ESPC meeting

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending my first ESPC semi-annual meeting. I was scheduled to talk on a panel  about list hygiene with a couple vendors. Because some folks didn’t make it, I also sat on the panel talking about blocklists.
It was a fun day. I got to meet and talk with some colleagues I haven’t seen in an age. And I met some new faces and had interesting interactions.
One bonus from the day is I really got the chance to talk with some of the list hygiene vendors that were on the panel with me. Afterwards, we spent a good hour just discussing the space and the players in it. I learned a lot from that conversation. Previously, I’d kept the list hygiene vendors at arms length. My experiences with them and with their products weren’t very positive. My experience has primarily been with clients who have used these services and not gotten what they thought they were paying for. I have also seen some internet-abusive behavior from a few. Many years ago a few of the companies approached me for deliverability advice as they were running into consistent blocking.
All of these things led me to the conclusion that it was a part of the email space I didn’t want much to do with.
Yesterday, though, I learned that there were vendors in the space that focused very much on being a net benefit to the overall network. Both Webbula and Kickbox, who were on the panel with me, have policies and processes designed to make it unattractive for spammers to sign up for their services. We did agree there were problems with some of the vendors in the space, but I realized that some is not all.
It was a good meeting, I’m glad I went.

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Upcoming events for Laura

speakingIconForBlogWe’re more than halfway through April. Good: Taxes are finished. Bad: Wait? We’re well into Q2? How time files. With that realization, it seems like it’s a good time to share some of the places and events I’ll be at in May.
Salesforce Connections in Atlanta, GA. May 10 – 12. I’m a panelist for Deliverability Unplugged: How to Stay out of Email Jail and Other Best Practices on May 11.  I’m sharing the panel with Mickey Chandler from SFMC and Melinda Plemel from Return Path. The session will be moderated by Rebecca McAdams from Forrester Research. Bring questions. I don’t think you really want to just listen to us show you slides, so come bearing questions.
As an aside, Salesforce is offering a discount of 50% off registration for Connections16 through April 22 if you use the promo code EQUALITY. Good on Salesforce for this.
Email Innovations Summit in Las Vegas, NV. May 17 – 18Understanding your IT Department: What Non-Technical Brand Managers Need to Know about Email Security, DMARC , ISPs and Delivery. I’ve been working on this talk and, wow, there’s a lot of info I want to share. It should be a fun session, so stop by.
You can get a 15% discount off the cost of registration for Innovations by using my speaker code SPKATK

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Upcoming events

Next month I’ll be in London for the Email Innovations Summit. This will be an updated version of what you need to know to talk with technical folks.
In early December I’ll be doing a DMA webinar discussing the subscription bombings. That’s still in the works.
I’m looking at some events for next year. I am planning on being at M3AAWG in San Francisco in February.
I’m looking at others, too. What are your favorite events?

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