If anything makes us giddy with excitement, it’s geeking out with ambitious folks to talk about the future of tech and commerce. Who’s with us?
We’ve been eagerly waiting for this to come around again -
It’s Sitecore Symposium season! 😀
After a year-long hiatus, the Sitecore conference team has put together a stellar lineup of education and networking events to attend from October 15 - 18, 2024, in none other than the flourishing tech hub of Nashville!
They’ll have over 100 sessions and 40 of the biggest global brands covering everything from AI to accessibility to customer experience…and more.
First, the key details you might be looking for -
What: Sitecore Symposium 2024
When: October 15 - 18
Where: Nashville, TN
Event Site: Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center
Cost: $1,349 - $2,049
Hashtag: #SitecoreSYM
The admission price for a conference pass changes over the course of a few months leading up to the Sitecore Symposium.
The investment tiers offered include:
Super Early Bird (ends June 30) - $1,349
Early Bird (ends August 16) - $1,549
Advanced (ends September 30) - $1,849
Regular/On-site (starts October 1) - $2,049
Sitecore conference offers discounts for educational, government, and non-profit organizations, or if you plan to bring a group or team.
Haven’t gotten your pass yet for the Sitecore Symposium? Go do that here, and come back!
If you’re looking to stay on-site at the Gaylord Opryland Resort, Sitecore is offering attendee discounts on accommodations after you register for the conference.
In addition, if you fly United, there is an exclusive Sitecore discount code off your airfare travel.
Now, let’s get into the fun stuff…
Sitecore Symposium 2024 Highlights
As you may know, Sitecore is the leader in software for digital experience management.
The Sitecore platform is an all-in-one DXP which gives you the ability to offer the seamless and combined Sitecore Experience Cloud, an end-to-end content, ecommerce, and personalization platform.
Sitecore Symposium is the biggest event that Sitecore hosts, bringing together people from all over the globe - marketers, developers, creatives, IT pros, and other experts. It’s definitely great company to mingle with if you are part of a growing enterprise!
The sessions follow five tracks:
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Breakthrough Innovations
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Build Your Tech Stack of the Future
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Deliver Technical Excellence
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Maximize Digital Experience Solutions
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Transform your Digital Roadmap
This year’s theme is:
The Power to Build
Sitecore explains this as “leading with innovation and cultivating an unrivaled community to help you imagine what’s possible and give you the power to build.”
One of the biggest things people remark on is the community around Sitecore - the energy and camaraderie cannot be beaten.
Our team at Alpha Solutions has been part of this community since 2004.
Alpha Solutions (US) partner, Niket Ashesh - a long-time Sitecore Symposium attendee - shares that he is looking forward to learning how Sitecore is adopting AI and how it is making it available to its customers.
As the resident tech trends expert at Alpha, Niket also hopes to learn more about Sitecore 360 and how Sitecore partners can fit into the vision Sitecore has.
Niket shares, “I want to understand better how businesses are adapting to a more AI-based interaction on the web and other touch points.” He asks, “What role does the CMS play? And, what role does Sitecore see their CMS play?”
With a recent change in leadership at Sitecore, Niket is interested in what happens next with the direction of the brand and its software.
🔗 Follow Niket on LinkedIn for tech trends and occasional stories about traffic (not the internet kind).
Niket’s Symposium Pick
With Alpha’s aim to help customers save money using AI, Niket’s pick for a session to attend this year is on Day 2 of SItecore Symposium 2024 (October 16th):
Accelerate Sitecore XM Cloud Adoption Using Generative AI
This session explores leveraging generative AI to streamline and accelerate XM Cloud adoption from a development perspective and maximize business value.
Alpha Solutions (US) CTO, Roland Villemoes is also attending Sitecore Symposium 2024, looking forward to connecting with the whole Sitecore community, friends at Sitecore, and clients.
Roland will be showcasing and doing demos of Alpha accelerators, such as
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AlphaSub (for subscriptions), and
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AOF (Alpha Order Fulfillment app).
He’s super excited to talk about the Sitecore OrderCloud Masterclass being conducted all across the US. This is a rare, hands-on, bring-your-own-laptop session, where you’ll set up and configure your own retail storefront by yourself in a matter of hours!
🔗 Follow Roland on LinkedIn for guidance on implementing the best software for your growing team.
Roland’s Symposium Pick
“I’m really excited about our two sessions this year, and I’m very curious to get some good feedback and discussion from the audience - these tend to be long, deep and interesting conversations!” Roland says.
Roland presents at the Symposium with Kim Bækgaard (Alpha Solutions Partner), on the very important topic of website accessibility. With 20% of the population having a disability, equal access on the web is of utmost importance in 2024 and beyond.
Check out this Alpha-led session as Roland’s pick on Day 2 of Sitecore Symposium 2024 (October 16th):
Accessibility and the impact on your business: How to do the right thing for users and the business
Focus on accessibility is booming, but why - and what is it all about? Learn what it means to be accessible, the main reasons for making your web site accessible, as well as which standard(s) to comply with and best practices for your situation.
Let’s hear from Alpha partner, Kim Bækgaard, who presents the above session with Roland.
A devoted advocate for accessibility, Kim leads the charge with a focus on making user experiences positive and productive for everybody. He feels the topic is getting more and more relevant for so many reasons.
Always thinking people-first, Kim shares, “I’m looking forward to (re-)connect with the community - people I know and new people alike from clients, Sitecore, and even competitors!”
He elaborates, “There is always a great energy at Symposium and I can't wait to tap into that again by learning about Sitecore's latest developments and path ahead.”
🔗 Follow Kim on LinkedIn for human-centric content and the latest developments on website accessibility for enterprises.
Kim’s Symposium Pick
Kim is presenting an interactive and engaging session on website accessibility (noted above). However, he recommends if you’re looking to dive deeper into generative AI, then go see this breakout session on Day 3 of Sitecore Symposium (October 17th):
Product configuration: Boosting the experience with generative AI
With furniture producers like Carl Hansen & Son and Fritz Hansen, Alpha Solutions has created product configuration solutions based on Sitecore Content Hub. These enable management, publishing, and visualization of configurable products. The new possibilities with generative AI enable us to create better experiences - even when we have 200 million products to describe. We will show how generative AI and machine learning can empower the configuration solutions and create even better experiences.
The above session will be presented by none other than Klaus Petersen, Alpha Solutions Global CTO and longstanding Sitecore MVP (every year since inception of the award).
He simply states:
“I am really wanting to learn new Sitecore stuff and meet our future clients. There is nothing as satisfying as discussing new opportunities for collaboration and learning the insider tips of digital marketing and commerce from real practitioners.”
Klaus loves to share his experiences in using Sitecore and connecting it to other technologies. He presents a must-see session on using generative AI and machine learning to create phenomenal customer experiences (see Kim’s pick above).
🔗 Follow Klaus on LinkedIn for more on Sitecore technology and how it creates better experiences for customers while growing your business.
Meet with us at the Sitecore Conference
This year we’re all about getting you on the right path to achieve your business goals, with the power of Sitecore behind them.
The Alpha Solutions team will be set up and waiting at Booth #1331 at the Sitecore Symposium in Nashville to give you the direction you need, answer questions, or just geek out on tech.
We know from experience that this event gets very busy! So if you’d like to meet with us, please use this form to book a meeting so we don’t miss you.
Here are some of the things we can do with our time together:
⚡ Power Demo
We can help you fully understand the power of Sitecore products - as well as demo our solutions such as Commerce Storefront, Product Configurator, Subscriptions, Order Fulfillment App…and more, with a 1:1 walkthrough of the experience.
♿ Accessibility Review
Let us take a look at the state of your website accessibility and if all users can interact with your content. We’ll tell you what changes to make to increase sales and conversions by providing a better experience for everybody.
☁️ XM Cloud Consult
Thinking about making a move to Sitecore XM Cloud from XP, but not sure if it’s the right decision? We’ll give you our honest opinion based on your business goals. If it’s the right option for you, we’ll tell you if you’re eligible to receive 200 hours FREE on your Sitecore migration project when you work with us.
And in case you like giveaways 😉- meet with us for just 15 minutes, and we’ll gift you our favorite wireless iPhone car mount charger. Come chat about all things Sitecore!
Either way, we’d love to see you at our booth, around the amazing content sessions, or at a buzzing Nashville bar or restaurant! We’ve got some local picks listed below.
Experiencing Sitecore Symposium in Nashville
Nashville - the “Music City” is a hub for millions of visitors each year with an exciting downtown area and rich entertainment industry.
However, did you also know that Nashville is:
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#1 hottest job market in 2022
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Top city for entrepreneurs
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A modern technology hub
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Top city to start a career
If you’re staying at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, you’ll be 11 miles outside of Downtown Nashville.
We’re keeping this simple and giving you our top 3 picks for things to see or do in the city when you’re taking a break from Sitecore Symposium 2024.
Photo: @nudieshonky_tonk
1. Music: Nudie’s Honky Tonk
When’s the last time you went to a honky-tonk? Wrap up your sessions at Sitecore Symposium 2024, get your boots on and be ready for loud country music, karaoke, dancing, and cold beers at Nudie’s Honky Tonk. This bar has three floors including rooftop access. It boasts the city’s longest bar (100 feet) and lots of country music memorabilia such as glittery suits worn by Elvis Presley.
We especially like that this place serves food until 10pm, so you can work in a Nashville hot chicken sandwich and some fried Oreos to fuel up for late night dancing (Nudie’s closes at 3am)!
Warning: the line for this honky tonk can get long, and if you can’t wait then head over to Rippy’s, a few doors down on Broadway.
2. Grub: Bolton’s Spicy Chicken and Fish
Most places in the South are famous for their BBQ, but Nashville has its hot chicken. This fried chicken specialty gets its heat from cayenne pepper-infused melted butter paste, originally done in a hot skillet. It’s mouthwatering and SPICY!
For a local meal outside of the Sitecore Symposium, we’re sending you to Bolton’s, close to Downtown but east of the river. It’s casual and unassuming. Plus, they offer a spice-meter for everyone from non-spicy (what?!) to extra hot (drink milk, not water). Not into poultry? Try the hot catfish which some say may even be better than the chicken!
Source: Nashville Go
3. Landmark: The Parthenon and Centennial Park
Temps in Nashville can get up to the low 70’s during the day, but can drop to 50 in the evening, so plan accordingly with this outdoor and indoor venue. Centennial Park is a large urban park two miles west of Downtown Nashville near the campus of Vanderbilt University. If you’re looking to stretch your legs and walk around, this is an interesting place.
Within the grounds of the Centennial Park is the iconic Parthenon, a full-scale replica of the actual ancient Athens landmark (who would have thought?). Why? The replica was built in 1897 as part of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition, celebrating the state's 100th anniversary of becoming a state and honoring the city's nickname, "Athens of the South".
Check out the museum of Nashville history, and the exquisite full scale replica of goddess Athena - covered in gold leaf to boot (pun intended)!
These are merely a few of the many things that you can explore in Nashville outside of Sitecore Symposium 2024, if you can tear yourself away from all the amazing sessions.
Of course, you can always take a quick jaunt to the the indoor waterpark inside of the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center. In fact, you could probably get lost in the lush indoor landscaping of this resort, and never have to leave the premises!
Whether you’re visiting Sitecore Symposium to catch up with the community, learn about the Sitecore product development roadmap, or attend a marketing or technical workshop – we’d love to meet you!
Thousands of attendees flock to this conference, especially after a hiatus - so take a moment to book 15 minutes at our Booth #1331. We’ve got the swag, which is also one of the highlights of this conference, in case you didn’t know. 😉
See you at Sitecore Symposium 2024!
