After a three-year COVID hiatus, I had high expectations for the 2022 PACE Annual Convention & Expo (ACX) in Nashville last week. As a long-time PACE supporter and current board member, I wondered about the effects of the organization’s merger with Consumer Consent Council (formerly Leads Council) in January. More than that, I was looking forward to connecting with industry colleagues and friends and learning about new opportunities, technologies and trends.
The event did not disappoint!
For those who couldn’t be there, here are my top 5 event highlights:
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Making Connections
While we’ve made Zoom calls work (and will no doubt continue to do so), nothing compares to being in the room with fellow industry leaders. Having the opportunity to share challenges and solutions, predictions and insights was priceless.
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Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility
Throughout the conference, this was an overarching theme. From designing websites compatible with screen readers, to improving hiring and employee engagement practices, we should be weaving DEI&A principles into our business’ DNA. Cheers to Jiquanda Nelson and Rob Marshall who continue to push this important topic through all levels of our industry.
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Consumer Consent, Security, and Lead Gen
As industry pros, our goal is to protect consumers and their data, but sometimes the burden of keeping pace with evolving regulations can be a challenge. It’s imperative to hire an expert to regularly audit all data and processes. While mistakes can still happen, having an outside perspective minimizes the possibility.
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Critical Thinking
Ndala Booker, Ed.D, led an engaging session titled Innovative Thinking for Today’s Customer Experience Professional. Ndala believes that everything we do starts with a thought. By improving the quality of our thinking, we can elevate our performance in business, academic, and personal arenas. Ndala firmly believes that if each of us can work on improving our own space by thinking better, then our entire world will be improved as a result. This was powerful stuff.
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Top Trends in CX
I had the honor of leading a panel of women pros in our industry about CX trends to watch, from the use of AI and virtual agents to automation, agent roles, proactive customer service and more to help ensure your contact center is ready for the future. I believe Carmit DiAndrea, Juanita Coley, Coleen Beers and I started a new trend: a champagne panel that bubbles over with wit and wisdom.
While I recognize there’s always room for improvement, I’m proud of the work that’s been done to bring PACE and CCC together and am optimistic about its future and the opportunities it provides for all of us to further promote effective and compliant best practices for customer engagement.
See you in Charlotte next October!
P.S. I don’t take my PACE board responsibilities lightly and welcome any thoughts you have on ACX or other PACE happenings. Let’s chat!
