IMPACT14 Conference - Impactful, Important, Impressive

LAS VEGAS, Sept. 30, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- From the incredible view from the top of Las Vegas Strip to the innovative ways to improve the bottom line, the lessons learned, the new found ideas discussed, and the people met at the IMPACT14 conference that wrapped up Friday with legendary singer, Donny Osmond will stay with the approximately one thousand attendees forever.

"Our biggest, boldest, brightest, and most effective conference yet!" enthused IMA founder and Chairman Sinan Kanatsiz.  "Dozens of industry experts sharing their knowledge, hundreds of industry leaders creating networks and friendships, and, I estimate, millions of dollars in net-new economic deal flow happened at this year's event."

The sold-out conference, presented by the IMA, was held at the Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas and featured 23 keynote speakers including outstanding senior executives such as Bobby Baldwin, CEO of CityCenter/Chief Construction Officer of MGM Resorts International, Brian Wong, CEO of Kiip and Joe DeMike, Principal Marketing Consultant, Google Inc.

Additionally, conference attendees chose from a total of 29 breakout speakers, each covering topics related to specific topic tracks such as Social Media, Mobile/Content, Data Analytics and Marketing Reimagined. 

IMPACT14 also featured a start-up battlefield event, hosted by Microsoft Ventures, in which five venture capital firm representatives watched and gave feedback on rapid-fire presentations by six startups looking for investment.  One most notably was Tagboard, who won the IMPACT14 Award for Venture start-up of the year.

Throughout the keynotes and breakouts there was a constant flow of new ideas, tips, and suggestions internet marketing professionals will be able to use when they are back in their offices, including:

• Internet marketing is a lot more than email
• We still have work to do on content, but our delivery mechanisms are changing
• More data and more analysis are the holy grails of the day
• The trend toward increased personalization of marketing vehicles continues
• It's really not about what demographic we are and more about what we do that distinguishes us as marketing targets

The keynote speakers specifically impressed conference goers, with some of the top industry leaders and gurus offering such insights as:

• Microsoft CVP of Advertising and Online, Frank Holland speaking on the future of advertising, suggested "Beware of the shotgun approach. Target your efforts. Your customers deserve better."
• Kevin Akeroyd, General Manager and SVP, Oracle Marketing Cloud shared that that email marketing no longer works and "It's about relationships, not transactions."
• Sanjay Dholakia,  CMO of Marketo said that it's not about demographics, it's about behavior.  "It's more important what I do, than who I am"
• Teradata CMO, Lisa Arthur shared her remarks on "Untangling the data hairball" and suggested that "only 18% of us have the data we need to do our jobs."
• Frederick Vallaeys, Co-Founder of Optmyzer and Thought Leader for Google, pointed out that the secret to longevity for CMOs is "making metrics your mantra."

"IMPACT14 was a one of a kind experience, social, business, networking and intelligence – all in one, at an amazing venue, CityCenter," enthused LJ Tarman, CMO NuVision Federal Credit Union.  "In the 20 years I've been in marketing, I have never been to such an all-around successful conference."

More than two dozen firms from around the world were honored with "Category Winner" awards at this year's IMPACT14 conference.

"The competition was fierce this year," said Kanatsiz.  "And we had hundreds of qualified entries from a greater number of companies than ever before!"

The awards range in topic from App Development to Website Content, including practically every internet marketing expertise in between.

A number of companies and agencies were also honored with special "Best of…" awards.  Additionally, dozens more firms and projects were honored with "Category Leader" honors for their work in the past year.  (For a complete list of all of the award winners, please see below.)

The Friday closing of the conference hit a high note – literally – with a special appearance by music industry legend (and internet marketing maven) Donny Osmond, who shared not only a few of his greatest hits but also his love for technology and support for the IMA.

"We challenged ourselves to raise the bar from 2013 and IMPACT14 achieved that in so many ways," Kanatsiz said.  "Our creative team is already in the works for IMPACT15, happening at CityCenter in September of 2015!"

For more information – including videos of presentations and the like - on the conference, please visit: www.imanetwork.org

A photo gallery from IMPACT14 may be found at: www.ima.smugmug.com

IMPACT14 Award Winners Include:

About the Internet Marketing Association (IMA)

IMA is one of the fastest growing Internet marketing groups in the world, with more than 1,000,000 professional members in fields including sales, marketing, business ownership, programming and creative development. It provides a platform where proven Internet marketing strategies are demonstrated and shared to increase members' value to their organizations. IMA is underwritten by corporate partners to provide an opportunity to learn, engage and define best practices without making a financial commitment. www.imanetwork.org

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140930/149258

SOURCE Internet Marketing Association