Take social media from complexity to clarity through these interactive workshops guaranteed to jumpstart your conference experience. These workshops are a great opportunity to advance your learning and network with fellow attendees while taking a hands-on, common sense approach to mastering social media that will enhance your understanding of the informative, case study presentations throughout the entire conference.

Choose A or B or BOTH for maximum value and learning

Social Media 101:
How To Develop A Web 2.0 Action Plan For Your Organisation

Social software and Web 2.0 — notably blogs, wikis and social bookmarking — offer powerful business opportunities and an advantage to staying competitive on the internet.

Web 2.0 offers a valuable resource for many companies. At a relatively low level of cost and effort, organisations are increasingly beginning to harness this valuable tool. Within certain circles, there is a passionate and wide-ranging discussion about how Web 2.0 technology will transform the way companies do business. And while the debate won’t be settled soon, there can be no question that this technology is being embraced faster by consumers than by corporations. This adoption pattern has significant implications, both for how this new technology enters the corporate environment, and for the competitive advantages early corporate adopters can gain.

• Key technologies and applications enabling Web 2.0 - - including blogs, wikis and RSS
• Statistics and examples of the emerging trends around Web 2.0, notably social networking
• Consumer generated media and enhanced communities of practice and management models required to harness the power of these new applications

In addition, you will leave this workshop with a concise checklist that you can use to develop a tangible Web 2.0 action plan for your organisation.

This session is geared towards a wide-ranging audience from those well-versed in Web 2.0, to those with little or no Web 2.0 knowledge, who are simply interested in these new technologies. You are sure to come away from the session with not only a firm understanding of Web 2.0 technologies, but also the associated opportunities involved with this exciting trend and how it can directly benefit your organisation or line of work.

WORKSHOP LEADER: Carmine Porco, General Manager & Vice President of Prescient Digital Media, has over 18 years of experience in the areas of Internet consulting, IT management, and software development. His strengths include employee self-service, content management, e-learning, customer care and Internet commerce primarily in the financial, government, health, energy and retail sectors.

Carmine runs the Toronto practice and operations and provides strategic counsel to numerous clients across North America including California Association of Realtors, British Columbia Lottery Corporation, Royal Bank (RBC Financial Group), Greater Vancouver Regional District, Tourism PEI, Ontario Realty Corporation and others.

Prior to joining Prescient, Mr. Porco has held positions with Cisco, Deloitte Consulting, Quadravision Communications and Canada Life Assurance. He is a frequent speaker on Content Management, Workforce Optimization, Portals and e-Learning having spoken at numerous conferences throughout North America and Europe.

Carmine Porco has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Western Ontario and an MBA from the University of Toronto. He lives in Toronto with his family.

12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Afternoon break/lunch on your own.

1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
AFTERNOON PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOP B

You already know how important being engaged with social media is for your brand, but maybe you are still grappling with how to 'sell' it to upper management.

Maybe you don't have a proper budget for social media and want to know what you can do in the meantime – other than sitting still and watching the competition beat you at every turn.

You may even already have the makings of a social media strategy or have started to use social media, but the results are not what you had planned (little to no feedback, traffic and exposure).

• Determine whether your organisation should launch a blog, podcast,
  community or wiki based on the unique purposes of each tool
• Present the most compelling business case to secure buy-in from the C-Suite
• Troubleshoot to get back on track if you're not getting the results from
  your social media campaign that you anticipated
• Determine what resources you'll really need to get the ball rolling
• Balance which business unit 'owns' the social media initiative
• Fit new social media activities into your team's existing schedule
• Figure out how much involvement is too much and how little is too little – should your organisation really build that Facebook application?
• Establish who your organisation's social media influencers are and the best way to get on their radar to increase the visibility and success of your social media initiative
• Identify which metrics are important to measure and which are time-wasters

This session is suitable for anyone who has a vested interest in or responsibility for the social media and Web 2.0 initiatives inside both large and small organisations.

The top-level take aways will be actionable and contain specific information you will need to advance your organisation's social media campaign – the right way.

WORKSHOP LEADER: Lena West is the Chief Social Media Strategist of xynoMedia, a New York-based firm that helps high-growth businesses decode and implement internet-based technology (Web 2.0 and social media) to increase quality lead generation, improve relationships with clients and solidify thought leadership. Some of the companies she has worked with include: MasterCard, Pitney Bowes, Philips and Hyperion.

Testimonials From Past Lena West Sessions:

"Lena was great! Great energy – great down to earth useful advice – great at
handling questions AND well prepared."

"Great hands-on and practical information."