Conferences, conferences everywhere!

My conference attendance has been pretty non-existent since last Spring, but that's about to change dramatically. I've been invited to speak at several wonderful events in the coming months, and here's a quick rundown of where I will be:

September 22nd and 23rd, Columbus, Ohio - Small Business Marketing Unleashed

I attended the inaugural SBMU this year in April, and as you can tell from this post, I had an absolute blast. As did the attendees, who gushed so much about the experience that Jennifer and Robert decided to add this second SBMU. The original plan was that the first SBMU would do well enough to warrant having another one next April in Houston. Instead, the overwhelmingly positive reaction from attendees prompted them to add this second conf set for next month. And the speaker lineup is once again stellar, adding my dear friend CK to an already top-notch speaker lineup from the Spring SBMU. We'll show you all you need to know about blogging, social media, viral marketing, SEO, SEM, and so much more.

And the best part of all is, there's a special early-bird rate on pricing. Till this Friday, you can attend SBMU for only $750. After Friday, the rate goes up to $975. If you are a small business, this may be the best $750 you will ever spend. Seriously guys, you will have an absolute blast, we will see to it. You'll learn how to succeed in every area of social media and online marketing, and you'll have a blast doing it. If you are considering going, I really hope you do, because if you don't attend, I *know* you are going to regret not going once you begin to see the feedback from the people that did. And if you are planning on attending, please leave a comment so we can connect before the event!


October 22nd and 23rd, Scottsdale, Arizona, Marketing Profs Digital Marketing Mixer

Wow. My friend Ann Handley has seriously outdone herself in putting together the speaking lineup for this event. See if you've heard of any of these people: Rohit Bhargava, Chris Brogan, Becky Carroll, CC Chapman, KD Paine, Frank Eliason (Comcastcares on Twitter), Scott Monty, Connie Reece. Yeah. And that's just the social media track, there's also search and email marketing tracks as well. Oh and you might have heard of the keynotes as well, Gary Vee and Arianna Huffington.

On the second day, I'll be conducting a special lab on successful blogging. I'll look at three company blogs submitted by attendees, and we'll discuss what they are doing right, and what they are doing wrong, in a format similar to what I do here with the Company Blog Checkup series. If you plan on attending the Digital Marketing Mixer and want your company blog to be considered for review during my session, please email Marketing Profs.


November 7th, Kennewick, WA, Learn About Web Conference

This is a great conference aimed at getting small businesses up to speed on social media and online marketing. It will feature a great lineup of speakers, including Jennifer Laycock, Stoney deGeyter, Debra Mastaler, Matt McGee, myself, and several others. I'll be presenting on Blogging for Business, and the event is being put on by Craig Sutton and the fine people at BrightWeb Marketing, who I met at the first SBMU last Spring. Here's where you can find more information on the event, and register!


In addition, I am hoping I'll be able to attend the upcoming SWOMFest that the ever-amazing Ben and Jackie are holding in Austin, Texas at the end of October. And look at the attendee list! Good grief that's a prime speaking list for most conferences! I'm hoping I can get this worked into my schedule in the next couple of weeks as it looks like a can't-miss event!


And speaking of Jackie, please if you haven't already, vote for our suggested panel for next year's SXSW, Co-Created Marketing: Embracing Your Customer Evangelists Online. Voting ends this Friday, and the panel will consist of Jackie Huba, LinkedIn's Community Evangelist Mario Sundar, and Ogilvy PR's Virginia Miracle, with myself moderating.

And while you are on the site, here's some other great SXSW panel/session ideas:

Your Brand is Not My Friend (Alan Wolk, CK, Cam Beck, Brian Morrissey)
Micro Interactions - David Armano
Sports 2.0: Engaging the Long-Tail Fanbase - Pat Coyle
Twitter for Marketers: Is it Still Social Media? - Ricardo Guerrero
Posse Blogging: Never Blog Alone - Becky Carroll
Curiosity Marketing: Using Secrets to Create Engagement - Rohit Bhargava
Measure This! Practical Ways to Quantify Social Media Results - Kami Huyse

And remember, voting on the SXSW panels ends on Friday night, so please vote for the above panels if you can! Also, if you need a speaker for your social media/marketing conference, or want more information on my social media training services, click here.