Episerver Opens Full Registration, Unveils Complete Keynote Lineup for Ascend 2018

Episerver, a leading provider of a single platform to smartly manage digital content, commerce and marketing in the cloud, today announced the complete lineup of speakers, detailed agenda and opened full registration for its annual customer and partner conference in North America, Ascend USA 2018. Featured keynote speakers will include happiness researcher Shawn Achor, Troy Hunt, Kirsten Newbold-Knipp and Episerver's James Norwood.

The conference, which is expected to attract a significant presence from Episerver’s worldwide network of more than 880 partners and 8,800 customers, runs from March 11 to March 14, 2018 at the ARIA Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, and is sponsored by global partner Microsoft and several Episerver partners. Ascend USA will feature nearly 100 sessions across six comprehensive persona-based tracks -- including hands-on labs, customer-led presentations, and product and industry expert discussions -- as well as a solutions and partner exhibition hall and the “Epi Code Bash” competition. 

With a focus on digital transformation in the age of artificial intelligence, the conference's program caters to business leaders, developers, marketers, content and commerce professionals at all levels. Featured headline keynotes include:

Shawn Achor is an American happiness researcher, author, and speaker known for his advocacy of positive psychology. He is the New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Advantage and founded GoodThink. After spending 12 years at Harvard University, Shawn Achor has become one of the world’s leading experts on the connection between happiness and success and has now lectured in more than 50 countries.

Troy Hunt is a noted cybersecurity expert, author, educator and founder of data breach search aggregator, Have I Been Pwned? In 2011, Hunt was named a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) in Developer Security. He was also named a Microsoft Regional Director in 2016. 

Kirsten Newbold-Knipp of Gartner analyzes digital marketing strategy, trends and practices with an emphasis on content marketing, digital commerce, marketing technology and marketing management. She practiced marketing for 12 years, including leadership roles at SaaS marketing and commerce software companies HubSpot^TM.

Achor, Hunt and Newbold-Knipp complete a diverse keynote lineup which includes Episerver's own James Norwood, chief marketing officer and executive vice president of strategy.

“We’re excited to announce the keynote lineup, detailed agenda and full registration for this year’s Ascend conference, which once again brings together the leaders, strategists and practitioners who are driving digital transformation all over the world,” said Norwood. “Attendees are in for a dynamic lineup of smart, talented and inspirational speakers and a series of really empowering sessions. I’m looking forward to everything we have in store this year, and I guarantee that everyone who attends -- whether marketer, executive or developer -- will leave not only more informed, but truly inspired.”

The conference, which kicks off on Sunday, March 11, will treat attendees to a number of perks and exclusive customer education and training sessions, including:

• Episerver’s product roadmaps and overall plans for its Digital Experience Cloud
• Thirteen interactive “Developer Labs” hosted by Episerver EMVPs and Expert Solution Architects
• A detailed look at new and exciting Episerver products including Episerver Campaign, the Episerver Personalization suite and more
• Eight “Best Practice” sessions where Episerver customers will present on their goals, journeys and results

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