The Email Insider Summit kicked off with not one but two strong keynote addresses addressing the role of e-mail in a Web 2.0 World. By Web 2.0, we mean the convergence (man, remember that term?) of technologies such as e-mail, RSS, SMS, search, podcasting, social networking, user-generated content and a plethora of other media that marketers are trying to wrap their heads around. In that context, as Cisco's Brian Ellefritz put it, e-mail seems so 10 years ago--especially when discussing it with upper management.

"Dear E-mail Diva: We have several different segments of customers that we e-mail on a regular basis, and I have run into problems of hitting them multiple times with different offers. I want to take some of the confusion out of an already too-confusing database."

As I was getting ready to bask in the bright snow of lovely Park City, Utah at the E-mail Insider Summit, I thought, why not write about one of the most important issues e-mail marketers face today: how to recruit, retain and grow our talent pool in the resource-depleted world of advertising.