BIG !dea sessions are just that - BIG IDEAS from the industry's most innovative companies that are driving digital retail into the future. These sessions are part of the EXPO experience - presented by exhibitors on the EXPO floor. And, if you are taking advantage of the Retail FREE EXPO Hall Pass BIG !dea sessions are just another thing you can participate in. Sponsors and exhibitors will conduct 30-minute presentations designed to inform and engage attendees in new product offerings. Stop by to learn more about retailer case studies, newly released innovations and best practices during these sessions.  Retailer's FREE EXPO Hall Pass.
2 days of networking, more than a dozen BIG !dea sessions, EXPO Tours and numerous networking opportunities. Register today.
| Tuesday, September 28th Sessions | Sponsored by 
| 10:05a - 10:35a Personalization 2.0 – Creating Meaningful Consumer Experiences Beyond the Site
Speaker: Robert Cell, CEO, MyBuys
Attendees will learn about new strategies where personalization can be applied to merchandise to their shoppers beyond the store front and the web. This session will cover multi-channel merchandising strategies that will enhance the shopping experience, maintain brand continuity, increase shopper loyalty, and boost revenue. The discussion will center around how display advertising, email, product recommendations, direct mail, social, and mobile integrations work together to make every interaction matter. | Sponsored by 
| 10:45a - 11:15a Facebook Fans: What they’re worth and how to get them.
Speaker: Christian Taylor, Founder & CEO, Payvment
This session, led by Christian Taylor, founder and CEO of Payvment, the leading shopping platform inside Facebook, will teach you what a Facebook Fan is worth. Data show that Facebook Fans are more valuable to retailers than non-Fans. In addition, the session will show you how to: Turn your Facebook presence from a marketing platform into a monetization vehicle; Incentivize Facebook users to become your “Fans”; Convert “lurkers” into “advocates” into “evangelists”. If you can turn just 1% of your Fan base into evangelists, you’ve won. And, once you turn them, they will be loyal; Activate Fans with tools like discounts and other incentives. Make Fans feel special and in the know; Keep consumers on your page – allow Fans to shop without ever leaving Facebook, something they don’t want to do; Effectively merchandise your Facebook storefront. | Sponsored by 
| 11:30a - 12:00p Monetizing Social Media – How to turn Conversations into Conversions
Speaker: Wade Gerten, CEO, Alvenda, Inc.
History was made on July 8th, 2009 when Alvenda opened the very first ecommerce store on Facebook. Since then, Alvenda has been rapidly launching new customers including some of the top merchants in the U.S. such as 1-800-Flowers.com, Best Buy, Brooks Brothers, Delta, Hallmark, and the fastest growing division of Avon called Mark. Alvenda’s Founder and CEO, Wade Gerten will present best practices for monetizing social media and selling directly on Facebook. | Sponsored by 
| 12:15p - 12:45p Rapid ReTargeting = More Customers, Faster, and with Less Spend
Speakers: Junie Dinda, Sr. Product Marketing Manager, Coremetrics, an IBM Company and Lindsay Conwell, Sr. Solutions Consultant, Coremetrics, an IBM Company
Reduce acquisition costs, increase conversion rates, and drive customer loyalty.Acquisition costs are high and visitors may be spending less time on your website - you need to fine tune your retargeting practices to effectively engage and convert them. Don’t let your visitors be grabbed by the competition. Use unique insights about individual customer behavior over time; allowing you to quickly retarget them through relevant product recommendations, and personalized offers through email and targeted display ads across multiple ad networks. Learn how rapid retargeting can become an effective strategy to effectively gain more customers and drive revenue, while reducing costs. | Sponsored by 
| 1:00p - 1:30p Death to Returns! 3 Fast and Easy Ways to Cut Reverse Inventory in 30 Days
Speaker: Kim Folsom, CEO, ShowUhow
Kim Folsom, CEO of ShowUhow, will show you three fast and easy ways to cut returns this holiday season. Then blatantly – but briefly – we’ll pitch our web-based video platform and support tools because it will improve your customers’ “out of box” experience and increase your sales, reduce your returns and lower your support costs. BONUS – we’ll award an Apple iPad to the audience member who writes the best haiku (yes, we said haiku) about ShowUhow. | Sponsored by  | 1:45p - 2:15p ‘Tis the season for customer engagement: Last minute holiday tips, tricks and critical trends for a happy 2011Speaker: Bill Tancer, General Manager, Research, Experian Marketing Services
The holidays are right around the corner and this crucial period can make or break a retailer’s year. Learn best practices that can still be implemented in time for this season’s success and gain data-driven insight for a deeper understanding of changing consumer behaviors that will affect retailers in 2011.The session will help you identify how diverse shopper segments behave and respond to offers, what messages resonate with them and which channels to reach them through. | Sponsored by 
| 2:30p - 3:00p Implementing Personalized Product Recommendations: Staples Case Study
Speakers: Meyar Sheik, CEO, Certona and Eileen White, Director eCommerce Strategy & Site Operations, Staples
Join Certona’s BIG !deas session covering the best practices for implementing personalized product recommendations across all customer touchpoints from web, email, call center and beyond. Guest speaker Eileen White, Director of eCommerce Strategy & Site Operations, Staples, will highlight a case study on how Staples is using real-time product recommendations to increase conversions and average order value. Retailers will learn the critical success factors for personalization and how to quantify the value of recommendations with A/B testing and analytics. | Sponsored by 
| 3:15p - 3:45p Aligning the Agendas of the CMO and CIO
Speaker: Dominic Citino, Industry Market Development Manager, Microsoft
No matter what channel a customer engages with you (web, mobile, store, Twitter/Facebook), the their expectations for an immersive, technology-aware experience are driving the alignment of the agendas of CMO and CIO. The customer is in control and is expecting their own version of customer centricity. We would like to introduce a vision and strategy that can help you engage with the customer across their channel – mobile, web, TV, entertainment, store, kiosk, digital signage – and then motivate them to shop your channels by offering them technology-enhanced immersive experiences. | | Wednesday, September 29th Sessions | Sponsored by 
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 | 10:20a - 10:50a Is End-to-End e-Commerce Right For You?
Speakers: Kate Baily, VP/General Manager - Direct, Justice and Bill Zujewski, VP of Product Marketing, ATG
Full-service e-commerce solutions incorporating web site platform, fulfillment and call center services represent a fascinating opportunity for companies to implement best-in-class e-commerce solutions rapidly and economically. In today's hyper-competitive world, full-service providers allow companies to focus on their core competencies such as merchandising and marketing, while offering their customers a compelling online experience, reliable fulfillment and outstanding customer service. Join us to discuss the pros and cons of end-to-end outsourcing, and find out if a full-service solution is right or you. We will review options in the market and discuss how to take advantage of new opportunities to leverage a best-of-breed e-commerce platform with leading fulfillment and customer care services | Sponsored by 
| 11:00a - 11:30a Lessons Learned in Online Merchandising by House of Fraser
Speakers: Peter Callaway, Director of eCommerce, House of Fraser and Frederik Nieuwenhuys, Founder & COO, Fredhopper
In this session, Fredhopper client House of Fraser will share how acquiring new visitors is not enough to deliver growth and profitability and how they address the real retail challenge of getting these visitors to come back more often and spend more. This is where Fredhopper excels with their systematic approach to merchandising and analyst acclaimed marketing machine. | Sponsored by  | 12:00p - 12:30p Transactional Emails 2.0: Think Beyond The Purchase
Speaker: Loren McDonald, VP, Industry Relations, Silverpop
Sophisticated retailers are moving transactional emails beyond the "order process" and generating significant results by deploying "pre- and post-purchase" email streams. These triggered emails often comprise less than 5 percent of email volume, but produce 40 percent or more of email revenue. This session will review "transactional 2.0" email techniques, including cart abandonment, product review requests, order replenishment and more. We will discuss best practices and review the technologies and resources required to implement them. | Sponsored by  | 12:45p - 1:15p Search Insights: Google Perspectives on Today’s eCommerce IT
Speaker: Nitin Mangtani, Senior Product Manager, Google Inc.
Join Google for a walk through recent trends in online retailing, using top tech innovations and a strong data focus as a starting point. Learn how new developments in search technology are translating into higher expectations from online shoppers - and how to easily leverage these best practices to improve your site. You’ll also discover the power of scale: how employing cloud-based IT solutions can help lower search result response times and increase customer satisfaction. | Sponsored by 
| 1:30p - 2:00p Using Site Search Analytics to Improve the Customer Experience
Speaker: Ed Hoffman, VP Business Development, SLI Systems
Understanding the language and intent of your visitors is critical for improving the user experience and increasing conversions and sales. Join Ed Hoffman, VP Business Development, in a discussion on how you can identify your customers’ expectations by using analytics from your site search. Ed will also demonstrate some of the latest trends in site search that can create a more seamless user experience. | | | 3:00p - 3:30p Session decription coming soon. | |
