Spencergreen

On 28 February – March 1, leading SVPs, VPs, CMOs and CCOs from the world’s leading brands will convene at the inaugural Next Generation Customer Service summit at the Barton Creek Resort & Spa, Austin, TX, to discuss and share ideas pertaining to today’s business challenges. Topics up for discussion include how companies grow profits and boost margins in the current hypersensitive market.

In today’s recovering economic climate, the modern customer is more fickle than ever and with the rapid growth and adoption of technologies such as social media, mobile technology, online technology, geo-location based technology, and touch screen technology, companies and executives must be focused on not just what they have to offer, but how they offer it. The Next Generation Customer Experience summit brings executives’ vision into sharp focus on how to achieve real growth and boost profits.

Those C-level executives in attendance will include; Brad Taylor, VP Customer Marketing, Coca-Cola; Howard Mogasen, SVP, Citi Group; Antonio Maia, Head of Customer Service, DHL Express; Ellen Filipak, SVP Customer Care, Direct TV; Scott Richman , SVP and General Manager, Interactive Marketing, Madison Square Garden; Roei Ganzarski, Chief Customer Officer, The Boeing Company; Trish Mueller, SVP & Chief Marketing, The Home Depot.

GDS International – the global business event company behind Next Generation Customer Experience – has hosted B2B events since 1993 and has a long list of high-level attendees.“The locations that are chosen, the professionalism of the staff, and the upbeat atmosphere, drives for an opportunity to do good business,”said Gregory Garrett, Chief Strategy Officer, Volkswagen Group, a previous summit attendee. Another attendee, Tony Ward, VP Client Services, NET(net) said; “I’ve been speaking to CIOs who spend a billion dollars a year, and our conversion rate to potential engagement is 100 percent.”

Salvatore J. Papa, Next Generation Customer Experience Summit Director believes the high calibre of speakers and innovative content at this GDS International Summit, combined with fantastic opportunities for networking, give delegates real value for money and return on investment.

“The inaugural Next Generation Customer Experience summit is an amazing addition to an already powerful summit resume,” Salvatore says. “And with analyst's predicting that there will be an all out war to own the CEM space in 2011, the Next Generation Customer Experience Summit will serve as an arena for senior level executives to engage in clear and focused dialogue with their peers and examine their management objectives in a relaxed and vibrant environment.”

Taking place 23 – 25 April in Frankfurt, Germany, Next Generation CFO Europe will be the best attended and most well respected event for CFO professionals in Europe during 2012.

Thilo Kusch, CFO at Magyar Telekom; Ronald Van Ballegooijen, CFO Europe at Rabobank International; and Christian Moraldo, VP Group Financial Control at Tetra Pak International were among the delegates who attended 2011’s CFO summit.

“The format is definitely different,” Thilo Kusch says of last year’s CFO Europe summit, “I think there is more interactivity planned in, which I think makes the event a lot more interesting. It is a fantastic opportunity to meet peers from other industries, and I think that’s the main benefit of this event.”

The event is designed specifically to assist forward-thinking CFOs to meet challenging demands in times of economic crisis. As well as comprehensive workshops, the summit will involve panel discussions offering delegates moderated, peer-led discussions on major industry issues. One-to-one meetings give delegates the chance to meet with business analysts and analyst partners to discuss strategic and technological demands in a rapidly evolving business climate.

Conrad Troughton, Director at GDS International – the global business event company behind NG CFO – says, “Our high calibre of speakers and exciting content, combined with fantastic opportunities for networking, give our delegates and sponsors real value for money and return on their investment and ensures that CFO Europe stands out against other events.”

See what the delegates had to say about the event at http://www.cfosummiteu.com/.

The iStrategy Digital Marketing Conference will reconvene in San Francisco, a city synonymous with web and tech innovation, at the South San Francisco Conference Center.

San Francisco is the popular destination for an impressive array of digital start-ups and established digital brands, including Google, Facebook, Twitter, Mashable, Craigslist, Klout and others, all of whom will be represented at iStrategy, both with top-level speakers and high-level attendees.

iStrategy San Francisco’s 2012 has confirmed its closing keynote will be Randi Zuckerberg, the former Head of Marketing at Facebook and now founder of RtoZ Media.

"iStrategy Conference offers attendees the leading edge needed to develop world-class integrated marketing strategies," she says.

Randi has been at the cutting-edge of digital marketing having spent six years at Facebook, where she accomplished numerous achievements including the creation and implementation of Facebook Live, Facebook Newsfeed, opening the platform for developers and the F8. In her role on Facebook Live Randi interviewed esteemed world figures such as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon. Randi has also worked with US President Barack Obama.

Randi has spoken at iStrategy Europe previously, kick-starting iStrategy Amsterdam 2011 with an enthralling and energetic keynote, outlining the future of online branding and highlighting her top 10 marketing tips for Facebook.

Randi said about iStrategy Amsterdam: “It’s a great program, with real-life networking opportunities, and I have really never seen such great interaction between audience and speaker, or level of tweets and real-time Facebook messages coming in.

“It truly is one of the most interactive conferences I’ve been to.”

Alongside Randi, speakers will include the entertaining Rick Wion, McDonalds Head of Social Media; Lori Feldman, Head of Marketing at CitiGroup; Ed Terpening, VP of Social Media at Wells Fargo and Amber Osborne, VP of Head of Lettuce Media, who called iStrategy Amsterdam “a life changing experience.”

There are also representatives speakers and attendees from brands such as Lucky Brands, Dow, Johnson & Johnson, SAP, General Motors, IBM, Delta, Chase, Nike, Adidas, Coca-cola, Sony, L’Oreal, Heineken, Microsoft, VW, Nestle, AT&T, HSBC, Shell, American Express and many more.

A complete list of speakers and attendees can be found here: http://www.istrategyconference.com/events/san-francisco/#eventSpeakers

To get your two-day Conference ticket, which includes access to all areas, including; splitstream workshops, masterclasses, keynotes, panels, iPitch and networking are available for $495, follow this link: http://www.istrategyconference.com/register/?eventReg=san-francisco

iStrategy is a product of GDS International - one of the most innovative events and media companies worldwide and a globally renowned producer of business-to-business summits, conferences, online information and advisory group gatherings.

Founded in 1993, GDS International specializes in meeting the B2B marketing needs of our clients. Having a strong presence in mature industrial sectors but a finger on the pulse of emerging markets – as well as up-and-coming B2B business verticals – means we are perfectly placed to capitalize on the exciting developments brought about by the advent of a globalized economy.

Our value proposition is simple: we deliver tangible business results from world-class events. www.gdsinternational.com

GDS International has chosen its charitable cause for 2012: to help people with epilepsy, as well as their friends, families, carers, health professionals and the many other people on whose lives the condition has an impact.

In March 2011, Spencer Green, chairman of global business events company GDS International (www.gdsinternational.com), launched the GDS Foundation (www.gdsfoundation.com) to help charities that work with autism spectrum disorder children and young people.

GDS raised just over £31,500 in just three months. You can read more about Spencer Green’s marathon efforts here – http://spencergreen.net/

At the start of November 2011, Spencer and GDS Foundation manager Hannah Duffie announced they were looking for charities to support in 2012.

Today, Spencer has announced the company’s chosen cause: to help people with epilepsy, as well as their friends, families, carers, health professionals and the many other people on whose lives the condition has an impact.

“We had such a great response to our call for charities from so many truly worthy causes,” says Spencer. “But an email from Epilepsy Action in the U.K. stood out for personal reasons. My brother Daniel had epilepsy and it had a very real impact on him and his family.”

“Now we are looking for epilepsy charities in the U.S. and Australia,” says Hannah. “That is where we have our offices, and we like to send small groups to work with the charities because volunteerism makes our fundraising real – and it is a superb way to encourage and foster personal growth.”

If you are an epilepsy charity in the U.S. or Australia that would like support, and are working in New York and Miami (U.S.) and Sydney (Australia), please send an email containing the following information to Hannah Duffie ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ):

1. Charity name, registered charity no. and website.

2. Charity locations in the U.S. and Australia.

3. Details of how GDS staff volunteers can help your charity in ways other than fundraising.

4. Full contact details.

Watch the GDS International charity video here: 
www.gdsinternational.com/Blog/Details/7/Congratulations-GDS-Over-£31500-raised-for-Autism-Charities