Business Analysts Turn to Poetry to Win Entrance to eMetrics Conference

Winners were announced today in an unusual contest that tested the poetic prowess of a group known for logic, diagnostic and critical thinking skills. Marketing metrics analysts were offered free entrance to one of nine eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summits in 2009 if they could pen the pithiest Tweet, haiku or limerick.

"It's a little out of character for this group, but marketing people are nothing if not creative," said Jim Sterne, founder of the eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit and chairman of the Web Analytics Association. "It was only promoted by word of mouth, blog and Twitter, but there were so many entrants, I felt like an English professor grading papers."

The eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit is a seven-year-old event focused on making marketing more effective through rigorous measurement. This year it will be hosted in:

-- Munich, April 22-23, 2009
-- San Jose, May 4-7, 2009
-- London, May, 18-19, 2009
-- Madrid, June 3-4, 2009
-- Sao Paulo, August 4, 2009
-- Stockholm, October 12-13, 2009
-- Washington, DC, October 19-23, 2009
-- Mexico City, November 11, 2009


"As brevity is the soul of wit," said Sterne, "I called for entries in three very structured formats. Messages sent through Twitter are limited to 140 characters, haiku are limited to 17 syllables and limericks are limited to five lines. Plus, I threw in a 50-word category for those who wouldn't be caught dead writing a poem."

"I'm very excited about rolling this out wider -- it's become a bit of a tradition," said Sterne. The grand prize winner is Bruce Poropat, whose haiku as well as all other winning entries can be found at the eMetrics website: http://emetrics.org/sanjose/contestwinners.php.