I write some of my best posts when I’m tired and about to pass out from a long day of working and writing – since my post on Looking forward to Monitoring Social Media 09 in London – November 17th was re-tweeted several times, and I only covered half the sessions at Monitoring Social Media 09 next month in that post – now that I’m wide awake, after a long nights sleep, here’s the rest of the sessions I did not cover in the first post ( read Looking forward to Monitoring Social Media 09 in London – November 17th , first, then finish up reading this post ).

I write some of my best posts when I’m tired and about to pass out from a long day of working and writing – since my post on Looking forward to Monitoring Social Media 09 in London – November 17th was re-tweeted several times, and I only covered half the sessions at Monitoring Social Media 09 next month in that post – now that I’m wide awake, after a long nights sleep, here’s the rest of the sessions I did not cover in the first post (read Looking forward to Monitoring Social Media 09 in London – November 17th, first, then finish up reading this post).

In The Truth about Social Media Data – I’m expecting to hear “who” is collecting the data and  partnerships where the data is being resold or “white labeled” ….

The Truth About Social Media Data
Giles Palmer, Founder and Managing Director, Brandwatch
With leading brands increasingly turning to social media for insight, feedback and guidance, social media data is under the spotlight. Questions about it’s origins, accuracy and scope have the potential to undermine the whole monitoring industry. In this session Giles Palmer, who has successfully led more than a hundred organisations through the murky world of social media data, explains where it comes from, who controls it, how it is filtered and categorised, its inherent flaws and limitations, and how to avoid misreading the information you are presented with.

In fact, white labeling of monitoring platforms is happening and has been happening for a while – and it might be there are only a few companies pulling the data in the first place off the web.  I know that Alterian/Techrigy/SM2 is white labeling their platform (though I never saw an example of it) and I know Radian6 white labels CisionPoint (I’ve personally seen this) and some contact management platforms, and CRM platforms, like SalesForce, are using Radian6 as a “gigantic EAR” and wrote about it in a few posts at Webmetricsguru.com where Social Media and Web Analytics are going to be merging more and more (which hearkens back to my session on The Future of Social Media Monitoring panel, earlier in the day).

Here’s the posts addressing the merging of data that I see happening more and more New Developments in Search, Analytics and Social Media plus Radian6’s Web Analytics and Salesforce.com Intergration along the work with Tealium.com, which picks up which of your customers was exposed to the brand message when they land on your site.com.

But, I’m expecting Giles Palmer to come up with something more revealing on who is actually getting rich on this “data” about us - (similar to the rumor that the CIA founded Facebook to collect data on us – rumor)  and how our “identity might be  sold from Social Networks and end up somewhere else or used by someone else” – looking towards finding out something I don’t know, yet, like

” …. you’ll be alarmed at a new article from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) that outlines how third parties are getting access to your personal information. Sites such as CareerBuilder.com are utilizing cookies from up to ten different tracking domains. These sites are using hard-to-delete cookies that remain on your computer system long after you’ve browsed the site.

Yeah, never liked CareerBuilder.com, but then, I used to work for Monster.com – so why would I? … and that’s what I’m hoping he’ll tell us, and what we can do about it.  Yes, I’m looking for conspiracy theories  in this session (after all, doesn’t the title of this session suggest that?) – lets see if Giles comes out and says that. We’ll see.

If Giles Palmer says what I hope he’ll say – and more – it’ll be worth the plane trip, hotel and conference admission price,  in London, even if I wasn’t speaking (but I am speaking).  I’m tired of going to Social Media conferences that just repeat what we already know, give me something new – Giles.  I bet he will.

In the next session, I’m expecting a Case Study – my guess is it’ll be  sufficiently detailed to glimmer at some truths we all need to apply with Social Media Community Building ….

The Power of Listening & Responding: Skype
Robin Grant, Managing Director, We Are Social
Robin will talk about how We Are Social helped Skype to set-up and run their own real-time social media listening and responding programme. He will provide insights into the tools and methodologies used and explain the impact social media monitoring had on Skype’s business. He will also describe how it helped them to manage a major crisis.

The key to this session is finding out what they did, specifically, and how it actually turned things around – I’m not expecting to find out anything that revolutionary here, but if I did, I’d be glad – if I found something about community building, reacting quickly, etc, that is generally not well known or understood, but could be ground breaking - I’ll just go on the record as saying – I’m not expecting that level of insight from this session, but if it happens, it’ll  an added bonus for being at #msm09 .

In Surviving in iPhone Territory - I hope Chris Thomas gets into the nitty gritty of what platforms he used (I’m thinking Crimson Hexagon – sorta suggested by the title – but maybe I’m wrong) and how hard it was to come up with the insights – how many hours did it take,  how many people worked on it – what kind of problems they came across when pulling the data – and what they learned about the HTC and how to launch it against the iPhone that they’d not know about unless they ran this study (in other words, Social Media ROI came out of it).

Surviving in iPhone Territory: A Competitive Analysis of the Launch of the HTC G1
Chris Thomas, Head of Research, The Conversation Group (TCG)
Chris Thomas presents the findings of a TCG research project covering the launch of the HTC G1 – the first smartphone to use the Google Android operating system. The project showcases the contribution of social media research to competitive intelligence, brand positioning and strategic communications. Covering a three month period around launch, and including almost 100,000 unique items of discussion content. The presentation offers lessons for the effective blending of quantitative and qualitative analysis methods, and evaluation of the relative contributions of a range of free and licensed monitoring and analysis tools.

So, Chris Thomas will probably be talking about the undertaking … the kind of stuff, blending of quantitative (web analytics data, for example) with the qualitative (questionnaire, sentiment data, tone, etc).   As you know, merging both sets of data is challenging – and I wrote a post about it a few weeks ago in A Social Media Scorecard based on Digital Footprint Index and a companion post On Measuring Social Media … thoughts and a Scorecard.

So far, Crimson Hexagon seems to have gone the farthest, of all the entrants in this Social Media Monitoring arena, with the potential implications and applications of merging qualitative with quantitative data, but they have yet to carry it out nearly as far as they could, or should, in my opinion.  It would be nice is someone from Crimson Hexagon was in the audience – or even, on a panel, but I don’t think they’re going be there – they should be.

Developing the idea of merging – what if Crimson Hexagon’s analysis of Obama’s HealthCare Speech last month to Congress, using Twitter accounts only,  captured not only the opinions about how people felt (qualitative data on sentiment and opinions- see below)

… but what if Crimson Hexagon also collected the Twitter accounts of each opinion along with the opinion mapping?  I know they have the data, they have a 75% to 80% accuracy, at this time, of mapping snippets to the actual opinion categories, and a 3% error rate in drawing out the percentages of each category – why couldn’t they take a stab at matching it up – or … we’d find out the match is pretty noisy …. maybe we’d contact half the people we could identify who said Obama’s speech was great and find out they don’t agree – or maybe we’d find out to what degree they did agree.  Maybe we’d approach the people who said Obama lied, see if that categorization is accurate.    We’d go to the next level or two with this data – because that’s what is logical to do.

Now, I’m familiar with STA Travel - I used to have a client who I did web analytics for that did Irish, Scottish and English vacations – STA is one of the biggest travel firms Europe, but getting travel agencies to use Social Media has been …. well, as fruitful as getting Architects to use it …. travel agencies have been, mildly stating it, un imaginative and not willing to take risk, at all, which is what Social Media, today, requires.

Getting Started with Social Media: STA Travel case study
Celia Pronto, Marketing Director, STA Travel
Most brands know they should get involved in social media, but where should you start? Hear from STA Travel how they moved from traditional marketing to placing social media at the heart of their business, including: Getting internal buy-in, How they developed their strategy, What measures they use to define success.

That’s why this session should be so interesting – think about it – there’s so many opportunities to get user generated content from people who take trips using travel packages – of using YouTube and other video data to augment views of a particular hotel, travel attraction, even a particular travel package that is still running – along with the TravelAdvisor reviews of hotels and restaurants that we’re already able to use for the last couple of years.

IN booking this trip to London next month, I used Expedia and got a good deal on a 4 star hotel and RT flight – because I read those reviews and looked at the pictures, and looked, and looked … in fact, I visited Expedia on at least 5 occasions to do research before I booked.   What do you think I got in email box a few days ago – contact with a personal team that will answer all my questions about London and a custom mini guide to London, sent to me as PDF – I didn’t get that two years ago when I was last in Paris for LeWeb07 and I booked my flight and hotel with Expedia.  Here’s Dave Sifry explaining it, himself (hint: maybe Dave Sifry ought to come to #msm09 and explain his custom travel guides in person)

Dave Sifry has been doing just that – custom Travel Guides – and testing it out at LeWeb 07, which I attended – though I didn’t come in contact with Dave Sifry there (but Scoble and Sifry had dinner – I wasn’t invited – ha, ha – and that was half the reason I went – to hang out – and go the Louvre, of course).  Maybe Dave sold his technology to Expedia – or maybe what he does is a much more customized version of what Expedia is now trying to do.

Maybe it’s not just for the publishing industry – but for the Travel Industry …Duh!

” … This could be a game changer for book publishing. A new company called Offbeat Guides produces personalized travel books based on your itinerary and travel details. It was founded by Dave Sifry, a serial entrepreneur (and friend) from San Francisco who previously led Technorati and LinuxCare. Dave has participated in our We Media conferences for many years. He’s steeped in knowledge and awareness of how the web is changing behavior and creating new opportunities to inform the planet. Here’s Dave’s blog post on the new business, which just opened for public beta, and more about personalized publishing from the company blog here.

I may add, the Travel data is pulled of the Web, in real time, and customized to you (maybe I’ll get one, just to compare with what Expedia gave me).  Ideally, Dave ought to just supply it to Expedia, STA, etc, for a fee – but that’s a creative use of Social Media – since some of this information might come from user reviews and insights – and I can see where it could be made even better by adding personality type matching with YourUniverse or something similar – I think YourUniverse – http://www.youniverse.com/ had a fascinating – I took a bunch of tests last year but then lost touch with it – but coupled with Sifry’s guide – it could be a very, very, powerful combination.

In fact, using http://www.youniverse.com/ with Travel Agencies Social Media could be a “Killer Application” if done well.  Just another one of my insights –  fortunately, YourUNIVERSE has done the bulk of the work - so messing this one up really will be in how the data is matched up with your itinerary – I suggest a partnership with them – they have the best network for personality testing with images – maybe the only one – best to build on it.

Travel agencies have clearly been late to the game, yet Travel Agencies, have the most to gain, in many ways, from Social Media – due to the wealth of content and the willingness to share it -  so I’ll be looking at what Celia Pronto says about the Social Media program STA put in place.  I’m expecting a very good case study here on the value of Social Media for STA, in terms of bookings, customer satisfaction, loyalty – Net Promoter Score, even – this is what I am hoping to hear.  It also would be nice to hear about how STA “enabled” customers to share their data with each other.

In Social Networking Data – I’m expecting Paul to talk about, and begin to summarize what has been discussed earlier in the day and pick up on the Crimson Hexagon example I gave above.

Social Networking Data – The Vital Ingredient for 360 Customer Understanding
Paul Alexander, CEO, Beyond Analysis
Social networks have the potential to provide companies with instant, reliable and valuable feedback – to help them reduce their reliance on expensive market research. But how useful is this new data source? Can “buzz” ever match the quality of traditionally researched data? And how far can casual online interactions be used to map transactional or behavioral shifts? In this session Paul Alexander demonstrates how several leading brands are approaching these questions and found answers to them.

The question becomes, how useful is this data if Sentiment Analysis is only 60% accurate and is often not even related to the Topic our using the Social Media Monitoring Platform to discover?   Since the data is so “unstructured” and “noisy” without significant work to clean the data and structure it – might the results be more of a detractor than not?

I think we’ve been there before, and I doubt this session will actually tell us something that new, but it would be good to hear about what measures are used for “Success” and get something actionable (i repeat, actionable) from this session about how we can sell social media to resistant stakeholders and clients that are still afraid to dip their toes into the pond.

In what appears to be the last session (unless the listings are not chronological) we get a discussion of free vs. paid tools

The Price of Knowledge: Free vs. Paid Monitoring Tools
Brad Little, Director, Industry Solutions Online, Nielsen
When choosing a social media monitoring tool, there are lots of questions to consider: why are there so many approaches and services? How are they different? What justifies the price variances? Can’t we get this for free? What is being measured? What resources should we invest? In this session Brad examines the differences between social media monitoring tools, how they work and what to consider when choosing a provider. He will aim to get beyond the sales hype and look under the bonnet to help you select the right solution for your company.

Personally, I would prefer to see this session and the Future of Social Media Monitoring (which I’m speaking on) switched in sequence.  Here’s why.

First, the issue of weather to use Google Alerts, HowSociable, BackType, TweetDeck, Freeninum version of Alterian/Techrigy/SM2, etc … vs. Cision, Radian6, Crimson Hexagon, Collective Intellect, etc, etc …. is one that every person faces in this field – it comes up over and over – and is best dealt with at the beginning of the day – where we can uncover pros and cons which we can then take to us to the following sessions.

Furthermore – the discussion of “free” vs. “paid” tools mirrors the same arguments going on in the Web Analytics arena - with Google Analytics, with it’s free, but powerful platform, pushing other vendors out of business since buying Urchin, or pushing the like Omniture, Coremetrics, WebTrends, into directions they’d not ordinarily want go in (such as the Omniture acquisition by Adobe last month and the matching up of Radian6 data with WebTrends – plus the SalesForce.com connection with listening platforms).

This week, at Emetrics Summit, Google is going to announce something new with Google Analytics - what if it was the acquisition of one of the Listening Platforms (like Radian6, for example) and it’s merging with Google Analytics data – which would be logical – would that not be a game changer?

I don’t know if that’s what Google is going to announce this time – but who has the most data in the world in one place?  Google. Who has the most to benefit from adding Listening Platforms into Analytics and Advertising … Google.

I predict, something like this will happen in the next year or two – and it will change the game – in a big way.  I can’t tell you it will happen next week – or next year – but it will happen.  Prepare for it.  Pro, it will help everyone but will hurt some of the big players.  That’s all I can say now – consider it an Intuitive, Prophetic Flash – one that seems logical, given where its all going.

Second, The Future of Social Media Monitoring – should be the last session of the day, because in many ways it’s forward facing and may be impacted by what was said in some of the other sessions – such as “The Truth about Social Media Data” (where are future is going to be data about us being “sold off” or not?) or the impact of new developments in listening technologies like Crimson Hexagon have in Public Relations (after all, several PR firms have been building on Social Media, of late, building Social Media into their campaign pitches – and the Monitoring and Measurement of Social Media, and I should know – because I’m personally involved with that at this moment).

I believe Monitoring Social Media 09 next month, in London, on November 17th, ought to be widely covered – and if your able to make it -  (anyone who wants to come to #MSM09 can get a 10% discount by using code MSM0910).

Hope to see any of my readers who are at the #MSM09 or a Tweet-up in London, that week – details will be following in a few weeks.

Go here to read the rest:
Looking forward to Monitoring Social Media 09 in London – Part 2 – November 17th

Popularity: 14% [?]

In a month I’ll be in London to speak at Monitoring Social Media 09 – I looked over the program again (anyone who wants to come to #MSM09 can get a 10% discount by using code MSM0910 ) and decided to put out some ideas beforehand. BTW, I wrote a follow up post to this one that covers the remaining sessions on Monitoring Social Media 09 that I didn’t cover here – read it after you finish here for more insights – link is at the bottom of this post

In a month I’ll be in London to speak at Monitoring Social Media 09 – I looked over the program again (anyone who wants to come to #MSM09 can get a 10% discount by using code MSM0910) and decided to put out some ideas beforehand.

BTW, I wrote a follow up post to this one that covers the remaining sessions on Monitoring Social Media 09 that I didn’t cover here – read it after you finish here for more insights – link is at the bottom of this post.

In the first panel the case for investing in Social Media Monitoring tools and methodologies is discussed.

The ROI of Social Media Monitoring
Panel discussion
Social media monitoring produces interesting facts and figures, but how does it impact on the bottom line? In this session we dicuss practical examples of how monitoring makes financial sense to large companies and examine whether this is the case even during an economic recession. We ask our panelists to justify the existence of social media monitoring in the world today.

I don’t think it’s too hard to make a case for monitoring Brands using Social Media, especially after some recent fiascoes like Motrin – Mommy Bloggers debacle a year ago and even a recent post in Social Media Today on Saving your reputation in 48 hours because you might not even have four hours.

The details are in the Financial Times - in short ..

You have 48 hours to save your reputation. People will come to your site when they hear about an issue, but only for a very short period. Peter Warne, Nestlé’s senior corporate internet manager, says: “We’ve tracked traffic to our site when negative stories about the industry have come out. There’s a very sharp peak which dies down in 48 hours.”

Given that, as imperfect as the monitoring tools for Social Media are, if your running a business of any size, you can not afford to ignore the viral spread of information.

In the second session on what’s wrong with Social Media Monitoring Platforms …

What’s Wrong with Social Media Monitoring Services?
Panel discussion
Following on from Asi Sharabi’s popular and highly critical blog post, we analyse the market for monitoring solutions and ask the panel some tough questions: How are these services differentiating themselves? Which are the best? Are the free tools as good as paid ones? In a highly competitive market, is there a temptation to oversell? Is the whole industry living in the shadow of Google?

I think Asi’s blog post (cited in the session notes) does sum up where we’re at today – and one of the reasons I asked to attend and speak at Monitoring Social Media – this conference is the first to openly address the reliability issues with all the platforms – and I look forward to what the panelists will say -though, I have my own ideas about what they should say.

The Third Session, Future of Social Media Monitoring, I’ll be on the panel (yea!) as I have a strong opinion about the Future of Monitoring:

Beyond Listening: The Future of Social Media Monitoring
Panel discussion
With leading brands now seeking to track online conversations and engage with customers in real-time, the future is never very far away. In this panel session we ask where social media monitoring will be two years from now. What are the growth areas? What new techniques are emerging?Will access to data become more open or closed? Howwill large corporates integrate listening into their processes? And, what will the wary consumer make of it?

I’m thinking about what I’ll say next month, now.  I think Crimson Hexagon’s approach to determining opinion is interesting technology, even though they haven’t carried it nearly as far as I’d like them to; I wrote a post last month on what  Crimson Hexagon ought to  evolve into.  I see matching up opinion and identity (esp with Twitter – where pulling a twitter handle is fairly easy and common, but hasn’t been done against opinions – this would give us real time online polling – even down the district level.

In my opinion, the growth areas are the integration with with Web Analytics, CRM and Search Marketing and I wrote about it in Entrepreneur.com earlier this year in an article titled Learn to Measure your Web Presence; since then, the Omniture – Comscore deal happened, Omniture was purchased by Adobe and Nielsen is doing a deal with Facebook to share marketing information.

I suspect the data will be more open, not closed, and I do think many more businesses and Brands will set up listening services and people to react  quickly … hopefully in less than 8 hours, but certainly, no less than 24 hours.

In the next session, Alan Moore, who I met this spring in NYC, will be speaking on who owns the data about us that’s on the Web:

Refined Social Data Changes Everything You Ever Thought About Marketing
Alan Moore, Author & Speaker
In the networked society we leave data trails; plumes of information – the personal exhaust from our digital interactions. These are the shadows and footprints of our daily lives. In the highly competitive world of marketing and commerce, this data is moving centre stage, with companies desperate to harvest, aggregate and refine it. Yet our destiny with data is complex.There are legitimate concerns about who actually owns this information and, when our identities can be pieced together via data flows, privacy becomes a key battleground. This requires companies to rethink how they create value. In the search economy, the old way of doing things just won’t do.

Over a year ago, I attended a PodCamp in Brooklyn PolyTech that had an interesting session on Identity Management – when I think about who owns the data – I think about who manages Identity Management on the Web?  As far as who owns the data, I think no one actually “owns data”, even when they think they do.  Let’s see what Alan Moore has to say about Identity Management.

The next session reminds me of Michael Cayley and his Social Capital Value Add. I met Michael Cayley last spring in Toronto

After Brand: Listening and Organisations
Antony Mayfield, VP, Head of Global Media, iCrossing
The social web is the edge of the massive, disruptive wave of innovation that is the Web. Brand is an excellent place for organisations to start from in surveying and understand the changing world they now live in, but there are significant challenges and opportunities for brands beyond marketing alone. This session will discuss how social media represents a strategic business challenge and how how active listening (measurement, monitoring and storytelling) by organisations will not only be the heart of communications but a key business process that touches finance, IT, customer service, product development and beyond.

I think the point, here, is Social Media is affecting the value of  corporations, positively or negatively.  Michael Cayley came up with a method to analyze the social media value in a corporation that led to changes in the company’s valuation on the Stock Market.

In the Business Case for Buzz, I’m looking forward to hearing what Ann is going to say about doing research using Social Monitoring tools to figure out what the strategy of a Brand’s messaging ought to be.

The Business Case for Buzz
Ann Longley, Strategy Director at Mediaedge: CIA
Social media is creating new challenges and opportunities for brands including a bewildering array of new touch points and potential approaches. How should brands approach this media landscape? This session, based on real case studies, builds the business case for using buzz research as the ideal starting point for social media engagement and integrated planning.

So who is actually an influential?   The following session attempts to find out:

Knowing Who Matters: Discovering and Analysing Influence
Marshall Manson, Director of Digital Strategy, Edelman EMEA
Marshall advises clients on digital strategy, online reputation management, crisis management, advocacy, engagement and viral marketing. A pioneer in the field of online strategy, communications and reputation managemen, his clients have included Shell, HP and English Heritage. He moved to the UK in 2008, having previously worked in Edelmans’ Washington DC office as Vice-President of Online Advocacy.

That’s only half the sessions and this is already a log blog post, so I’ll stop here.   If you want to know more about Monitoring Social Media 09 , check the site.

Also read the following post that covers the rest of the session at Monitoring Social Media 09 -Looking forward to Monitoring Social Media 09 in London – Part 2 – November 17th

My second post is even more filled with insights, than this one.

By the way, I’ll be in London between November 15th and November 22nd.

Continued here: 
Looking forward to Monitoring Social Media 09 in London – November 17th

Popularity: 12% [?]

I’ll be back at the Hilton connecting with people and attending sessions which I’ll be live tweeting – or blogging, to the extent I can blog at the Hilton – usually, I find it’s just easier to do it all on my iPhone , except it’s harder to type long posts and avoid typos. This is what I’m planning on covering today - Opening Remarks & Keynote Location: General Session Room – Grand Ballroom Suite Time: 9:45am – 10:45am Jim Kukral , Owner, TheBizWebCoach.com ( Twitter @jimkukral ) Chris Brogan , President, New Marketing Labs (Twitter @chrisbrogan ) (This Session is Open to All Pass Holders) I got a copy of Trust Agents, co – authored by Chris Brogan – and started reading it – pretty good – I can’t read the whole thing before Tuesday morning though.

I’ll be back at the Hilton connecting with people and attending sessions which I’ll be live tweeting – or blogging, to the extent I can blog at the Hilton – usually, I find it’s just easier to do it all on my iPhone, except it’s harder to type long posts and avoid typos.

This is what I’m planning on covering today -

Opening Remarks & Keynote
Location: General Session Room – Grand Ballroom Suite
Time: 9:45am – 10:45am

• Jim Kukral, Owner, TheBizWebCoach.com (Twitter @jimkukral)
• Chris Brogan, President, New Marketing Labs (Twitter @chrisbrogan)

(This Session is Open to All Pass Holders)

I got a copy of Trust Agents, co – authored by Chris Brogan – and started reading it – pretty good – I can’t read the whole thing before Tuesday morning though.

How to Monetize Your Site with Widgets
Session 4b
Location: Classroom B – Clinton
Time: 11:30am-12:30pm

This presentation will discuss how to enhance your site using various widgets, what works and what doesn’t, and how effective different widgets are to your site.

• Woody Wood, Product Manager, Amazon (Twitter @AmazonAssociate)

The technical level of the sessions on Sunday wasn’t as in depth as I’d have liked – like to hear what Woody Wood (wierd name) has to say about Widgets.

Social Media Marketing for Affiliates
Session 5b
Location: Classroom B – Clinton
Time: 2:00pm-3:00pm

Learn from some of the top Social Media Marketers, how you can use social media to build links, drive traffic, and increase your site’s visibility.

• Neil Patel, Co-Founder, KISSmetrics (Twitter @neilpatel) (Moderator)
• Brent Csutoras, Social Media Consultant, Brent Csutoras, Inc. (Twitter @brentcsutoras)
• Todd Malicoat, Owner, Meta4 Creations, LLC (Twitter @stuntdubl)
• Chris Winfield, President, 10e20 (Twitter @chriswinfield)

(This Session is Open to Platinum Pass Holders Only)

A definite must attend for me, more likely than not I’ll live tweet from it.

The Conversation Prism v2.0
Session 6b
Location: Classroom B – Clinton
Time: 3:30pm-4:30pm

We will observe, analyze, dissect, and present the dynamics of conversations, how and where they transpire – becoming digital anthropologists in the process.

• Brian Solis, Principal of FutureWorks, PR 2.0 (Twitter @briansolis)

I want to point out that I’ve met Brian Solis several times and have read some of his blog posts, but I have never actually heard him speak at a conference – now I will.  Brian Solis has been in the news a lot based on his writings about the future of public relations.

Ask the Experts
Location: General Session Room – Grand Ballroom Suite
Time: 5:00 pm-6:00pm

(This Session is Open to All Pass Holders)

Ask the Experts will be an opportunity for merchants, networks and affiliates to ask questions about various specialties and issues.

Hand picked experts will handle topics in their specialty, and conduct chats, answer questions and share opinions during this networking and education session.

• Advanced Landing Pages for Affiliates: Scott Brinker, President & CTO, ion interactive, inc.(Twitter @chiefmartec)
• Advanced Search Marketing For Affiliates: Gab Goldenberg, Owner, SEO ROI Services (Twitter@GabGoldenberg)
• Affiliate Strategies for Evaluating Merchant Partners: Michael Vorel, CEO, Vastplanet Corporation(Twitter @michaelvorel)
• Driving Consumer Action with Online Video: Bud Rosenthal, CEO, TurnHere (Twitter @turnhere)
• Ecommerce Economics: What Affiliates Should Know: Daniel Assouline, CEO & Co-Founder,UpClick
• The Face (Yours!) of Affiliate Marketing: Christopher Park, Affiliate/Partnerships Manager,Blair.com (Twitter @BLAIRAffiliates)
• How to Get Your Niche Site Online: Evan Weber, CEO, Experience Advertising, Inc. (Twitter@experienceads)
• How to Make $70MM in 3 Years: Paul Moss, CEO, Moss Affiliate Marketing
• How to Motivate Affiliates: Geno Prussakov, CEO, AM Navigator LLC (Twitter @eprussakov)
• Monetizing Social Media: The How-To GuideJoe Stepniewski, Co-Founder, Skimlinks (Twitter@digijoe)
• The New Google Rules: Mike Jacobs, Chief Services Officer, iMarketing LTD. (Twitter@mikeyjake)
• Removing Enterprise Barriers: Budgets, Silos, Creating Dominance: David Dalka, President,Dalka Strategy Consulting (Twitter @dalka)
• Removing the Payments Headache: Yuval Tal, CEO, Payoneer
• Using Photographs in Your Websites to Gain Traffic: Deborah Carney, CEO, Team Loxly (Twitter@loxly)

I highlighted the experts I plan to seek out during this session.

Intium Services Party
Sponsored by Click Progression, Intium Services
Location: Ultra Nightclub (37 W 26th St., New York, NY. 10010)
Time: 8:00pm – ?

You come to Affiliate Summit for the best networking and more. Shouldn’t you get the best once the show floor closes? That’s why, to celebrate the launch of the best affiliate management solution, Click Progression, Intium Services is granting VIP access to one of the most exclusive New York nightclubs experiences – Ultra. We’re rolling out the red carpet with a premium open bar and LA DJ Solomon spinning the hottest tunes. You’ll take home fabulous gifts to remember us by, but it’s sure to be an evening you won’t forget. All the VIPs will be there; will you?

RSVP at http://www.intiumservices.com/affiliatesummit.aspx

I might check this party out – I missed the one on Sunday night and the Tweetup at the Hilton Hotel didn’t attract many people.

Read the original here: 
Affiliate Summit Day 2 sessions to track

Popularity: 18% [?]

I’m at the Affiliate Summit NYC which starts today, at noon – and promises to be a long, long day, followed by two more, afterwards – I will live blog, as I can.   After looking at the program again, today, here’s what I plan to cover, and blog about, to the extent I can ( I’ll be more focused in taking in information and talking to people than blogging – but if I can get decent receptivity at the Hilton, I’ll blog from my iPhone 3GS ).

I’m at the Affiliate Summit NYC which starts today, at noon – and promises to be a long, long day, followed by two more, afterwards – I will live blog, as I can.   After looking at the program again, today, here’s what I plan to cover, and blog about, to the extent I can (I’ll be more focused in taking in information and talking to people than blogging – but if I can get decent receptivity at the Hilton, I’ll blog from my iPhone 3GS).

Getting Noticed FAST
Session 1c
Location: Classroom C – Concourse A
Time: 12:00pm-1:00pm

Regardless what your role in the industry is, it’s important to be noticed within the industry. Learn the networking and social media techniques that make it possible.

• Lisa Picarille, Online Marketing Consultant, LisaPicarille.com (Twitter @lisap) (Moderator)
• Michael Buechele, Owner, MikeBuechele.com (Twitter @mikebuechele)
• Trisha Lyn Fawver, Affiliate Manager, Paulson Management Group (Twitter @trishalyn)
• Jen Goode, Doodler in Charge, JGoode Designs (Twitter @JGoode)
• Stephanie Lichtenstein, Affiliate Program Manager, Andy Rodriguez Consulting (Twitter@StephARC)

My desire to check out this session has more to do with some recent social media projects and my curiosity to see what Lisa Picarille and Jen Goode will say – and what affiliates might be doing to get attention, and therefore, drive traffic, viral or otherwise, to their sites – with the idea that most of the tactics used are applicable beyond affiliate marketing.

Personal Branding 2.0
Session 2b
Location: Classroom B – Clinton
Time: 1:30pm-2:30pm

Everyone knows the power Twitter, Facebook and social networks have in today’s online marketplace. How can building your own personal brand help you increase traffic and exposure?

• Stephanie Agresta, EVP, Porter Novelli (Twitter @stephagresta)
• Sarah Austin, Founder & CEO, Pop17 (Twitter @pop17)

(This Session is Open to Gold and Platinum Pass Holders Only)

Igniting Viral Campaigns by Creating Relevant Conversations
Session 2d
Location: Classroom D – Nassau Suite
Time: 1:30pm-2:30pm

Learn how companies of all sizes including major brands are taking advantage of the tools , trends and technology to cut through the noise and connect with potential customers.

• Larry Bailin, CEO, Single Throw Internet Marketing (Twitter @LarryBailin)

Of course, I can’t miss Personal Branding 2.0, and I see @stephagresta at a few local events lately including Jeff Pulver’s 140 Conference which Porter Novelli helped sponser.  I’ve been working my brand for a while – and I’m curious to see what I might have not done – as well as the stuff I’m doing right (or wrong).   If I had a second choice, I’d go with the Viral Campaigns – and I might stick my head in both of them – as Viral is tough to ignite and I’d like to see what Larry is saying about he does it.

SEO Site Clinic
Session 3d
Location: Classroom D – Nassau Suite
Time: 3:00pm-4:00pm

Live Q&A, site audits and suggestions on how to help the internal site structure, as well as ideas how to build a better site for organic rankings.

• Chris Pearson, Overlord, DIYthemes (Twitter @pearsonified) (Moderator)
• Michael Gray, Owner, Atlas Web Services (Twitter @graywolf)
• Rae Hoffman, Owner, Sugarrae Inc (Twitter @sugarrae)
• Michael Streko, Owner, Streko Media LLC (Twitter @streko)
• Frank Watson, Owner, Kangamurra Media

(This Session is Open to Gold and Platinum Pass Holders Only)

I just saw Frank Watson this week at SEMPO NY Goes Cruisin’ Boat Cruize 8-06-09 and discussed speaking at SES NYC next spring, along with Mike Grehan and Matt McGowen (those two I have on video, in that post – inviting me to speak).   SEO has changed so much over the time I’ve been consulting doing SEO along with Web Analytics (since 2002) that I’m wondering what they’ll say now that Yahoo! Search is going to be Bing and Google is now becoming the defacto Big Brother that I’ve written about several times over the last few years (even as we all love Google).

Affiliate Summit Tweetup
Location: Sutton Complex
Time: 9:00pm – 12:00am

This is a networking social event open to all Affiliate Summit attendees to get together for drinks and conversation in a non-club atmosphere. If your preference is to turn the music down and the lights up, join us to meet new people and create new business opportunities.

I’ll try to stay around for this, but unless I find my self at dinner (say, on a cruise) or find something to talk about after 4PM – there’s nothing scheduled much after 4, not sure how long I’ll stay around.   Ideally, the Tweetup might be nice to go to, at least for the first hour or so.    Of course, it’d be nice to be on that Boat Cruise they have with the Top chef finalist.

Let me put it this way, if I get on that cruise tonight – I’ll have better footage and more interesting stories than the SEMPO NY Goes Cruisin’ Boat Cruize 8-06-09 on Thursday night.   Let’s see what happens.

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At the Affiliate Summit NYC today – will live blog as I can

Popularity: 13% [?]

I was invited by to attend and live blog at the Affiliate Summit in NYC taking place on August 9-11th at the Hilton Hotel . I’m familiar with both keynote speakers  Chris Brogan , President of New Marketing Labs , and Peter Shankman , founder and CEO of The Geek Factory and have met both, briefly, in the past.

I was invited by to attend and live blog at the Affiliate Summit in NYC taking place on August 9-11th at the Hilton Hotel.

I’m familiar with both keynote speakers  Chris Brogan, President of New Marketing Labs, and Peter Shankman, founder and CEO of The Geek Factory and have met both, briefly, in the past.

Most of my readers don’t know this, but i was one of the attendee’s to the very first Affiliate Summit at Baruch College in 2004.  Since then, I haven’t attended one, but I’m looking forward to the sold out conference on August 9-11th.    I’ll also be attending LeadsCon East the following week, at the Marriott - live blogging it all while I find out the most interesting, I think, bits of information and news which will show up here, at Webmetricsguru.

The sessions I plan to cover include:

Day 1 -

Getting Noticed FAST
Session 1c
Location: Classroom C – Concourse A
Time: 12:00pm-1:00pm

Regardless what your role in the industry is, it’s important to be noticed within the industry. Learn the networking and social media techniques that make it possible.

• Lisa Picarille, Online Marketing Consultant, LisaPicarille.com (Twitter @lisap) (Moderator)
• Michael Buechele, Owner, MikeBuechele.com (Twitter @mikebuechele)
• Trisha Lyn Fawver, Affiliate Manager, Paulson Management Group (Twitter @trishalyn)
• Jen Goode, Doodler in Charge, JGoode Designs (Twitter @JGoode)
• Stephanie Lichtenstein, Affiliate Program Manager, Andy Rodriguez Consulting (Twitter@StephARC)

Personal Branding 2.0
Session 2b
Location: Classroom B – Clinton
Time: 1:30pm-2:30pm

Everyone knows the power Twitter, Facebook and social networks have in today’s online marketplace. How can building your own personal brand help you increase traffic and exposure?

• Stephanie Agresta, EVP, Porter Novelli (Twitter @stephagresta)
• Sarah Austin, Founder & CEO, Pop17 (Twitter @pop17)

SEO Site Clinic
Session 3d
Location: Classroom D – Nassau Suite
Time: 3:00pm-4:00pm

Live Q&A, site audits and suggestions on how to help the internal site structure, as well as ideas how to build a better site for organic rankings.

• Chris Pearson, Overlord, DIYthemes (Twitter @pearsonified) (Moderator)
• Michael Gray, Owner, Atlas Web Services (Twitter @graywolf)
• Rae Hoffman, Owner, Sugarrae Inc (Twitter @sugarrae)
• Michael Streko, Owner, Streko Media LLC (Twitter @streko)
• Frank Watson, Owner, Kangamurra Media

Affiliate Summit Tweetup
Location: Sutton Complex
Time: 9:00pm – 12:00am

This is a networking social event open to all Affiliate Summit attendees to get together for drinks and conversation in a non-club atmosphere. If your preference is to turn the music down and the lights up, join us to meet new people and create new business opportunities.

Day 2

Opening Remarks & Keynote
Location: General Session Room – Grand Ballroom Suite
Time: 9:45am – 10:45am

• Jim Kukral, Owner, TheBizWebCoach.com (Twitter @jimkukral)
• Chris Brogan, President, New Marketing Labs (Twitter @chrisbrogan)

How to Monetize Your Site with Widgets
Session 4b
Location: Classroom B – Clinton
Time: 11:30am-12:30pm

This presentation will discuss how to enhance your site using various widgets, what works and what doesn’t, and how effective different widgets are to your site.

• Woody Wood, Product Manager, Amazon (Twitter @AmazonAssociate)

Web 2010 – Ten Trends Defining Your Future
Session 5c
Location: Classroom C – Gramercy
Time: 2:00pm-3:00pm

As the internet becomes the critical hub for all business and personal communications, discover ten trends that will allow businesses and individuals to differentiate themselves and succeed online.

• Jay Berkowitz, CEO, Ten Golden Rules (Twitter @JayBerkowitz)

The Conversation Prism v2.0
Session 6b
Location: Classroom B – Clinton
Time: 3:30pm-4:30pm

We will observe, analyze, dissect, and present the dynamics of conversations, how and where they transpire – becoming digital anthropologists in the process.

• Brian Solis, Principal of FutureWorks, PR 2.0 (Twitter @briansolis)

Ask the Experts
Location: General Session Room – Grand Ballroom Suite
Time: 5:00 pm-6:00pm

Driving Consumer Action with Online Video: Bud Rosenthal, CEO, TurnHere (Twitter @turnhere)

The New Google Rules: Mike Jacobs, Chief Services Officer, iMarketing LTD. (Twitter@mikeyjake)

Removing Enterprise Barriers: Budgets, Silos, Creating Dominance: David Dalka, President,Dalka Strategy Consulting (Twitter @dalka)

Intium Services Party
Sponsored by Click Progression, Intium Services
Location: Ultra Nightclub (37 W 26th St., New York, NY. 10010)
Time: 8:00pm – ?

You come to Affiliate Summit for the best networking and more. Shouldn’t you get the best once the show floor closes? That’s why, to celebrate the launch of the best affiliate management solution, Click Progression, Intium Services is granting VIP access to one of the most exclusive New York nightclubs experiences – Ultra. We’re rolling out the red carpet with a premium open bar and LA DJ Solomon spinning the hottest tunes. You’ll take home fabulous gifts to remember us by, but it’s sure to be an evening you won’t forget. All the VIPs will be there; will you?

RSVP at http://www.intiumservices.com/affiliatesummit.aspx

Day 3

Opening Remarks & Keynote
Location: General Session Room – Grand Ballroom Suite
Time: 10:00am – 11:15am

• Jim Kukral, Owner, TheBizWebCoach.com (Twitter @jimkukral)
• Peter Shankman, Founder & CEO, The Geek Factory (Twitter @skydiver)

Profitable Performance Marketing: More Money for You
Session 7c
Location: Classroom C – Gramercy
Time: 11:30am-12:30pm

Presenting actionable items for 7 main topics, including social media, negotiating, points of sale opportunities, content that pulls, partnerships, prioritization, and the expense of inefficiency.

• Lisa Riolo, Consultant, LisaRiolo.com (Twitter @lisariolo) (Moderator)
• Jason Oates, VP Media Services, Datran Media
• Karen White, VP of Marketing, SquirtGun Media Group, LLC. (Twitter @KarenWhite_LV)

The Truth About Coupons
Session 8c
Location: Classroom C – Gramercy
Time: 2:00pm-3:00pm

The current economy and the sophistication of online shoppers has created the “perfect storm” for online coupons. Come see how they can be effective for your program.

• Michael Ouellette, Director, Publisher Development, Commission Junction
• Kim Riedell, Vice President, Client Development – East, Commission Junction

GeekCast.fm Live!
Location: Classroom C – Gramercy
Time: 3:15pm-4:15pm

A mixed bunch of podcasters from GeekCast.fm will have an open, candid discussion about the hot topics in affiliate marketing.

• Michael Buechele, Owner, MikeBuechele.com (Twitter @mikebuechele)
• Deborah Carney, CEO, Team Loxly (Twitter @loxly)
• Trisha Lyn Fawver, Affiliate Manager, Paulson Management Group (Twitter @trishalyn)
• Jim Kukral, Owner, TheBizWebCoach.com (Twitter @jimkukral)
• Vinny O’Hare, President, Vincent O’Hare Consulting (Twitter @vinnyohare)
• Scott Parent, Vice President of Emerging Media & Strategy, MediaTrust (Twitter @americancliche)
• Lisa Picarille, Online Marketing Consultant, LisaPicarille.com (Twitter @lisap)
• Lisa Riolo, Consultant, LisaRiolo.com (Twitter @lisariolo)

Affiliate Triathlon
Location: General Session Room – Grand Ballroom Suite
Time: 4:30pm – 5:30pm

The Affiliate Triathlon is a three event contest of skill, determination and dexterity open to all attendees at Affiliate Summit

Originally posted here: 
Attending Affiliate Summit NYC, August 9-11, 2009 in New York City

Popularity: 12% [?]