Forrester gets it right at Forrester's Consumer Forum 2006 conference titled "Humanizing The Digital Experience". How?
They are running a blog of the event where notable bloggers such as Christopher Carfi - the author of The Social Customer Manifesto blog and co-founder of Cerado, along with Marianne Richmond the author of the Resonance Partnership Blog have been invited to guest blog the event.
Of course Forrester also has their own employees blogging as well. So why is this significant? Other conferences have done this many times before. I was a guest blogger at the IIT's Strategy '06 conference for example.
The answer is simple. Because it's Forrester. Despite how cutting edge marketing has become, Forrester is still the percieved as "The Source" among millions of office dwellers. The reports, data and studies they produce quickly become "Holy Grail". So, you can bet that when they open up a significant conference like this to bloggers—us corporate office dwellers will take notice.
Here's another anecdotal. I blogged about the last Forrester event I attended, and had a brief but interesting conversation with senior analyst Moira Dorsey before doing so. I think the lightbulb has gone off for Forrester where they figure "our conferences will be blogged anyway—why not invite folks to do so on our turf?"
On a side note, the conference blog is taking shape rapidly. Go and check it out.
I wish I was at this conference as it is right up my alley, but we had
to send some other Digitas folks. However, at least I have the blog to
follow. I'll leave you with this little gem written up by Chris:
2) What is a humanized digital experience?
"An interaction in which the human benefits are more visible than the technology"
- emotional
- tacticle
- "we feel part o the community"
Three building blocks of a humanized digital experience
- "Useful"...offers value
- Relevant
- Reliable
- Functional
Good example: VW online car configurator
- "Usable"...provides easy access to value
- Accessible
- Convenient
- Familiar
Good example: Netflix, desktop widgets
- "Desirable"...appeal to emotions
- "Empathetic"
- "Empowering"
- "Engaging"
