Headed back to the Big Apple. See you there?
I have two full days to learn as much as I can, and try to squeeze in some exploration.
I am very excited for the amazing opportunity to visit New York City this month for work. My awesome employer, LeisureMedia360, is sending me to the incredible, 2-day, jam-packed Programmatic IO conference. For those of you who don’t know, I joined LeisureMedia360 in March of this year as the Digital Media Specialist in charge of learning all about programmatic using the BASIS DSP (weird big words, I know. Let me know if you want me to dive deeper into my day job).
Since then I have been learning all about the software and trying to stay up to date on industry trends while running programmatic digital campaigns for our clients.
The Programmatic IO conference dives into those industry trends and puts on display some of the biggest names in digital programmatic to date. Speakers such as Kelly Abcarian, EVP, Measurement and Impact at NBCUniversal; Alex Boras, Platform Team Lead at SAMSUNG DSP; Steven Cahill, Managing Director, Senior Equity Analyst at Wells Fargo; Marjorie Chilies, VP Marketing at Mockingbird; Keerat Sharma, Director of Amazon Marketing Cloud and Ad Tech Solutions at Amazon; Rob Will, Corporate VP Advertising at Microsoft, and many more will be presenting various topics from Connected TV, to Online Privacy, to Advertising in the Metaverse.
The last time I was in New York was back in 2015 when my old band played a show at Rockwood Music Hall and then sprinted through the subway system chasing new friends and eating nachos at a rooftop restaurant under the Empire State building before driving back to northern Virginia at 2am… those were the days. Lol.
So, needless to say, it’s been a long time since I’ve been to the city and I am way too excited to go back.
The current plan is to take the train (I’ve never been on a train — pumped) and ride the 8-hour trip all the way up to the city, be completely immersed in the conference for 2 days, then take the train back. I am also working on maybe meeting one of our reps from BASIS one night for dinner and drinks or something, which should be fun as it’s been all zoom meetings with him so far.
Yes, first priority is the conference itself and I am so interested in hearing from some of these industry leaders on the current trends and topics around the work I do, but I will also take my camera and try and capture the city as best I can with the little time I will have to do so.
I am super fortunate to work for such a great company that is not only interested in my efforts but also supportive of my growth and advancement in my career.
My wife, Maria, would say “what Spencer does is confusing and doesn’t make sense”, but if you would be interested in learning more about the work I do as a digital media buying and advertising specialist — let me know! I’d be happy to write some posts on the topic.
Here’s to New York. I’m excited to take another long-awaited bite out of the Big Apple. Anything you think I need to see while I’m there?
When I tell people I'm a software architect their eyes glaze over immediately. I would imagine you get a lot of that when you tell them you're a digital media specialist 😁
It sounds like you should have a great trip to New York. Personally, I don't like big cities at all. I'm sure there are some fun things to do, but I would rather spend a few days in the woods.
Renée and I were in NYC a while back, had coffee in the Starbucks at the foot of the Empire State Building. I pointed out the window to a spot on the street and said, "That's where King Kong died." She said "what?" then rolled her eyes. I crack myself up sometimes!