Academic Highlights: In my mind, there were two panels that really stood out, and both were really relevant to current trends in the communication of information. First was the panel I attended on Data Visualization. In this panel, executives from the New York Times, Google, and Fathom Consulting stressed the importance of keeping things simple, not overcomplicating your message (especially with too many colors), and using visuals to answer questions. A key takeaway for me was really getting to understand how visuals can be used to answer questions you didn’t know you had, and help identify trends that you weren’t able to see just by analyzing the numbers. My other favorite session revolved around social media analytics. This session in particular drew upon lessons I had learned in my Strategic Marketing and Social Media classes. Here, speakers emphasized how important it is to be adaptable at a moment’s notice, and ready to respond to anything (like a power outage at the Super Bowl). Other tips related to overall social media strategy, and how you need to create context before developing content, and ensuring that your communication is properly timed (i.e., during a commercial break, not during the action of a game).

Overall Experience: I attended the conference last year, and was just as impressed this year as I was then. I had the chance to interact with leaders from both business and sports operations, and was able to learn a great deal about how sports, personnel decisions, and even in-game strategy are changing. It was also really great to be able to attend the Celtics game on Friday night, thanks to 2011 Warsaw Alum Steve Acampa, and to see Bill Zachry and Blake Holmes (alums from the 2012 Warsaw class) attending the conference as professionals. Boston was a great time, and I look forward to attending next year as well as part of the Warsaw Alumni contingent!