SOCAP Annual Conference Sessions Address Hot Business Issues and Offers Professional Development
The SOCAP 2007 Annual Conference, held last month in Palm Springs, CA from October 7–10, addressed some of today’s hottest business topics and offered attendees new sessions focused on professional development.
Keynote Speakers
The conference keynote speakers included leading business experts in the areas of building business relationships, diversity, customer service and consumer-generated media. Keith Ferrazzi of Ferrazzi Greenlight kicked off the Annual Conference with an inspiring talk on the value of building effective relationships in business as a way to grow revenue. Leading author Robert Spector talked about Nordstrom as the "gold standard in customer service" in his keynote address. Lenora Billings-Harris gave a data-rich keynote presentation on the growing multicultural consumer market and its impact on business. Finally, Pete Blackshaw of Nielsen Buzzmetrics closed the Annual Conference with his keynote talk on consumer-generated media as one of the fastest growing media types and how this consumer-driven media is "rewriting the rules of brand credibility" for companies.
Breakout Sessions
The breakout sessions at the Annual Conference included some new topics and presenting companies. Linnea Johnson of Unilever presented to a packed room on "The Marriage of Consumer Services and Marketing: Adding Value from Consumer Insights." In his session, "Managing Employees to Give Customers the Experience They Want Every Time," Scott Ackermann of eHarmony showed how his company is achieving optimal results in getting employees to embrace eHarmony’s mission and to deliver effective customer care. For companies deciding whether or not to outsource their operations, the session "To Outsource or Not to Outsource" presented by Elizabeth Tanis of Sara Lee Corporation offered helpful insights into the factors that need to be considered.
The conference sessions also included companies from the automotive sector. Sherry Hayes of Honda presented on the topic, "Building Brand Loyalty within the Your Contact Center." Sean Hudson of Toyota Motor Sales talked about customer advocacy in his session, "The Scion Approach to Building Customer Advocacy."
In addition, this year’s Annual Conference tackled other hot issues like the ways businesses are going “green” and social responsibility. Charissa McAfee of Waste Management addressed emerging green business practices in her session "Engaging Employees and Customers on the 'Green' Issue" and talked about why this topic is becoming increasing to all businesses today. Susan Kirby of Kirby Marketing Solutions discussed social marketing and corporate social responsibility as a growing area of interest in the business world in the session, “Can Doing Good Within Your Company Build Customer Advocates?”
Professional Development Sessions
A new element at the SOCAP Annual Conference was a series of sessions focused on professional development. These special sessions were longer in length than the other breakout sessions and covered the following skills: business writing/communication, developing customer service surveys, project management and leadership development. The professional development sessions were sponsored by the Kellogg Company.
Video clips of some of the Annual Conference sessions will soon be available on the SOCAP website. To learn more about all of the sessions offered at the Symposium, visit the SOCAP website.
