mesh Workshop, Anyone? (Part 2)
In the previous post, we talked about how the workshops at mesh are extremely popular with standing room-only attendance. This is probably because they are hands-on, interactive sessions led by people in the trenches. As a result, they deliver tangible, real-world lessons that people can quickly take from workshop to workplace.
Here’s an overview of the the other workshops on the schedule.:
“Building a B2B Community”: High Road Communications’ Eden Spodek will talk about that while building a personal online community is relatively easy, building an online business community for existing and prospective clients can be more challenging. Eden will highlight real-life examples of companies (primarily Canadian) leading the way in B2B community building along with tips, challenges and success stories of those who do it well.”
“Getting Your Start-Up Ready for Investment”: Mark MacLeod (aka @startupcfo) will lead an interactive workshop that explores the key questions around startups and fundraising such as The pros and cons of getting outside capital? If yes, how much do you need? Angels vs. VCs – who, how, where, when, why? What do you need in order to raise money? How does the money-raising process work? Who’s got money? Who doesn’t?
“The Olympics as a Case Study”: Alon Marcovici, VP, Digital Media and Research of Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium, will about what it’s like to put together a major multimedia online campaign for a national and international event, and Kim is talking about what is involved in being a “user-generated content editor” and social-media co-ordinator for a major media website.
“Social Media and User-Generated Content in the Newsroom”: Kim Fox, CBC News’s senior producer of social media, will do a workshop looking at what’s involved in being a “user-generated content editor” and social-media co-ordinator for a major media website.
If you haven’t purchased your tickets to mesh, I would encourage you to get them soon because there are only a handful left. You can purchase them here:
Tags: conference, mesh, Toronto, workshops
mesh Workshop, Anyone? (Part 1)
When mesh was started in 2006, we decided to add some workshops but didn’t expect they would attract a lot of attention because they were scheduled at the same time as two panels.
Much to our surprise, the workshops were jam-packed, which made it abundantly clear there was demand for hands-on sessions that provided people with tangible insight, case studies and information that people could implement when they got back to the office.
Over the past four years, the workshops have become a core part of mesh even though they probably don’t get as much and attention as they deserve. We’ve got a great workshop line-up for mesh ‘10. Here’s a sneak peek of some panels – with some previews coming in a subsequent blog post.
- Death and Digital Legacy: Adele McAlear will examine the intersection of death, social media and technology and look at the ripples that are created with loss. This workshop explores the chasm between online communities and families; legal, privacy and security issues; policies of online services; the impact on businesses; and what each of us should do today to prepare our digital assets.
- The Art & Science of Scaling Social Media: Bringing together earned, paid and owned social media, when done correctly, can generate a perfect storm of credibility and reach – in many ways, the Holy Grail of the social web. Earned is highly credible, but expensive to generate, paid has mass reach, but do users really pay attention? Maggie Fox will lead a discussion on how companies can scale their social media efforts.
- How Small Businesses Can Survive and Thrive by Being Creative with Social Media: RightSleeve’s Mark Graham will offers tips, recommendations and real-world examples of how his promotional marketing merchandising company has thrived in a competitive marketplace by leveraging social media.
- Managing the Transformation to a Social Business: David Bradfield will explore how global organizations and Canadian innovators manage the transition from control to collaboration. Bradfield will talk about how many companies are grappling with the impact of social media on traditional business and marketing models.
To purchase tickets for mesh10, here’s how you can register.
Tags: conference, mesh, Toronto, workshops
What’s meshU? Who Should Go?
I had coffee earlier today who someone who told me that she thought the difference between mesh and meshU was that mesh is for adults while meshU is for young’uns looking to learn about technology.
It’s not an accurate description but I embraced it as much-needed constructive criticism given we haven’t done a great job of really explaining meshU and why people should attend. So, here’s meshU in a nutshell:
We started meshU in 2008 after getting a lot of requests from mesh attendees to create an event that would deliver hands-on workshops about new ways to design and develop Web sites, as well as insight into how to manage teams developing and designing these services and applications.
The workshops at meshU are led by some of the Web’s best and brightest people. These are people who are talking the talk and walking the walk. They are people starting and building leading-edge Web sites and online businesses, which means they bring real-world insight and experience to the table.
This makes meshU is a place where attendees can walk away with new insight, knowledge and information about how to do their jobs better, more efficiently and more successfully.
If you’ve been to meshU before, there’s a lot of discussion happening and a healthy amount of note-taking.
Here are the top reasons to attend meshU:
1. Gain insight and knowledge from people such as Bill Buxton (our keynote speaker) Joe Stump, Dan Martell, Sean Ellis and Isaac Garcia – knowledge that you can bring back to the office and put into action right away.
2. Build new relationships with people within Toronto’s Web community who are developing and designing services and applications, or managing teams making it happen.
3. Support meshU, and its role in providing workshops that provide a different and unique perspective.
Here’s where you can buy meshU tickets. If you’d like to support meshU by sponsoring, you can contact Stuart MacDonald at info@meshconference.com.
Tags: bill buxton, conference, meshU, Toronto, workshops
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It’s All About the Workshops
With the first meshmarketing conference happening in two weeks, we’re really excited about the response we’re getting. The calendar is chock-a-block with conferences and events, and many people are still being pragmatic about how they spend their money.
One the major reasons why we’re so enthusiastic about meshmarketing and how it meets the needs of people within the digital marketing space are the eight workshops that are happening in the afternoon after Hugh MacLeod’s keynote and two panels in the morning.
The workshops are happening because people who attended the marketing stream during the last mesh conference said the keynotes and panels were interesting but they wanted more insight and information into the tools and tactics to help them get things done.
As a result, we’ve put together workshops featuring people who are working in the digital trenches, which means they can provide hands-on insight into best practices, the most compelling tools, and real-world examples of what works and what doesn’t. Here’s a snapshot of the eight workshops.
Insight Into SEM/SEO
Search engine marketing and optimization continues to attract more attention and advertising dollars because advertisers like the fact it is an activity that can be tracked and dynamically adjusted to get the best results. Jeff Quipp will provide insight and perspective on best practices and how to be more successful with your SEM and SEO spending and programs.
Social Media Analytics – What, Why and How
As social media becomes a bigger part of the marketing/advertising landscape, more companies want to know who’s talking about their brands and products, and how they can engage with key influencers and opinion leaders. Katie Delahaye Paine will talk about why social media analytics is being embraced so enthusiastically, the benefits its provides to companies who want to get a better handle on the social media ecosystem, and tips into using social media analytics services.
Tapping Into Facebook
Facebook has more than 300 million registered users – a number that makes it an interesting advertising medium. But many companies are still trying to figure out what works within Facebook. Is advertising effective? Or should marketing activity be focused on Facebook Pages that engage consumers while offering them information about products and services. Facebook Canada’s Elmer Sotto will offer his thoughts on how companies should approach Facebook to reach consumers.
How to Approach Mobile Marketing
With the continued growth of wireless device usage and the emergence of high-speed networks, the mobile advertising market has huge potential for advertisers and marketers. eMarketer suggests the U.S. market will grow to $1.3-billion from $320-million in 2008. One of the big challenges facing advertisers and marketers is determining the most effective mobile campaigns. Tagga Media CEO Amielle Lake will talk about how media planners can create, deploy, manage, and analyze mobile marketing campaigns for their clients.
The Keys to User-Generated Creative
One of the more interesting parts of social media marketing is how a growing number of companies are “outsourcing” the creative process by encouraging consumers to come up with videos and new product designs. Among the most successful campaigns was Dorito’s, which attracting a huge amount of attention with a program in which consumers created Super Bowls ads. Frito Lay’s Andrew Sutherland and BBDO’s Dino Demopoulos will provide behind the scenes insight into how user-generated creative campaigns work, and how they can be effective in driving brand awareness and consumer engagement.
Build Web Properties that Convert
After you have managed to attract people to your Web site, how do you get visitors to convert into customers? What are the tricks in getting them to make a purchase, fill out a contact form, or make a phone call. Dan Martell promise to offer nine tactics focused on Web conversions and user retention to drive real results.
Creating Inbound Marketing Campaigns
Finding it hard to get leads and customers? Are things such as tradeshows, advertising and telemarkteting not working that well? Dharmesh Shah will show you how to attract people using through Google, blogs and social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, and provide insider tips from the trenches about what works and what doesn’t when trying to “get found” online.
Targeting Audiences: Practical Uses of Behavioural Targeting and Retargeting
This workshop is an introduction into the world of online audience targeting through the use of behavioural and retargeting technology. In this session, you will get a better understanding of audience targeting and how data is collected and used, receive insight about current privacy issues, and practice advice when it comes to best practices for marketers. Olive Media’s Mladen Raickovic will provide insight how advertising networks work and what they offer.
Tags: marketing, mesh, meshmarketing, social media, workshops
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