Over 1500 conference delegates came from near and far to attend the first ever ad:tech Singapore. See what you missed.

On June 26th and 27th ad: tech held its first ever regional event in Singapore at the Suntec City Convention Centre. The main conference had three tracks including five keynotes, 27 breakout sessions and an additional track for SME brief and undergraduates with "Future Generation" sessions.

More than 130 prestigious speakers from overseas and Singapore presented topics from all areas of the digital marketing industry. Industry professionals discussed digital marketing trends, strategies and best practices with over 1500 conference delegates.

In conjunction with the conference was a two-day exhibition with over 40 industry's leading companies such as Yahoo!, Google, and Friendster participating. The exhibition served as a successful platform in promoting their business and bringing potential customers.

We asked some of our guests to give some insight into current industry trends and opportunities in the growing Asia market.

Russell Easther: the Senior Consultant of P3 Digital

iMedia: How did you find the conference?

Russell Easther: Being a digital marketing professional expanding into the Asian market, I learned a lot about the digital landscape across the region. I found speakers and panels fascinating that shared experiences of the different digital marketing endeavours, and related challenges across country borders. I have a new appreciation of the many tasks any global multinational agency faces running digital marketing efforts across multiple countries in Asia.

iMedia: What is happening with the industry trends?

Easther: Within digital media in developed digital markets, affiliate marketing is a tried and trusted resource to drive online acquisitions. I learned that this trend is yet to take off in Asia and was quite surprised. I imagine over the next two or three years Asia will catch up to more developed markets with this popular digital marketing offering.

Meraj Huda, Principal Consultant of forumline Consulting

iMedia: How did you find the conference?

Meraj Huda: This was Singapore's first true digital conference, and it was great to learn from various cross-industry speakers. This was also a great networking event.

Mike Amour, Chairman and CEO of Grey Global Group APAC

iMedia: How did you find the conference?

Mike Amour: It's an excellent showcase of latest trends and attitudes in the digital space, as well as a terrific opportunity to network.

iMedia: What is happening with the industry trends?

Amour: There is still a high degree of education needed to be given by agencies and media owners to first time digital marketers in order to help them understand what's possible, and to give them confidence in experimenting in the digital space.

James Hawkins, Director Southeast Asia & HK, dgm group

iMedia: What is happening with the industry trends?

Hawkins: We're seeing strong growth in the region with the general consensus of aggressive growth to come in the next 18-14 months as the base level of understanding of what online can achieve for brands/marketers. Search will lead the charge but closely followed by CPA (cost-per-action) based programs

Gregory Birge, Managing Director of F5 Digital Consulting

iMedia:  What is happening with the industry trends?

Birge: Traditional agencies try to catch up and increase their digital knowledge.

• Speed up of digital penetration. More solutions and actors ready to engage new consumers.More UGC and mobile connections.
• New solutions with new agencies focusing more on the solution rather than the creative aspects. Brands are more aware about their needs to find new ways to reach consumers.
• Digital is becoming extremely complex. From web design, web2.0, SEO, SEM, it requires more expertise and more knowledge

Qianqian Huang is the online editor for iMedia Connection China.