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Dan Merritts, CEO of F#, ran a Breakout Session at the Westchester Digital Summit

Dan Merritts, CEO of F#, ran a Breakout Session at this year’s Westchester Digital Summit. Although unsure of the Summit’s outcome, Merritts left fully satisfied with his session and the connections he made with the fellow speakers and attendees.

“It was such a great event, with a lot of people,” he said.

Knowing he had to prepare ideas and material for a fixed amount of time, Merritts spent his time prior to the Summit debating which content and overall delivery could successfully be developed into a memorable presentation. He dedicated quite a bit of time to preparing, but was unsure of who his target audience would be.

“I think the biggest challenge in preparing was understanding exactly who was going to be there,” said Merritts, “I wasn’t exactly sure who was going to show up!”

Were small, medium, or local types of businesses going to be there? Or maybe the larger brands, brand managers, and IT techs? These questions entered Merritt’s mind as he put together his presentation, but only helped to broaden the variety of his content.

Merritts was not only extremely satisfied with his Breakout Session, but couldn’t have been happier with his time slot, directly before Gary Vaynerchuk.

“My speech and his speech were oddly similar, so I’m glad I went before instead of after,” he said, “ Otherwise it would’ve looked like I stole his speech!”

For next year’s Summit, Merritts hopes to have far more meaningful conversations with different audiences.

“It would help to further identify the people who are going to be there and would make it a little more beneficial from a speaker’s standpoint,” said Merritts,  “Then the conversations can be a little more targeted.”

As for Merritt’s company, F#, he plans to continue the growth of his business and reach out to as many clients as possible.

“My goal is to make my business as big as it can be, and gain a reputation around the world.”

The Inaugural Westchester Digital Summit Through the Eyes of Silverback Social’s Online Reputation Manager Alex Yae

The Westchester Digital Summit  was truly an enlightening and unrivaled opportunity. Coming from a self-taught digital marketing background, I knew there was a lot to learn from the speakers.  Although I spent a lot of time running around making sure all the breakout sessions were running smoothly, I was able to catch interesting bits and pieces from some of the speakers.

Specifically, Dan Merritts  taught me how important context was in advertisements. Chances are, no one is going to click on an advertisement for a violent video game when they are browsing a website related to baby products. In fact, this might anger the viewers and can lead to some serious backlash.

The other speaker that I felt was most compelling was the keynote speaker, Gary Vaynerchuk.  Aside from being extremely engaging, Gary taught me how to look at social media from a business mindset versus a consumer mindset. Businesses who use social media should be focused on providing great content and value to their consumers, who are looking to absorb content and seek value.