The eec Speakers Bureau continues its efforts to evangelize email marketing and industry thought leaders within our membership.

The next major launch, the re-launch of the eec's Expert Channel on YouTube, will also take place in conjunction with the Email Evolution Conference in February.  During the launch, qualified attendees will have the opportunity to film a segment and the channel will be promoted during the conference and via traditional and social media. For more information, contact Luke Glasner and Lana McGilvray.

A new initiative to ensure blogs across our membership are posted on a much more regular basis is also underway.  If you are a member and have a relevant blog, article or whitepaper you would like to see posted here on the eec blog, we are offering Compendium access to those members interested in promoting relevant eec content.  Please send your request for a Compendium account to Ali Swerdlow, or you can submit your content to her or to Dori Thompson.  Please ensure that blog submissions are well-edited and non-promotional to acclerate acceptance.

We are actively ramping up our social channels, and if you have not already done so, please activate your participation in the eec’s new Facebook page as we will be posting across all of our social channels.

- eec Speakers Bureau Advisory Committee co-chairs Lana McGilvray and Dori Thompson

With the calendar rolling quickly toward November and only a few months left before we see you all at the Email Evolution Conference 2012, we have a few exciting items we’d like to share on behalf of the entire Speakers Bureau.

First, if you haven’t participated in the eec Speakers Bureau Advisory Committee, or if you've considered joining, here’s what you should know. The Speakers Bureau Advisory Committee’s mission is to evangelize email as a key business driver for brands and publishers. It’s purposefully broad because we all know it’s a multi-channel world in which email has many applications that drive business. 

To fulfill our mission we place approved eec speakers across shows we manage, we serve as a speaker clearinghouse for organizations seeking qualified email marketing experts for their events and forums and we bring great content to external audiences. Qualifying to speak is easy; members can simply visit the Speakers Bureau page.

Second our working plan for 2012. During 2012, the Committee will execute against three key goals. We are currently planning how to best deliver and would love more involvement if anything strikes a chord.

1. We will begin utilizing social groups including LinkedIn and Facebook to grow our speakers bureau following, participation and engagement.
2. We will revamp our YouTube Channel so that the latest thought-leadership across our membership is available to communities interested in accessing our content.
3. We will expand our eec blog activity to get more and better content out to external audiences.

These three goals were selected in addition to the everyday work the committee does of reviewing and programming content across events and programs. If you have other ideas, please let us know by posting in the comments section below.

- Dori Thompson & Lana McGilvray

We're looking for email and digital marketing rockstars to present at the Email Evolution Conference 2012 in Florida!  Your proposal(s) must be submitted by Monday, August 1st in order to be considered.

Check out the sessions from EEC11 to get an idea of the types of submissions we select.

Contact Ali with any questions or if you're interested in exhibit or sponsorship opportunities.

This year's Email Evolution Conference was a huge success and we had over 400 email and digital marketers join us in Miami Beach! 

If you attended, here's your chance to access the great presentations you saw.  If you didn't attend, these presentations should help convince you to come next year.

Download presentations now.

Presenting companies included:

• Citizens Bank
• uncommongoods.com
• Scotts Miracle-Gro
• PGA TOUR
• Kiehl's
• Kraft
• InterContinental Hotels Group
• ATP Tour
• SnagAJob.com
• BlueHornet
• Yesmail
• StrongMail
• Datran Media
• Responsys
• The Relevancy Group
• Message Systems
• ExactTarget
• Alchemy Worx

and many more!

This Friday, December 10th, is the last day to submit your nomination for the eec's Stefan Pollard Marketer of the Year Award for Excellence in Creativity and Contribution.

This award will recognize an individual who exemplifies and demonstrates Stefan Pollard's most memorable and loved characteristics and who provides inspiration to others.  It will be presented on February 1, 2011 at the Email Evolution Conference, an event Stefan loved.  We are accepting nominations until Friday, December 10 so please review the guidelines and nominate a deserving email marketer.

Special thanks to the folks at FillAnyPDF.com for their support of the nomination submission process.


- Ali Swerdlow
eec
aswerdlow@the-dma.org

This is the last week for you to confirm your booth space at the Email Evolution Conference 2011 - the email marketing event to attend in 2011.

We offer a turnkey pedestal system where everything is provided for you...all you bring is your laptop and marketing collateral and we take care of the rest!

The turnkey package includes:

• 2 conference passes
• Pedestal rental
• Set-up and dismantle
• Company logo and 5 bullet points printed on booth
• 19˝ flat-screen monitor
• 1 wireless connection
• 500 watts of power

eec and DMA members receive a $700 discount.  Contact Ali for more details: aswerdlow@the-dma.org.


Here are some photos of the booths at EEC10:

   

It's Thanksgiving this week in here the U.S. and we wanted to take this opportunity to ask you to share your story.  What about email and digital marketing are you most thankful for this year?

We're thankful for you - our subscribers, members and sponsors.  Without you, the eec would not be the largest organization of email marketers in the world.

Thank you for your continued support of the eec and our efforts!


A few reminders:

• Nominate a deserving individual for the eec's Stefan Pollard Marketer of the Year Award.  Read the criteria and submit your nomination.
• Join us in Miami and register for the Email Evolution Conference 2011.
• Read up on holiday season email marketing tips.

Register by tomorrow to receive early bird pricing for the Email Evolution Conference - the best email marketing event you'll attend in 2011!  You can save up to $350 so hurry!

Join us for:

• 3 pre-conference workshops: email compliance, email strategy, and the future of digital marketing integration
• Gary Vaynerchuk's keynote
• 3 tracks with 18 expert-packed sessions
• multiple networking opportunities (including speed networking!)
• the presentation of a new eec award
• and much more!

Have a question? Interested in exhibit or sponsorship opportunities? Email Ali at the eec.

See you in Miami!

Earlier this year, longtime eec member, senior strategic consultant at Responsys and email industry stalwart, Stefan Pollard, passed away.  The eec is establishing the Stefan Pollard Marketer of the Year Award for Excellence in Creativity and Contribution to be awarded annually.

This award will recognize an individual who exemplifies and demonstrates Stefan's most memorable and loved characteristics and who provides inspiration to others.  It will be presented on February 1, 2011 at the Email Evolution Conference, an event Stefan loved.  We are accepting nominations until Friday, December 10 so please review the guidelines and nominate a deserving email marketer.

Special thanks to the folks at FillAnyPDF.com for their support of the nomination submission process.


- Ali Swerdlow
eec

This week at our European Email Marketing Conference in London, we caught up with Eloqua's Chief Privacy Officer, Dennis Dayman.

Read on for his predictions for 2011 as well as some information on Canada's new anti-spam law, C-28.


1) What are some of your top takeaways from this week's conference?

This year's European Email Marketing Conference (EEMC) was a great success! Marketing and email professionals from all over the world came together to discuss issues and challenges they face.

For myself and others, one of the known mountains we have to climb in the European Union (EU) is required permission for marketing. Marketing itself is the same throughout the globe, but in the EU, collection, processing and transferring of marketing information can be much more "difficult" at times due the privacy requirements that surround it. This means to many here that new things like social media sharing have to have a new and different way of thinking when the uses are for marketing purposes. 

Many companies like Eloqua are global in nature and when launching marketing programs across their brands and customers, they have much more to think about than just hitting the "send" button; for example, explicit opt-in.

This week's conference really helped expose these known - and sometimes complicated - matters for global companies and how to solve them.  Lots of stories and examples were shared freely at the event, allowing others to get an idea of how to properly run a campaign no matter where you do business.

Thanks to all the participants for being so helpful to each other and participating at such a personal level. I am certainly looking forward to the Email Evolution Conference in Miami!


2) What are your predictions for compliance and privacy changes in 2011?

There are some major changes coming to the world of marketing in 2011.  Today, most of the world has some sort of privacy data protection in place, but many of the laws are being updated to keep up with changes in the industry and ways in which data is used. 

Here are some items to keep on your radar:

• In the EU, starting in May 2011, dropping and accessing a tracking mechanism like a cookie will become illegal without explicit permission to do such.
• US legislators might attempt another go at federal privacy legislation in 2011 which would require an opt-in to collect and process data.
• By the end of this year, Canada is looking at putting into place an anti-spam law that will make the sending of "spam" illegal and prosecutable.

Over the next few years marketers can expect to see more privacy requirements imposed on marketing processes.  Much of this is due to the sheer volume of information being kept on individuals and this isn't something that shouldn't be feared as most of today's marketing best practices already ask you to obtain permission to collect and use data on individuals.

As these issues come up, be assured that we in the industry along with the eec/DMA will look out for your best interest.


3) Can you please provide an update on the recent anti-spam legislation in Canada?

As a quick recap, anyone sending commercial email from Canada or to someone in Canada will be subject to C-28 (formerly known as Fighting Internet and Wireless Spam Act - FISA). FISA requires marketers to get permission, either implied or expressed, before sending commercial email to Canadians.

While at EEMC this week, there was some good news that came from Canada.  Canadian anti-spam bill C-28 passed through House of Commons Industry, Science and Technology committee in 48 minutes (WOW!).  One objection was made to the short title (FISA) and it was removed from the bill. The bill now goes back to the house for a 3rd and final reading and a vote which means Canada might have anti-spam legislation by end of the year.

For more information about what is coming in the law, visit:
http://www.theemailguide.com/email-marketing/canadas-new-law-restricts-“spam-haven" and
http://www.thindata.com/aboutus/resourcecenter/fisa/pdf/The_Marketers_Guide_to_Applying_FISA.pdf


- Dennis Dayman
Chief Privacy Officer
Eloqua

We're excited to announce the annual Email Evolution Conference 2011 (EEC11) will be held January 31-February 2, 2011 at the Eden Roc Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. EEC11 will bring together practitioners and decision-makers to find practical approaches to email and digital marketing challenges faced by every marketer.

Be a Part of the Event!
We're accepting speaking proposals from individuals and companies that wish to be a part of the program. Submit your most fascinating case studies or the latest "how-to" information that every savvy email marketer should have in their toolbox. Selected speakers will receive a complimentary conference pass.

We're looking for abstracts in the following areas of email marketing:

• acquisition & retention strategies
• analytics/landing pages
• analyzing ROI
• charity/non-profit
• compliance & privacy
• creative strategies
• data integration
• deliverability & rendering
• dynamic content
• list growth/hygiene/management
• metrics & measurement
• mobile marketing
• preference centers
• relevance
• reputation
• segmentation & targeting
• social networking
• testing
• and more!

All proposals must be submitted by Friday, August 27, 2010.

If you are interested in exhibit and sponsorship opportunities, please contact Ali.

We look forward to receiving your proposal!

Email marketing, like any career, is likely to include working and collaborating with people who are not in the same physical office.   If you are the remote person, you probably have concerns about keeping in touch with others on the marketing team or in your department, and if you are managing people who are remote, you have to pay special attention to keeping them in touch with the rest of the group.

In an eec Member Initiatives Advisory Committee meeting on the Career Paths project last month, we discussed the impact of this dispersed workforce, and how it affects an email marketing team.

Angela Baldonero, VP, People of Return Path, reviewed four broad trends for career development among the diaspora:

1. Technology keeps us connected, and enables a broad dispersion of the workforce.  However, it also causes some practical issues. For example, we have an employee in Berlin reporting to a manager in California. It raises the question:  Is Skype enough?
2. Social interaction is good for the business.  Bringing on people in new geographies can be challenging for on-boarding as well as collaboration.  It's harder for new people to be remote.  However, people who have already built relationships in a core office and then move away can be successful in a remote environment.
3. Dispersion affects the talent development lifecycle.  For example, the key needs of top talent are relationships and recognition and it's hard for people to build relationships if they are not there.  Lots of good work happens when you are in the same room – including discussing the creative for the email campaign while you look over my shoulder, or brainstorming subject lines by the coffee machine.   Plus, it's hard to "make your mark" if you do not have access to casual interaction, and the only time you "see" colleagues is in formal business meeting situations.
4. It is easy to confuse connections with relationships.  It's easy to have connections. It's harder to build relationships.  However, it's relationships that drive recruitment as well as career advancement. Geography supports or inhibits relationship depth and meaning.

 

As the group discussed these ideas, we realized that these are challenges for workforce, but also for proving the value of email marketing within the organization.  We can't earn the respect we need for resources and a seat at the table just from the numbers; the relationships matter, too.

Other impact areas:

• Geographic dispersion and even business unit silos within the same geography also affect the collaboration and governance of different brand/business unit email programs.
• Participation in eec meetings is a way for geographically or functionally isolated professionals to network and be educated. It's also always helpful to hear that other marketers have the same challenges!
• Remote employees don't have access to impromptu conversations which can help your career and move your projects forward.  Baldonero quoted, "A lot of work gets done when you talk about nothing."  Relationships are not built just talking about business and trust is built when you know the whole person.  If you just talk business, you may actually have less trust, because you only know one aspect of that person.
• Sometimes there is a perception that if you are working at home you are not working as hard.  Jennifer Carmichael of Tenet Healthcare noted, "Some remote employees work harder or longer hours because they're 'always on.'"
• Relationships drive loyalty and the extra effort needed to get something done.  If I need help with a project or getting something run up the flagpole, it's a lot more successful to stand in that person's office, than to IM them.

 

In all this, we discussed that building relationships is a shared responsibility.  If you work remotely, you need to make time for making these connections since they don't happen organically. This is both the responsibility of the individual and the organization.  If a business hires people remotely for email marketing or any task, there needs to be a commitment to support this relationship building.

Some ways to build your own long distance relationships or help make it easier for remote employees to engage:

1. Stay an extra day when you do visit the office. Make time for coffee and hello's.
2. Corporate social networks can help facilitate information across offices.
3. Seek out similarities – find the connections outside the office with your colleagues. This might mean taking a bit of extra time on the phone or in an email to get to know the person.
4. Managers can facilitate team building prior to the business meetings. Build time into the weekly phone calls or hold quarterly in-person meetings that have time for socializing.   "This is a great idea that I can implement tomorrow," Carmichael said.
5. Conferences like the Email Evolution Conference are a good way to meet new people.   However, we are all busy; we have to make time for establishing these connections.  Nancy Atwood of Anchor Computer said, "In some ways, we are victims of technology – we can work all the time and we are always connected. So the "doing the work" is taking priority over "building a network."  We invest our time in replying electronically rather than establishing a personal connection."
6. Corporate HR or someone needs to accept some level of administrative support and education, as well as the remote employees themselves.  Be proactive. If no one is reaching out to you, reach out to your manager or the HR team, Baldonero recommends.
7. Working long distance is a reality for most email vendor/marketer relationships. Many of these same principles apply to good account management and client service. "Think of your colleagues as clients, and that might change the way you relate to them," Atwood said.

 

Lastly, we discussed some things that the DMA/eec can be doing to help facilitate career growth and help us all build these relationships internally and around the industry:

1. A member directory of names, company, industry, geography. Restricted access and "no sales calls."
2. Local events for members to meet and network and learn from each other. Perhaps in cooperation with local DMA groups.
3. Ensure there are strong networking opportunities prior to and during the main DMA conferences.

What are you doing to build relationships with remote colleagues, clients and employees?  What else would you like the DMA/eec to do to help the industry? Please leave your comments below or email Stephanie Miller at the Member Initiatives Advisory Committee.

 

 

At last week's Email Evolution Conference, the Great Email Debate sparked a ton of conversation.

We'd like everyone to have the opportunity to weigh-in on the three topics we established as best practices. This week, vote on the first topic, the opt-in box: checked or un-checked, and post your comments here.

Next week we'll tackle single opt-in or double opt-in and the following week we'll wrap up the debate with a question about keeping or deleting inactives.

Well, I hope so. It's about time an email event had some drama and excitement. I have been going to industry events for years now and they are all the same: some great speakers, some not so great speakers; lots of buffet food, box lunches and good ideas.

But this year, the Email Evolution Conference (EEC09) promises to be different; at least in one session: The Great Email Debate. In this session, rumor has it that six of your favorite digital celebrities including Greg Cangialosi, Dave Hendricks, Peter Horan, Bill McCloskey, Kara Trivunovic, and DJ Waldow, are splitting into two sides and creating a Family Feud-esque scenario like no other.

We will finally see the mud flying as this group takes on tough questions like: Is it single opt-in or double? Do you remove inactives from your list? Do you precheck that box for opt-in?

I can't wait to see some candid conversations about topics that we all face every day. I will be moderating the session, but I will warn you, I am a hockey fan so seeing some blood or a good hip check as we address these issues won't make me sad.

This is only one of the many exciting sessions planned for EEC09.

If you are not yet registered for EEC09, you should be. Use discount code JAN09 and pay only $999* for the full conference (that includes one pre-conference workshop of your choice).

See you in a few weeks!
Jeanniey

*Only applies to new registrations.

Type the phrase "centralizing email marketing" into a search engine and you'll be served up an impressive number of results (at this writing, about 247,000). And it's no wonder—email marketing continues to rank among the most popular tactics that marketers use to reach their audiences.

The arguments for centralizing are compelling: Managing emails through a single platform enables companies to not only more effectively manage their brand and good sender reputation, but it's also much easier to manage the frequency of communication—no one wants to frustrate their audience to the point of unsubscribing. Sounds like a no-brainer, right?

Not so fast. According to JupiterResearch, only 38% of companies have a single department handling email communication—while 24% have six or more. With all the benefits of centralizing email marketing, why aren't more companies taking this approach?

For some companies, it may come down to resources and priorities. For example, within very large organizations, email is used to communicate with many different audiences—employees, partners, end user customers, and prospects—among others. Each of these audiences has different expectations for how they should be communicated with and likely, a different group managing that communication stream.

Because email marketing was often developed as a grassroots effort within each group, it's not unusual for larger organizations to be actively using several different email platforms to manage their campaigns. In these instances, transitioning to a completely centralized approach requires almost Herculean effort.

However, in the absence of a completely centralized approach, there are still things you can do to streamline email communications and ensure a positive experience for your audience. Here are three specific tips that are reasonably quick and easy to implement:

1. Develop and share an email marketing calendar.

Wherever there's a risk of message crossover, establish a marketing calendar to track these campaigns and assign a calendar owner. Although the owner is ultimately responsible for keeping the calendar updated, all groups should participate in the calendar development and notify the owner if campaign dates shift.

My team uses a web-based calendar hosted on our intranet site; however, tools such as Google Calendar or even an Excel spreadsheet are simple, no/low-cost alternatives.

2. Ensure that all stakeholders are on all campaign seed lists.

Whether you're sending a campaign to a house or rented list, be sure and add the appropriate people to your seed lists. You may want to send test seeds to a smaller group for review and feedback, and then to a larger group for live campaign drops. This is additional insurance that everyone is aware of what messages are leaving the building.

3. Share examples of campaigns and results at cross-functional monthly or quarterly reviews.

At least once a quarter, get together and share examples of campaign creative and results. Even if you're mailing to completely different audiences, best practices are sure to emerge that you'll want to apply to your line of business.

If you work for a large organization, the idea of centralizing your email marketing may seem difficult, if not impossible. But by doing a little detective work and implementing some quick fixes that don't require a lot of administrative overhead, you can do a lot to improve the quality of your email communications and set yourself up for more formal centralization in the future.

—Cheryle Ross, the eCommerce Marketing Manager of Xerox Corp.

*Cheryle was invited to be a blogger for a day after sharing her thoughts in our Voices from the Email Evolution Conference post.

Every week the EEC adds new content to its Whitepaper Room. Here are the latest additions:

Chad White: Incentives Aren't Just for Conversions Anymore
Retailers Are Incentivizing a Wide Range of Email and Online Behaviors.

Email Evolution Conference '08: Day 1 Keynote Presentation
Email…the consumer's perception IS your reality.

*Have a whitepaper you'd like to contribute? Email it to whitepapers@emailexperience.org.

If you missed out on the Email Evolution Conference this year you're not completely out of luck because bloggers and reporters were all over it. In fact, during the Wednesday morning panel about email marketing bloggers, there were dozens of people that said they were blogging from the event—and a half-dozen that said they were blogging live during the session! Here's a list of posts and articles about the show to give you a little taste of what you missed (let us know if you know of others):

Email Experience Blog:
–>Voices from the Email Evolution Conference
–>Inbox Stew: Grandma, Goods, Compadres and Confirmation

RetailEmail.Blogspot:
–>Takeaways from the Email Evolution Conference

BeRelevant!:
–>Update from the Email Evolution Conference
–>Live Blogging from the Email Evolution Conference: Part 1 (LIVE BLOG)
–>EEC Conference: US Legislation and Beyond
–>Live Blogging from the Email Evolution Conference - Part 2 (LIVE BLOG)
–>Live Blogging from the Email Evolution Conference - Day 2 (LIVE BLOG)

The Email Wars:
–>Live EEC Keynote: Bloggers Unite: Passion, Power or People? (LIVE BLOG)
–>Knocked out by the eec

MediaPost:
–>Making Email, Web Analytics Play Nice: Testing Is Key
–>FTC: Data Security Is Top Concern
–>Bad Guys Make Emailing Harder
–>Email Undervalued, Works Best In Symphony With Other Tools
–>Daily Candy Founder Shares Special Sauce

BtoB Magazine:
–>Multichannel marketing highlighted at Email Evolution Conference

House of Email Marketing:
–>Reflecting on the EEC Conference: Relevance drives Deliverability and ROI

Email Insider Blog:
–>The DMA Gets It Right
–>Takeaways From The Email Evolution Conference

Return on Subscriber:
–>Dedicated IP or not a dedicated IP

Denise Cox's Blog:
–>How recipients and marketers are handling email (eec conference)
–>Some nuggets I picked up at email boot camp (eec event)

Bronto Blog:
–>Netflix Gets Email – Part 1
–>Netflix Gets Email – Part 2
–>Netflix Gets Email – Part 3

The Joeism Blog:
–>Kicking Off the Email Evolution Conference
–>Email Evolution Conference — Day 2
–>Last Day of Email Evolution Conference

Twitter streams:
–>Adam Covati

Constant Contact:
–>Insights from the Email Evolution Conference
–>From the EEC Conference: Email marketing blogs
–>From the EEC Conference: Getting inactive subscribers to engage
–>From the EEC Conference: Creating a VIP email program
–>From the EEC Conference: The DailyCandy story

Ezemail Blog
–>Email Evolution Conference Takeaways, San Diego, February 2008

Smith-Harmon EDM Review:
–>San Diego Zoo

Marketing with Technology and More:
–>Email Experience Conference Kicks Off
–>Good Quality permission and relevancy - data revealed
–>A No-Tan-Line Bikini and 70 Passionate Women

Strongmail's Email Marketing Insights:
–>LIVE from the Email Experience Conference!

Chris Baggott's Guide to Blogging:
–>Corporate Blogging Live From the Email Evolution Conference

Visitor Centric Marketing
–>Email Experience Evolution, 2/12/08

While at the Email Evolution Conference this week, I had the pleasure of being DJ Waldow's guest on BrontoFire, Bronto Software's lively, unscripted, one-take email marketing debate show. During the webisode, DJ and I discussed the good, the bad, and the ugly of four email designs from Bluefly, All Recipes, PajamaGram, and American Airlines.

>>Watch the debate on BrontoFire

—Chad White

At this morning's kick-off to the eec's first annual Email Evolution Conference, eec founder Jeanniey Mullen showed a number of "man on the street" interviews with "real people" talking about email.

It was amusing and insightful to hear people talk about their inboxes and how they must actively manage them (you can watch one of the videos here). Better, the comments completely synched with Return Path's Fourth Annual Holiday Email Survey, where subscribers told us that they mostly just delete unread most of what they get from marketers—defined as "junk from companies I know but is just not interesting to me."

What really struck me was the video participants' storytelling. They talked about email as a sort of stew—our marketing messages are mixed up in there with notes from grandma, various lovers and a three-year-old's parents and even one gentleman's new job announcement.

Subscribers know intellectually the difference between personal, transactional and marketing messages, but it's an emotional decision to open or delete when faced with inbox clutter. Subscribers view their inbox holistically—we are not only competing against others in our industry, and transactional messages for purchases and e-statements, but we are competing with grandma's message, too.

The classic example of defining your competitive marketplace by benefit and not by product is the statement that Amtrak is in the transportation business, not the train business. So too, we email marketers are not just in the retail or travel business, we are in the business of creating compelling and interesting subscriber experiences.

We can't forget that—and frankly, it's the secret to all e-marketing success. That is why it's so hard. This is especially true as we tackle challenges around mobile and SMS messaging. What the DMA is calling "The Digital Lifestyle" still translates to subscriber experiences. The word "subscriber" is important because it's about permission. The word "experience" is important because it's about a dialogue and interactivity. It's direct marketing, so it's about driving response through targeted and well-timed messaging. And it's marketing, so it's about serving customers and demonstrating brand value.

At the center is the subscriber. Wow her, and you win. Good for Jeanniey and the eec for launching today with an engaging, inventive and visual way of showing us that the subscriber is still in charge. I'm looking forward to a great conference where I'm sure to have dozens of valuable conversations about creating compelling subscriber experiences. Look forward to hearing from you as well. Just email anytime!

—Stephanie Miller of Return Path

Tomorrow morning, the more than 500 attendees of the Email Evolution Conference will hear from a panel of bloggers that include Chad White of the eec, Dylan Boyd of eROI, Tamara Gielen of OgilvyOne, Matt Blumberg of Return Path, and Madeline Hubbard of Mind Comet. They'll talk about how they began blogging, why they blog, and the role of bloggers in the industry. We're hoping that it inspires some attendees to try blogging, so we're giving them their first chance to be a blogger here.

We've asked attendees to share their thoughts, opinions and takeaways from the conference by commenting on this post—and when the conference is over, we'll invite the person with the most insightful comment to be a blogger for a day and write a post for the eec's Voice of Email blog. We may just uncover the next big blogger.

To hear the latest from the Email Evolution Conference in San Diego, please read the comments below.