Conference Program Day 2 - Wednesday, November 7
View the Enterprise Search & Discovery 2019 Final Program PDF
Wednesday Keynotes
Keynote - Think Creatively & Make Better Decisions
Wednesday, November 7: 8:45 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
While it may not occur to us on a daily basis, there is a widespread cultural tendency toward quick decisions and quick action. This pattern has resulted in many of society’s greatest successes, but even more of its failures. We have begun to reward speed over quality, and the negative effects suffered in both our personal and professional lives are potentially catastrophic. Pontefract proposes a return to balance between the three components of productive thought—dreaming, deciding, and doing—combining creative, critical, and applied thinking. “Open thinking” is a cyclical process in which creativity is encouraged; critiquing leads to better decisions; and thoughtful action delivers positive, sustainable results. Get tips and techniques to use in your organization!
Dan Pontefract, Founder & CEO, Pontefract Group and Author, Work-Life Bloom, Flat Army & others
Keynote - Accelerating Digital Business Clarity
Wednesday, November 7: 9:30 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.
Hayes surfaces ideas on how the world’s biggest and most innovative companies transform customer and employee experiences. Learn how the best and brightest organizations take a human-first approach to finally meet the transformational promise of Big Data by delivering moments of clarity to employees and customers alike through engaging digital experiences.
Will Hayes, CEO, Lucidworks
Keynote - Becoming an Information-Driven Organization
Wednesday, November 7: 9:45 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Becoming information-driven enables key stakeholders within an organization to leverage all available enterprise data and content to gain the best possible understanding of the meaning and insights it carries. Connecting enterprise data along topical lines across all available sources provides people with the collective knowledge and expertise of the organization in context. Parker discusses the challenges preventing data-intensive organizations from becoming “information-driven” and the current state and future possibilities of insight engines.
Scott Parker, Director of Product Marketing, Sinequa
Wednesday Sessions
User-Centered Design
Wednesday, November 7: 10:45 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
With an enterprise search experience that had been around since 2011, Ubisoft decided it was time for a revamp. To make the most of this opportunity, it wanted to use a full user-centered approach. Cacace describes the revamp process from end-to-end, including leveraging user research, personas, impact maps, benchmarks, and user testing. She also talks about feedback received after launch.
Beatrice Cacace, Senior Program Manager, Knowledge Management, Ubisoft Entertainment
Relevance Is Not Just an Algorithm
Wednesday, November 7: 11:45 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
It’s been a knotty problem for years: How do you provide valuable results when users don’t know what they want? Problems include ambiguous query terms, a huge number of matching results, focusing on core areas, and avoiding embarrassment. Machine learning can now help with analyzing queries’ content and use interactions, then boosting or dropping based on attributes, ordering facets, and diverse results. Adding to Rappoport’s analysis, Selvaraj discusses how search personalization matches search results to search queries using machine learning models that are trained to match intent with content.
Avi Rappoport, Senior Search Consultant, Search Tools Consulting
Timo Selvaraj, Co-Founder/VP Product Management, SearchBlox Software, Inc.
Conversational Search
Wednesday, November 7: 1:30 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.
The concept of conversation search can influence search engine product decisions. Baumgartel reviews the current relationship between chatbots and search for customers who engage in ecommerce and support. He compares the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches and looks for a path that will combine them in an optimal way. Chatbot and other conversational search tools can change search engine implementation processes.
Thomas Vander Wal, Sr. Consultant
Evolution of Search & Discovery: A Panel Discussion
Wednesday, November 7: 2:30 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.
As we look for new solutions to old problems, it’s helpful to check in with some search and discovery experts for their views. We also welcome participation from attendees to shed light on the evolution of search and discovery.
Dirk Van Hyfte, Senior Advisor, Biomedical Informatics, InterSystems
Sean Coleman, SVP & GM, Knowledge and Call Center Productivity, Upland Software
Susan E. Feldman, President, Synthexis and Cognitive Computing Consortium
Naomi Moneypenny, Director, Product Development, Microsoft Viva, Microsoft
Singing the Search Platform Blues
Wednesday, November 7: 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Many organizations don’t know what to expect from search and therefore don’t invest in it at all. Many want to have “quick wins” instead of committing to a long-term strategy: They want to implement changes or enhancements that require minimal effort to drive business value in the short term. Thus, they may overlook the importance of choosing or replacing a search platform. Miles Kehoe provides practical advice on determining how to make search work to support your organization’s business strategy.
Miles Kehoe, Founder & President, New Idea Engineering
