and marketing planning processes
Thursday Keynote Session
Nurture in a Demand Unit Waterfall World
After a break, SiriusDecisios Erin Bohlin and Laura Cross, both Research Directors for Demand Creation Strategies, take over with a keynote session dedicated to the Demand Unit Waterfall.
Session top areas include:
- Understand the role of nurture as a core component of an audience-centric go-to-market strategy focused on interactive, adaptive and personalized buying experiences
- Learn how buyer insights inform nurture interactions across all demand creation program types – acquisition, engagement and acceleration
- Learn how program design, content strategy and tactics need to evolve to effectively support the progression of demand units through the Demand Unit Waterfall
Conference Track Sessions
The final blocks of conference track sessions are held after lunch on Thursday. Here are our top picks for your final afternoon at the Summit:
- Portfolio Marketing | Activating Persona and Buyer Insights for Demand Creation
- Brand & Communications | Business Transformation: Implications for Brand and Communications
- Content Strategy & Operations | The State of B2B Content: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly
- Demand Creation | B-to-B Demand Creation: By the Numbers
- Product Management | Is Agile Enough? Addressing Agile’s Limitations for B-to-B Product Management
- Marketing Strategy & Operations | Building a Campaign Plan on a Page
Closing Keynote Session
Digital Transformation: What Does It Mean, And What Must B-to-B Leaders Do To Make It Successful?
Your brain is likely to be fried at this point…full of frameworks and knowledge but try and hang in there. The final keynote session of the event features SiriusDecisions Senior Research Director of Demand Creation Strategies, Gil Canare, and Vice President of Innovation and Product Management, Marisa Kopec.
We’re all facing constant change and this session will be well worth waiting for; here are just a few of the session takeaways:
- See how digital transformation can take different forms within a company and across functions
- Learn the key elements of truly transformational change and what it takes to execute
- Understand the role of technology in enabling transformation and determining when to commit
Green Tie Gala
And just like that, the conference content is done. All that you have left to do is grab a nice meal and enjoy some entertainment. You can knock out both during the event finale: the SiriusDecisions Green Tie Gala.
Grab a cocktail and enjoy new and throwback hits from Fall Out Boy:
We hope this agenda breakdown will help you get the most out of this massive and knowledge packed event. If you have any questions or even just need restaurant recommendations in Vegas, the Content4Demand Team is ready to share!
