Your Guide to Acquia Engage 2020: The Can’t-Miss Sessions for Developers and Marketers

Are you registered for Acquia Engage 2020? Acquia’s annual digital experience conference is going online this year on October 20 and 21 to bring you critical insights for succeeding in today’s digital-first world. We know that digital experience extends across the entire enterprise, so Engage is offering a huge variety of programming and opportunities for everyone from CIOs and CMOs to developers and site builders to digital marketers and IT specialists. 

At Acquia Engage, you have the freedom to customize the experience to your needs through three unique session tracks focusing on marketers, developers and digital experience leaders.  Throughout the event, there'll be plenty of opportunities to network and learn with attendees and experts at our Genius Bar and our Partner Pavilion.

If you’re looking for some inspiration for which sessions to add to your schedule, here are our recommendations of can’t-miss content. (And for a full overview of what to expect at Engage and session times, check out the online agenda).   

For Marketers:

This year raised the bar for digital experiences. With so many available channels, brands and digital options to choose from, today’s consumers are totally in control of when and where they engage with brands. Marketers know that customers expect convenience and speed. Your marketing team must match these expectations through educational, entertaining and valuable experiences. The Marketing Cloud track at Engage 2020 will help you better understand who your customers are and pinpoint opportunities to drive revenue and boost customer loyalty.   

Diving Into Customer Data  

Making meaningful customer experiences today depends on knowing how to access and activate all of your customer data. Brands not only need to make sure they’re offering relevant experiences in the moment, but that they’re anticipating future customer behaviors. These sessions will show you how to unlock the most value from all your customer data and apply those critical insights to how you connect with your audience.  

The Art of Self-Disruption: Transforming Experiences with the Acquia Customer Data Platform

October 20. By Karen Wood, Senior Director, Product Marketing, Acquia  

For years, customer data platforms (CDPs) have been the over-hyped darlings of the industry. But what good do they do in the real world? And how are they better than DMPs, CRMs, data lakes and other data management solutions? In this session, we’ll demystify the CDP and hear directly from marketing leaders who have made CDPs the heart and soul of their successful retention, acquisition, engagement and growth campaigns. 

Amplify Customer Intelligence and Experience with Machine Learning

October 20. By Marci Maddox, Research Director, Enterprise Content Strategies, IDC 

Personalization is the key to creating and growing customer relationships that last, across all digital channels. But if it’s not partnered with Artificial Intelligence (AI), personalization can only get you so far. In this session, Marci Maddox, Research Director, Enterprise Content Strategies at IDC will cover the latest challenges and trends, as well as the smartest ways to leverage AI across the customer journey. 

Why Predictive Marketing? Why Now?

October 20. By Omer Artun, Chief Science Officer, Acquia and Arnaud Prades, Director of Machine Learning, Acquia

In this session, you’ll hear about Acquia’s vision for artificial intelligence and practical tips for leveraging predictive analytics to boost customer acquisition and lure in lapsed or at-risk customers. Omer will go beyond theory and focus on concrete steps you can take now to help navigate these unprecedented times.

Unlocking the Power of Customer Analytics

October 20. By Karen Wood, Senior Director, Product Marketing, Acquia 

As data has been democratized across teams, marketers are no longer dependent on data analysts to feed them information. In this session, we’ll explore how all teams can all leverage unified analytics to improve their business. 

Roundtable: Marketing Strategies That Work

October 21. Featuring Serena & Lily and AMEEX 

Our roundtable will bring together a diverse range of marketing leaders to share and compare the strategies that moved the needle for their business this year. Hear from much-loved brands like Sun & Ski, Serena & Lily and PVH on what they do to improve customer lifetime value, avoid customer churn and acquire passionate brand loyalists.

For Developers and IT Professionals:

Developers and IT professionals today are responsible for far more than just fulfilling support tickets and making sure your websites are running. The modern CIO’s goals are focused on speed, efficiency and scale. Doing this requires leveraging flexible, agile solutions that can keep up with the pace of change and maintain global governance and security. 

We know this is a lot to balance, and our developer-centric Drupal Cloud track focuses on tactics to scale your IT operations and propel digital transformation. We’ll also be offering suggestions for the best content management solutions and strategies to support your goals. 

Understanding IT for the Enterprise

Getting new sites launched and solutions implemented quickly is critical to the success of the business, but IT teams can’t innovate without the right technology. If you’re ready to roll out updates faster at scale, we’re here to help you find the right solution.  

Enterprise Content Management, Evolved

October 20. By Shaun McDougall, Director of Marketing, Leidos and Ryan Picchini, Director of Product Marketing, Acquia

Tired of grappling with IT bottlenecks and slow, inefficient content management? Us too. Leidos and Acquia join forces in this session to show how to empower marketing, free up IT resources and unlock IT innovation at scale. 

COVID Has Redefined Scale. Learn how to Adapt, and Prepare for What’s Next

October 20. By Jonathan Cartwright, Manager, Product Management, Acquia and Ryan Picchini, Director of Product Marketing, Acquia

From evaluation to purchase, today’s buyer journey is increasingly moving online. Smart companies are investing in better digital experiences and improving their content to keep their name top-of-mind. But scaling effectively isn’t easy. Especially with multiple digital properties, security concerns and efficiency needs. Now, we’ll reveal how Acquia’s latest innovation makes scaling truly simple.

Empowering Your Team with Low-Code

October 20. By Ryan Picchini, Director of Product Marketing, Acquia

Low-code solutions are transforming how companies build digital products, manage data and deliver content. Easy and intuitive, low-code solutions like Site Studio empower non-technical users to take charge of tasks that historically fell to IT. Here, you’ll find out why everyone’s going low. And you’ll see how a low-code solution makes Drupal even easier, thanks to a visual drag-and-drop interface, reusable components, and more.

Diving Into Drupal 

When Drupal 9 was released earlier this year, developers all over the globe had lots of questions about what D9 meant for their sites and what they needed to know to prepare for an upgrade. Our Drupal experts at Acquia have your back. Learn how to migrate to the latest version of Drupal, all the must-know features in Drupal 9 and our advice on how to make the most of all the freedom, flexibility and power Drupal has to offer. 

Move to the Latest Version of Drupal Faster, and with Less Effort, Than Ever Before

October 20. By Angie Byron, Senior Director of Product and Community Development, Acquia and Maggie Schroeder, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Acquia  

Upgrading from an older Drupal version, or moving to Drupal from a different CMS, used to be a huge pain. Not anymore. Drupal veteran Angie Byron and Acquia Drupal Cloud Senior Product Marketing Manager Maggie Schroeder show you why it’s simpler than ever before to seamlessly upgrade to Drupal 9. 

Build Faster and More Efficiently with Drupal

October 20. By Ryan Picchini, Director of Product Marketing, Acquia and Matthew Grasmick, Director, Product Management, Acquia

The Drupal developer community is the heart of the open source project. Learn how our latest developer solutions let anyone get onboarded to Drupal quickly and help Drupal pros create projects faster and more efficiently.  

Why Drupal 9 Really is a Game-Changer

October 20. By Angie Byron, Senior Director of Product and Community Development, Acquia and Maggie Schroeder, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Acquia 

Drupal 9 launched in the summer of 2020, and the impact was immediate. In this session, you’ll learn what makes it better, what the community is doing and why D9 is the perfect foundation for a truly exceptional digital experience.

And So Much More...

The above is just a sample of all the educational and inspiring material you can access during Acquia Engage! Make sure to check back for updates on our main stage keynotes, diverse digital experience sessions from Acquia’s global partner network and enlightening conversations, like our Big Ideas in Digital panel and our Tech for Good panel.

Plus, you’ll want to get a good seat (in front of your computer screen) as we announce the winners of this year’s Acquia Engage Awards! We’re celebrating the leaders in digital innovation and creativity. Come join today’s dreamers, makers and builders in paving the path forward for digital experience. 

With so much great content available, you don’t want to miss a thing. Fortunately, since Engage is all online this year, you won’t have to! All sessions will be recorded and available to attendees after the event so you can access them when you want, regardless of time zone. If you’re ready to see what the future of digital experience holds, register for Acquia Engage and start planning your agenda today.