When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade...or so the saying goes. And that’s exactly what we did for this year’s Widen Summit. While we all would have loved to meet in person, we needed a different game plan during a global pandemic. So we moved the event to a virtual platform, and are thrilled that it allowed us to share the Summit experience with more people than ever. Over 500 registrants to be exact! And here’s everything you need to know about this year’s event. 

This year’s Best DAM Contest brought together admins who overcame big challenges in how they worked and accessed their content. The teams at Autodesk, Life Time, and NVIDIA took different approaches to accomplish the DAM goals they set for themselves and had some fascinating ideas to share with the Widen Summit audience.

Read on to learn more about these inspiring transitions and watch the full Best DAM Contest here. 

Each year over 200 Widen Collective® digital asset management (DAM) practitioners gather at the Widen Summit to learn, make connections, and have fun.

This year’s event will be no exception, despite the shift from in-person to virtual. We’ve designed a highly-interactive agenda full of sessions that will advance your DAM skills and  inspire new DAM goals. 

Here are a dozen reasons why you should join us October 13-14!

The San Francisco International Airport (SFO) implemented their first digital asset management (DAM) platform, the Widen Collective^®, to store and organize all of their marketing assets — from creative files to employee photos. 

When they were ready to start, they created a metadata structure and assembled a team of interns to upload assets. However, many of these uploaders lacked the institutional knowledge needed to create meaningful metadata, and as a result the values entered were incomplete or inconsistent. Further, SFO didn’t have a governance policy, archival strategy, or a designated site administrator. Their DAM system became so ineffective it was barely used. 

Six years later, SFO decided to overhaul the entire DAM site; and Robin Brown, their Brand Manager, was asked to lead the effort. At the 2019 Widen Summit she shared how she turned this underutilized platform into an essential tool across their organization, and beyond. 

The launch of any new software can create some trying times. After all, change can be hard, and workflow interruptions are frustrating! That’s why it’s essential to offer user training as part of any digital asset management (DAM) implementation. 

Best Friends Animal Society is an animal welfare organization that finds homes for rescued pets across America. They use their digital asset management (DAM) system, the Widen Collective^®, to store, organize, and distribute all of their digital assets — which includes a lot of images of ridiculously cute dogs and cats. 

Sarah Kichas is Best Friends’ Photography Manager, and DAM administration is just a small part of her job. It entails managing a constant stream of new content from a diverse group of photographers — including staff, freelancers, and volunteers — many of whom take pictures at just a single event. Giving them all access to the Collective with the appropriate login credentials, permissions, and upload instructions could be a part-time job in itself. 

At the 2019 Widen Summit, Sarah shared how they use the Widen API and Dropbox to turn this onerous upload process into a simple, streamlined workflow. “I love it,” she said, “because it saves me time and energy, and most importantly, my sanity.”

The execution of digital asset management (DAM) software is dynamic — it’s constantly being modified with the goal of meeting, or even anticipating, evolving user needs. User feedback can provide valuable insights into what these updates should be, and why. 

At the 2019 Widen Summit, Sara Fix, Brand Project Manager at Pega, shared how her team uses surveys to gather feedback that informs improvements to their Widen Collective^® site. 

For over fifty years the Boston Ballet has brought internationally-acclaimed performances, world-class education programs, and valuable community initiatives to the Boston area. Their rich and interesting history is reflected across photographs, posters, brochures, news articles, and other artifacts. 

As the webmaster at the Boston Ballet, Michaela Donnelly manages this archive and administers their digital asset management (DAM) system. At the 2019 Widen Summit, she shared how she uses the Widen Collective^® to preserve and protect the Boston Ballet’s long-standing history.

Building trust is tricky. And as the saying goes, trust is hard to earn but easy to lose. So what does that have to do with digital asset management (DAM)? A lot!

Each year, the Widen Summit focuses on concepts that are key to DAM success. 

In 2017, we honed in on what it takes to set better goals. Expanding on that in 2018, we learned how to tackle those goals using a strong strategy framework. This year though, we took a step back to realize that in order for people to believe in your goals and strategy, you need to first earn their trust. And this theme carried throughout our three days together — taking center stage in workshops, sessions, and keynotes. 

The Best DAM Contest is always a highlight of our annual Widen Summit. Four exceptional Widen customers showcase how they use their Collective^® site to meet unique user needs. Each contestant has a different use case, a different strategy, and a different winning approach to their DAM system.