schedule

Day 2: Thursday, May 26, 2011 | Session Descriptions

Business Keynote

Mark Surman of the Mozilla Foundation talks about how to make companies more social and less hierarchical so they can take advantage of the Web and how people now work.

Marketing Keynote

Gabe Zichermann provides perspective and insight into the psychology, behaviour and motivation of online users, including the growing role of gamification.

Business & Marketing

Business Panel

How to deal with a changing workforce, and how do companies drive collaboration and creative thinking? with Dan Debow, Laura Croucher and Charles Plant As the Web makes it possible to work anywhere and any time, it’s also had a profound impact on the employer-employee dynamic. With a more distributed workforce, how do executives manage and motivate their employees? What approach should be taken to younger employees who see social networking as an inherent part of their working and personal lives? And how do companies retain and harness more experienced employees who want work-life flexibility, which means escaping the cubicle but still working effectively remotely?

Marketing Panel

How Do You (Or Can You) Measure Online Influence? with David Armano, Valeria Maltoni and others Not that long ago, it seemed like quantity was the key focus when it came to social media. It was based on the idea of using social media platforms to blast out to as many people as possible. Now, quality has become all important and, as a result, “influencers” are seen as a valuable and necessary asset. So how do you measure the online “influence” of someone? Is the focus on influencers valid? If so, what is their role and impact, and how should they be approached and embraced?

Business Workshop

Podcasting for Marketers A workshop with Donna Papacosta In this interactive workshop, you’ll discover why smart marketers are using the human touch of audio to build relationships with prospects and customers. Especially in the B2B world, podcasts can be a powerful addition to the marketing mix. Find out where podcasts work, and how you can create them yourself. Your facilitator, Donna Papacosta of Trafalgar Communications, has produced more than 1,000 individual podcasts since 2005. At mesh11, you can check out her audio gear and learn her time-tested techniques.

Marketing Workshop

F-Commerce turning “Like” into “Buy” A workshop session with Janice Diner Social commerce is gaining momentum. Analysts are predicting that commerce from Facebook stores will hit $30 billion by 2015. Businesses of all sizes are building and testing commerce solutions inside Facebook and are looking at how they can turn conversations into conversions. Coke, Barneys, Sears, Pampers, Dove, Sephora, Lands End and many others pages have built “Shopping” Tabs in their Facebook pages. Facebook is launching, local group buying with its Deal platform and going head to head with companies such as Groupon. Facebook Credits will become the mandatory currency for Facebook games and applications as of July 1 2011. Janice Diner will take a look at this growing F-Commerce trend and will explore the different commerce models that are emerging in and around this category.

Business Panel

The Business of Apps with Kevin Restivo, Farhan Thawar and Ingrid Kelly How do companies approach the app-ication of the world? Do they need an app? How do you make apps resonate? How do you compare the value of an app versus other engagement tools? What’s the future of Internet when applications are developed to live in a proprietary universe created by Apple, Google, etc. What is funding like? What are the paybacks? Is everything old new again. The business of software on the Web? How a particular sector?

Marketing Panel

Groupon, Living Social, WagJag, et al….Is it e-commerce or e-mail marketing? with Candice Faktor, Lara Barlow and others For all the focus on social media marketing, e-mail marketing is not only a live and well but thriving. Why has e-mail, one of the granddaddy’s of the Internet, managed to remain vibrant and effective? Is GroupOn simply an e-mail marketer wrapped in a layer of social media?

Business Workshop

Digital Ethnography: How to build a better online community by understanding your audience’s culture A workshop with Michael Coulson, Heather Morrison and Ujwal Arkalgud This workshop will introduce you to the power of digital ethnographic research. Through the use of interactive exercises, we will walk you through a practical application of this research method to examine the cultures of two prominent online communities, Reddit and Digg, and spark ideas for how you can use digital ethnography at your organization. Here are three key questions that we will address:

1. What is digital ethnographic research and why is it useful to me?
2. How can the idea of contextual observation, the foundation of ethnographic research, be used to: better understand audiences, optimize marketing initiatives and messages, and better position products and services
3. How can digital ethnographic research be applied to understand and build online communities?

Business Workshop

How to effectively leverage LinkedIn A workshop with Leona Hobbs

Marketing Workshop

Building a Corporate Blog A workshop session with Eli Singer As organizations grapple with building sustainable social media communities, more than ever before they are looking to blogs to act as the branded hub of their social ecosystem. This workshop will be a blend of strategy, tactics and case studies, and covers what you need to know to build a corporate blog that acts as a community hub. Topics covered will include blogging fundamentals, positioning your community, design features, determining your voice and editorial strategy, integration with other social sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr, and finally how to measure your success. Two mini cases will bring the strategies to life.

Guest presenters include: Victor Samra, Community Management Lead, MoMA (New York City) and Pritesh Ghandi, Director of eChannel, Bank of Montreal.

Marketing Panel

Why the Emergence of Digital Changes Integrated Marketing with Bruce Philp, Leigh Himel and others The rise of digital marketing, including social media, has made it even more challenging and important to coordinate activity between companies advertising on radio, television, newspapers and the Web. At the same time, it impacts how brands do media-buying and public relations.

Business Presentation

How Twitter Can Jump-Start Brand Marketing A Presentation by Laura Fitton In the past two years, Twitter has emerged as a powerful way for companies to reach existing and potential customers. Author and entrepreneur Laura Fitton will do a super-presentation providing insight into the techniques and tools to effectively leverage Twitter to drive your brand and marketing efforts.

Marketing Workshop

Advertising on Facebook: Why and how to effectively advertise on Facebook A workshop with Rolf Dinsdale

Marketing Workshop

How to Build and Nurture an Online Community A workshop with Zoë Siskos The title “Community Manger” is becoming more widely used, but what exactly does it mean? By gaining a clear understanding of the challenges this role faces, you will be more equipped to create engaging and nurturing environments for your audience. Join Zoë and other Mesh attendees to participate in a vibrant discussion fuelled by real-life examples, thought provoking questions and, hopefully, a few laughs.