SOBCon2010 » Announcements

Because You Asked — BlogIt EarnIt $250 Off Discount Extended to April 1

Liz — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:54:43 +0000

A Room of Excellence to Fine Tune Your Business

Suppose you could take a weekend retreat away from the noise of the Internet …

to focus entirely on your business
to work with the support of a mastermind team
to get quality time to interact with the top people in social media
to get the best information AND time to discuss how you’ll apply it
to work with sponsors who are doing the same thing
in a room limited to 150 people — all focused in the same direction
without worry because the food and the wireless are outstanding.

Imagine a weekend work retreat with these people totally invested in sharing this content.

The BlogIt EarnIt Discount Until April 1!!

I’m delighted to announce that Terry and I get to make this offer …

Write a blog post about what “The Virtual Meets the Concrete” means to you. We want to celebrate how our relationships online help our lives and businesses online and off. Tell us why online and offline relationships and strategies matter.

Here’s how to qualify for the discount

1. Write a blog post about a person (or people) online or off who has (or have) made a difference in your life. Celebrate how they have made your life easier, better, smarter, more productive, more meaningful.

2. Then let us know by tagging your post #SOBCon2010 and leaving a comment with a link to it on this post. Include a working email with your comment and as a thank you for sharing your story, we’ll send you a special code to take $250 off the $895 FULL conference rate – that’s over a 25% savings! (We won’t use your email to spam you.)

Or, if you can’t make to SOBCon2010, you could “pay it forward” and pass the discount on to one of your friends — or offer it back to us as a gift for us to pass on for you.

We’re doing everything we can to bring you all the value, the experts and expertise, and the time to work and network that you need to make your business outstanding and extremely profitable in 2010.

What could you do with a weekend of the time, expertise, and support you need to focus your business?

Geoff Livingston Hosts SOBCon NonProfit Give Back Day

Liz — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:13:02 +0000

On Sunday May 2nd, SOBCon 2010 will highlight four charities (501c3) that have volunteered themselves for a social media coaching session from its attendees. We have the great honor of Zoetica Media Geoff Livingston serving the conference as the NonProfit Give Back facilitator.

Each of our four charities — Anixter, Ashoka, InvisiblePeopleTV and Vitamin Angels — will discuss their strategy, current social media efforts, and online hopes. From there the room, comprised of some of the brightest minds in social media, will match the mission and goals of the organizations with the tools, with the end game of providing meaningful social media strategy that can impact the world.

Like Zoetica CEO Beth Kanter likes to say, “Even better, what if we all learned from the process?” In addition to group sharing, we will have break-out sessions where each table

Sounds like a plan to me. The following is a brief description of each of our four participants. I hope to see you at SOBCON!

Our Participants

Anixter: The mission of Chicago-based the Anixter Center is to enhance the ability of individuals living with or at risk of disabilities to live, learn, work, and play in the community. Each year, at dozens of locations across greater Chicago, Anixter Center provides an array of effective, innovative services to more than 5,000 children and adults. These services include education, employment, life skills, communication, recreation, health care, counseling, and support.

Ashoka: The global association serves the world’s leading social entrepreneurs—men and women tackling system changing solutions for the world’s most urgent social problems. Since 1981, more than 2,000 leading social entrepreneurs have become Ashoka Fellows, providing them with living stipends, professional support, and access to a global network of peers in more than 60 countries. With its global community, Ashoka develops models for collaboration and design infrastructure needed to advance the field of social entrepreneurship and the citizen sector.

InvisiblePeopleTV: Mark Horvath (@hardlynormal on Twitter) will come and discuss Invisible People. For years mark used the lens of a television camera to tell the stories of homelessness and the organizations trying to help. The reports were produced well and told a story, but the stories Mark produces now on Invisible People are much different. These are the real people, telling their own, very real stories… unedited, uncensored and raw. The purpose: To make the invisible visible.

Vitamin Angels: This socially-savvy charity seeks to mobilize and deploy private sector resources to advance availability, access and use of micronutrients, especially vitamin A, by newborns, infants and children in need. Vitamin Angels reduces child mortality worldwide by connecting essential nutrients, especially vitamin A, with infants and children under five. Essential nutrients enable young immune systems to fight infectious diseases, helping children attain good health and the opportunity to lead meaningful and productive lives.

SOBCon2010 Webinar with Garrett, Brogan, Naslund and Strauss

Liz — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:50:30 +0000

Check out the FREE “Preview of SOBCon2010″ webinar on February 15, 2010, from Noon to 1:30 EST, hosted by Chris Garrett and featuring:

This is a great panel of Social Media rockstars (all on the podium in Chicago), and they will be offering you a little sneak preview of some of the fantastic content they will be showcasing at the event – and offer their takes on why SOBCon2010 will be the best one yet.

(We’ll also be announcing the winner of the 2010 “Blog It, Earn It” FREE ticket – more on that later)

~~This webinar is exclusive to attendees and newsletter subscribers.~~
2/15 Update: Since it is Webinar day, here is the registration code

Also, please sign up for our newsletter (link in the sidebar) to get other special offers and up-to-date information.

Win a Trip to SOBCon — $2000 Value!!

Liz — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:12:41 +0000

150 People to Fine Tune Your Web Presence

Suppose you could take a weekend retreat away from the noise of the Internet …

to focus entirely on your business

to work with the support of a mastermind team

to get quality time to interact with the top people in social media

to get the best information AND time to discuss how you’ll apply it

to work with sponsors who are doing the same thing

in a room limited to 150 people — all focused in the same direction

without worry because the food and the wireless are outstanding.

Imagine a weekend work retreat with these people totally invested.

Would you write a blog post to get a chance to win a FREE SOBCon Weekend?

An Expense Paid Ticket!! AND the Return of The BlogIt EarnIt Discount

I’m delighted to announce that Terry and I get to make this offer …

We had such fun last year with the SOBCon “BlogIt, EarnIt” discount. We’re bringing it back again. Again this year, we’d like to hear from you — this time about what “The Virtual Meets the Concrete” means to you. We want to celebrate how our relationships online help our lives and businesses online and off.

Tell us why online and offline relationships and strategies matter.

Here’s how to qualify for the discount and enter to win

1. Write a blog post about a person (or people) online who has (or have) made a difference in your life. Celebrate how they have made your life easier, better, smarter, more productive, more meaningful.

2. Then let us know by tagging your post #SOBCon2010 and leaving a comment on this post. Include a working email with your comment and as a thank you for sharing your story, we’ll send you a special code to take $250 off the $895 FULL conference rate – that’s over a 25% savings! (We won’t use your email to spam you.)

We’ll also tweet your blog post so that we can celebrate the folks we all think make us stronger.

Get your posts up before Noon EST on February 14th, 2010, and noon EST pm the next day (February 15th), to kick off a special SOBCobn2010 Webinar with Chris Garrett, Chris Brogan, Amber Naslund and Liz Strauss (details coming soon), we’ll put all of the entries in a random drawing and choose one lucky winner who will receive:

a free ticket to SOBCon2010 – $895.00 value

airfare and three nights at Hotel 71 – up to $1105 in hotel and airfare

A total package value worth as much as USD $2000 – nontransferrable, nonrefundable

Blog your thoughts …
Share it, link it back to this post, and broadcast it on Twitter (hash #blogitearnit).

We’ll also encourage you to comment on the SOBCon blog for others to see and learn. And remember as a thank you for sharing your story, we’ll send you a special code to take $250 off the $895 FULL conference rate – that’s over a 25% savings!

Or, if you can’t make to SOBCon2010, you could “pay it forward” and pass the discount on to one of your friends — or offer it back to us as a gift for us to pass on for you.

We’re doing everything we can to bring you all the value, the experts and expertise, and the time to work and network that you need to make your business outstanding and extremely profitable in 2010.

What could you do with a weekend of the time, expertise, and support you need to focus your business?

We’re all coming for the same reasons.

Sign Up for the Newsletter to Get Your Virtual Swag-bag

@Stephen — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 07:58:24 +0000

SOBCon starts this Friday! It is sure to be an exciting time, with over 100 attendees and some fantastic presenters. Our most excellent sponsors are providing some really cool items for all of the folks that will be there, as well as some virtual goodies that they would also like to share with the entire SOBCon community.

The SOBCon09 Virtual Swag Bag will include contributions from attendees, speakers, and sponsors in the form of ebooks, slideshares, presentations, product samples, case studies, contests, and exceptional discount offers. It will be available at the end of May. We’ll announce it here, in the newsletter, and on Twitter.

So, if you are not coming to Chicago but are interested in sharing in this SOBCon love be sure to subscribe to the SOBCon newsletter so that you can get the links to these goodies. Thanks!

Subscribe to the
SOBCon09 Newsletter

Email:

Sunday May 3: Show the Sponsors What YOU Know

Liz — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 13:31:30 +0000

“SHOW THE SPONSORS” CHALLENGE

Sunday, May 3rd 8:30am – NOON
Meet us at 39th Floor Ballroom at Hotel 71
8:00am Breakfast begins — delicious, healthful hot and cold food on buffet

Here’s where attendees get the chance to “meet the challenge” and show corporate sponsors how social media can connect their product with their customers.

Each of these sponsors will have 10 minutes to present a product they want to promote.

Teams of attendees will get one product and 30 minutes to develop a social media action plan that builds product awareness.

Teams will then present their approach to the sponsor and the group for open discussion.

This is when the fun learning begins.

The “cut and thrust” of the open discussion will build on the initial idea presented so that everyone can contribute – and learn – how the spark of a social media idea can evolve to play an integral part of a real world product marketing solution.

Cool stuff, farewells, and thank yous. — Terry Starbucker and Liz Strauss

A limited number of separate tickets are available for this breakfast event.

Geoff Livingston Will Be Outlining an Optimum Integrated PR / Marketing Plan

Liz — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 13:24:12 +0000

We’re pleased and delighted that Geoff Livingston, top blogger in the communications space and author of the popular 2007 social media book, “Now Is Gone” has agreed to lead the Saturday afternoon Models and Masterminds session on “An Integrated Offline / Online Marketing Customer Outreach Program.” He’ll be answering the question: What are the parts and proportions of an integrated overall online and offline marketing and pr plan?

Geoff will be drawing from his experience as CEO of Livingston Communications, where he has provided innovative solutions for a diverse group of clients, including General Dynamics, United Way, the Consumer Electronics Show, Save Darfur, Goodwill, rock band Godsmack Lead Singer Sull Erna’s book and many more.

With the recent acquisition of Livingston Communications, Geoff Livingston will be coming to SOBCon as the Senior VP of CRT/tanaka. We’re delighted to be the first to welcome him in his new role!

Geoff will be taking over for his “Now Is Gone” co-author Brian Solis who could no longer attend.

May 1st at the Summit! An Out of the World Space!

Liz — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:25:59 +0000

See Where It Happens

Join social media and business mavens, pr and interactive agencies, big brands and ecommerce specialists working together on building the business of the Interwebs.

Speakers speak for 40 minutes. Then you work with your team applying what they said to your business.

Calum MacLean, of the Summit Executive Center, has made a videocast of the space where we meet. Click through to see what makes the working environment of SOBCon so special and enticing.

Click through and check it out!

More Stars to Shine at SOBCon09!!

Liz — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 13:13:40 +0000

I’m over the top excited about SOBCon09!

SOBCon09

32 Days Away!

Can’t wait to see you again!

Look Who Else Is Bringing Their Brains to SOBCon09!!

We’ve added a keynote panel on Saturday. Wow!

Chris Garrett – Internet Marketing Pro

LucretiaPruitt - Social Media Strategist

JasonFalls - Director of Social Media

ZenaWeist - Digital Brand Strategist

GeoffLivingston - CEO, Social Media

and the spectacular news that

Rajesh Setty will launch
his book "Upbeat Now!" at SOBCon09!!

AND even more is happening behind the scenes.
I’m SOBCon serious about that.

E-Commerce Specialist Lauren Freedman Speaking at SOBCon09

Liz — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 17:00:55 +0000

I’m delighted to announce that Lauren Freedman of e-tailing.com will be presenting a Models and Masterminds Workshop on e-commerce at SOBCon09. Lauren is smart, savvy, and a pioneer of e-commerce. She literally wrote the book on online shopping — It’s Just Shopping
Her firm’s Mystery Shopper’s Survey — now in its 11th year is the standard the is cited in the E-commerce Guide, “Survey Says: Customer Interaction Key to Online Sales,” and looked forward to by sellers online as a key resource for how best attract and keep online customers.

If you’re looking to open a store or sell more, this is a person you should have in your network. Lauren researches, reports, and reveals the techniques, tactics, and tools used by everyone from Amazon to Zappos … and she’s an excellent human being too.

SOBCon2010 » Announcements

Because You Asked — BlogIt EarnIt $250 Off Discount Extended to April 1

A Room of Excellence to Fine Tune Your Business

The BlogIt EarnIt Discount Until April 1!!

Here’s how to qualify for the discount

Geoff Livingston Hosts SOBCon NonProfit Give Back Day

SOBCon2010 Webinar with Garrett, Brogan, Naslund and Strauss

Win a Trip to SOBCon — $2000 Value!!

150 People to Fine Tune Your Web Presence

An Expense Paid Ticket!! AND the Return of The BlogIt EarnIt Discount

Here’s how to qualify for the discount and enter to win

What could you do with a weekend of the time, expertise, and support you need to focus your business?

Sign Up for the Newsletter to Get Your Virtual Swag-bag

Subscribe to the SOBCon09 Newsletter

Sunday May 3: Show the Sponsors What YOU Know

“SHOW THE SPONSORS” CHALLENGE

Geoff Livingston Will Be Outlining an Optimum Integrated PR / Marketing Plan

May 1st at the Summit! An Out of the World Space!

See Where It Happens

More Stars to Shine at SOBCon09!!

SOBCon09

Look Who Else Is Bringing Their Brains to SOBCon09!!

E-Commerce Specialist Lauren Freedman Speaking at SOBCon09

Subscribe to the
SOBCon09 Newsletter