Yesterday was an excellent first day at ExactTarget’s Connections User Conference. We are already halfway through the second day with excellent sessions. I wanted to give you a brief idea of what I have learned over the past 24 hours.

1. ExactTarget is following the power of one marketing platform.

2. The Interactive Marketing Hub gives you a common views of you customer in the database.

3. Data is the biggest challenge for any organization.

4. Getting one view of the consumer is extremely important to the health of a marketing campaign and technology.

5. ExactTarget has been able to ride the wave of email and the extraordinary growth of interactive marketing. They are moving to the power of one cloud and delivering software over the Internet.

6. The next generation of cloud computing solutions is the new Hub Exchange.

7. ExactTarget has partnered with Marketo and Klout to build applications within the Hub exchange.

8. Consumers have the power.

9. ExactTarget Foundation is being launched today. They are focusing on combating hunger and advancing education.

10. They are launching the foundation with one million dollars in funding.

11. Your voice can impact a brand positively or negatively depending on the consumer’s opinion.

12. Customers are integrated. Marketing organizations are siloed.

13. Take advantage of the real-time web and break down the silos. Bring the communication channels together.

14. There is no better business model than software as a service.

15. The fragmentation of data is one of the largest issues in the marketing world today.

16. ROI haunts marketers.

17. ExactTarget’s revenue growth is north of 50%

18. $200 million in top line revenue

19. $40 million invested in R&D

20. ExactTarget’s main investment is in the form of employees. Areas of investment always tie back to customer success.

21. They are striving for a global services delivery model in order to deliver a consistent level of service with common methodology.

22. ExactTarget has invested resources in Brazil. There is an extraordinary opportunity to present big brands with ExactTarget’s technology.

23. The Interactive Marketing Hub is here with over 200,000 development hours and 600 beta clients later.

24. The problem that the Interactive Marketing Hub solves – data is a mess. We consolidate it.

25. The Interactive Marketing Hub is the most powerful software platform ever.

I didn’t have the chance to hear Jimmy Wales or Aaron Ralston. I have heard great things based on the praise of hundreds of people. The conference has been excellent so far and the breakout sessions today have been informative. Education and professional development is the key for this conference.