Event Recap: The Now You Know™ Conference, Denver

It’s been a few weeks since we said goodbye to Denver and ended yet another successful Now You Know™ Conference, so, as Head of Global Events and Social, I thought it’s high time we do a quick event recap on everything that happened and what to look forward to next.

We created this conference to be the place people in and around our industry want to come to.

Giles Palmer, Brandwatch CEO

 

If you aren’t aware, The Now You Know™ Conference is the semi-annual gathering of the greatest minds in social intelligence.

Brandwatch clients, partners, influencers and friends meet for two days of thought leadership, hands-on workshops, networking and more.

It’s a crucial time for everyone to share what they’re working on with Brandwatch, how they’re solving problems and uncovering new insights, and beyond that – being amongst the very first people to hear about what’s next for Brandwatch, which this year, is quite a lot.

So, what happened?

We were collectively challenged to think differently about the world we’re living in and working in today.

This year’s theme was “The Truth” and we made sure the agenda left everything on the table.

If you think about a world where technology is playing this greater part in our lives – you have fake news and you have the erosion of trust in the media, and then you think, “well whose job is it to give people the answers and insights they need to make a difference”, well that’s what our community of people do, and the truth has been the theme of the event.

Will McInnes, Brandwatch CMO

 

The first day began with Keynote speaker, Matt Locke, giving us the lowdown on how the schedule and the stream have ultimately landed us in this era of distrust.

From there it was an all star line up of following acts, including the insanely popular Misia Tramp of Metia, talking all things social truth and what our customers really want.

On day two we heard from crowd favorite and Brandwatcher Paul Siegel about how metrics don’t always tell the whole story and why it’s important to look at data from all angles.

We also got the pleasure to hear from leading expert in all things AI and Super Intelligence, Nick Bostrom, on what happens in a future where machines get smarter than us.

Sharing is caring

While the main stage content was superb (4.1 out of 5 stars, according to our post-event survey), Now You Know was about more than the talks on the big stage.

One of the biggest advantages of attending The Now You Know™ Conference is the opportunity to network with peers in the industry.

To solve problems together, and to share interesting ideas and use cases.

I left with a to-do list

NYK Denver Attendee

 

We understand how valuable this time is (and there is never enough), which is why we scheduled extra long coffee and lunch breaks, as well as a specific case-studies track where clients could share what they’re doing successfully with others.

This year’s case study track saw brands including AOL, Ohio State University and MSLGroup sharing case studies ranging from consumer insights to crisis monitoring.

Curious about the details of those sessions? You can view all the presentations here.

We also had some great parties, complete with magic, to ensure everyone was able to meet whomever they wanted.

This time is precious for the attendees and Brandwatch staff alike. It’s always an added bonus for our Customer Success Managers to spend face-to-face time with our clients and that’s what these parties are about (also, mac and cheese bars. Not joking).

We take the importance of face-to-face time a few steps further with exclusive dinners, topical roundtable discussions (like how to activate social listening in a regulated industry), one-one training and personalized demos of new products.

Sneak peeks

One of the biggest highlights of the entire Now You Know Conference is the Product Roadmap presentation, and this year’s was a whopper.

I can’t divulge all the details (you had to be there). But this year’s roadmap presentation saw more real-time launches than ever, including but in no way limited to, the release of our Reddit data.

What’s better than hearing about new releases? Getting to try them on the spot.

That’s why we equipped this year’s conference with demo pods throughout so all attendees had the opportunity to literally get their hands on the data moments after it was released. In fact, attendees of this year’s conference also got exclusive beta access to our newest product release (you’ll be hearing more about that very soon).

 

What’s next?

Now You Know, Denver was a big success. But we’re not done yet.

We’ve listened to your feedback and are exciting about what we’ve got planned over the next year. So keep an eye out for the Now You Know™ Conference, 2018. Bigger than ever before.

Thankfully, you don’t have to wait a full year to get a little more Brandwatch. We’ll be launching user meetup groups in the next few months – you’ll have more client-to-client networking time than ever before.

Can wait for the user meetups? No problem. Save the date for NYK Europe. October 17-18, 2017 in London.

And if you couldn’t join us in Denver, you can catch the highlights reel below.