INSIGHT: Jill, how was the MDM Insight conference different than other MDM events and conferences you’ve attended?

Jill Dyche: Well, I think one big deal about MDM Insight is that it was invitation-only. The two organizations that hosted the event, The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI) and PPM Media created a model where they very carefully qualified people who applied to attend. If you met the criteria, one of which was that you had not yet chosen a Master Data Management (MDM) solution for your company, then you got to attend the conference for free – all expenses paid. So, these attendees had all done their MDM research. They were ready to get in the game—but most weren’t sure exactly how to get off the sidelines!

Another differentiator with this conference was its size. TDWI and PPM Media kept the attendance very limited, capping it at 100 before expanding it to 120 to meet the demand. But even with 120 attendees, the conference had an extremely intimate and familial setting. The organizers did an excellent job of mixing keynote presentations with break-out sessions for particular groups.

The last differentiator that comes to mind is the speakers  As a co-chair of the event, I was in charge of finding the best practice leaders to come and speak. Our priority was to find people who had walked the MDM walk but nevertheless had not been on “the circuit.” These were not only Baseline Consulting clients whom we’d worked with on their MDM implementations, but also companies we’d talked to and advised at different stages of their MDM journeys. Companies we knew had great stories to tell around MDM delivery and – ultimately – success. These fresh voices really portrayed a new level of MDM maturity in the marketplace that we hadn’t really seen before.