Each participant will join this interactive conference focused on sharing advanced strategies, insights and tactics.

THE SCHEDULE

Sessions for this event are:

BUILDING CORPORATE SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE
It’s no secret that C-Suite execs in most large businesses have been slow to acknowledge the social economy or to formalize and fund social engagements across their organizations. But the communication tidal wave that is social media cannot be stopped and many business silos have begun their own individual efforts given the lack of executive leadership in this area.

Be it Customer Service Managers scouring Twitter feeds, HR teams monitoring LinkedIn, Marketers advertising in social networks or PR Professionals engaging social influencers, most enterprises are engaged in social relationships through disjointed efforts initiated by the customer or customer-facing departments. Therein lies the challenge for enterprise leaders; and the opportunity if they accept this call to action.

How does the enterprise adapt to the internal communications changes that are pushing it to be more open? More social? The employee’s adoption of social communication does not translate well to the kind of work groups that are formed in most businesses. So the inevitable introduction of social networking-style communication into an office culture will have powerful implications on how businesses are structured and managed. But you need to understand how to enable it without losing control of your business’ corporate vision. In this session Sam will outline:

• The challenges that social communications will place on your
  workforce and business silos
• The needs, abilities and challenges of generational communications
  within the organization
• Cross-silo methodologies used to embrace and take advantage of the
  changes in how people communicate

Using real examples from the corporate world, you’ll leave the session with a blue print for your own corporate cross-silo social communication plan.

Presented by: Sam Fiorella

Sam is currently the Chief Strategy Sensei for Sensei Marketing in Toronto & New York City. His expertise in interactive and social media marketing space has been earned through 20 yrs of senior level management within marketing departments and, most recently providing interactive strategy consulting to over 30 marketing agencies across the globe. Throughout this time Sam has been instrumental in creating world-first marketing software applications and innovative marketing strategies for clients that range from: Home Depot, Hitachi, AOL, Ford Motor Company, Hyatt Gaming Corporation, AXA Equitable, Snyder’s of Hanover, Johnson & Johnson, Hyundai, Chef Boyardee, and thousands more!

Sam is the creator and moderator of the #bizforum Twitter debate where business professionals discuss the pros and cons of trending busines-related topics each week. Sam is also the author of the popular marketing blog: The Social Roadmap and author of the soon to be released business book by the same name.

CORPORATE BLOGS: TRENDS, BEST PRACTICES AND 10 IDEAS TO MAKE THEM NOT SUCK
Corporate blogs are mystifying, frustrating, time-consuming … and perhaps one of the most powerful marketing weapons in your arsenal. In this fast-paced session, Mark Schaefer will discuss the solid business reasons to blog (even if nobody reads it!), current trends and best practices, the myths of community, and practical organizational tips to help your blog break through.

Presented by: Mark W. Schaefer

Mark is a globally-recognized blogger, educator, business consultant, and author who blogs at {grow}, one of the AdAge Top 50 blogs of the world. Mark has worked in global sales, PR, and marketing positions for nearly 30 years and now provides consulting services as Executive Director of U.S.-based Schaefer Marketing Solutions. He has advanced degrees in marketing and organizational development and holds seven patents. Mark enjoys teaching social media marketing courses at several colleges and is a faculty member of the graduate studies program at Rutgers University. He is the author of The Tao of Twitter and is in the top 0.5% of “influencers” on Twitter.

EMOTIONS- THE HEARTBEAT OF SUCCESS IN MARKETING
Human beings make decisions based solely on their emotions. Let’s be clear – making a decision based on an emotion neither means that you will hold hands with all your neighbours and sing kumbaya, nor does it mean that you will break down and cry at the very sight of that one pink tablecloth you’ve been so desperately trying to find. What it does mean however, is that your consumer (and your client, and your employee and all the folks in your community) are passing judgement and making decisions about you, about what they buy because they feel something.

It is critical for businesses to deeply understand the emotions behind human consumption in order to be successful. For social media enthusiasts and experts alike, this is a point of great positive emotion! Positive emotions provide a foundation for growth and exploration and build the intellectual, social and physical capital for further growth and development. It feeds itself. Take a good look at those online communities that thrive – positive energy and emotion flow so freely, one often feels the impulse to jump in. This means that social media platforms have given marketers an important tool to expand those positive emotion touchpoints with consumers and to nurture those relationships.

Judi will share insight on emotional marketing and leave you with a few pointers on how to ensure emotions are considered in your next marketing campaign… Not to mention, you’ll feel really good about it too!

Presented by: Judi Samuels

With over 12 years of marketing experience working with premium brands including the Canadian Tourism Commission, Microsoft, MuchMusic, along with their agencies, Judi has dedicated her marketing abilities to creating conversations. As someone who always enjoys friendly, intellectual banter (read: she has the gift of gab), Judi believes that it is through valuable and relevant dialogue that relationships are formed and deepened. Whether creating and managing programs to help tourism operators create unique packages and communications messages, or designing experiential events to launch gaming platforms, or participating in rebranding businesses from image to tone of voice, her goal is to ensure that the recipient of the message feels heard, involved and engaged. Nothing was more appropriate for Judi’s love of conversation than the explosion of social media as a new tool in the marketer’s arsenal – one that enables the brand to be a part of its communities and empowers ambassadors to speak directly to, and on behalf of, the brand. For Judi, this is an avenue that demands integrity, honesty and transparency.

Judi is currently the Manager, Corporate Communications at Maritz Canada Inc., a loyalty marketing services agency. She holds an MBA specializing in Tourism and Hospitality from the University of Guelph where she developed her fundamental belief that tourism is the pioneer of experiential, engaging and emotional marketing. She has presented on such topics as marketing, social media, tourism marketing. You can find Judi on Twitter @chieflemonhead.

PR MEETS SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
Welcome to the wild wild west of social media marketing, where quality trumps quantity and content reigns supreme, Marketers the world over are turning to the virtual space to push their brands, good and services, thanks to the internet’s far-reaching power to get branded news out there and hopefully into the right people’s hands, heads and hearts. But how to achieve lift-off?

Never before has PR, with it’s awesome ability to target specific audiences with relevant, credible P2P (person to person) info that promotes positive consumer awareness and buy-in, held such sway. PR has moved from a ‘nice to have’ to a ‘need to have’ in the rapidly changing marketing mix, and Canada’s leading PR practitioner, Deborah Weinstein, president of Strategic Objectives, Canada’s most award-winning PR agency, will take you on a deep dive into this now essential marketing practice – complete with case studies and tips on how to create an effective, results-driven strategy.

Presented by: Deborah Weinstein

Master communicator, marketer and entrepreneur, Deborah Weinstein, is co-founder, partner and president of Strategic Objectives, an international award-winning, full-service public relations agency that delivers smart ideas and better solutions to many of Canada and the world’s leading brands. Headquartered in Toronto, Strategic Objectives is IABC/Toronto PR Agency of the Year 2011 and employs more than 40 top public relations professionals.

Deborah, who received the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Canada and its Communication Industry, started her career as a broadcast journalist at CBC and CTV Networks. Today she leads her team and her clients in conceiving and implementing breakthrough integrated, results-driven marketing strategies and programs that drive social influence, brand awareness, acceptance and sales.

Deborah, who is obsessed with the power of traditional and social media to engage and enlist consumer buy-in, is a lively storyteller and insightful speaker on the brave new world of social marketing. She eagerly awaits publication of her chapter, Social Mandate, in the new Social CMO Book, expected later this fall.

THE FUTURE OF SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE
Companies are just beginning to grasp the true power of social data. The ability to collect feedback without the need for costly market research studies, surveys, and focus groups is a relatively new prospect. But as brands have started measuring, many sense that they could (and should) be doing much more with the abundant data at their finger tips. Simply collecting data is not enough. To remain competitive, marketers must fully realize the breadth and depth of knowledge and insights they can gain from online conversations.

Scott Briggs will discuss the state of social media intelligence today and where we are headed in the future. He will outline the advanced techniques that forward-thinking brands are using to move from simply collecting data to truly analyzing and drawing insights that are fueling smart business decisions.

The future of social intelligence is predictive, strategic, and unlike social measurement as you know it today. Are you ready?

Presented by: Scott Briggs

Scott Briggs is Sr. Director of Social Strategy and Insights at Alterian and an award winning thought leader in data analytics and marketing automation. Scott has over 15 years’ experience spanning multiple disciplines including social media, database marketing, email marketing, analytics and business intelligence. His career includes experience in the following verticals: credit card, retail banking, insurance, retail, trave, auto and nonprofit.  Most recently Scott’s focus has been on developing measurement techniques and establishing best practices with regards to Social Media and Analytics.

Scott started his career as a researcher and economist within the Federal Reserve System.  Since the late 1990’s, Scott has worked with several technology companies focused on marketing automation and analytics. Scott holds a Master’s degree in economics from the Pennsylvania State University and a Bachelor’s degree from Western New England College.

WORD OF MOUTH MARKETING: CREATING BUZZ AND ENGAGING INFLUENCERS
Leading industry thought leader and practitioner Sean Moffitt delivers a session that provides a 360 degree overview of the world’s, culture’s, business’  and marketing’s greatest force – word of mouth. On the social web, word of mouth rules more than it ever has, so step back and enjoy a tour du force of buzz, evangelism, word of mouth, referral and passalong wisdom from one of the industry’s best .  Sean will take you through the 36 reasons why people buzz, the 6 types of influencers and what motivates them, a simple WOM planning and building model, some street-savvy shortcuts for getting the right message out at the right time to the right people, some great case studies and some thoughts on institutionalizing word of mouth in your organization and also a look at some word of mouth watchouts, tools and what word of mouth will look like in the future. Many WOM lessons were not only learned up close but also gleaned from studying the world’s top 100 social brands in his recent book Wikibrands – Reinventing your Company in a Customer-Driven Marketplace (www.wiki-brands.com)   If you have any interest in understanding what influences today’s customers in what they buy, think and do, don’t miss this session.

Presented by: Sean Moffitt

Sean is a well-recognized thought leader in company innovation, brand leadership, social influence marketing and online community building, marrying his passion for grassroots engagement, digital technologies and the brand. He has been an executive-level marketer, agency leader and consultant, in roles bridging the traditional and digital divide for over 15 years.

As an answer to business’ future, Sean founded Agent Wildfire in 2004 (www.agentwildfire.com) – a leading marketing, media and research firm dedicated to customer advocacy and innovation, word of mouth, influencer marketing, online communities, social media and buzz-building. Located in Toronto, he now continues and expands that work for startups, Fortune 500s and executive teams by leading the Wikibrands consultancy (www.wiki-brands.com).

Sean has previously led the direction of Canada’s best known brands at Molson, Guinness, Labatt, Procter & Gamble and others as a client and agency partner. He speaks frequently on the subject of new marketing and media (see range of topics below), chairing national conferences, speaking internationally and commenting in national broadcast and top print media and lecturing at universities across a variety of topics. Sean is also an executive consultant to Don Tapscott’s firm nGenera (http://www.ngenera.com/) and helps executive and brand teams power the collaborative enterprise.

You can also spot his rants and musings on new economy subjects through his blogs “Buzz Canuck” (http://buzzcanuck.typepad.com/) & “Spreads Like Wildfire” (http://www.spreadslikewildfire.com/) and e-newsletters (http://www.agentwildfire.com/contact_us) . He spearheads two Canadian executive networks “The League of Kickass Business People” (www.theleague.ca) and “The League of Kickass Under 30” and leads two lifestyle media startups Generation Go and Trend City.  He has also authored an annual research report on Canadian marketing and media “The Buzz Report”, a number of critically acclaimed white papers on new media topics and is a columnist for Smart Brief on Social Media (http://www.smartbrief.com/).

——

To attend this conference, click this pretty purple button:

Venue

St. Andrew’s Club
150 King Street W, 27th Floor
Toronto, Ontario
Website | Map

Directions:
The building is atop the St. Andrews subway station, which is just one stop north of Union Station on the University Line. For users of GO Transit, St. Andrew’s is just a five minute walk up University Avenue from the west end of Union Station. They are connected to the PATH, Toronto’s underground walkway which links us to all major buildings in the downtown core.

Drivers should exit the Gardiner Expressway at the York Street exit and head north into the city core. St. Andrew’s is located between York Street and University Avenue on the north side of King Street. Parking information is provided online.

Hotel

Strathcona Hotel
60 York St
Toronto, ON M5J1S8 CA
Website | Map & Directions

We have negotiated a group room rate of CAD $179 for their Executive King/Queen rooms. This rate is good through September 6th. If you would like to book a room, please contact our hotel representative at 1-866-307-5593 or complete your reservation online prior to September 6th, and let them know you are coming in for the Social Media Club event.

Note: The Strathcona is a boutique hotel, so the rooms tend to be a little smaller than a standard hotel room. For those of you who live in or visit New York, you will feel right at home. They are clean. They are nicely done. The hotel is lovely. If you want more room to roam, there is a Hyatt down the street as well as several other options. But we like this hotel.