The ExactTarget User Conference unveils the dawning of a new technological day, and re-inspires the market with email.

I attended Day 1 of the ExactTarget user conference (Connections 07) today and … Wow… is the best way to describe the event. With over 650 people in attendance (some were turned away), including over 75 agencies, the conference was a big hit.

Eec member Chip House, from ExactTarget, can do a much better job than me of giving you the details of the event, but I will say this: The commentary on ExactTarget's new partnerships, technological features and approach to email was inspiring.

I was personally involved in a panel on deliverability, which Chip moderated, and he deserves a big bottle of gin for dealing with all of us. After a fantastic opening, the panel was turned over to Craig Spiezle from Microsoft, David Daniels from JupiterResearch and me. We discussed the key issues everyone needed to know regarding the technical side of deliverability and reputation, the marketers' view of relevance, list hygiene and reputation, and the agency/consumer side of how to take all the knowledge and do something productive with it (like increase funding for email in your organization, or integrate delivery into the planning process). The content was top notch and even included, at no additional cost, a very nice improv from the three of us. Let's see, there were jokes about how Craig just never stops talking :-P, how David Daniels not only loves his Bloody Mary Deliverability cocktails, but how he is also God and controls the lights, just to emphasize his points. This was probably the most fun I have had on a panel in awhile—and the content was good too.

I've asked a few of the conference attendees to write me on Facebook and let me know how the next two days go. And I'd like to shout out to the ET team and ask them to share as much as they can from the conference with the eec community. It's great stuff!

—Jeanniey Mullen