The 2016 ForeSee Summit next month will be my tenth and being part of the team that puts this event together is the highlight of my ForeSee career. We don’t have dragons, circus acrobats or rock bands at our Summit – and that’s by design. This event was built on the premise that the best lessons on managing customer experience come from our clients. Real case studies, conversations with peers, and honest dialogue with the ForeSee team helps drive the practice of customer experience measurement forward like nothing else.  

Who better to help you prepare for this year’s event so that you make the most of your time at Summit than other ForeSee Summit attendees? Here are tips from three multiple-year attendees:

Talk to your team and set goals

Brian Thoennissen, Marketing Research Analyst at Tervis, recommends aligning with your own organization first. “Be prepared, have an idea of what you want to accomplish by talking to your manager and even different stakeholders in the office about what learnings you might want to bring back to them.”

Maximize your time onsite

Kathy Francis, Digital Marketing Measurement Analyst, City of Calgary, reviewed the agenda with her manager and divided up attendance between them so they could cover as much content as possible. “Onsite, we’d meet up at breakfast to review descriptions and see if we needed to make any adjustments.”

Kathy also took limited, but strategic notes – compiling 29 “keepers,” anytime she heard a good idea she could put into practice immediately or a “how to” she could bring back to the office.

Spread the knowledge

Leigh Rankin, Senior Business Manager – Online Customer Satisfaction at AT&T, shares insights from the event almost immediately when she gets back and the information is still fresh. Besides the key takeaways around customer experience, keynote presentations, like Adam Grant’s this year, provide insights you can share with colleagues in the broader organization.

Make connections

Each of these clients expressed how important connecting with other attendees is to maximizing your Summit experience.

“Make it a point to visit the demo tables – they can be busy, but while you’re waiting it’s easy to strike up a conversation with another attendee who has similar questions – it helps break the ice,” Brian Thoennissen, Marketing Research Analyst, Tervis

“Be open. You can learn a lot from what other people are doing, even and especially those outside your own industry.” Leigh Rankin, Senior Business Manager – Online Customer Satisfaction at AT&T

How are you preparing for the 2016 ForeSee Summit?