Today ConnectiveDX kicked off their annual Delight Conference in Portland, Oregon. This year the event boasted another excellent line up of speakers and partners, in addition to the best fall weather the Pacific Northwest has to offer. The day began with a packed breakfast on the first floor of the Portland Art Museum. From there four hundred attendees headed upstairs to the main ballroom for a full day of speakers and experiences curated to share the art and science of delivering delight.

This event is known for assembling an eclectic program and this year was no exception. Speakers represented well-recognized, innovative brands including Facebook, Capital One, and Kimpton Hotels as well as thought leaders including Scott Brinker from Chief MarTec, David Rose from the MIT Media Lab, and Sara Wachter-Boettcher, Author of Design for Real Life.

Delight is necessary for exceptional customer experiences

If you’re not familiar with the idea of delight as a business capability yet, it’s fairly simple to digest. The ability to engineer and deliver delight is a critical element of delivering exceptional Customer Experience. However, that’s where the simplicity ends. In a world where many organizations are struggling to deliver merely acceptable customer experiences, delight might be considered a master class.

Dave Wieneke, Director of Digital Strategy at ConnectiveDX and Master of Ceremonies for the week, opened things up with a champagne toast and a few words on creating experiences people love by leveraging surprise and delight. He then turned it over to the improv collective On Your Feet, who were the stewards of good humor and energy throughout the conference.

“It’s pretty remarkable how sophisticated design has become. Organizations are disrupting themselves by inviting non-designers into the process to allow delightful experiences to emerge organically.” -Dave Wieneke

Before the speakers took over and after each break, On Your Feet ensured the conference’s four hundred attendees were laughing and getting a little exercise with fun and interactive activities. However, each activity tied back to practical examples of how you can use improvisational techniques to improve business operations and experience design. Their presence in the program illustrates how ConnectiveDX ensures the format of Delight remains fresh year after year.

Get started with Delight right away

Maggie Lang, Senior Director of Consumer Marketing and Engagement at Kimpton Hotels, was the first and quintessential speaker. She shared a couple of stories about the extraordinary ways Kimpton provides exceptional customer experience and then outlined recommendations on how to get started with delight at any organization:

• It starts with individuals. Enable and empower front line ownership of delight.
• Start immediately. How will you delight someone today?
• Engage your leadership in the conversation.
• Invite speakers from brands that do it well. Get inspired.
• Tap into what motivates your leadership team.
• Publish and socialize small successes. It’s infectious.
• Invite feedback from your customers. Be open.

To be delightful, be agile

Speaking of small successes, later in the day Scott Brinker took the stage and talked about the agile marketing movement. If you haven’t read his new book yet, I highly recommend it. This concept of agility with delivering delight came up many times.

David Rose, of the MIT Media Lab wrapped up day 1 sharing many interesting ideas about how life is changing now and in the near future through the delightful application of the internet of things, the sharing economy, the convenience economy, and more sophisticated collaboration spaces. In his vision of the future living spaces and cities are going to become a whole lot more functional and data-driven to help us live more connected, meaningful, and efficient lives.

Coming up tomorrow, the event introduces another delightful curveball to the program by breaking the attendees up into a variety of interesting and engaging ‘field trips’. I’m headed to Portland’s world-famous Powell’s Books.