Sessions in Detail

• General Sessions
• Eight IT Market-specific Breakout Sessions
• Four "Roll-up your Sleeves" Workshops

General Sessions

Looking Forward to a Post-Recession Economy

From budgets to programs to resources, IT marketers are under greater pressure to do more with less. In this session, Greg will discuss the common mistakes that IT marketers are tempted to make but should avoid during these precarious times. He will offer practical advice on how you can actually leverage adversity and online dynamics to help your company and brand come out ahead.

Real-World Case Studies: Connecting the dots between lead generation and ROI - with live marketer case studies

"Prove ROI in terms of revenue." That's what you asked for and now we deliver.

Tableau Software and VersionOne share their marketing programs, content messages, and media mix. Then the lead conversion rate and true return-on-investment (ROI) -- from online registration to actual sales revenue -- will be revealed.

IT buyers are reading an average of 14 content pieces before making their purchase decisions. The competition is stronger than you realize, so nurturing each sales lead is critical to your online campaign success.

Whitepapers, webcasts and trial software are all put into practical application of an actual campaign and the results are documented across 6 to 10-month sales cycles.

Finally, Marilou Barsam will bring these case studies down to the brass tacks and give you a practical list of steps you must take to achieve the same results.

Delivering Improved ROI through Lead Behavior and Activity Analysis

Your existing online campaigns can easily improve if you know what to look for in past results.

By observing the leads generated across thousands of campaigns, TechTarget has developed a system you can use to run more efficient online campaigns and manage sales leads more effectively.

Don will show you our analysis of lead behavior and activity over time and deliver it as actionable intelligence you can apply to the online media you're running right now.

New Google Behavioral Research: The relationship of the IT buying process to search – followed by Q&A

Last year's groundbreaking study revealed a new depth of IT buyer research behavior based on quantitative survey -- and the IT buyers told us great detail about what they do online leading up to a technology purchase.

This year, Google and TechTarget go one better and presents the IT buyer's actual live behavior from a behavioral study in which their actions were observed and recorded. This study, performed by well-known third-party research house OTX, tracks IT professionals in each stage of research as they enter in initial search terms, and interact with both Google search engine results pages and the media they choose to view.

The results will be presented based on three cross-sections of respondents; 1) Title seniority and project authority, 2) Stage of the buying process, and 3) UK-based respondents vs. U.S. respondents -- for the European perspective.

We will discuss the data, analysis, and implications for your online marketing strategies.
• Search terms used at the various stages of the IT buying process
• Search results page behavior and interation
• Media and content type preferences

Apply today and be among the first to see the groundbreaking results.

Eight IT Market-specific Breakout Sessions

Each breakout session will cover market-specific trends based on our latest IT panel research; open-panel discussions with IT buyers; and insights on the hottest topics and content that attract the audiences you want.

Understanding the CIO's Agenda (and How to Make Sure You're on It)

The last two decades saw massive build-out of IT infrastructures as server and storage capacity expanded to accommodate the massive growth of applications, business communications and data. Today, the CIOs’ goals are straightforward: optimize their bulked-up infrastructures, reduce costs and improve IT’s value to the business.

While these goals are straightforward, the path for getting there is anything but. In this interactive panel discussion, we’ll explore how senior IT leaders are addressing the transformation of IT in the midst of the global economic downturn, including their strategies, areas of investment and the role media plays in their decision making. We’ll also get the CIO perspective on many of today’s hot button issues, including virtualization, software as a service, cloud computing, disaster recovery and compliance.

The IT Security Rebound: Marketing strategies to capitalize on the impending upturn

This year has been plagued by massive IT market consolidation, record setting unemployment and one of the worst quarters in 26 years. But with increasing government pressure and new compliance regulations, emerging threats from both inside and outside the organization and economic indicators pointing up, the stage is set for a strong rebound in the security market. Even in the down economy, 48% of TechTarget surveyed security decision-makers said their budgets increased for 2009, and security spending in midmarket companies was projected to be even higher.

What can you do today to make sure your organization is poised to respond to the recovery?

In this interactive session, we’ll explore the top security priorities for the coming year, including compliance, threat management, data protection and more. We’ll also help you identify key trends in the financial and Mid-Market verticals (both poised for strong 2010 security spending). In a recent TechTarget survey, nearly half (49%) of the financial institutions said their security spending will improve in the next six months. Finally, you will hear from a panel of senior IT pros on how they buy, who is on their buying team and how they rely on various types of media to make decisions.

Virtual Intelligence: How to find, market, and sell to virtualization and cloud computing buyers

Roughly 60% of the IT organizations surveyed are expanding their use of virtualization in 2010, but new factors including a major Microsoft upgrade cycle, virtualization management, desktop virtualization, cloud computing, and rapidly changing technology are complicating decisions for buyers. Against a backdrop of difficult economic factors, the IT marketer’s mission to cost-effectively find and engage prospects is more difficult than ever.

In this session – using examples from successful campaigns, purchase intentions survey results, and live interaction with qualified IT panelists, learn exactly how to identify, segment, and align with the new trends. Marketers that attend this session will increase the effectiveness of their marketing spend against virtualization and cloud computing.

Linking Storage Trends with Market Execution

Storage doesn’t stop. Regardless of market conditions, data growth continues unabated -- while the demands of systems, users and applications are unrelenting. During these periods of flat budgets and overburdened resources, storage managers are much more likely to turn to newer, more novel approaches to solve problems. This reality presents a market share growth opportunity for vendors and solution providers brave enough to take advantage.

In this session, TechTarget Storage Media Editorial Director Rich Castagna reveals – via the results of the latest Storage Purchasing Intentions research – which technologies are likely to emerge in adoption rates given these conditions. Plus, a panel of storage-focused IT leaders reveals how they are managing through the downturn -- and which technologies they are investing in for survival.

The Enterprise Application Integration Challenge: How developing a stronger integration message can win you a part in the BI, ERP, SCM, CRM and other mission-critical enterprise projects

Did you know that Enterprise Applications readers named integration as one of their biggest challenges in 2009? It's not just a developer problem anymore. Integration is gaining management attention as the key to making -- or breaking -- the success of key IT initiatives.

Integrating applications and data are major pain points for enterprises this year, affecting their ability to meet critical goals such as improving CRM and customer service, implementing business intelligence (BI), effectively utilizing ERP systems, decreasing supply chain costs and increasing operational efficiency. But all IT vendors are also affected, as products are being closely evaluated for ease of integration into current environments and buyers are getting savvy about how to assess a product’s "integrateability." Whether perception or reality, integration concerns play a big part in IT decisions.

Get the inside scoop on integration from a panel of IT pros, find out the results of brand new research and get expert advice covering:
• Why the integration challenge is bigger than ever for enterprises now
• How enterprises are approaching integration in BI, ERP, SCM and other mission-critical projects
• What tools and techniques IT pros are using to address their integration challenges
• How IT buyers evaluate and assess the “integrateability” of products

Trends in Application Development Lifecycle Solutions

In the current economic climate, enterprise application development lifecycle professionals are increasingly under the gun to rapidly deliver high-quality applications that offer significant revenue opportunities or cost savings. To succeed in this high-pressure environment, these professionals are seeking out new approaches, solutions, and tools to accelerate and align their efforts to the needs of the business.

This session examines the current and future needs of enterprise application designers, developers, testers, and management in building and maintaining enterprise applications. It includes new research on what types of solutions professionals are seeking and what are the most important purchase considerations today.

Network Evolution: Why the networking professional is the linchpin of IT

The network has become the most important element of IT, and networking professionals are in a unique position to determine the success, not only of technology projects, but of entire businesses. That's because the network has become so integral to the way we do business in our 24x7, always-connected, global corporations.

Networking pros have grown from being responsible for hardware and packets to the performance of multitudes of applications and complex architectures that traverse the network over multiple transport methods. Ensuring these technologies work securely and reliably and contribute to their company's business objectives is a given.

Today's networking pros are making their mark by championing technologies that can advance their businesses while conserving resources or costs in another area. You'll hear from a panel of senior network managers about:

• Leveraging performance and applications management
• Adopting unified communications and conferencing
• Managing a mobile workforce
• Using optimization and acceleration techniques to manage traffic and users
• The promise of virtualization and cloud computing

In this discussion, supported by data from the most recent TechTarget Networking Media Group purchasing intentions surveys, marketers will learn how networking professionals educate themselves to adapt to the constant changes demanded of them, what technologies and products networking pros are investing in for 2010, and how marketers can more effectively reach the modern, multi-faceted networking pro.

Challenges and Triumphs of Marketing Technology Online Outside the U.S.

A panel of international technology marketers (who are based in the US) will delve into the top level challenges and land mines they’ve managed through and explain the frameworks they’ve used to generate real results for their companies outside of the US.

The panel will cover questions including:
• What structures for budgeting and execution they’ve tried and have worked well
• Approaches for working with direct sales and partner organizations in different countries
• How much autonomy do they give in-country marketers and how much is overseen by headquarters?
• What best practices can you share for tailoring content to a local readership?
• How have they managed through issues of "what is a lead" in different countries?
• How do you measure ROI on international campaigns? Are the same metrics used as are applied to North American campaigns?

Four "Roll-up your Sleeves" Workshops

These new sessions let you experience the media practices that have worked so well for us over thousands of successful campaigns.

Best Tips and Common Mistakes to Avoid for Improved Email Conversion - with live peer case studies

According to several recent studies the single most efficient online medium is email marketing. So how can IT marketers take advantage of it?

After running 1,000s of email campaigns, we have assembled concise Best Practices from the most successful email tactics and strategies for reaching every level IT professional in each IT market.

You’ll take home practical tips on how to optimize your email messaging for your specific goals, including; audience selection, content, design and format, and landing page registration environments.

Learn how you can increase click-through rates (CTR) by 50% and then drastically improve registration rates through tested and proven designs.

Proving ROI on Lead Generation: Join six marketing peers for a lively discussion on the challenges and solutions to your most pressing objective

Senior marketers from Hitachi, Oracle, Imperva, HP, Just Media, Tableau Software, and VersionOne will guide this panel discussion -- with YOU as the topic leader.

Marilou Barsam and EJ Schmidt will co-moderate this lively discussion on the issues that plague lead gen marketers the most. As an extension to the morning's lead generation case study session, your technology marketing peers will again show their campaign management systems and techniques that allow them to prove ROI, and discuss the challenges they faced.

You will be able to compare your lead conversion rates -- from online registration to actual sales revenue -- and build a network of peer marketers for future collaboration.

Introduction to Integrating Social Media into your Marketing Plans

Trying to figure out what to do about social media and how to use it in your marketing plans?

This session is designed especially for those who are just getting started or have not yet started using social media. You will get an overview of the technologies, approaches, and advantages of participating in the conversation. We will help you analyze and identify which social media opportunities are best for you and your business. Hear case studies and take home tips on how to implement social media to develop and build new and existing relationships.

Advanced Social Media Marketing: Establish thought leadership and measure ROI

Social media measurement is one of those topics that everyone has an opinion on, but nobody agrees on the solution, typically because marketers approach it from a traditional "metrics" point of view. In this workshop, we look at marketing activities like product reviews and launches, focus groups, and primary research from a traditional perspective and then apply web 2.0 technologies, like Twitter, Google trends, blogs, and social networks as new approaches to address those needs. Then, through the use of case studies, examples and group discussion, we will outline how to effectively measure the efficiencies gained and what that means to the marketer. You will walk away from this workshop with best practice approaches on how to measure the return of your existing and future social media programs.