Despite an incredible showing at the legendary Magento party last night, attendees still showed up today bright eyed and ready for this morning’s keynote and general session presentations. The morning began with a look at Good360.org, a Magento Enterprise customer that has donated more than $7billion to over 27,000 charities since their launch. The morning continued with a presentation from Roy Rubin about eBay today where he walked everyone through a fun example of how eBay’s 40 eCommerce companies are able to affect a merchant in multiple ways throughout the course of a given day.
After looking at a few more merchant/community success stories it was time for Jim Fitzgibbon’s enlightening presentation about the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. The former President’s presentation culminated in one very lucky attendee (Krister Lenman from Vaimo of Sweden) winning a 7 night stay at the Four Seasons resort in Bora Bora! Here are a few takeaways from his astute presentation that was relevant to any business:
* Culture is a common set of beliefs around the world that promotes consistent behavior. Four Seasons created a culture of service – people first, then product, and finally profit.
* Live by the Golden Rule – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
* An in depth hiring process is time well invested.
* “Get it right. Get me right. ‘Wow me’ if you can.” – the Four Seasons’ mantra
* Honest failure is good.
* Trust your employees.
* If you’re a leader, you must be transparent and authentic. If you’re not genuine, your employees and customers will see right through it.
* The key steps to live by: define your culture, set an example, hire the right people, be consistent, training built on trust in ability, have fun!
Highlights from this morning’s breakout sessions:
* Increasing your business by 5-10% by expanding internationally is a great idea. Just make sure you ask yourself the key questions before taking the plunge such as how do I protect the brand and acquire customers? How do I integrate with new carriers and manage customer service? And more!
* If you plan to expand internationally, consider using a partner to help you, start by focusing on one country and use your analytics to tell you which market to get started with first.
* A few of the best tips to unlocking the power of Magento Enterprise include: Choose the right partner, simplify your site administration, reap the benefits of an official Magento hosting partner, understand the full capabilities of Magento Enterprise,etc.
Highlights from this afternoon’s breakout sessions:
* A survey from Wantlet says 75%of peopleare influenced by online recommendations of friends and family. 80% look for social input when researching product info and comparisons.
* Another survey from Zoomerang says 51% of people are more likely to buy from a brand they are following on Facebook. 67% are more likely to buy from a brand they are following on Twitter.
* 'Know thy enemy permission based relationship understanding why they love you' - David Sinatra of Stussy.com on social media.
* Philippe Humeau from NBS Systems talked about Magento security from a hosting perspective, once again emphasizing the importance of keeping your Magento software up to date.
* Alistair Stead (from Session Digital UK) gave insight into the procedures and best practices that allow them to deliver huge Magento instances reliably, on time and create satisfaction on all sides.
* Brendan Falkowski (from Gravity Department) loves creating website interfaces that solve the challenges business are presented with by the mobile revolution. He gave insite into cutting edge technology and best practices, making the point how important a solid mobile strategy is. Along the way he shared the details how to create responsive themes that work for all the hundreds of mobile form factors.
Alison Levine closed out Imagine with an inspirational keynote and story:
In a conference focused on stories - both personal and business - we were very fortunate to have Alison Levine share hers. Her story took us up Mount Everest not once, but twice!!! Along the way she shared some incredible insights about challenges, journeys and teamwork that apply to us all:
* A healthy amount of fear is OK, it's complacency that is dangerous
* The only way to achieve seemingly insurmountable goals is to break them down into many small, sometimes micro, objectives.
* When you're working in a team, you have to know that everyone in the team is a team player and that they've got your back.
Thank you Alison for sharing your story with all of us and for helping make Imagine 2012 truly special.
Congratulations to Reed and Barton and Blue Acorn
This year at Imagine we showcased three Magento-powered web sites and the Magento Solution partners who created them. These three - Warner Brothers France, Reed and Barton, and Ten Thousand Villages - were chosen from among the many nominated as the finalists in the Magento 2011 Innovative site awards. We left the final selection of a winner up to you, our Imagine attendees. While there was a strong showing for both Warner Brothers and Ten Thousand Villages, the audience selected Reed and Barton as the winner. Congratulations to Reed and Barton and their solution partner Blue Acorn for your outstanding work and your Magento passion. We thank all the finalists and nominees. You have all demonstrated in your own ways the blank canvas that Magento the power and flexibility that Magento Enterprise creates.
A Final Thank You and Farewell
In true Magento fashion, Bob Schwartz closed out Imagine with a heartfelt thank you. He invited the entire Magento X.commerce team onto the stage with him to thank the audience for joining us at Imagine and for sharing their stories.
We were honored by everyone's presence at Imagine. The Magento Community and the passion the demonstrate every day motivates each one of us to take the greatest eCommerce platform in the world, and continue to make it even better.
THANK YOU!
