I haven't blogged in a while and much of 2007 is simply a listing of my articles from Media Post and a few other pieces that I found interesting.  I thought I'd add a few opinions of my own that you'll only get from Whitenoise.

= EEC event:   I hated that I couldn't attend.  Was a planned speaker and helped Jeanniey and group with the programming.  Was alittle dissapointed in the organization of the from a speakers perspective.  It was promoted fabulously and I had to give alot of credit to Jeanniey and her EEC team.  While we can all criticize the event for little things like coordination or redundant tracks, it was put together with limited budget, staff and from what I hear it was a valuable contribution to the "circuit".. For those of us that spoke alot last year (3 Adtechs, DMA, 3 OMMAs etc..etc..), I was alittle burned out on hearing the same things over and over, but I heard from a few that there were a few sessions that reached out and pulled off some good dialog.  So congrats for adding an email ONLY event and getting the attendance.  Of course 1/2 were paying vendors, but that is what makes our industry, nothing is truely "client only" or "free" in this world.

= State of email marketing:  I still see the same problems today that I've seen for years and not sure how we can help businesses climb out of the rut.. Email is managed by lower level people, attribution is not a clear cut picture, teams are limited and put on real-time schedules, so planning, monetization of the channel and budgeting are lacking all around.  I live in a world of Interactive marketers where email is but a thumbnail in the basket of services.  It's still the 74th slide in a presentation, often not thought about until after a site is built, but is the #2 or #3 thing that clients want to discuss when they bring us in.  So, I still hold out hope that we can raise the attention, but we need more compelling stories about how it's been integrated with media, how acquisition blends to retention strategies, how we've added value to the other channels, how web analytics plays into targeting and optimization... it goes on.. the conversation needs to blend or we'll always have an isolated channel.

- Email Insider Event:  I have been asked to be the programming chair for this event and hope we can raise the level for this event.  It's been reserved for higher level executives and "big topics", as opposed to the DMA event that was designed for practioners.. Not sure it was really a practioners discussion as I sit on several lists that talk tactics that are soooo granular, I'm quite impressed sometimes..  But the EI event we hope will be even better this year with great topics, new speakers (new blood) answering real questions we need help with.  Would love ANY ideas on topics that you think are topical for this event, we should begin planning in a few months.  (send to david.baker@avenuea-razorfish.com)

More to come at another sessions...