So, it’s finally here! On Monday we are having the Blogging for Business conference at the Downtown Marriott in Salt Lake City. It has been amazing putting this event together and I’ll forever esteem others who have acted as “event planners” (specifically, Phil Burns, Steve Spencer, Wendy Enelow, Laura Decarlo, Jennifer Brown, Kelly King Anderson, and many others).
I have to mention the amazing work that my partner, Matthew Reinbold, has put forth. Matthew and met (over a year ago) as a result of blogging and had enough in common that we started having lunches about once a month. Somehow we ended up with this crazy idea that we, with no professional training in marketing or PR, could put on a conference for marketing and PR professionals (and business owners)! I knew Matthew was a dependable, hard worker, as he was a significant part of getting Seth Godin to Salt Lake City to present earlier this year. And throughout the last couple of months he has, once again, stepped up to the plate in a big way to make this happen.
Here are some thoughts about the conference:
The speakers are amazing. Wow… what can I say. Liz Strauss, the godmother of bloggers. Wendy Piersall, an inspiration to thousands of men and women (her presentation at SOBcon gave me lasting goosebumps). Edelman VP Gary Goldhammer, Businesswire‘s Malcom Atherton, patent attorney Rand Bateman, PR legend Cheryl Conner (and team), GenY expert Lindsey Pollak, Podcast expert Lee Gibbons, Blog network guru Tim Stay. I can’t believe that I’ll be spending a day and a half with these people! Not just to develop personal relationships, but also to learn from them!
The message is so relevant – to you. We planned this conference to be a learning experience to help people understand how to create buzz. We’re not going to teach you how to get a blog, and I’m not quite sure that you’ll walk out of the room convinced that you should have a blog. But we want you to understand how to leverage “blogs” and other social media to create buzz. How? Well, you’ll see on Monday.
Again, who is this for? We’re not necessarily marketing to bloggers, although I would think that bloggers would love to come to this. We want anyone involved in marketing or PR to come. Whether you work at a firm or are in-house. It definitely includes anyone that owns a business, or does marketing for a small business (even though that isn’t part of your job description). Finally, for anyone that understand that YOU are your own product, and you have a personal brand, and there’s such a thing as You, Inc., this conference will definitely help as you market yourself. Students? Of course. Consultants? Of course.
When/Where/How/etc. Come to the Downtown Marriott (Salt Lake City) on Monday, October 22nd at 8:00 or 8:30am. The cost is $299. Breakfast, lunch and snacks are included. Bring business cards, bring a pen and paper, and be prepared to soak it in. If you want to register online you can do it at the Blogging for Business website (want a discount? Get it here).
Finally, thank you to all of those who have helped promote this event (I know I’m going to forget a few, so please forgive me: Kelly King Anderson, Janet Meiners, Chris Knudsen, Paul Allen the Lesser, Pat Vaughn, the Buzz Boosters, Utah First Friday, various chambers of commerce, various business and MBA schools, Thom Allen, Steve Spencer, Colin Kelley at Connect-Utah.org, Paul Beebe at the Salt Lake Tribune, Russ Page and many others. Matthew and I are absolutely amazed at the effectiveness of Businesswire for distributing press releases).
In Salt Lake we’re kind of jealous as we here about all kinds of cool social media conferences in San Francisco, Austin, Boston and other hip places. We’re working to set a precedence, and are really excited about this event!