Andrew Armitage to speak at the ExpressionEngine Conference 2016 in Detroit

Founder and director of A Digital, Andrew Armitage will be joining ExpressionEngine professionals from around the world this October to share his experiences of managing retained clients.

ExpressionEngine has for many years been our go to content management system (CMS) and the ExpressionEngine conference is always a fantastic opportunity to meet with other developers. Having been to the conference twice before in Portland, OR in 2013 and Washington DC in 2014, the 2 day event includes workshops and speaker sessions, as well as the obligatory meetups and networking opportunities around the event.

Andrew's talk is titled Client Retainers: Holy Grail or Route to Fail. Digital agencies face numerous business challenges managing client projects which can be countered by securing ongoing work in the form of retainers. Cashflow can be notoriously tricky to manage from projects alone and new business difficult to predict. The security of having recurring income from clients is obvious, but managing retainers brings its own set of new challenges.

Andrew says, 'I've always found the knowledge shared by the community at the EE conferences to be hugely inspirational, both from a business and development perspective. To be invited to speak amongst peers this year is exciting and daunting in equal measure, but I'm looking forward to share some of my knowledge and help others in the community'.

Andrew will share his experience of managing client retainers with A Digital, the approach we take and the tools we use. When retainers are managed in the right way, agencies can strengthen their client relationships way beyond buyer and supplier, building trust and securing value. However retainers are disruptive to the studio workflow, need to be resourced and well structured to secure tangible value for your clients.

Conferences and meetups are an essential way to learn and share our collective experiences among the community, all of which ultimately feeds back into the platform.

Andrew Armitage, A Digital

The ExpressionEngine conference takes place in Detroit, MI on the 3 and 4 October and tickets can be bought online now. We're looking forward to hearing all the latest news about ExpressionEngine at the conference, supporting the event and being involved with the community.