This is an example of my personal journey outlining the touchpoints and emotions encountered leading up to a virtual conference.

1. 6/13/2014 DAY OF EVENT
MY PERSONAL JOURNEY MAP: VIRTUAL CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
1
Email offering 40% off
renewal of PRO subscription
Tweeting with
other attendees
Once signed
in, some links
not working in
Safari
Downloading
Marketo materials
Mobile not
supported
Another tech
support
email
How to read: On 5/21/2014 at 12:43 PM a moment occurred that began the process for a virtual conference. That moment was an email announcing the date and topic. Upon receipt of
the email, my mood was one of “interest”. My likelihood of renewing my PRO subscription in the next 30 days was fairly low at 3 out of 10 and my general happiness with the Marketing
Profs brand was an 8 out of 10. Throughout the time leading up to the event happiness varied between a 5 and 9 as I anticipated the event. My likelihood of renewing spiked once
receiving a renewal discount offer during this anticipation stage. The morning of the event, happiness and renewal likelihood peaked at a 9 when twittering with other attendees. Once
encountering unresolvable technology issues happiness dropped significantly but likelihood to renew did not drop as much. End result, because of the personalized and responsive
responses received during my troubles, and seeing that most others were finding much value in the conference my likelihood to renew ended at a 5 out of 10 vs the beginning 3.

2. 6/13/2014 DAY OF EVENT
MY PERSONAL JOURNEY MAP: VIRTUAL CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
2
PRE‐EVENT

3. 6/13/2014 DAY OF EVENT
MY PERSONAL JOURNEY MAP: VIRTUAL CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
3
PRE‐EVENT
PREVAILING MOOD Interest
HAPPINESS 8
LIKELIHOOD TO RENEW 3
WHEN A month prior
WHAT
Receive an email announcing
the conference
THOUGHTS
“Hmm, this looks interesting.
Oh, it's FREE. Sign me up!”
ACTIONS TAKEN Register and add to calendar

4. 6/13/2014 DAY OF EVENT
MY PERSONAL JOURNEY MAP: VIRTUAL CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
4
PRE‐EVENT
PREVAILING MOOD Thoughtful
HAPPINESS 5
LIKELIHOOD TO RENEW 3
WHEN A week prior
WHAT Reviewing calendar.
THOUGHTS
“Oh, I have that conference next
week. That would be good content for
my blog.”
ACTIONS TAKEN
Schedule prep time on my calendar
for the day before the event.

5. 6/13/2014 DAY OF EVENT
MY PERSONAL JOURNEY MAP: VIRTUAL CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
5
PRE‐EVENT
PREVAILING MOOD Thoughtful
HAPPINESS 5
LIKELIHOOD TO RENEW 8
WHEN A few days before the event.
WHAT Renewal email blast.
THOUGHTS
“40% off? That sounds
pretty good. They are
offering me a FREE webinar
next week. I’ll think about
it.”
ACTIONS
TAKEN
Leave the email in my inbox
for later review.

6. 6/13/2014 DAY OF EVENT
MY PERSONAL JOURNEY MAP: VIRTUAL CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
6
PRE‐EVENT
PREVAILING MOOD Thoughtful
HAPPINESS 6
LIKELIHOOD TO RENEW 8
WHEN The day before the event.
WHAT Reminder email.
THOUGHTS
“That’s right. It’s tomorrow.
Thanks for the reminder.”
ACTIONS
TAKEN
Spend an hour reviewing my
notes and calendar. Set my
iPhone alarm to make sure
I’m up early to sign in to the
event.

7. 6/13/2014 DAY OF EVENT
MY PERSONAL JOURNEY MAP: VIRTUAL CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
7
PRE‐EVENT
PREVAILING MOOD Anticipation
HAPPINESS 7
LIKELIHOOD TO RENEW 8
WHEN The day of the event.
WHAT Wake up.
THOUGHTS
“How much time do I have
before it starts?”
ACTIONS
TAKEN
Get my coffee, let the dogs
out.

8. 6/13/2014 DAY OF EVENT
MY PERSONAL JOURNEY MAP: VIRTUAL CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
8
PRE‐EVENT
PREVAILING MOOD Anticipation
HAPPINESS 7
LIKELIHOOD TO RENEW 8
WHEN The day of the event.
WHAT Reminder email.
THOUGHTS
“Another email reminding me
and providing login
information. How convenient!”
ACTIONS
TAKEN
None. I’m not at my desk yet.

9. 6/13/2014 DAY OF EVENT
MY PERSONAL JOURNEY MAP: VIRTUAL CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
9
PRE‐EVENT
PREVAILING MOOD Anticipation
HAPPINESS 9
LIKELIHOOD TO RENEW 9
WHEN The day of the event.
WHAT
Notice there’s a twitter hashtag
#mprofs and view it. See
someone else up early for tea.
THOUGHTS
“Yeah, someone like me! This is
going to be fun to connect with
others at the conference.”
ACTIONS
TAKEN
Reply to the tweet.

10. 6/13/2014 DAY OF EVENT
MY PERSONAL JOURNEY MAP: VIRTUAL CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
10
PRE‐EVENT
PREVAILING MOOD Hopeful
HAPPINESS 5
LIKELIHOOD TO RENEW 8
WHEN The day of the event.
WHAT
Start my iPad. Click the email
link. Sign in to the
conference.
THOUGHTS
“Here we go! Gonna be a
good day. This looks pretty
legit. Some links aren’t
working but I’m in early so
I’m sure they’ll work soon.”
ACTIONS
TAKEN
Click around on the site.

11. 6/13/2014 DAY OF EVENT
MY PERSONAL JOURNEY MAP: VIRTUAL CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
11
PRE‐EVENT
PREVAILING MOOD Productive
HAPPINESS 7
LIKELIHOOD TO RENEW 8
WHEN The day of the event.
WHAT Viewing exhibitor materials
THOUGHTS
“The exhibitor section is
waiting so they just must be
waiting to turn on the rest of
the functionality. I’ll take a
look at these Marketo
documents while I wait.”
ACTIONS
TAKEN
Download several items.

12. 6/13/2014 DAY OF EVENT
MY PERSONAL JOURNEY MAP: VIRTUAL CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
12
PRE‐EVENT
PREVAILING MOOD Worried
HAPPINESS 4
LIKELIHOOD TO RENEW 8
WHEN The day of the event
WHAT Try to launch the webex.
THOUGHTS
“It’s 10 minutes before start
time. I should get in the
webex. Oh, I can’t. It’s
grayed out. I guess it’s not
available yet either. They
sure are cutting it close.”
ACTIONS
TAKEN
Wait.
Note: At the time the green button was gray. I didn’t take the screenshot until after it turned green.

13. 6/13/2014 DAY OF EVENT
MY PERSONAL JOURNEY MAP: VIRTUAL CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
13
PRE‐EVENT
WHEN The day of the event
WHAT
Review Twitter and see the
resource area is available for
others.
THOUGHTS
“Well, if she has access to that
area, I should too. Something
must be wrong. I want that
resource material too! Where is
the email about tech support?”
ACTIONS
TAKEN
Review email to find tech
support contact info.
PREVAILING MOOD Excluded
HAPPINESS 3
LIKELIHOOD TO RENEW 5

14. 6/13/2014 DAY OF EVENT
MY PERSONAL JOURNEY MAP: VIRTUAL CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
14
PRE‐EVENT
WHEN The day of the event
WHAT
While emailing tech support, notice the launch button
turns green, and click it so I don’t miss anything.
THOUGHTS
“Button is green, here we go. I’ll get resource material
later. Wait? An error? How is it not supported if I’ve
been viewing the exhibitor info and the home page? I
watch plenty of webinars on my iPad. I better tell tech
support about this too.”
ACTIONS
TAKEN
Include in my email to tech.
PREVAILING MOOD Unhappy
HAPPINESS 2
LIKELIHOOD TO RENEW 5

15. 6/13/2014 DAY OF EVENT
MY PERSONAL JOURNEY MAP: VIRTUAL CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
15
WHEN The day of the event
WHAT Email from tech support
THOUGHTS
“This is an auto‐reply. Says to
view the Q&A widget. How am I
going to do that if mobile’s not
supported? This is too generic for
me.”
ACTIONS
TAKEN
Tweet to #mprofs
PREVAILING MOOD
Making my
voice heard
HAPPINESS 3
LIKELIHOOD TO RENEW 5

16. 6/13/2014 DAY OF EVENT
MY PERSONAL JOURNEY MAP: VIRTUAL CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
16
WHEN The day of the event
WHAT Twitter response from MProfs
THOUGHTS
“I can view the files later but I
want to be part of the conference
today and I’m stuck in the lobby. At
least they responded though. I
should let them know I adjusted
my calendar for this conference.”
ACTIONS
TAKEN
Tweet back to #mprofs
PREVAILING MOOD Frustrated
HAPPINESS 2
LIKELIHOOD TO RENEW 4

17. 6/13/2014 DAY OF EVENT
MY PERSONAL JOURNEY MAP: VIRTUAL CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
17
WHEN The day of the event
WHAT
Twitter response from Ann
Handley
THOUGHTS
“Ann Handley follows me on
Twitter and personally apologizes.
Am I feeling better? Maybe.”
ACTIONS
TAKEN
Respond back that I’ve found some
blog inspiration
PREVAILING MOOD Appeased
HAPPINESS 4
LIKELIHOOD TO RENEW 5
PREVAILING MOOD Inspired
HAPPINESS 5
LIKELIHOOD TO RENEW 5

18. 6/13/2014 DAY OF EVENT
MY PERSONAL JOURNEY MAP: VIRTUAL CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
18
WHEN The day of the event
WHAT
Notice email from tech support
from 15 minutes ago.
THOUGHTS
“You recommend I review my
emails? You are the tech partner,
shouldn’t you know if the iPad is
supported? ”
ACTIONS
TAKEN
Nothing
PREVAILING MOOD Frustrated
HAPPINESS 2
LIKELIHOOD TO RENEW 4

19. 6/13/2014 DAY OF EVENT
MY PERSONAL JOURNEY MAP: VIRTUAL CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
19
WHEN The day of the event
WHAT Moving on
THOUGHTS
“Time to get some work done. Let’s
turn some lemons into lemonade.”
ACTIONS
TAKEN
Start planning my next blog
PREVAILING MOOD Moving On
HAPPINESS 4
LIKELIHOOD TO RENEW 4

20. 6/13/2014 DAY OF EVENT
MY PERSONAL JOURNEY MAP: VIRTUAL CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
20
WHEN The day of the event
WHAT Review Twitter #mprofs
THOUGHTS
“Man, I’m really missing out on
some good stuff.”
ACTIONS
TAKEN
Wallow
PREVAILING MOOD Excluded
HAPPINESS 3
LIKELIHOOD TO RENEW 4

21. 6/13/2014 DAY OF EVENT
MY PERSONAL JOURNEY MAP: VIRTUAL CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
21
WHEN The day of the event
WHAT
See twitter response from Ann
Handley.
THOUGHTS
“Next time they’ll communicate
more clearly? That insinuates it
was communicated. Did I miss
this?”
ACTIONS
TAKEN
Review all the prior emails about
the conference. Find that none of
the emails mentioned platform
support. Move on.
PREVAILING MOOD
Possibly
Embarrassed
HAPPINESS 2
LIKELIHOOD TO RENEW 4
PREVAILING MOOD Appeased
HAPPINESS 3
LIKELIHOOD TO RENEW 4

22. 6/13/2014 DAY OF EVENT
MY PERSONAL JOURNEY MAP: VIRTUAL CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
22
PREVAILING MOOD Forgiveness
HAPPINESS 7
LIKELIHOOD TO RENEW 5
END RESULT
In reviewing my blog from the day prior I came back to a quote to reflect upon: "Use what
talent you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang
best."
Marketing Profs are using their talents and being very responsive. If they had waited to
provide a virtual conference until it worked on every platform imaginable no one else would
have had the opportunity to see the conference.
And, at some level, it's nice to see that even those that I look at as a model aren't perfect
either. In this world of fast‐moving technology and new delivery platforms, we all have things
we can improve.