Upcoming  Speaking Engagements

Information Everywhere: Mobile Enterprise. Part of Mobile Innovation Week in Toronto 2010. The Mobile ThinkTank Series. September 15. The Mobile in the Enterprise Symposia will bring together enterprise thought leaders, strategic advisors and industry visionaries to explore how mobile technologies are changing organizations – creating new communication channels to increase operational efficiencies, untethering Business Intelligence, empower sale management and supporting learning.

Small ideas, big impact: optimize your microcontent marketing for the social web.Kingston Economic Development Corporation. The Entrepreneurship Centre. Small Business Forum. October 1st.

This presentation will focus on best practices in designing digital marketing content that is optimized for sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, YouTube, blogs, and smartphones. We’ll look at how building miniature digital assets enables even the busiest multi-tasking professionals and mobile consumers to infosnack on your message, and to pass it on. The seminar delivers actionable ideas and mini-case studies of successful social web marketing with microcontent that is purpose-built to “grow legs” online. Attendees will leave inspired to create or outsource their own versions of these digital promotional materials, so as to launch, expand, or refresh their social media marketing plans.

Mobile Learning: Smartphones and QR codes in Higher Ed. EDUCAUSE 2010. Anaheim, California. October 12-13. Three mini-presentations including one on using QR codes on campus and in class, and two others on using video coursecasting while keeping attendance high and outcomes higher, and using social media to support P2P technology mentoring for faculty and students. These presentations are sponsored by Macmillian and TheActiveClass.com

Cause Marketing: Social Media for Social Good. October 15-16. Centre for Responsible Leadership at Queen’s School of Business. Kingston, ON. 6th Annual CSR/Responsible Leadership Weekend. How do social media communications and cause marketing strategies fit into the larger picture of corporate social responsibility and ethical business praxis? This talk reviews a series of case studies from brands and organizations with a high Digital IQ—whose innovative SM campaigns succeed in engaging/enabling participants to make a positive social impact.

Multichannel Multitaskers: Engaging Gen Y in 3-screen culture. Digital Behavior Conference. Open Dialogue. 2-3 November. Toronto. Gen Y is not only adept at juggling multiple tasks, they do so across three screens and often simultaneously. Research shows they’re not alone: Gen Y, digital Boomers, and even silver surfers spend more time shifting between screens and gadgets every day. That means cross-platform marketing and communications plans are most effective with millennial consumers—but it leaves the issue of how best to capture Gen Y’s undivided attention. This presentation reviews examples of effective multichannel marketing to millennials, including campaigns that use social media to inspire both on- and off-line brand engagement.

Recent Speaking Engagements

Social media for alumni associations: Building online networks that are engaged and have sustained connections. Ontario Student Alumni Congress, hosted by Queen’s University Student Alumni Association. August 6-7 2010. This presentation will review case studies of successful social media initiatives by alumni associations in higher ed, to identify which channels and content have the greatest impact. We’ll cover a collection of actionable tips on using social media to drive campus community involvement, including student immersion in campus life, and lasting alumni support. Attendees will leave the presentation inspired and with ideas about how to grow cross-generational online communities, produce digital creative work optimized for the mobile and social web, and how to track and measure the effects of these activities against a set of clear objectives.

Beyond the Basics: Social Media Marketing Design. Kingston Chamber of Commerce. 14 July. Social Media Networking Breakfast.

In this presentation we’ll go beyond the basics a few steps to focus on best practices in social media communication design and deployment. We’ll review a roundup of the most effective online communications ideas and initiatives you can use to connect with clients and make an impact on search and social platforms such as Google, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, and Facebook. Socialize your business this summer. Come for breakfast and get inspired. Online registration and flyer (pdf). This presentation was sponsored by Anthony Agostino of Viva Productions and emceed by Donna Woodbury of Rogers Wireless Express Kingston.

Why Mobile Matters. A MarketingProfs online webinar.

All day long, mobile users reach for cell- and smartphones, netbooks, laptops, handheld consoles, and iPads to plug into commerce, community, entertainment and information. Meanwhile, Gen Y, Gen X, and Boomer consumers continue to accelerate and expand their adoption of feature-rich mobile services and portable gadgets. Educators, governments, marketers and non-profits alike understand this and are all seeking ways to connect with and become relevant to these mobile users. This online seminar is designed for marketing strategy professionals who are seeking ideas for mobile relationship and content marketing plans. This webinar was sponsored by Digital Cement and is now available on-demand at MarketingProfs.

Modern Love, Social networking style: digital technologies for hooking up, breaking off, and stepping out. Canadian Communication Association Annual Conference. Montreal June 1-3.

Presentation considers high-tech matchmaking services that rely on and assume a digitally-fluent, connected client base. I’ll consider stream dating, twating, and GPSdating. These services encourage “living in public” and set high expectations for transparency, reachability, and technical competency. To complicate matters I’ll conclude with a look at AshleyMadison.com—because it plays havoc with discourses of transparency and trust economies, relying instead on anonymity, discretion, and digital duplicity.

How to “click” with Millennial Moms. Marketing to Digital Moms Conference. Toronto  June 2-3, 2010.

Focus on the millennial mom demographic and how she uses social media to stay connected, organized, entertained and informed. Presentation highlights high-profile social media backfires/PR crises resulting from lack of effective SM strategy. Reviews innovative campaigns that successfully reach and involve this cohort in P2P recommendation. Identifies communication activities and technical initiatives that “click” with these consumers. Excerpts from this presentation are available as an ePaper.

Social media strategy for optimizing recruitment, engagement, and event promotion. Queen’s University. AMS Training Seminar. 14 May.

This seminar will cover some ways to use social media platforms for recruitment and event promotion. It looks at how to use Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter for social media hiring initiatives, volunteer recruitment and onboarding, and to increase staff engagement. Once everyone’s connected online, it’s time to consider how to use social media for event promotion. We’ll review ways to kickstart social word-of-web buzz on these communications channels. Selected slides from this presentation are available online.

“Getting Social: First Steps” Greater Kingston Chamber of Commerce. Social Media Breakfast. April 13.

We’ll discuss designing online media, communications and networking strategies appropriate for small and medium business. Social media and social networking platforms are changing the way we connect and consume, and the ways we do business. Focus is on social media marketing ROI and impact on your bottom lines. Video podcasted excerpts from this presentation are now available online.

Generation C(ontent): Social Media Marketing for Small Business. Kingston Technology Council. Innovation 2010 March 25.

This presentation focuses on how how small technology companies can use social media marketing, user-generated media, and prosumer technologies to increase brand visibility and sales. Sample slides from this presentation are available on Slideshare.

Statversations. TEDxQueen’s. January 2010.

Statversations are conversations conducted through status updates, whether in the form of SMS, tweet, GPS tag, or video. This ten-minute presentation explores how status updates operate as the foundation of the social web, the backbone of our digital personas, and the currency of an emerging trust economy. Podcasted excerpts from this presentation now available online at Vimeo.