conferences

For the third year in a row, I'll be heading to Atlanta for SoCon09. This year's theme is "In Search of the Southeast’s Social Media⁺ Niche."

I'll be leading a session in the afternoon about measurement and ROI of social media programs. Look for a bit of this, this and this to be discussed :-)

Hey Everyone - it’s that time again, where I beg for your help (why do you hate children?!?). We’re throwing a Charity Party for SMX West which will be hosted at Yahoo! Here’s what you can do to help (if you’re willing):

Last Thursday I scooted up to Chicago for the day to attend BlogWell. Some of my colleagues had attended the San Jose edition of the event last year. The BlogCouncil is the organization behind BlogWell, and a few of their members provided the case studies presented at the event.

During a few of the sessions the discussion of ROI came up. Some in the audience bemoaned this and some of the presenters gave the standard, "it's still early" or "it's difficult to measure". While those answers may be good during an exploratory phase, any type of long term program is dead in the water without some soft of measurement.

Market Motive has come a long way in a short time in my mind. In shortly over a year, I’ve seen the curriculum expand substantially to become an excellent archive for even a seasoned internet marketing professional to learn a ton. I am very proud to be a part of Market Motive, and of the upcoming event described below, as it is a highly credible source for correctly learn how to market online. You won’t ‘get rich quick’ here, but you will learn strategies to market online properly.

Market Motive continued to stay ahead of the curve on Wednesday with the announcement of their Master Certification Faculty Panel as a live web event–a unique offering, even by Market Motive standards. It’s all part of their highly-touted Internet Marketing Certification program finale slated for January 27, 2009.

First off, full credit to Dave Coustan for coming up with this concept, but I'll elaborate on it a bit more. In discussions about what direction BlogOrlando *might* take for 2009, we were discussing how some people seem to become serial conference-goers. You know the self-promoters that talk and talk and talk (see this post).

With the reverse honorarium* we would reach out to some of these 'social media⁺ leaders' and say:

"Hey, you're an influencer⁺ and a prolific writer on the subject of social media. Well, we're having an event, so here's $500 for you to NOT come. We feel that your lack of attendance will actually allow for deeper/richer discussions among the attendees because you won't try to dominate each conversation and make it all about you."

The American Marketing Association's Mplanet conference is coming up at the end of this month, January 26-28th, in my backyard (Orlando). I attended the first version in 2006, yes that's right three years ago.

It's actually an interesting concept, the three year gap ensures that the content is fresh and not simply a rehash of last year....after all much can happen in three years :-)

I'm honored once again to be one of the invited bloggers to help cover the event along with Toby Bloomberg and Peter Kim. Over the next few weeks I'll be posting a bit more about some of the trends/issues related to the event here, and on the Mplanet blog.

Will you be attending Mplanet?

And I'm in the audience, expect the first two questions to be:

1. Do you have any recent examples of how you've executed a program for a client?

2. How are you measuring the output/outcomes of this program?

If you don't have valid answers to those questions, then why are we even listening to you?

So my buddy Marcus told me about this SEO de Janerio event at Pubcon Vegas, and I was all ears. I’ve decided to see what’s happenin’ on the darkside after being asked by Quadzilla to come be an expert as this sick looking event. They threw an amazing party in Germany, and I expect they’ll be stepping it up a notch. They’ve got some awesome people coming including: 6 of the top SEO Black Hat Forum Contributors
Marcus Tandler (Mediadonis)
Ralph and Dirk (From Fantomaster)
Brian Clark (Copyblogger)
Bob Rains (Let’s Make it Awesome)

It’s that wonderful time of year again. Nearly a week in Vegas for the annual Webmaster World pilgramage. If you’re planning on attending, you should have your seat and hotel by now. If you don’t, I’ll reward your procrastination with a 20% coupon. Use the code ma-29220 when you sign up. I’ll be speaking and moderating some panels, so be sure to say hi.

Sitting here with David Klein (mastermind behind the thinktank, who is selling an extraordinary door lock in the near future at Wordcamp playing wordgames - get the full scoop on them here.
So here’s the game- post the answer here, and come pick up your prize from DK at the registration desk if you’re at wordcamp, or play along, and get the prize at SES if you’re coming.