• by editor , David Baker , December 7, 2009

The altitude is 8,000+ feet, it's full of snow, and 140+ have descended on Park City, Utah for the biannual Email Insider Summit hosted by MediaPost. I've been involved in this event as an advisor, speaker, moderator, roundtable lead and programming chair since we began putting these on in 2005. I continue to marvel at what a great event this is, for several simple reasons: networking, networking, networking. After all, why do we go to industry events in the first place?

This event has gradually changed its format and we've tried to infuse other digital elements that impact our channel. We try to explore deeper views into consumer behaviors, and of course include great marketing activities that we can learn from. The Summit is different from some other industry events because it doesn't focus heavily on deliverability and privacy, which some argue are the critical elements of the email channel. Our focus has evolved at the request of the participants and advisory boards. The jewels of the meeting are the roundtables and networking events. This is the place for specific discussions about the practice of email marketing.

I anticipate hot discussions on several topics:

Consumers and their behaviors: we have the Microsoft Live team, who will share recent research on what consumers are doing in their inboxes. Who's talking about travel, dating, financial matters? How effective are marketing-related emails in Hotmail?

We'll extend this discussion with a great panel on social data, learning how to take advantage of the behavioral data available, what the privacy implications are and how marketers are making this actionable.

We have also put together a consumer panel. While in the past we've hosted college students and digital moms to better understand their perceptions and use of email, we've targeted a different group of consumers for this event. We felt there was a finite shift in behavior that happens when someone graduates from college and enters the workforce. As such, we've recruited recent college grads who have done so, to better understand the shifts in their use of email and social when they enter a professional environment and have more disposable income.

The event will feature great speakers on loyalty marketing, creative optimization, mobile marketing, managing multichannel programs, and cross-channel measurement.

We'll miss you if you couldn't attend, but stay tuned to MediaPost's Raw Blog to keep you updated on what's happening.