The AIM Institute wishes to thank the Infotec 2009 sponsors, exhibitors and more than 600 participants for their help in making the return of the Midwest's premier IT conference so successful. After a one-year hiatus, AITP Omaha passed the baton to the AIM Institute to forge a new direction for the storied conference's return in April. The region's IT and business professionals experienced two full days of networking and learning through four lively and insightful keynote speakers, 60 relevant breakout sessions and vendor exhibits throughout the conference halls.
 

 
Ninety-two percent of the conference evaluations affirmed that attendees would recommend Infotec to others and would attend again. Rated most highly were the keynote speakers and the opportunity to network with other IT professionals and to learn from some outstanding national and local breakout speakers.

Keynote Speakers

Erik Wahl - The Art of Vision

Recognized artist and speaker Erik Wahl kicked off the conference by challenging the Infotec09 audience to reach to new levels of vision and performance through creativity.

As much performance as presentation, Wahl periodically burst into manic motion to paint portraits of Bono, Tiger Woods and Abraham Lincoln. His on-stage painting exemplified his message of discovering one's untapped potential to create vision.

Wahl sees value in bringing one's experience and disciplined thinking to a problem, but then take time to slow down, step back and “twist it and look for something extraordinary.”

Terry Jones - The Business of Innovation

As keynote speaker of AIM’s 2009 Technology Celebration Banquet, Terry Jones engaged the gathering of almost 500 area leaders with the finer points of how to foster and drive innovation. Jones has stood at the helm of the companies that have revolutionized the way people book their travel arrangements — chairman of Kayak.com, founder and former CEO of Travelocity.com and former CIO of Sabre Inc.

Jones urged business leaders to foster innovation within their organizations by encouraging experimentation and treating failure as part of the learning process. He also recommended organizing as small teams that blend "old-world knowledge" with "new-world exuberance" so that the young and old can learn from each other and engage in real debate. Finally, he recommended that teams watch and listen to their customers.

"Customers are Internet-empowered, time-starved and technologically savvy," Jones said. "Give them what they can't get in the physical world; tell them what others think; and simplify their lives."

View Banquet Highlights and learn about the 2009 Technology Celebration Award Winners. More...

Sam Taylor - Leveraging Consumer Information to Drive Business Growth

Sam Taylor was named CEO of Oriental Trading Co. in 2008 and brought with him a wealth of experience that encompasses retail, e-commerce, direct marketing and international business. Taylor kicked off Day 2 of the conference by describing how he is changing the traditional catalog mindset at OTC by leveraging IT as a customer-relationship builder during a difficult economy.

Taylor focused on how OTC is benefiting from its new Product Reviews and Ratings feature. While it is easy and profitable to display positive reviews, Taylor insists upon displaying all reviews regardless of how embarrassing they are. Not only does this help OTC achieve credibility, it also helps the company identify bad products, correct inaccurate product descriptions and create community.

Taylor concluded with his top-five recommendations:

• Allocate resources to read and act upon all customer reviews and ratings.
• Embrace the power of negative reviews.
• Leverage online customer data to drive revenue in other channels.
• Segment customers to provide customized messages.
• Let your best customers create content for you.

Jason Dorsey - Crossing the Generational Divide

Jason Dorsey, known as the Gen Y Guy, entertained the Infotec 2009 luncheon audience, as he educated them about the four generations that make up today’s workforce: Matures, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y.

Dorsey helps business leaders bridge the generations within their organizations by finding common ground and understanding between them. He believes each generation was uniquely shaped by parenting trends, technology, economics and anticipated lifespan, and as a result, each is guided by a different set of values, beliefs and expectations.

Dorsey characterized Gen Y as people born between 1977 and 1995 and the only generation to start their work life with no expectation of lifetime employment or social security. Although they typically wait longer to start their first job, they will have roughly 60 years of work life ahead of them. They are tech-dependent, tend to not save money and possess a huge feeling of entitlement, due largely to the parenting style of their baby-boomer parents who “want it to be easier for our children than it was for us.”

Dorsey concluded by offering bridging ideas to help each generation work more effectively as a team. For Gen Y workers, he urged employers to model the behavior they want their young employees to follow and give them ongoing feedback. But scrap the quarterly appraisal. Instead, send a quick text message when you catch them performing well.

Comments from Participants

This was the most informative and energetic Infotec I have ever attended! Great job to all of you at the AIM Institute! Your hard work showed in the success of this conference. We all thank you for making Omaha proud!
 

I think the keynote speakers were great, and most of the sessions I attended were wonderful. There are definitely sessions that could have been twice as long, and some of the sessions needed some hands-on material. Overall, the format is good, but I would add a half-hour to the morning (split between the two sessions) and 45 minutes in the afternoon at the least to allow more "booth crawl" time and Q/A for presenters.
 

I gained so much insight from the Gen Y Guy. Wahl was very inspiring. Taylor from OTC was very effective as to the importance of listening to your customers and adapting to meet their changing needs. Great speakers!
   
Moving the vendors near the conference sessions was a brilliant stroke of organization!
 

I really liked the entrepreneurial sessions. Gave great advice and a good push for those of us thinking of starting a new venture.

Keynote speakers were world class!!!
 

The most valuable aspect of this conference was the networking with other like-minded business and technology professionals (attendees, vendors and presenters).
 

The sessions from Google, Symantec, Sun, and Oracle were very helpful.