Our 20th US Publisher Forum kicks off this weekend and I’ve been working with the members and sponsors on their presentations, helping develop what I think will be a ‘best ever’ event for us in New Orleans. Our speakers have done an amazing job of producing their presentations as all their hard work is going to come through during their sessions.
The process of developing the sessions has given me an opportunity to work closely with our presenters and it’s been a learning experience. In many ways, I’ve already had some takeaways from New Orleans:
People aren’t waiting for things to happen. They are making things happen. Bad news seems to be the only kind of news these days and one might expect companies to lay low and try to ride things out. Many are, but I find a number of companies are trying new solutions and investing in people, processes and technology to make their operations more efficient. If anything, it seems like companies – including vendors – have decided to stop waiting for someone else to solve the biggest operational issues facing publishers and agencies today. Could the current recession spur the changes needed in our industry? It seems that way.
Some of the lessons learned trying to grow the business are now helping maintain the business. Many initiatives started last year were kicked off to help manage growth and scale up operations. These initiatives are starting to pay off, not because of growth, but because of the efficiencies that come with them. Implementing yield optimization and inventory solutions and processes continues even as more pressure to abandon rate card increases. If anything, these advancements are helping companies manage through these tough times.
New solutions await us in New Orleans. This is where I’m going to only tease about what’s to come. We have some existing sponsors as well as some new ones that are using our Publisher Forum as an opportunity to share new products and new features.
For those of you not able to join us in New Orleans, we will miss you. Follow along on twitter (hashtag #admonsters) and keep an eye out of post event summaries.
Rob Beeler is Vice President of Content and Media for AdMonsters and has worked in Ad Operations for over ten years. Rob started attending AdMonster events in 2004 as a member and will be in New Orleans on March 8th for Publisher Forum US XX
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