More than 500 people gathered in Charlotte, North Carolina this past week for EskoWorld at the Sheraton Charlotte/Le Meridien Hotel complex. EskoWorld is in its 26th year running and this time around was focused on user training and education.
The three-day event included more than 75 educational sessions, including digital assessment management solutions, workflow time savers, in-depth workshops, and much more.
Day No. 1 kicked off with the keynote speaker, Alan Beaulieu, president of ITR Economics with a perspective on the U.S. economy, followed by roadmap sessions and opportunities to view the tables in the “interaction room.”
Motivational Speaker, Michael Broome took the stage in the early morning of Day 2.
“Always deliver what you promise and always give just a little bit more,” he said.
Broome gave business and life tips for success in his nearly two hour speech, “Our attitude is the result of what we love and what we value.” (For more advice from Broome, check out @BXPMag on Twitter.)
The WebCenter Roadmap session took place directly after, led by Miguel Garca, product manager for WebCenter at Esko.
“There are conflicting forces in the packaging world,” Garca told the attendees. “There is more pressure now to have the right package.”
Garca goes on to say that “packaging is the physical representation of a brand.”
The six main areas WebCenter has:
– Specification
– Process Management
– Approvals
– Content Management
– Integration
– Search and Reports
Garca asked the audience: “How are you using WebCenter today?”
A top user answer was: A full product management system, for approval and process management.
Other key areas of the conference included:
- Udo Panenka, president of Esko said the consumer behavior is ultimately changing. Consumers want to be in the middle of something going on.
- Jijo Dominic, director of web applications at Esko touched on Esko’s platform for brands, stating that a lot of it is based on Esko’s passion for packaging. The target of the platform is to help CPG, where packaging is a key to communicate and put the product to the consumer.
- Tim Sixta, director of product management at MediaBeacon shared results from a survey of more than 150 brand executives in North America and Europe: 85% will increase investment of time, personnel and money in omni channel experiences. In that same batch of executives, 61% will increase the amount of rich media content they produce over 2 years.