This month, I (Peter O’Neill) have been planning for the Tech Marketing track at the Forrester Marketing & Strategy Forum to be held on November 16 and 17 near London. The forum has now been configured so that each of the eight role-focused tracks is presented as a series of three consecutive presentations, which means that each attendee can plan to attend one whole role-track in one session. However, I know that many tech marketers come to this event because many of the other track presentations are equally compelling, so I won’t be too disappointed if people walk in and out a little.

 I am responsible for the content of the TM track, which is on the afternoon of the 17th, and will moderate the session, introducing each of the speakers, linking the topics to each other, and summarizing what was discussed. We have the following topics planned:

  • Outcome-Oriented Marketing. Peter Burris will discuss how tech marketing is moving away from a product focus to arguments more related to what business outcomes result from the promoted business technology investment. I know that he will also introduce a methodology of creating and managing marketing content that will enable this objective to be met.
  • The Rise Of The E-Channels.My colleague Tim Harmon is renowned for creating provocative titles and also for his out-of-the-box presentations. We work together often on channel marketing projects for clients and he will put forward some radical insights into where he see new sales (and marketing) channels arising and others expiring.
  • Marketing To Procurement Professionals. I will discuss another aspect of the maturity of our industry: the fact that many BT products and services will be routinely bought through enterprise procurement channels. I will lead a panel discussion that will include the leading procurement player Ariba as well as some surprise guests.

In addition to the track sessions, we Tech Marketing analysts will also be available for one-on-one meetings throughout the event – book your times as early as possible; at the San Francisco event in March, we were fully booked by the first lunchtime! as Along with Peter, Tim and myself, I am expecting to welcome my colleagues Kim Celestre and Lori Wizdo to the event – you can book time with them too.

Oh, and one last thing. The event is actually at The Grove, a luxury hotel in Herts., which has a great golf course. So I am calling out a Tech Marketing Masters Round for the afternoon of Tuesday the 15th. Let us marketers gather together and mix fun with some business talk (weather permitting, of course). Those of you who would like to take part in the round, please let me know (comment here or email me at poneill@forrester.com). 

As always, I’d love to hear from you on this and other topics.

 Always keeping you informed! Peter