IBM Smarter Commerce Global Summit Orlando 2012 Conference Recap

What a conference. What an experience! As a purveyor of many conferences, IBM hit it out of the park with this one. I think the very best way to recap the experience is through images – after all, a picture’s worth a 1000 words as they say – so there are many to show. For some context, this is the third Smarter Commerce conference IBM has put on worldwide, and they’re obviously learning along the way. Attending with Bryan Kramer, who was invited as a speaker and social media/VIP Blogger to the event, made it all the more exciting to be a part of it. For complete transparency, PureMatter was hired by the IBM Industry Solutions Social Media team to help “amp up” the social reach of the conference, and our part in the success of the event only starts the story. Although I do think our VIP Blogger Kits were pretty damn cool, and the VIP Blogger badges turned out to be as coveted as a backstage pass at a Guns-N-Roses concert, it was the energy of the attendees, other social influencers and the IBM team that returned the results I share below. This is a living, breathing example of a simple mantra we preach here at the agency: “Love in, Love out.” In short: This is not your grandfather’s IBM anymore. Quick conference success statistics to provide context to the photos below:

• Conference hashtag #IBMSCGS drove the #1 top organic trending topic on Twitter for two days in a row during main tent
• In the opening session, we successfully set a new Guinness World Record® for the longest continuous handshake, with 2,380 people (previous record was 600+ people in Japan in early 2012)
• Had participation from some of the most influential bloggers in the world – 13 of which attended through the VIP Blogger invitation campaign
• Promoted over 20 blogs and drove nearly 50 blog posts & 22 video interviews
• Drove 2,700 visits to the Smarter Commerce Channel landing experience via Social
• Drove over 70M impressions on Twitter in just 4 days

Opening session: Hosted by Guy Kawasaki, Keynote by Dan Heath, author of “Made to Stick” and “Switch”

Great and inspiring presentation by Dan Heath, author of “Made to Stick” and “Switch”. This visual is meant to depict the relationship between your right brain – the elephant – and your left brain – the rider. Who’s really in control? Just show it the way.	Maria Winans and Guy Kawasaki high five after setting the new Guinness World Record for longest continuous handshake.
Guinness World Records plaque held by the official Adjudicator Michael Empric, Ted Rubin, Tami Cannizzaro, Bryan Kramer and Courtney Smith Kramer (wearing an unfortunate outfit of what looks like underwear over tights but trust me was cute in person.) We set a new World Record for the longest continuous handshake – 2,380 people shook in a chain for one minute! It was pretty awesome, a metaphor for the theme of the conference, creating relationships with your customers by putting them at the center of your sales and marketing efforts. They call it the “Chief Executive Customer”, what better way to make that point of this importance globally than by setting the new World Record for workingtogether shaking hands in synch with each other! What a moment.
Breakout sessions and Bloggers
Charlie Cole, Vice President, E-Commerce Schiff Nutrition International job shares the presentation on Digital Marketing with Tami Cannizzaro and Michelle Killebrew, all marketing rockstars in their own right. They used a PureMatter campaign flow in their presentation!	Bryan Kramer and Ted Rubin, VIP Blogger became fast friends. He’s full of energy and knowledge, check out his work here: http://www.tedrubin.com/
The Social Media and Digital Marketing Dream Team! Coined “The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse and Joan of Arc”, these presenters mutinied an hour before the presentation on Twitter to present together instead of against each other. They threw their presentations out the window and instead shared a lively and controversial panel together, moderated literally at the last minute by Head of Social Media Strategy for IBM Industry Solutions Michela Stribling. What an awesome way to end the conference with a live example of the power and reach of social media. (L to R: Bryan Kramer, Len Shneyder, Michela Stribling, Ted Rubin, Justin Miller)	Great video interview of our President + CEO @BryanKramer by Scott Langingham (host of developerWorks podcast) and Todd “Turbo” Watson (blogger and tech evangelist) at the IBM Smarter Commerce Global Summit last week, check it out! http://bit.ly/TJSXrW
IBM social media team Tracy Bertin and VIP Blogger Concierge Samantha Press with VIP Blogger Liz Straus - awesome lady, check her out: http://www.lizstrauss.com
Fun stuff!
Props to GPJ with these cool in-elevator wraps meant to I assume facilitate the introductions of attendees to the conference.	It was all social all the time, and smartphones were attached at all times. Here’s Tami Cannizzaro, IBM Industry Solutions, Director of Marketing and Ted Rubin keeping it social.
Patrick Skoff was on-hand to place art around the conference and live paint in the lounge. He is doing something AWESOME with his free art hunts, more about him here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Skoff	Robert Moore, Internet Media Labs @medialabrat and Courtney Smith, our Chief Creative Officer, sing a heartfelt and decidedly dramatic rendition of “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” to live band karaoke at the Universal Citywalk. You can watch a portion of it here if you dare: http://dejami.com/web/venue/p/231923

Parting words

So some poignant parting words by Michela Stribling, Head of Social Media Strategy for IBM Industry Solutions who said best as she concluded the final social media impromptu panel: “The only way we know what you think, is when you tell us… so engage us. We are listening.” Amen, and see you next year!

Here are the Twitter handles for all the awesome VIP Bloggers and IBM team. Send them a message and tell them what you think!

@servedfresh @medialabrat @tamicann @ImJustinMiller @tedrubin @lizstrauss @thecmoclub @PamMktgNut @JusticeMitchell @thecharliecole @portentint @JoshROINut @kvox @shellkillebrew @thesocialCMO @mstribling @kimgarst @bryankramer @LenShneyder @turbotodd @scottlaningham

For the full conference agenda, visit the site here.