We're in midst of preparing our annual Social Shake-Up in Atlanta (June 8, 9, 10), and it occurs to me that this may be our most important one yet.
As the leader of the largest conference about social business that remains editorially independent, I feel that we have a special obligation to bring our community of business leaders the most cutting-edge thinking about their roles as change agents and digital leaders at their companies.
In the fall of 2013, when my friend Jeremiah Owyang reached out to me with the notion that collaborative economic models would be relevant to our next Shake-Up, I was intrigued and thought two things: perhaps no one knows our audience better than Jeremiah, and why not be the company that leads the conversation about social, rather than have to follow the latest trends?
Of course, we were right: Jeremiah's keynote rocked the house. This year, again, we are taking the conversation about networking and digital collaboration to a whole new level, by connecting the dots between social and the maker's movement with Mark Hatch's keynote. We're going hear from George Takei, who will share his life's journey and his evolution from actor to human rights activist, author, and Internet superstar. We'll see how a government agency (NASA) with the richest content in the universe - but limited resources - is able to play lean and mean with social marketing. We're bringing true experts who have walk-the-walk experience to look at the latest ideas around the future of work and customer experience.
Scott Monty, Executive Vice President of Strategy for Shift Communications, will answer your questions in "Big Data Anonymous: Ask the Experts"; Forrester Vice President and Principal Analyst Nate Elliot will present on "Why Your Boss Doesn't Like Social and What You Can Do to Change That"; and a panel of top social media executives will offer career advice.
And if you can come down a day earlier, we're holding four exclusive two-hour workshops that will provide a deep dive into the topics that matter most to your social business.
- Vanessa DiMauro of Leader Networks will navigate you through the steps for developing a business case for social and reveal how to spotlight potential returns and benefits.
- Kate Hartley will teach you how to manage an online crisis for a fictional company using Polpeo, a social media simulator.
- Lisa Nirell will provide insights on how you can lead the Mindful Marketing Revolution.
- An interactive workshop led by Tangerine Lab will give you hands-on experience in developing customer journey maps.
I'm really thrilled by our agenda this year and hope that you will join me at the third annual Social Shake-Up 2015. Secure your pass here to join us in June.
I hope to see you there.