• by Masha Geller , December 4, 2001

Well, the first day of @d:Tech New York has come to an end and I thought I'd give you a roundup of the day's highlights as I've done in the past.

So far, unfortunately, there's not much to report. The day began with a keynote speaker who basically told the audience nothing of major importance, screamed at an audience member, and inspired several online media buyers I spoke with afterwards to seriously reconsider their plans to buy ads on his portal.

What should have been scheduled as the opening keynote was Geoffrey Ramsey's presentation that followed on the media track. eMarketer's head statsmaster delivered the most comprehensive overview of the online advertising and marketing industry I have ever heard. He covered everything from myths to predictions to success factors.

The bad news is that I couldn't possibly include all of the important points in this minute. The good news is that he offered to send the presentation to anyone who gave him a business card at the end of the presentation. I would strongly recommend you email him and get yourself a copy.

The two remaining sessions of the day could be summed up with three words: "Please Be Logical!" That means test EVERYTHING, make sure you MEASURE your ROI, TARGET your ads as precisely as possible, and DON'T CLUTTER your customers' screens and email inboxes with hundreds of pop-ups and emails.

Tomorrow promises DoubleClick's CEO Kevin Ryan as the keynote, the exhibit hall will open - my favorite part - and more experts will attempt to enlighten us all about the good, the bad and the ugly of online ads. Stay tuned!