The Future Is Now
Wowzer! We were back together this week for our 25th annual Outsell Signature Event, co-produced with JEGI Clarity. Thank you to our partner, our sponsors — CCC, EY Parthenon, and SRI — and our amazing array of speakers. Virginia cooperated with wonderful sunny weather as CEOs, COOs, MDs, presidents, members of their C-suites, and industry investors from the global data, information, and analytic industry convened. What fun!
It was so great to be together again. The energy was positive and the buzz a great vibe. And oh what a time we had addressing the future — and that it’s happening now. For more about our 2023 meta-theme, don’t miss Outsell’s Annual Information Industry Outlook 2023, published the morning of the event. So many things we once talked about as “in the future” are here today. Read this annual industry bible, download it, and share it with your team as you make your plans for the year ahead. Boy, is it coming fast!
So much to talk about and so little time. We could have spent so much more time with each of our compelling speakers and panelists who made for an amazing program and lineup:
- Decision-making in an AI and data-driven world!
- Geopolitics, the economy, industry M&A, and managing talent are threaded together like never before… Tangled ball of yarn, anyone? We helped make sense out of the nonsense, giving our leaders a view of what’s ahead.
- Our annual View from the Top.
- The release of Outsell’s Future Readiness Rankings, which looks at competitive cohorts and how they stack up on 20 attributes in three areas important to the future: talent, product & innovation, and market-facing presence.
- Segment labs, with panelists and an Outsell analyst, facilitated by an Outsell experienced leader focused on Scaling Data & Analytics Businesses, How to Combine Audience, Community with Content and Professional Learning, and The Future of Scholarly Communications.
We were riveted by FAIR and the future of open data, where algorithms come to the data and data becomes interoperable machine-to-machine. We were told where the bar is and where it’s going in the field of search, and how the experience Google delivers is — and will continue to be — the expectation in enterprise search and in our service offerings. We had Gen Z professionals tell us about their information consumption patterns and needs. Apps and podcasts are our future — get ready! We took note of practical applications and the benefits of using virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) today, and discussed the caveats to look out for as we look ahead to the metaverse. To all our speakers and panelists, thank you so much!
And of course, there was ample time for networking, for meeting new people, greeting colleagues and friends, and for getting deals done. And as history has shown — be on the lookout about a month or quarter from now — you’ll read announcements in the Outsell Doorway. Odds are that many of those deals began or concluded at the Outsell Signature Event. It happens all the time. We just can’t talk about it.
So much to do, so much to learn, so many to meet and see again. So little time. The experience was priceless and oh so fun. Mark your calendars for the next Outsell Signature Event, October 3–4, 2023; don’t miss out! We look forward to seeing you there. After a three-year hiatus, this past week was a blast.
Enjoy your weekend!