Last month, 112 people in the B2B distribution space joined us in Orlando, FL for the 2nd Annual CIMM2 Users Group Meeting. Not only has attendance doubled from the year prior, but we were also joined by various members of the Affiliated Distributors community.
To kick off the Welcome Reception at the beautiful Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort Bonnet Creek, we had a VERY special guest. World-renowned comedian Papa CJ performed his exclusive show “Naked,” which he had just performed to a sold-out crowd the week prior at Carolines on Broadway (an upscale showroom in Times Square that features the top names in comedy).
During the first full day of the users group meeting, Forrester’s VP and Research Director serving E-Business & Channel Strategy, Fiona Swerdlow, presented an educational keynote on the Key Trends in B2C and B2B in 2016. Her captivating presentation was then followed up with a Q&A panel in which Fiona moderated. For the panel, Fiona was joined by Mike Powers of Hill & Markes, Greg Chun of McNaughton-McKay, Spencer Moss of Southern Pipe & Supply, Sean McDonnell of TruPar.com and Michael Noble of Apruve.
After a short break, attendees dispersed into three different tracks throughout the rest of the meeting. The sessions in each track were:
- Track One: Taxonomy, AD Data Integration, AD Module Training, AD Roadmap
- Track Two: Site Search, CMS, Complete Configuration, SEO & Content Marketing
- Track Three: Master Data Management, CIMM2 Analytics & Metrics, Support & Services Overview, CIMM2 Add-Ons
- Track Four: Hosting Infrastructure, Q&A Support & Hosting
Track One was created specifically for Affiliated Distributors members who are currently participating in a new eContent services program and operating or evaluating CIMM2. This session gave us an opportunity to show AD members hands-on methods for integrating their new data with CIMM2.
On day two, Justin King started us off with his intriguing keynote on driving customer adoption in a B2B market. Justin is a B2B eCommerce consultant and the owner and operator of ecommerceandb2b.com. Attendees then split up once more for the last session in each track to round out the Users Group meeting. Bob Lewis of B2X Partners concluded the day with an informative keynote session on the important role product content plays in an online world.
Our team had such a wonderful time connecting with everyone who joined us in Orlando. We shared lots of great conversations, some laughs and tons of valuable information. We’re looking forward to building engagement within the CIMM2 Users Group online forum and generating even better session topics for next year’s event!