Since last year?s triumphal run, expectations are higher now for the Mobile Marketing Association?s flagship show in New York. The emphasis seems to be on more: more brands, more attendees, more insights.

In a clear departure from years past, this year?s Mobile Marketing Forum June 15-17 conference has a pronounced emphasis on education, followed by strategy, brand and awareness building, consumer activation and brand case studies.

?The dominant theme is ?understanding and engaging the connected consumer,?? said Michael Becker, San Mateo, CA-based North America managing director for the MMA.

?This is a theme that we all must learn how to succeed in the ever-increasing mobilization of society,? he said.

In this Q&A, Mr. Becker explains the rationale behind the agenda for this year?s Mobile Marketing Forum in New York, along with trends he is seeing in mobile marketing that will be reflected in the discussions expected next month at the Waldorf=Astoria, the swank venue for the show. Please read on.

Are we at a turning point for mobile marketing?
Without a doubt, we're at a turning point.

There is a palpable buzz surrounding the mobile marketing discussion across all industries and regions around the world.

What's the biggest trend emerging with advertisers?
Engagement is happening at every level of the consumer consideration cycle and everyone is getting involved: brand marketers, publishers, retailers, media buyers, strategic agencies and the solution providers that make up the consumer engagement experience through and with mobile. Everyone has a role.

General trends we?re seeing:
   
*   Seeing increase in spending across the board, and hearing about million-dollar programs for the first time
*   Recognizing that having a well-thought-out mobile presence ? the post-click experience ? is incredibly important
*   Understanding that mobile engagement in the consideration cycle is non-linear as transactions and value exchange can be triggered anytime and anywhere

The Mobile Marketing Forum attracts hundreds of executives from within the industry to debate issues and what worked and did not work with mobile campaigns. What can they expect with this show next month?
Attendees will hear a lot about what works and does not work in regards to mobile marketing campaigns, across all of the mobile media paths and through the entire mobile experience.

In this year's forum we'll focus on making a distinction between these two. So often the experience and the media become synonymous, and this leads to confusion.

In the pre-conference workshops, we have a special roundtable designed specifically for brands and retailers and another roundtable for publishers.

These sessions will provide in-depth analysis and show executives how to leverage mobile.

Neustar will talk about mobile cloud computing during the pre-conference lunch and Openwave will tell us about apps.

We'll hear a lot from CEOs and senior executives about:
*   Mobile as a strategic imperative from the highest level. Mobile is not just about running campaigns, it is about leveraging mobile to engage customers throughout one's business.
*   Clear perspective on what is working on both national and regional levels.
*   Measurement at the audience level, the campaign performance level and the overall experience.
*   Desire to have a more streamlined mobile media buying process. We?ll also explore how to create, manage and balance a presence across the eight mobile media paths and integrate mobile within traditional media. We?ll discuss clear messaging around how we can change our approach to marketing, and what it takes to be a chief mobile officer.
*   We'll also talk about standards, privacy and other best practices.

How many people do you expect will attend this year's conference in New York at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel? How many attended last year?
Last year, we were just shy of 700 total registered attendees.  

Given the pace of ticket sales and sponsorships this year, we are quite optimistic that we'll exceed that number, but we don't want to jinx it by putting out a specific number.  

We are seeing a tremendous level of interest and support for the event.

You have structured the show differently this year. Indeed, there seems to be more logic in the evolution of presentations from day one to day three, right?
That is right, we're telling a story this year.

During the pre-conference workshops, we're focusing on education on both strategy and tactics to help people clear through the clutter and get to the essence of what mobile marketing is all about. 

For the main show, June 16-17, we start with our keynote who will explain the strategic imperative of mobile, an imperative that is at the heart of engaging consumers in the future. 

We then discuss brand and awareness building, and how mobile advertising can be used to engage consumers. 

Once engaged, we break into tracks and have discussions around consumer activation through rich media and next generation advertising and commerce.

Next, we hear directly from brand marketers on how mobile is benefitting the bottom line. 

We conclude the day with a global view of mobile consumers, with results from a global Google research program. 

Day two opens up with a global thought-leader and maven, which kicks us off to the future of mobile. 

We then turn back to leading marketers and solutions providers who help us understand mobile from various lenses.

The day two tracks show 1) the many aspects of mobile in different marketing context and 2) what we do with all the data in the mobile industry. 

The show concludes by zeroing in on key issues that every marketer must understand to be successful with mobile, such as how mobile works in new traditional verticals, like healthcare, privacy and what it takes to build the chief mobile officer.

The MMA will be partnering with Mogreet to send text and video alerts highlighting the MMA forum. People can text MMAF to 21534 to receive these alerts.

How does the show's dominant theme play into what is happening today in advertising and marketing and consumer adoption of a mobile lifestyle?
The dominant theme is "understanding and engaging the connected consumer."

This is a theme that we all must learn how to succeed in the ever-increasing mobilization of society.

How is the Mobile Marketing Association doing? You?ve got new leadership with ambitious plans and the wind behind mobile's back.
We are stronger than we've ever been. There is an energy level in the industry that I've never seen before. 

Our members are excited and engaged, they are driving the industry forward into a new era and we're there to help.  

Yes, our plans are ambitious but completely attainable and, in fact, necessary.  

New standards, research, focused thought leadership and new vehicles ? CEO/CMO Summit, educational programs, industry supplier directory, MMA SmartBrief, privacy initiative, apps and mobile Web initiative and continued global expansion ? propel the industry forward in a responsible and sustainable fashion.

In your estimate, do you think mobile marketers have done a good enough job of convincing marketers and advertisers to integrate mobile in their multichannel programs from the inception of those efforts?
Yes, I think we've done a great job to date. However, up until about 6-9 months ago, the mobile marketing story was really a technical story, it was an infrastructure story.

We need to build out the tools to manage mobile media and to get the appropriate devices into the hands of consumers.

This job has been done and we'll continue to see innovation and advancements in this area.

However, there are some new storylines that need to be picked up. Namely, how the brand marketer and advertiser can leverage mobile marketing at scale for global reach and local relevance. 

This new era will focus on not just mobile technologies and processes, but on traditional marketing organization structures, process and methodologies, and the need to bring the two rivers together, digital and traditional.

We're not too late and we're not too early, everything is happening as it should.

If you could wave a magic wand, what is the one thing you would like change with mobile marketing and those espousing its use to communicate with consumers?
In a perfect world I'd like to see us get a better handle on merging traditional and digital measurement and engagement tools. 

Many of the industry?s systems still do not talk with each other and so we have an incomplete view of the consumer and the consumer's needs and interaction with marketers. 

We'll get there. However, there is a great deal of work to do and it is all very exciting.

The forum is one of the vehicles in the industry to help find, collaborate and generate the answers.