We’ve attended Sitecore Symposium for years and know what great experiences they can be, but can you replicate a “you just had to be there” kind of conference online? Turns out, the answer is yes.
After experiencing a number of conference cancellations due to COVID-19, it was great to see Sitecore move forward and take advantage of the digital space. We knew they had something fantastic up their sleeve and couldn’t wait to see the innovative ways they’d produce the Symposium.
Instead of a typical conference recap, we’ve put together some key corporate, marketing, technology, and content insights and takeaways from our team.
A corporate perspective from our Business Development Director, Mandhir Singh
What was your favorite moment from Sitecore Sym 2020?
It was great to hear and learn about some real-life use cases from companies that are using Sitecore products. Getting a 2-sided perspective was key — i.e. how companies configure their individual implementations vs. how their users get incredible experiences when they interact online.
What was it like attending an all-digital symposium vs. in-person?
The digital symposium was seamless. The ability to pick and choose a session that you wanted to attend digitally was amazing. We missed the in-person networking opportunity to make some friends, but apart from that the content and experience was impressive.
What was something that really stood out for you as a Business Development Director?
Often times in business development, we get questions from clients who have specific expectations and need to gain that confidence about a digital product/service they’re hoping to purchase. Being able to accurately describe how global multinationals have benefited from Sitecore stood out. It not only provided us with substantial evidence, but also the confidence customers need in the product we sell, ultimately expanding brand trust.
Share one personal insight and one business insight.
It was especially helpful learning about Sitecore’s investments and how the product has/will be evolving. As for business insight, we’ve got some nuggets to share with customers the next time we pitch Sitecore or other DMPs to clients.
A marketing perspective from our Marketing Director, Lee Pittman
What was your favorite moment from Sitecore Sym 2020?
I don’t have one specific moment really, but rather a collection. Anyone that’s attended Symposium in the past knows that these are typically large-scale events, so I was really interested to see how Sitecore was going to bring Symposium to life online. I really enjoyed the digital experiences — the virtual happy hour, intermittent yoga breaks, Moments of Fun, etc.
What was it like attending an all-digital symposium vs. in-person?
As you’d expect, there were positives and negatives here. One of the best parts of a conference is the networking; getting to see long-distance colleagues, meet new people, and build those relationships. That was a bit harder to do digitally.
On the other hand, attending online gives you a chance to go at your own pace and really absorb the content. I spent a lot of time digging around the Symposium site, getting acquainted with the features, and downloading and exploring the materials. (I think this is what helped me place 9th in the Moments of a Fun challenge!)
What was something that really stood out for you as a Marketing Director?
As someone who dedicates a lot of time to content and has a background in events, I know how much time and effort must goe into launching an event like this. We started this year thinking we’d be in Chicago and, amid the pandemic, Sitecore had to quickly restructure everything. I’m certain there was quite a bit of work that went into pivoting from an in-person event to an all-digital conference.
Share one personal insight and one business insight.
Sometimes it can feel so easy to forget that there’s a real person on the other end of an email. So getting to spend some, albeit virtual, time networking and building our partner and client relationships was great.
As a Marketer, it was really interesting to hear about Sitecore’s own content crisis. It was helpful to get that sneak peek into how they identified their internal gaps and pain points, used Content Hub, and moved forward with a new site and strategy.
A technology perspective from our Co-founder, John Winter
What was your favorite moment from Sitecore Sym 2020?
It was great to hear from their new CEO. His presentation of the roadmap confirms the ways Sitecore will continue to invest to ensure their product is the leading solution of digital experiences; as we at Content Bloom are focused on delivering those experiences using Sitecore products.
What was it like attending an all-digital symposium vs. in-person?
While it was a shame that I didn’t get to see some of the faces of old colleagues from around the world, the event itself was just as fantastic in digital form as the in-person events.
Can you share some tech insight from the conference?
The coolest new feature coming to Sitecore is Sitecore Content Hub. It will soon display engagement and impact metrics to allow content teams a nice visual way to see content performance across all content items within the dashboard.
Sales perspective with our New Business & Alliances Director, Umar Ahktar
What was your favorite moment from Sitecore Sym 2020?
It was great to about Sitecore’s strategic direction focusing on growth and new tools such as AI and ML to create a truly leading customer experience solution. At Content Bloom, our experts are excited to get their hands on the new version and support our customer’s implementations to help leverage their Sitecore solution even further.
What was it like attending an all-digital symposium vs. in-person?
The online experience was interactive and very engaging. The event platform had all the features to deliver a great digital event. However, we missed meeting clients, partners in person, and networking with new friends. Apart from that, it was a very successful online event.
What was something that really stood out for you as a New Business and Alliances Director?
Something that really stood out was the great real-life use cases shared in this year’s Symposium; demonstrating where partners have really extended the solution to meet globally complex digital requirements.
With so many companies leveraging the Sitecore platform to enable their digital experiences, it’s essential to have an expert partner on hand for support when unlocking new features. At Content Bloom we work closely with Sitecore’s partner accounts and alliances teams to identify areas of opportunity so we can work together to solve our customers’ digital problems.
Share one Personal insight and one business insight.
Partnering with a certified Sitecore agency is one of the key components to a successful implementation. It was great to hear so many complex challenges being overcome through successful partnerships and turning those into success stories.
I’ve picked up some great insights through the presented use cases and content about data, AI, and ML, which resonate very well with our target audience and also aligns with the solutions we deliver at Content Bloom. I’ll certainly be passing these onto our internal teams and sharing in future conversations.
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