The "October Surprise" is a mantra that's usually reserved for American politics and baseball. But as Optimizely's Opticon 2022 wraps in San Diego this week, there might be an exception for digital experience conferences – particularly from a company that's focused on winning the DXP pennant.
Held from October 3-5, Opticon was born from the exponential growth of digital transformation over the last few years, a period when companies like Episerver and Optimizely combined their technologies to offer a more complete vision for shaping the future of digital experiences. The event showcased how customers and partners are continuously optimizing these experiences across all channels to drive customer intimacy and realize business growth.
Throughout the event, attendees learned about innovative tools and real-world strategies for reducing customer churn while making more informed, data-driven decisions to meet their goals. The conference offered 45 breakout sessions and 20 short theater sessions that featured speakers from across technology, media, business, and brands – including marketing leaders from Venmo, Zoom, and others.
Optimizely also provided a series of certification trainings for attendees, designed to help improve skills around the company's full stack of digital marketing and experimentation capabilities. This also included an exam for its Content Cloud certification.
The stakes have never been higher when it comes to competing for customer attention. Businesses need sound strategies to navigate evolving market complexities, advance their digital journeys, and elevate future-forward solutions to inspire teams and supercharge growth – resulting in strong, lasting customer relationships.
Opticon 2022 was designed to meet these goals and challenges head-on by arming digital leaders, marketers, and developers with powerful experimentation and frictionless creativity to drive better brand experiences and accelerate revenue growth.
"To be competitive today, marketers need to do more than 'business as usual.' In a rapidly changing world, complexity is the enemy of digital marketing and great digital experiences," said Alex Atzberger, CEO at Optimizely. "To meet your customers every day and adapt, you need data and knowledge about your audience, what resonates with them, when they want to engage, and how they want to be marketed to. Great digital experiences, backed by experimentation and data-driven insights, is what enables continuous possibilities and leads to long-term growth. At Opticon 2022, we're excited to bring leading innovators, marketers and entrepreneurs to the stage to showcase how applying a scientific method allows you to stay ahead of the curve, amidst an ever-evolving state of customer expectations."
While the "October Surprise" may be the domain of baseball, it was basketball that scored the real inspiration at Opticon. As billed in promotions for the event, attendees were treated to a dynamic keynote from Earvin "Magic" Johnson, formerly of the Los Angeles Lakers. Often regarded as the greatest point guard of all time, Johnson shared his experiences on what it takes to succeed in a digital-first, customer-centric business landscape.
As an NBA legend and advocate for Black entrepreneurship, Johnson explored how his lifelong commitment to dreaming big has pushed his off-court endeavors to new heights — and how leaders in digital, marketing, and growth can meet this pivotal moment with similar courage to unlock boundless innovation.
While the San Diego flagship event has ended, global fans of Optimizely will have an opportunity to experience the conference at Opticon London on November 4 and Opticon Stockholm on November 8. According to the company's website, attendees will learn not only how to "ride the wave" of growth and evolution in the industry, but how to create truly exceptional, differentiated, and optimized experiences for customers.
You can visit either of the conference websites to register and learn more about the session line-up, certification programs, and general agenda.
Optimizely is a leading digital experience platform (DXP) that equips teams with the tools and insights they need to create and optimize in new and novel ways. Now, companies can operate with data-driven confidence to create hyper-personalized experiences. Building sophisticated solutions has never been simpler. Optimizely's 900+ partners and 1100+ employees in offices around the globe are proud to help more than 9,000 brands, including Toyota, Santander, eBay, KLM and Mazda, enrich their customer lifetime value, increase revenue and grow their brands. Learn more at optimizely.com.