9 Must-See Sessions at SiriusDecisions Summit 2017

This year the SiriusDecisions Summit makes its way to the glitz and glam (and heat) of The Venetian in Las Vegas from May 16 to May 19. Every year the event makes good on its promise that it is the “must attend b-to-b event.” Judging by the agenda, 2017 will be no different.

The schedule is chock-full of informative keynote presentations, enlightening track sessions, and hands on workshops that are sure to make four days in the desert breeze by. Anyone remotely involved in an organization’s selling or marketing activities will be able to find a session that interests them.

Trying to plan out a personal schedule that covers everything you want to see is a daunting task with a program this expansive. To help out your planning we’ve highlighted some events to keep an eye on, check them out below!

Tuesday May 16

SiriusFoundations: Account-Based Marketing
8:40AM-9:10AM

Kick off your time at SirusDecisions Summit 2017 with a session designed to teach you the fundamentals of Account Based Marketing (ABM) and how it can improve your organization’s sales and marketing alignment. If this is your first Summit, or you’ve been hearing a lot about ABM, this session will provide you with fundamental knowledge about the topic.

The session is one not to miss because of the prevalence, and steady growth, of ABM. Demandbase found that 71 percent of B2B organizations are either using, interested in adopting, or testing the strategy. Those that do participate are being rewarded for their efforts; contract values increase when using ABM—40 percent for mid-market accounts, and 35 percent for enterprise level.

You’ll walk away from this session with some account based marketing best practices and a better understanding of the strategy as a whole.

Follow these 4 critical steps to set yourself up for Account Based Marketing Success

Case Study: Cathy Rowell, HPE / Victoria Bunch, Seismic
2:45PM-3:30PM

Recently, Cathy Rowell of Hewlett Packard Enterprise called the implementation and rollout of Seismic’s sales enablement platform “the highlight of my career.” That’s high praise from someone working at the upper levels of an organization like HPE.

Rowell oversaw the implementation that gave over 17,000 sales reps access to the industry’s leading sales enablement platform—in 100 days. Included in the rollout was Seismic’s new NewsCenter feature, which gives reps easy and quick access to all of the information they need to be up-to-date on organizational and industry-wide news.

This case study will walk you through how this process unfolded and the benefits HPE is already seeing from their use of Seismic. Also speaking will be Seismic’s own Customer Success Manager Victoria Bunch. She will provide the inside story of how her team was able to pull off the implementation in just 100 days.

Wednesday May 17

Lunch and Learn with Seismic: MAP + Seismic = Personalization throughout the Buyer Journey
12:30PM-1:40PM

A working lunch has practically become the norm nowadays. So why not make your lunch at the Summit a productive one?

Lunch and Learn with Seismic will give you an opportunity to learn how to provide your buyers with a personalized experience throughout their journey. We all agree that personalization is key to any engagement, with marketers leverage a marketing automation platform (MAP) to do so. But what happens once that buyer has been handed over to Sales? Often times Sales won’t have insight into the engagements that have already occurred.

Daniel Gaugler, Chief Marketing Officer at PFL, will explain how his team has leveraged integrating their MAP with Seismic to improve selling performance. This session will reveal the benefits of personalized messaging throughout the entire buyer’s journey. Enjoying a delicious lunch while also learning how to improve the sales and marketing alignment: What could be better than that?

Click here to RSVP for this event.

SiriusLabs: Account-Based Marketing: The Content Audit
4:30PM-5:10PM

Returning for the second year, SiriusLabs provide a workshop on “how to implement SiriusDecisions models, tools and templates.” If you’re hoping to roll out marketing or selling strategies, it’s probably a good idea to learn the best way to do so from the people who study these things for a living.

This session on performing a content audit before implementing an account based marketing strategy will be particularly helpful. As the session description says, “To demonstrate maximum relevance at an account-based level [requires] pinpointed content that truly resonates with buyers.”

A demonstration will be held to show how to conduct an inventory of your organization’s content using the SiriusDecisions Content Inventory Tool. Leaving this session you should feel empowered to get a handle on your organization’s content, areas for improvement, and strengths.

Green Tie Gala
7:00PM-10:00PM

After two full days of the Summit, the Green Tie Gala gives everyone their first real chance to let loose. Hosted in the Venetian Ballroom, the event promises “a special night of live music, delicious food and drinks, and tons of dancing and surprises!”

Oh, and the live music mentioned above? None other than the Counting Crows. Don’t act like you don’t know all of the words to “Mr. Jones.”

Thursday May 18

Keynote Presentation: Is Your Organization as Good at Demand Creation as You Think?
9:15AM-10:00AM

While the Green Tie Gala promises to be a rip-roaring time, make sure you’re up bright and early on Thursday. You don’t want to miss this keynote presentation by Monica Behncke, VP and Group Director, Demand Services at SiriusDecisions and Gil Canare, Senior Research Director, Demand Creation Strategies at SiriusDecisions.

This presentation is sure to be full of interesting information about the future of demand generation from two people who have their fingers on the pulse of the industry. Whether you think your demand creation engine is running hot or know that it needs some work, there will surely be some actionable takeaways from this keynote.

Sales Enablement Functional Design: One Size Never Fits All
4:00PM-4:40PM

While sales enablement is necessary for nearly every organization, every sales enablement function will look different than the next. However, there are some sales enablement best practices that will set any effort up for success.

This session will explain how sales enablement initiatives must grow and evolve alongside the growth of the organization. In addition to providing critical factors like organizational structure and metrics, the talk will include an execution framework for the customization of sales enablement strategies and real-life examples of SiriusDecision clients, showing how certain attributes drive priorities and structure.

Attending this session on the last day of the Summit will have you walking out with plenty of ways to measure the success of your sales enablement strategy.

Learn how to build the ultimate end-to-end sales enablement strategy

Titanium Celebration
7:00PM-10:00PM

It’s once again time to celebrate at the Summit with this year’s Titanium Celebration. The event will be hosted at Brooklyn Bowl, a lounge with bowling lanes, live music, and fantastic food.

Head to the Titanium Celebration for some bowling, a chance to see Rhett Price and The Jone$ Band, and have some great food and drinks. This will be a great opportunity to kick back with everyone and wind down from the whirlwind pace of three jam-packed days.

Friday May 19

External Guest Keynote with Daymond John
9:05AM-10:05AM

After a rewarding and informative week at SiriusDecisions Summit 2017, settle in for a talk given by Daymond John, Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship and one of the stars of the wildly popular show Shark Tank.

John is an engaging personality, and his keynote address will be sure to not only give you insights into business, but also into life. After this talk you will depart SiriusDecisions Summit 2017 with a bounce in your step, a head full of ideas, and a renewed spirit to tackle the challenges selling and marketing in today’s dynamic global marketplace.