In the third installment of our four-part 2018 Best DAM Contest series, we meet Barb Mitrovic, from the American Society for Quality (ASQ).

In the second installment of our four-part 2018 Best DAM Contest series, we meet Caroline Gardner, formerly of New Balance.

In this four-part series we’ll get to know the admins who took center stage at the Best DAM Contest during the 2018 Widen Summit. This contest gives contestants eight minutes to highlight the best parts of their Widen Collective^® site and share their biggest accomplishments with all Summit attendees. The Summit audience then votes for the most inspirational, engaging, and aspirational DAM story.

No two stories are alike as each contestant faces different challenges in their role as an admin and each offers a unique perspective about what they gained through their participation in the contest.

Read more about the admins, their accomplishments, and their DAM stories starting with our 2018 winner, Leah Hammes from McCormick & Company.

It’s hard to believe our seventh annual Widen Summit has already come and gone. Over three incredible days, we created many memorable moments, were inspired by the power of stories, and connected with our Widen community from around the world.

While the Widen Summit is much more than presentations, we’ve got a stellar lineup of speakers. Widen customers and employees will be sharing their expertise on a wide range of subjects including connecting DAM and business strategy, metadata, user experience, analytics, brand identity, video management, and more!

The Widen Summit is the largest annual gathering of members of the Widen community, with three days packed full of learning, professional development, and fun. This year is all about creating the moment, because great brand experiences don’t just happen. They require planning, strategy, coordination, and execution.

Whether 2018 will be your first Summit or your seventh, here are 18 reasons why you should attend!

Last October at the Widen Summit, an annual event for customers, we hosted the first-ever Best DAM contest. The contest featured five outstanding administrators that advanced digital asset management at their organization. During the contest, each admin shared information about their system, users, structure, and creativity during an eight-minute presentation in front of 200 industry professionals and four judges. Audience members and judges voted on a winner.

Attending, participating, and hosting live events is one of the best ways to connect to our customers and other industry professionals. We learn a lot by getting out and experiencing different cities, and know that you do, too! That’s why we’re hitting the ground running with a 2018 event plan that includes 11 industry conferences, six Widen Workshops, and more.

With the sixth annual Widen Summit behind us, we walk away yet again with lessons gained, connections made, and gratitude for the knowledge and dedication of our digital asset management (DAM) community.

This year’s event was all about exploring new trails, and with over 200 DAM professionals in attendance, there was no shortage of trailblazers eager to share their DAM adventures, advice, and creative solutions.

We can all think of a million reasons not to attend a conference. It’s time away from your regular tasks, it costs money to travel, and you’re never sure if the conference will really be worth it. Am I right?

Well, it’s time to stop making excuses because this is no ordinary conference. And we’ve got five reasons why that you can take to your boss to prove it!