• by Bill McCloskey , December 5, 2007

The agenda is finished, the final touches done. Next week at this time, I'll be sitting in beautiful Park City, Utah, forcing down 3.2 beer and basking in the camaraderie of the finest email marketing minds on the planet, at the 4th Email Insider Summit. My job is fairly easy. The hard work is done by our program chairs: Jeanniey Mullen, Stephanie Miller, and David Baker. Each has programmed some amazing speakers and content. But let's face it. That is not why we go to the Email Summit.

We go to the Email Summit to eat, drink, and be merry with other email marketers in an intimate setting. We go to play golf, ski, and have dinner. And most importantly, we go to discuss with each other the issues we face as email marketers in a private, closed-door setting. Where else can you have one competitor talk to another openly about the problems and possible solutions they face daily.

There are certainly other networking-focused events, in particular the much praised I-media sessions. But none are built and designed just for email marketers and their specific problems.

There are certainly email-only related shows: Marketing Sherpa and the new Email Experience Council conferences, for example. But none are as intimate and as high level as the Email Insider Summit.

If you have never been, and you are serious about email marketing, I strongly suggest you make it out to Utah next week, if there are seats still available. And if you do, I guarantee you will walk out three days later better marketers, inspired, energized, and feeling empowered with new knowledge, contacts, and friends.

A short article this week, to be sure. I've too much to do getting ready for the show. But believe me, those who attend next week will hear more from me than they ever wanted to. I'll be reporting from the show next week. I hope to see you all there at the opening party on Sunday night.