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Requiem for the NCDM?

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Dec 15 2009

I attended the recent NDCM (National Center for Database Marketing conference) in Las Vegas last week, after a gap of many years, the triggering event being the fact that I was on a keynote panel being moderated by David Frankland of Forrester Research.  Attending the event after this multi-year hiatus and, particularly,  on the tenth year anniversary of a keynote address I had given there after I had started Quaero in 1999, I was struck by the changes in the conference over the years.    It is, to state the obvious for those who have been attending for many years, much smaller than it used to be.   I would guess a fourth or even a fifth of the size that it was ten years ago.  When you consider the fact that there used to be two NCDMs a year at that time versus just one this year, that is quite a precipitous fall.  Given the revolutionary changes in marketing over the past ten years, one would have expected quite the opposite.    The NCDM has always been focused on the technology aspects of direct marketing and technology has been the driver behind many of the changes in marketing in recent years.   

The difference was not just quantitative.  It also has to do with the mix of attendees.    In our session (admittedly early on in the conference), there was a show of hands in the audience as to who was a client and who was a vendor.  The overwhelming majority seemed to be vendors.   Some of the exhibitors I spoke with acknowledged that the audience and traffic was mostly their competition. They seemed to be there more for defensive reasons, a brand maintenance exercise, rather than a lead generator and business driver.   

Finally, I wonder about the demographic of the conference.  I recall seeing many young faces and feeling a lot of excitement ten years ago.  There was a tired look to the event, even though parts of the agenda were actually pretty attractive.   I attended a workshop on social networking that was excellent (more on that in a future blog) and my colleagues attended a workshop on optimizing contact management conducted by Suresh Vittal, also  of Forrester Research, which they said was excellent.    On the other hand I attended a session on the conflict (?) between email and social networking that was mediocre, to be kind.  The opening keynote was interesting but certainly nothing to write home about (so I will not be writing about it) or to get the crowd revved up.   Attendees were asked for feedback using an online survey at the end of the day.   I was impressed that the survey was optimized for my Blackberry, making it easy for me to respond on the go.   However, it was disappointing that, after asking me which sessions I attended, it still quizzed me on sessions I said I did not attend.   A simple logic flow would have avoided that mistake and made the survey easier and shorter.    The NCDM organizers may also want to consider using Twitter more actively in the future to create buzz before and during the event.   

I wonder if this event even makes any money for the DMA anymore and what purpose it really serves for the direct marketing and vendor community.   I feel sorry for the organizers who I am sure, spend a great deal of time putting this event together.    Time for a major rethink, perhaps?    A new name, new format, radically revamped agenda or just shut it down and start anew?   Or will it just limp along until it dies a natural death?   Will the newly revamped DMA board take a look at this?  One can only hope. 

 

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