Schedule

SocialBizWorld 2010 – Fall

The event will begin with our Keynote Speakers followed by the first of four breakout sessions which will include Round-Table Discussions and Hands-On Workshops. We’ll gather together again for an Expert Panel discussion with Q&A during lunch. Following this we’ll have three more breakout sessions and end our day with an evening Networking Reception.

New at this conference is a special “SocialBiz Awards Reception” to recognize individuals and businesses that have successfully integrated Social Media into their client and marketing efforts.

Friday, October 22nd  7am – 9pm

———————————————————————————–

Friday ~ October 22, 2010

———————————————————————————–

Session A:   10:15am – 11:30am

Session B:   1:30pm – 2:45pm

Session C:   3:00pm – 4:15pm

Session D:  4:30pm – 5:45pm

(Note, these times are subject to change)

———————————————————————————–

A.1.RT – Understanding the Complex World of SEO/SEM within Social Media
The advent of Social Media has completely changed the world of Search Engine Optimization/Marketing (SEO/SEM) and the old “content is king” has a new meaning in the search engine world.  It is now evident that Social Media is one of the top sources of traffic to a website or blog and it is imperative for every business or website to have an SEO strategy.
In this roundtable discussion James Foreman will facilitate a discussion about SEO and offer his 11 years of expertise on driving organic search traffic to a website, blog or Facebook and Twitter page. He will stimulate questions and answers within the group by focusing on the key areas of SEO/SEM using a consultative approach to the discussion. The goal will be to give each participant the “food for thought” needed to walk away and know what aspect of SEO or SEM will be important to their online presence and social media campaigns.
James Foreman has worked as an SEO/SEM Specialist and Consultant for businesses throughout North America and Europe. He has also developed many of his own portal websites within niche markets to test and implement his SEO techniques. This has led to a full library of information on what is successful for a company depending on the type of organization, visitor demographics and company goals.
Level: All Levels
Type: Round-Table Discussion
Focus: SEO/SEM (Search Engine Optimization/Marketing), Strategy
Presenter: James Foreman  /  Web Designer & Internet Marketing Professional

———————————————————————————–

A.2.RT – Train Employees on Social Media & Manage Personal vs. Company Brands
Emerging social ecosystems – social media spaces, user generated content and virtual worlds – are now commonplace for many companies to spend their time on strategy and building communities. These companies are quickly realizing that effective and successful social media campaigns cannot be done just by one person at the company but by utilizing a large employee base. In this roundtable, you will learn how Sun Microsystems trained its global employee base on utilizing Social Media for business across Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and blogging. You’ll learn best practices to leverage employees to integrate Social Media across multiple business units that cater to a variety of audiences and initiatives. Additionally, you will learn how businesses manage personal brands of employees with their company brand.

Level: Beginning/Intermediate
Type: Round-Table Discussion
Focus: Social Ecosystems, Company Brands, Employee/Team Effectiveness
Presenter: Sumaya Kazi / Sumazi.com

———————————————————————————–

A.3.RT – Privacy & Policy
Any and every business can leverage the power of Social Media to promote their brand, establish expertise, build relationships with customers, improve customer service and generate revenue. But if you’re a business with more than one employee (you), you need to establish a Social Media Policy to make sure you avoid the potential problems and pitfalls that can come with having multiple people engaged in talking about your business in a very public setting.
Join this round-table discussion to discuss how to create Social Media guidelines for your company and your employees, and how to create a clearly stated policy for managers, staff and employees that cover your expectations for social media engagement, including what information should and should not be shared, frequency of engagement, the amount of time spent, and separation of personal vs. business, ethics and disclosure.

Level: Beginning/Intermediate
Type: Round-Table Discussion
Focus: Privacy, Policy, Guidelines
Presenter: Roohi Moolla / SocialBizNow

———————————————————————————–

A.4.RT – Smart Monkeys Use Tools: Best Time-Saving and User-Friendly Tools to Manage Social Media
Do any of these sound familiar?
“I like the idea of using social media to grow my business but I just don’t have the time to sit in front of the computer all day.”
“Facebook status updates, LinkedIn updates, tweeting, email newsletters, blogging, commenting….it’s so much writing! Who has the time?”
“How do I remember how to use all these different services? There are so many places, and they’re so confusing.”
“How do I know if any of this is helping me grow my business?”
Well thank goodness we are all smart monkeys and know that for every problem, there’s a tool to solve it! From Ping.fm to Tweetdeck to Google Reader, this roundtable will be a discussion of our favorite time-saving and user-friendly tools to help manage social media’s potential for overwhelm and track its effectiveness.

Level: Intermediate
Type: Round-Table Discussion
Focus: Time Management, Usability, Tools
Presenter: Julia Dvorin / Archer Web Solutions

———————————————————————————–

A.5.RT – What Does Google Really Look For?
According to internet research company comScore, there were 14.3 billion U.S. searches performed in March 2009. Google searches accounted for 63.7 percent of those, or more than 293.8 million searches per day! Are your prospects able to find your business online? If not, they will do business with your competitors. Alexis Kestler leads a discussion on the factors that Google really considers when looking at your website and the real factors that determine your ranking in search results.

Level: Beginning/Intermediate
Type: Round-Table Discussion
Focus: Search Engines, Ranking, Google
Presenter: Alexis Kestler / Infinite Design Marketing

———————————————————————————–

A.1.WS – Brand You: 7 Ways to Build Your Personal Brand – to Improve Your Career and Your Life
Companies have done it for years. We pay $3 for a cup of coffee at Starbucks because they are a brand. But, what have you done to boost your brand equity?
This is the era of the “personal brand.” Whether you know it or not, you are a brand. Every post you make, every Tweet you publish, every email you send builds that brand. People perceive you in a certain way – and that has a strong impact on your life, particularly in business. To gain a competitive advantage – whether you are in sales, technology, finance, retail, banking, you name it – you need to think of yourself as a brand and leverage the tools of social media to build brand equity. It’s no longer an option.  These 7 steps will help anyone use the social platforms of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIN to achieve greater happiness and better business success simply by building a consistent brand image.

Level: Beginning/Intermediate
Type: Workshop
Focus: Branding, Personal Brand, Social Media Tools
Presenter: Eric Harr / Eric Harr Social Media

———————————————————————————–

A.2.WS – How to Write Effective Blogs
Should you start a blog? What platform should you use?  Should it be “Free” or self-hosted? What kind of blog articles work best? Shari Weiss, expert Blogger, shows you why and how to write an effective Blog, giving concrete examples on different blog types, and leads you through step-by-step on writing style & article layout, Titles, Tags, & Categories, How to promote your blog and How to encourage comments on your blog.

Level: Beginning/Intermediate
Type: Workshop
Focus: Blogging, Connecting, Business Presence, Effectiveness
Presenter: Shari Weiss / Performance Social Media

———————————————————————————–

A.3.WS – SEO 102 – Backlinks for Top Ranking
Once your website is properly optimized, how do you get Google to notice and want to place your website in the #1 position? A quality backlink program is needed to gain top ranking on Google, Yahoo and Bing and stay there.
Learn how to incorporate blog post, video and article submissions with pin point keyword research into a quality backlink program that is easy to implemented and managed.

Participants in the class should have a basic understanding of Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Level: Intermediate/Advanced
Type: Workshop
Focus: Search Engines, Ranking, Google, Backlinks
Presenter: Ryan Perry / Simple Biz Support

———————————————————————————–

A.4.WS – Secrets to Using Social Media with Email Marketing
This workshop will discuss how social media and email marketing work together to bring a dynamic and far-reaching marketing strategy to any small business.

Level: Beginning/Intermediate
Type: Workshop
Focus: Email Marketing, Social Media
Presenter: Kim Stiglitz & Poppy Thorpe /VerticalResponse

———————————————————————————–

A.5.WS - Online Collaboration
Online Collaboration can mean many things to many people but the most important aspect is the ability to more deeply engage with customers, employees or groups with a common purpose to build an engaged community. Social networks have been great at bringing people together but now everyone is asking what next? The next step is Social Networking with Purpose using online collaboration to create community. Harness the wisdom of crowds and internal teams using technologies to take online conversations from chaos to coherence, resulting in actionable decisions and outcomes.

Level: Beginning/Intermediate
Type: Workshop
Focus: Online Collaboration, Social Networking, Community
Presenter: Mark Kithcart / Democrasoft

———————————————————————————–

B.1.RT – Creating a Marketing Strategy for the New Social Web
Social media is a place for transparent, interactive and engaging relationships and conversations but it should not be treated as the final frontier for monetization. Join Mark Kithcart in this active discussion about what it really takes to create an effective overall online strategy that uses all aspects of marketing, message development, traffic development, on-page/off-page SEO, website development and a comprehensive plan to fully engage your audience beyond just social media.

Level: Intermediate
Type: Round-Table Discussion
Focus: Transparency, Engagement, Relationships, Monetization
Presenter: Mark Kithcart / Democrasoft

———————————————————————————–

B.2.RT – “Monetizing Trust – Leading Your Audience from Rapport to Revenue”

This round-table discussion will revolve around structuring your content – your ‘value’ – in order to pull people through your sales funnel … making the transition from all-around nice person to successful business owner.

Level: Beginning
Type: Round-Table Discussion
Focus: Trust, Value, Structured Content, Branding, Sales
Presenter: Patrick Schwerdtfeger / Tactical Execution

———————————————————————————–

B.3.RT – Choosing a CMS for Your Website
In this roundtable we’ll explore the benefits of using a content management system (CMS), such as WordPress, Joomla!, Drupal, or Webvanta, to build your website. These benefits include ease of adding content, providing design consistency, and the ability to deliver content in a variety of formats. We’ll touch on a variety of features you can implement with a CMS, including blogs, calendars, ecommerce, resources pages, photo galleries, and community features. We’ll also discuss the advantages of database-driven design.
We’ll discuss the different kinds of content management systems (including hosted, open-source, and commercial), their strengths and weaknesses, and how to choose the one that fits your needs best.

Level: Beginning
Type: Round-Table Discussion
Focus: CMS (Content Management System), WordPress, Joomla!, Webvanta
Presenter: Michael Slater /  Webvanta

———————————————————————————–

B.4.RT – 5 Ways Social Media is Like a Reality TV-Show
Learn the ways in which social media is like a reality television show in this roundtable discussion. You will learn how to boost your social media presence while the group discusses social media strategy with tips and tricks.

Level: Beginning/Intermediate
Type: Round-Table Discussion
Focus: Social Media Strategy, Tips & Tricks
Presenter: Poppy Thorpe /  VerticalResponse

———————————————————————————–

B.1.WS – Fabulous Facebook Fan Pages: Why and How to Make a Business Presence on Facebook
Millions of people are on Facebook on a daily basis and your business needs to be there, too! In this session you’ll learn the benefits of creating a business presence on Facebook. Discover how to encourage interaction, increase membership, and get more referrals to new business by making your Fan Page stand out using advanced techniques that get results.

Level: Intermediate/Advanced
Type: Workshop
Focus: Time Management, Usability, Tools
Presenter: Karen Clark / My Business Presence

———————————————————————————–

B.2.WS - How to Write Effective Blogs
Should you start a blog? What platform should you use?  Should it be “Free” or self-hosted? What kind of blog articles work best? Shari Weiss, expert Blogger, shows you why and how to write an effective Blog, giving concrete examples on different blog types, and leads you through step-by-step on writing style & article layout, Titles, Tags, & Categories, How to promote your blog and How to encourage comments on your blog.

Level: Beginning/Intermediate
Type: Workshop
Focus: Blogs, Layout, Promotion, Style, Comments
Presenter: Shari Weiss / Performance Social Media

———————————————————————————–

B.3.WS – VLOG (Video Blogging) 101
Learn all about video blogs – what they are, the criteria for creating compelling online video, and how and why video “goes viral”. Ryan Perry discusses how to create and record persuasive videos that will attract customers and establish a strong online presence.
Additionally, Ryan will bring in many tools of the trade (camcorders, lighting, microphones, etc.) and show you how simple and inexpensive it is to record, edit and post videos online.

Level: Beginning
Type: Workshop
Focus: Videos, Blogging, YouTube
Presenter: Ryan Perry / Simple Biz Support

———————————————————————————–

B.4.WS – How to Get the Most out of LinkedIn
It’s not just what you know, it’s who you know – and how you engage. LinkedIn is a lot more than just an online resume posting site. Join professional groups, follow a company, look for a job, get introduced to peers, and connect your online content by leveraging applications that connect LinkedIn to Twitter, Facebook and your Blog.

Level: Beginning/Intermediate
Type: Workshop
Focus: LinkedIn, Online Networking, Connecting Social Media Apps
Presenter: Roohi Moolla / SocialBizNow

———————————————————————————–

B.5.WS - Social Media, Forcing the Humanization of Brands
Back in the mid 90’s, the web wasn’t social. It was an online newspaper or magazine void of any interaction beyond forums or mouse clicks. If the social web is built on the humanization of the relationships we build around a brand, then logos may be losing their luster. But branding never goes away, so there has to be some kind of identity factor here. This discussion looks at how the social web is influencing consumer relationships with logos, identity and online brand management.

Level: Intermediate
Type: Workshop
Focus: Branding, Relationships, Identity
Presenter: David Murray / re:group

———————————————————————————–

C.1.RT - Special Guest: The TwitchHiker (aka Paul Smith)
Before he was a writer, blogger and author, Paul Smith was an award-winning radio producer, trainee rocket scientist and almost, but not quite, inventor of the portable toaster.
In March 2009, he had an idea to test whether relationships formed through social media networks had value in the real world. Paul embarked on the Twitchhiker project – an attempt to travel to the opposite side of the planet within 30 days, relying entirely on the goodwill and generosity of people using Twitter. This is an opportunity to meet face-to-face, chat and ask questions of one of the most innovative and adventurous users of the Socialsphere.

Level: All
Type: Round-Table Discussion
Focus: Twitter, Social Media, Experiment
Presenter: Paul Smith / Author ‘Twitchhiker-How One Man Travelled the World by Twitter’

———————————————————————————–

C.2.RT – Maximize Social Media Impact through Cross-company Alignment
Whether you’re in marketing, communications, sales, or HR, social media is now interwoven in every fabric and department of your company. But there’s not always a clear alignment of social media activities across the various departments, which can lead to mixed messages to your external audience and even missed opportunities.  Join this discussion to understand how you can maximize the impact and ROI of your social media campaign or efforts through better alignment and collaboration with other departments at your company.

Level: Intermediate/Advanced
Type: Round-Table Discussion
Focus: Social Media, Impact on ROI
Presenter: Autumn Truong / Cisco

———————————————————————————–

C.1.WS – Social Networking Sanity: Managing Your Presence in 30 Minutes a Day

In this session, you will learn where and how to effectively spend your time online to achieve social networking sanity! Discover:
●  How to create a laser-like focus on your specific market of ideal clients online through social networking.
●  The 3 social networking tasks every business owner can conduct in less than 30 minutes a day.
●  How to preload, schedule, integrate and monitor your online social networking tasks with ease.

Level: All Levels
Type: Workshop
Focus: Time Management, Scheduling, Effectiveness
Presenter: Karen Clark / My Business Presence

———————————————————————————–

C.2.WS – The 411 on Location Based Services
This presentation is designed to introduce the new user to the concept of location based services (LBS) and geosocial networking. I cover how these tools fit in with others available, current ways these tools are being used, and ways that it is applicable to the listener. I also discuss the rising status of mobile use, the game metric (competition), incentive as a marketing tool, and the personal dangers inherent in reporting one’s whereabouts. Including case studies and statistics, listeners will have the information they need to make a decision about whether or not LBS is right for their purposes and how and when it will fit into their marketing plan.

Level: Beginning/Intermediate
Type: Workshop
Focus: LBS (Location Based Services), Foursquare, Yelp, Mobile
Presenter: Kerry Rego / Kerry Rego Consulting

———————————————————————————–

C.3.WS – Social Media 102
Learn the “how-to” behind the simple but powerful strategies introduced in “Social Media Victories” with Patrick Schwerdtfeger.  It all sounds so simple … but where do I start?  If you want to put these strategies to work in your own business, don’t miss this opportunity to break down the hype into a series of simple steps. Come with questions!  This will be an interactive session.

Level: Intermediate
Type: Workshop
Focus: Social Media, Strategies, Tools
Presenter: Patrick Schwerdtfeger / Tactical Execution

———————————————————————————–

C.4.WS – How to Use Your Smart Phone/iPhone as Your Social Media Sidearm
A rather unique topic about how to use your mobile phone/iPhone as your social media “side arm”. This will be an iPhone centric presentation, but there are tons of tips and tricks that most folks are not aware of that will make them better at what they do by utilizing a tool that many of them already have, their iPhones.

Level: All Levels
Type: Workshop
Focus: Time Management, Usability, Tools
Presenter: Adam Helweh / Secret Sushi

———————————————————————————–

C.5.WS – “Harnessing Social Media for A Cause: How Non-Profits and Other Mission-Driven Organizations Can Practice Effective Relationship Marketing Online”
Successful non-profits and other mission-driven organizations realize that committed, long-term staff, donors and volunteers are worth their weight in gold–they are what keeps an organization afloat and help it to thrive in turbulent times. So how do you build, but more importantly, retain those relationships? “Relationship marketing,” a classic marketing concept, says that success comes from creating customer satisfaction and retention through personal, customized relationships, as opposed to “direct” or “broadcast” marketing, which uses the same generalized message to sell products to the masses. In this discussion, learn why relationship marketing and social media go together like peanut butter and jelly, as we explore where and how to build effective relationships online.

Level: Beginning/Intermediate
Type: Workshop
Focus: Time Management, Usability, Tools
Presenter: Julia Dvorin / Archer Web Solutions

———————————————————————————–

D.1.RT – Special Guest: The Twitchhiker (aka Paul Smith)
Before he was a writer, blogger and author, Paul Smith was an award-winning radio producer, trainee rocket scientist and almost, but not quite, inventor of the portable toaster. In March 2009, he had an idea to test whether relationships formed through social media networks had value in the real world. Paul embarked on the Twitchhiker project – travelling to the opposite side of the planet within 30 days, relying entirely on the goodwill and generosity of people using Twitter. This is an opportunity to meet face-to-face, chat and ask questions of one of the most innovative and adventurous users of the Socialsphere.

Level: All
Type: Round-Table Discussion
Focus: Twitter, Social Media, Experiment
Presenter: Paul Smith / Author ‘Twitchhiker-How One Man Travelled the World by Twitter’

———————————————————————————–

D.2.RT – Will the real Influencer please stand up?
The viral nature of a social media campaign is one approach to measuring success. Another method is by measuring credibility based on the number of influencers that are engaged. Regardless of methodology used, influencers play a key role in driving awareness and lending credibility for your brand, product or campaign. Join this discussion to learn more about the various ways to engage with influencers to positively impact your brand.

Level: Intermediate/Advanced
Type: Round-Table Discussion
Focus: Social Media, Impact on ROI
Presenter: Autumn Truong / Cisco

———————————————————————————–

D.3.RT – Measuring the Success of Your Online Marketing Strategy
So you’ve got a Facebook page, you’re Tweeting, on LinkedIn, promoting through Foursquare, etc. After all, everyone keeps telling you Social Media is “all that”. But how do you answer the question from your partner, employer, investors, or even just yourself…’Has it all been worth it?’…
Join this workshop to discuss your online marketing campaigns and more importantly their success. You’ll get tips on how to set realistic goals and more importantly learn about the tools to be able to track the results and measure the results of your efforts. THEN…when asked what the ROI is…you’ll have the answer right at your fingertips.

Level: All Levels
Type: Round-Table Discussion
Focus: Metrics, ROI, Marketing Strategy, Social Media Effectiveness
Presenter: Roohi Moolla / SocialBizNow

———————————————————————————–

D.4.RT – Social Media for Social Good: How Social Media Can Change the World
Social media can unleash a world of social good. A single Tweet can echo across humanity. Social media is making good on the long-held promise that we can in fact change the world. There is a new “power of one.” If you pick your passion – the one cause that makes your blood boil and your heart ache, you can have a huge, positive impact on our world, at a time when our world truly needs it. But, it’s not about just setting up a Twitter page and having good intentions. It takes clear strategy and effective tactics to make a difference. This discussion will show you how.

Level: Beginning/Intermediate
Type: Round-Table Discussion
Focus: Social Media, Social Good, Social Causes
Presenter: Eric Harr / Eric Harr Social Media

———————————————————————————–

D.5.RT - It’s all About Communities…Again!
Communities, communities, communities…
Seems like every day a new community is popping up somewhere on the social web.
It’s not hard to technically build a community online. There are a lot of out of the box solutions. But what really is a community. More importantly, what makes a successful one?
This roundtable discussion will focus on how Social Media has taken the emphasis away from the individual and back on the community. We’ll look at why communities (both online and off) are born, and the purpose they serve.
We’ll also talk about what drives a successful community, the types of communities out there, and what makes a community successful. Case studies will be presented, and resources provided. Attendees will walk away with a better understanding on how to build their own online community.

Level: Intermediate
Type: Round-Table Discussion
Focus: Online Community, Social Media
Presenter: David Murray / re:group

———————————————————————————–

D.2.WS – Square One: How to Create a Social Media Campaign

When it comes to Social Media/Networking & Marketing, if you have no clue what’s going on, what a Twitter is, or how to use the profiles you’ve already set up, this discussion led by Kerry Rego will help you define your goals, set up a strategy, review your current tools, and educate you on the tools available, so you can create an effective Social Media campaign.

Level: Beginning/Intermediate
Type: Workshop
Focus: Goals, Strategy, Campaign
Presenter: Kerry Rego / Kerry Rego Consulting

———————————————————————————–

D.3.WS – How to Optimize your Website for Search Engines
This presentation will take you through a step by step look at what search engines see and look for on your website best practices, and what is necessary to design for robots and visitors. We will explore websites from the server through user interface. What makes this work, and how can you can you best package your website to appear to be the best possible result for the keyword phrases you target.

Level: Beginning
Type: Workshop
Focus: SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Website Best Practices
Presenter: Alexis Kestler / Infinite Design Marketing

———————————————————————————–

D.4.WS – Super Tweets! Advanced Twitter Techniques & Tips
You and your business are so much more than just 140 character updates so how can you use Twitter to prove that? Adam Helweh will teach you how your “tweets” can transcend beyond the basic boring updates and turn into an engaging place to share a wide variety of content. Be ready to also explore a bevy of advanced tips & tricks for monitoring & managing your Twitter activity.

Level: Intermediate/Advanced
Type: Workshop
Focus: Twitter, Techniques, Tips
Presenter: Adam Helweh / Secret Sushi

———————————————————————————–

D.5.WS – Planning and Building an Online Community Website with an Open Source CMS
The evolution of Social Media is happening at a fast and furious pace in all sectors of Web and Internet development and marketing. This has created an overwhelming array of choices for businesses and individuals who want to tap and then harness the incredible power of Social Media.
In this workshop James Foreman will show how to create an Online Community Website using Joomla!, which is one of the most popular Open Source Content Management Systems (CMS) in the world. Even if you use different software to create your Online Community this presentation will give you all the proven techniques and principles for developing a successful Social Media presence with any website.
Joomla! has been deeply embedded in the Social Media renaissance from the beginning and Joomla! Developers all over the world have been hard at work creating components and extensions that integrate with Facebook, Twitter and media that is important for social interaction on the web.
This workshop will teach all levels of interested business people and marketers the following:

• How to plan for your Social Media presence and choose what is best for you or your company.
• How you can use Joomla! for creating a professional, enterprise level website that can harness the power of Social Media.
• How you can measure the results of your website that go beyond web statistics and ROI.
• How to communicate effectively with your online members when building your community.
• How to ensure that your website will evolve using the interactivity of your members, not just through the content that you create.

Level: Intermediate/Advanced
Type: Workshop
Focus: Open Source, Content Management System (CMS), Online Community
Presenter: James Foreman /  Web Designer & Internet Marketing Professional