Option London: 26 DX’s guide to navigating the day

Session registration is open for Opticon London this 1st Oct, and it's time to start planning. Opticon is the centrepiece of the Optimizely calendar, and having booked your ticket, you'll want to make sure you get the most out of your day.

There's a packed agenda with lots of great sessions to choose from, but with Opticon Stockholm having taken place last week, 26 DX's roster of OMVPs is ready to help you plan your optimised Opticon itinerary, and immerse yourself in the Optimizely Onederland.

The key themes Opticon is built around this year are:

• Content supply chains, and how to make them work effectively
• AI, and how marketers can make use of it
• Personalisation, and how to build out an effective personalisation programme

These have all been major areas of investment for Optimizely this year.

The investment in Optimizely's Content Marketing Platform integrations, both to its own platforms and to third party vendors, is paying off as CMP (and in a different context, Optimizely Data Platform) start to become the functional hubs of the joined up Optimizely One operational model. Look out for a standout session on this theme from Emily Randall from Mott MacDonald and Optimizely's Mark Wakelin: How Mott MacDonald scaled and optimized their content supply chain (and how you can too)

AI functionality at last year's Opticon focused around the unveiling of the Opal AI assistant; this year you can expect more focus on practical AI solutions and use cases outside of companion AIs. In particular, we're looking forward to the forthcoming Experimentation Contextual Bandits, which uses AI to inject personalisation into accelerated win experimentation strategies. Look out for an afternoon AI session which looks to take you through setting and practically implementing an AI strategy in the context of software GTM team case studies: AI and the new generation of marketing

Personalisation will have a big splash in the keynote, as Alex and Rupali build on their initial announcement from Stockholm of Optimizely's new standalone Personalisation product. Building on the personalisation functionality from the Experimentation platform, this is set to become the easiest way to roll out a successful personalisation workstream within your digital experience strategy. If you're new to personalisation, check out the morning personalisation playbook session: How to build a personalisation playbook

Our star turn:

Or for a session that will wrap all of those themes together, you won't want to miss the chance to see our own Ellie Foxton-Brown and John Prior in conversation with CIPD's David Cox.  We'll discuss their evolution from prolific publisher to smart content creator, leveraging the best of Optimizely’s toolkit alongside advanced CX mapping and AI-enhanced experiences: From publisher to digital pioneer: CIPD's smart content evolution

Come and say "hi"

Don't forget to use the networking breaks to come and meet 26 DX members at our stand.  As Gold Sponsors this year we are bringing many of our experts on site and their brains are ready to be picked over a coffee!  

And of course, you can't miss Rupali and Alex's keynote to kick everything off - expect to hear more about SaaS Core there, too!

Now, over to our OMVPs for some personal picks:

Ibrar Hussain, Technical Director:

I'm really excited about Daniel Hulme's session where he will provide insights on practical AI adoption and balancing operational efficiency with creative innovation - something that could be game-changing for our business. I'm eager to learn from his expertise and explore how we can leverage these ideas to stay competitive and drive growth in our rapidly evolving industry: Rethinking AI and its impact on business and humanity

Graham Carr, Lead .Net Developer:

Personalisation is a key driver of customer engagement these days, so I am keen to see how we can leverage simplifying the creation of a robust personalisation strategy and bring those insights in our day to day interactions with our clients at 26 DX. So I am especially looking forward to attending the session: How to build a personalisation playbook

Andy Blyth, Technical Architect:

I'm especially excited about the session with Emily Randall and Mark Wakelin at Opticon London 2024, having worked on integrating Optimizely’s CMS and CMP. Seeing how these platforms streamline content supply chains for one of our key clients will offer valuable insights into their day-to-day use: How Mott MacDonald scaled and optimized their content supply chain (and how you can too)

And finally, my own recommendation:

For me, the best conference sessions showcase real experiences from world class teams, and practical solutions to rolling out technical capabilities. So I'm particularly looking forward to: Transforming Arup: modernizing the digital operations for the world's leading engineering consultancy

Looking forward to seeing you there!