The 21st century is all about a mobile lifestyle in which immediate contacts are important. Place and time matter. Location makes the occasion, and in the occasion lays the opportunity. Are you ready to seize it?

New technologies pose new challenges, opportunities, processes, and best practices. mobile marketing solutions in general and location-based marketing in particular, can be powerful additions to your marketing mix, when implemented correctly. Foursquare, location-based messages, mobile coupons, geo games, mobile apps, indoor navigation, augmented reality, and many other tools are available. Where do you start?

This conversation will deliver key learning and best practices to incorporate mobile and location as part of your marketing mix, help to separate technology facts from buzz fiction, and provide the right lenses to avoid being blinded by technology.

Claudio Schapsis is the Chief Georilla Officer and founder of Georillas, a strategic location-based marketing group that works with businesses, agencies, and CMO's implementing mobile and location-based strategies into their marketing mix.

A market-driven technology evangelist, speaker and writer; he integrates cutting edge technologies into marketing strategies, particularly in areas of digital/mobile marketing, location based marketing, and location-based services (LBS).

Schapsis is a frequent speaker of mobile/location based marketing issues. He has given keynote and general session presentations at over 20 events in the last years, and served as the Chairman of the 2010 and 2011 Location Business Summit and the Location Based Services Conference for Latin America in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Schapsis is also a member of the Board of Directors of MENG, a national organization that associates over 1,500 top-level marketing executives.

A panel discussion among industry experts.

Mark Edward Goodrich, Manager, Business Development, BusinessWeek Online
Brian Ward, Senior Web Producer, Tech Confidential
Tom Groppe, Executive Editor, TheDeal.com
Dave Lorenzo, CareerIntensity.com and Strategic Communications graduate
Moderated by Shawn McIntosh, Strategic Communications faculty

Blogs have inspired both the entrepreneurial and the curious to establish themselves as ad hoc media enterprises, while at the same time challenging existing media entities to rethink their core businesses. Anyone can start a blog, but how does one establish a successful blog that rises above the crowded airwaves and finds a loyal audience? This panel explores the shifting role of mainstream media as gatekeepers and the promise-and pitfalls-of strategic communication professionals who are considering using blogs. We will discuss the tools and services necessary to make any blog "top of mind" and also explore new and emerging technologies that will likely alter the blogosphere, including podcasts and vlogs.

Meet executives from among marketing, public relations, business opportunities, community relations, events, and fan development departments and learn what it takes to market a premier sports team.

Communicating effectively with its audiences (both internal and external) has never been more critical for organizations. But how can an organization with limited resources provide relevant and powerful insight for its audiences? What are the most pressing issues on the minds of leaders in politics, business and education? How does the media influence the public’s perception of the world today? What can communications professionals learn from research that is publicly available (polling, etc.) that will help them be more effective?

Gallup Chairman and CEO Jim Clifton will address these issues and take questions. Clifton is best known in the polling and survey research field for leading the acquisition of The Gallup Organization in 1988, at which time he became CEO of the organization founded by the renowned polling pioneer, Dr. George H. Gallup.

The Gallup Organization is one of the world’s largest think tanks and providers of public opinion polling and management consulting. Under Clifton’s leadership, Gallup has expanded from a predominantly U.S.-based company to a global organization with 40 offices in 20 of the world’s largest nations. He is the creator of The Gallup Path, a metric-based economic model which links human nature in the workplace to customer loyalty and business outcomes. Clifton serves as Chairman of The Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund and has recently received an Honorary Doctor of Commerce from Bellevue University.

Career advancement and presentation skills are directly correlated. A poor presentation can hinder a career as much as a brilliant presentation can advance it. Good presentations are not about where to place your hands, or how to make eye contact with the audience. Good presentations are about getting people to listen and moving people to action.

Seminar attendees will not only leave with tools and techniques that will improve their presentation skills, but something even more valuable: more confidence presenting.

Seminar will be presented by Tasha Space, currently teaching Introduction to Market Research in the Strategic Communications program, and a brand strategy consultant, working with companies such as Faith Popcorn's Brain Reserve, Deutsch Inc., Pfizer, Mad Dogs and Englishmen, and Satori.