Here's what I wish I could say to the next person who brags to me about the open or click-through rate (CTR) his latest e-mail campaign or newsletter just produced: "Would you just get over the open rate already?"

My name is Ali Swerdlow, and I am officially the first employee of the Email Experience Council. I started less than one week ago and my first day went a little something like this: "Hi Ali, welcome aboard. Next week is OMMA, and you are organizing our booth and all the materials we need to have to communicate who we are and what we do. Cool?"

Dear E-mail Diva: We would like to know whether (and how) marketers and publishers are altering their creative/placement to be seen better in Outlook, Hotmail, Yahoo and other e-mail preview panes. Do you have any insight for us on this matter?

The discussions I have these days are rarely about whether e-mail is a viable channel for the business; rather they're about how to get the most out of it and how to set up an organization to manage it well. Inevitably, however, you'll run across a few who doubt e-mail's validity and think the future won't include it.

I'm struck by just how much influence e-mail marketers continue to have on marketing plans and strategies. There's global influence, local planning influence, technical influence, and more. "How do we do it?" I asked a co-worker the other day. "We're sleuths. We're like 'CSI.' We deconstruct," was the reply.

Six leading ISPs still blocked more than a third of commercial e-mail for reputable marketers, with one (Excite) blocking more than 50 percent. And the ISP with the lowest incidence of blocking, CompuServe, still blocked nearly 12 percent.

We're gearing up for the second E-mail Insider Summit! Unlike many professional conferences, the Summit focuses on interaction. We bring top marketers and industry insiders together in an amazing setting, then provide both structured presentations and opportunities for personal discussions and debates.

On one hand, I get excited about the inspired growth of e-mail marketing. It is top of mind, it is relevant and it is about as ubiquitous as televisions and mobile devices these days. On the other hand, I get concerned about the challenges marketers face in getting it done.

Last week Jeanniey Mullen and I were fortunate enough to keynote and participate in an e-mail marketing conference in Holland. The experience was quite memorable for many reasons, and I'd like to share some of what we gained.

If you find yourself with nothing to do Tuesday, Sept. 26, you might want to attend Mediapost's OMMA Conference, where I will be delivering a white paper on e-mail in the retail sector.