Working with Qualtrics has been a positive experience, but attending last week’s Qualtrics Insight Summit 2017 was a genuine thrill. Some of the world’s brightest minds and most iconic celebrities assembled in Salt Lake City to impart their knowledge, network in the Wasatch Mountains on the slopes of Park City, and rock out at a private concert headlined by a legendary superstar. This year’s summit achieved record highs in attendance, and continued Qualtrics’ trend of improving the quality of the content and the overall experience. Here are some key takeaways from the Qualtrics Insight Summit 2017.
Qualtrics CEO Ryan Smith kicked off the event with an energizing and heartfelt keynote, sharing the company’s origin story. He has taken the company from his parents’ basement to the summit of the business world with a laser-focus on making data collection quick and easy for researchers. Qualtrics is one of the fastest-growing technology companies in the world, with more than 8,500 enterprise customers. “We’re a long way from that basement, when no one would listen to us,” Smith said.
One of the key concepts Smith discussed was effective reporting and customer analytics. He stressed the importance of implementing “X” (real-time) data and not relying solely on historical “O” (operational) data. He explained that seeing operational data side-by-side with customer data helps build a complete view of your business and demonstrate a true return on investment.
Qualtrics came out strong on the second day of the summit with an updated Experience Management Platform. The new product essentially unifies the four core experiences of business—customer, product, employee, and brand insights—into one customizable platform. This allows the user to measure, prioritize and optimize the core experiences.
How customers engage with your brand and your research through multiple channels and touch points remained a hot topic throughout the summit. From concept testing to measuring customer satisfaction, you’re basically surveying the same entity. The platform upgrade reflects the users’ need for a better research experience and represents a collective push for enterprises.
How about this for an awesome lineup of speakers: Michael Lewis, Angela Duckworth, Omar Johnson, Joseph Pine, Clayton Christensen, Michael Phelps. My hands-down favorite was Lewis, the renowned author of The Big Short, Liar’s Poker and The Blind Side. He was an incredible speaker and did not disappoint, telling stories in a truly raw and unique manner. I’m super excited about his newest book, The Undoing Project: A Friendship that Changed Our Minds, which fills in some of the missing pieces of the Moneyball story.
Duckworth, a psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, offered an engaging discussion of the ideas in her book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. She talked about the process of character development and gauging future chances of success and well-being. Johnson, former head of marketing at Apple and CMO of Beats Electronics (AKA Beats by Dre), did a terrific job addressing the emotion behind your brand, highlighting that it’s all about the experience—the product is your experience.
Pine explored the concepts from his book, The Experience Economy: Work Is Theatre and Every Business a Stage, while Christensen, a renowned innovation strategy growth expert at the Harvard Business School, took us deeper into his disruptive innovation theories for 21st century businesses.
And Mr. Phelps? Well, I’ve devoted a whole paragraph to him.
I am a huge fan of Michael Phelps (or as I like to call him, MP)—that’s me in the photo to the right, just a little bit star-struck, standing next to him at the summit. As a USA Swimming member, coach at Michiana Stars Swimming Team and former athlete, meeting MP and hearing him speak ranks as a major highlight of my life. During his keynote, he talked about focus, determination and achieving the impossible, a major theme throughout his swimming career. It was pretty incredible to hear that MP, who won a mind-boggling 28 Olympic gold medals, was once told his dreams were impossible. Clearly, he has shown the world that anything is possible. One of the big takeaways from his speech—with its inspirational theme of “Dream, Plan, Reach”—was the simple push to take action. We all have to start somewhere!
From the crowd roar of a sold-out basketball game at Energy Solutions Arena to the soft strains of a Tchaikovsky ballet at the historic Capitol Theatre, Salt Lake City has a wide range of quality entertainment venues—as well as a pretty great food scene. Speaking of quality entertainment, the Qualtrics team went well beyond providing a superb customer experience: they booked Sir Elton John for a private concert! Along with the presentation around the inspiring campaign to fight cancer – 5 for the Fight, this made for a truly powerful and memorable experience.
Finally, I want to give a special shout-out to the Mountain View Staging crew for their amazing work with the Qualtrics team; the presentation and atmosphere throughout the summit was electric. I can’t wait to see what they have in store in 2018!
By Heather Dixon, marketing coordinator, Inovateus Solar
