Liz Strauss and Terry Starbucker are co-founders of the highly successful business bloggers conference SOBCon — which has gained the partnership of companies such as Intuit, IZEA, ReveNews, Walmart, Colgate, Allstate, and Klondike Frozen Treats, as well as the attention of BusinessWeek, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Innovation Initiative of the Kellogg School of Business.
Below is a list of the 2010 presenters:
Terry is a native Midwesterner now living on the East Coast, spreading “realistic optimism” through a philosophy he calls “Half-Fullism“. He’s been in the business world for over 25 years in various leadership positions, most recently as a senior operations executive for a service business based in the Rocky Mountain west. Terry is a constantly learning student of leadership and personal development, and shares his ideas, experiences and knowledge through his blog, Ramblings from A Glass Half Full and through his contributions to joyfuljubilantlearning.com.
Liz Strauss is a brand strategist and social web community builder and is perhaps the most influential “real-ebrity” on the Internet. Liz has over 20 years in print, software, and online publishing, and has strategized with publishers in Europe, Australia, the UK, and Ireland. She was recently a featured speaker at the Cass Business School of City University in London and teaches a Master’s Level class at the CityU School of Publishing. She has been named to the Top 100 Social Media & Internet Marketing Bloggers, The Invesp Top 100 Most Influential Marketers of 2008 and again in 2009, the 50 of the Most Powerful and Influential Women of Social Media, and NxE’s Fifty Most Influential ‘Female’ Bloggers. The WordPress Plugin Liz Comment Counter by Ozh was named in her honor to celebrate her dedication to responding to the readers of her blog.
Ann Carlsen is founder and chief executive officer of Carlsen Resources, Inc. (CRI), a premier provider of executive search and consulting services in the media and telecommunications arena. A highly regarded executive search leader and champion of workplace diversity, Ann is a recognized authority on the changing 21st century workplace. Ann and her team have been trusted by clients time and again to place experienced executives and rising stars at leading companies such as Bresnan, Comcast, Current TV, Google, Scripps Networks, Discovery Communications, Fox Networks Group, Time Warner and Viacom, among others.
Julien Smith is an author, consultant, and speaker who has been involved in online communities for over 15 years– from early BBSes and flashmobs to the social web as we know it today. He was one of the first people on the web to use podcasting in 2004, as well as being one of the first web personalities to get broadcast by traditional radio. He has since worked with and been interviewed by numerous media organizations such as CNN, CBC, CTV– and a bunch of others that don’t start with the letter C.
Wendy Piersall is a 14 year marketing veteran and passionate entrepreneur. She has spent the last three years developing a deep understanding of how women interact online via social media. Today, she works with brands such as Epson & Kmart to develop and implement strategic web 2.0 marketing campaigns that respect the cultures of online communities.
Lewis Howes, a previous two sport collegiate All-American, is also the NCAA All-Division Record Holder for the most receiving yards in a single football game (418 yards, the current unofficial World Record). As an athlete, Lewis was featured on ESPN and in Sports Illustrated. He graduated from Principia College with his degree in Sports Management and has been involved with the sports industry since his retirement from professional football. He founded the Sports Executives Association and SportsNetworker.com which helps him connect sports executives around the world both online and through events. In addition to Sports Networker, Lewis is the co-author of the LinkedIn success book, LinkedWorking: Generating Success on the World’s Largest Professional Networking Website and creates opportunities for online connections to gather face-to-face through his live “LinkedWorking” and “Sports Networker” events around the country.
Hank Wasiak is a communications industry leader with an impressive resume of experience working with the corporate elite of global business. He is the co-founder of The Concept Farm, one of today’s hottest creative companies, best selling author, key note speaker, teacher, 14 time Emmy nominated Executive TV Producer, and three time Emmy award winning television host. Born in Brooklyn New York, he was the youngest Vice President of Doyle Dane Bernbach at age 26, President of Ketchum Communications at 32, Division President at Brown Forman at 36, and has risen to the top of every organization he was with.
Sheila Scarborough is a freelance writer specializing in travel (for the BootsnAll Family Travel Guide and the Perceptive Travel blog,) and NHRA drag racing for Fast Machines. She also co-founded Tourism Currents, an online learning community that features tourism-specific training materials, a moderated forum, exclusive interviews with social media and tourism experts and round table Q&A sessions.
Becky McCray is a small town entrepreneur, with a retail store and a cattle ranch in Oklahoma. She works with small town governments and promote tourism and entrepreneurship. Becky authors her personal blog, Out Standing in My Field, is of the Small Business Outside Voice contributors at US News, and writes an occasional Small Business Letter from America for the Small Biz Pod UK. She also co-founded Tourism Currents which teaches social media skills to tourism professionals.
Chris Garrett is a professional blogger, Internet Marketing Consultant, new media industry commentator, writer, coach, speaker, trainer and web geek. He was also a founding member of Performancing. You might know him from his past writing for such sites as ASPToday, ASPAlliance, Threadwatch, or more recently, ProBlogger, The Blog Herald, FreelanceSwitch, Cogniview, and CopyBlogger. Chris consults, trains and speaks about internet marketing, blogging and new media at events such as the Successful Outstanding Bloggers conference in Chicago, Affiliate Expo, WordCamp, the Netherlands Social Media Congress and the Institute of Fundraising.
Erno Hannink is a Social Media for Independent Professionals Specialist and Social Media Business Coach. Through the use of social media and a focus on online publishing of valuable information, Erno helps independent professionals attrack and retain more clients. He also blogs on enthousiasmeren.nl (Dutch), and is the initiator of the Dutch translation of Happy Hour is 9 to 5 by Alexander Kjerulf. Erno also organizes multiple social media events including WordCamp in the Netherlands and the Social Media Event (Dutch) in Utrecht, Netherlands #SME10; an event to help Small Biz owners utilize the full potential of social media.
Lisa Haneberg’s professional career has been devoted to enabling development and success through leadership and internal consulting roles, an individual consulting business and her current position as the Vice President and OD Consulting Practice Lead for Management Performance International (MPI), where she manages the planning and growth of MPI’s organizational development business unit. Lisa is an expert (and lifelong student) in the areas of organization development, management, leadership, and personal and organizational success. She has over 25 years experience providing consulting, training and coaching solutions for businesses and nonprofit organizations. Lisa has also written ten business books and speaks on a broad range of topics of interest to leaders and managers.
Amber Naslund is a social media and marketing practitioner, and the Director of Community for Radian6 social media monitoring. There, she’s responsible for client engagement, community building, and helping companies build sound strategies for social media listening, measurement, and engagement. She’s spent the last 15 years or so working with businesses of all sizes, from the Fortune 50 to startups and local nonprofits, and has enjoyed a diverse career as a fundraiser, client services professional, corporate marketing director, and an entrepreneur. Amber is also a frequent speaker at conferences and private events, talking about the practical applications and business strategies for the social web. An avid writer and passionate content creator, Amber blogs at AltitudeBranding.com, focusing on community, communication, and the rising tide of social business. She’s been recognized among Forbes’ 20 Best Social Media and Marketing Blogs By Women, as PostRank’s top community management blog of 2009, as one of the Top 10 Social Media Blogs of 2010, and among the AdAge Power 150.
David Bullock, co-author of Barack 2.0, brings an engineer’s perspective to social media. His focus is helping businesses drive sales and his method is to view social media as tools in his kit – tools that can bring measurable results. Barack 2.0 grew out of that blog and is the only book that takes a business perspective on Obama’s phenomenal success with social media. Among his specialties is maximizing the efficiency of sales-oriented web pages, reducing costs while increasing sales and market response by up to 300%. David has brought his expertise and problem-solving approach to social media. He has become a nationally recognized speaker and trainer and provides coaching and consulting services to businesses.
Shannon Paul works as the community manager for PEAK6 Online, parent company of OptionsHouse, OptionsNewsNetwork (ONN.tv), and WeSeed. Here she oversees the integration of social media communication into PR and marketing strategies for the company’s three brands, including an online retail stock and options broker, a web-based options news and education site, and a virtual stock market game that allows people to learn about the stock market in a fun way through investing in virtual stock portfolios. Shannon is so consumed by communications issues, information in general, social media and current events that she hardly ever remembers to pick up the dry cleaning or renew insurance contracts.
Jonathan Fields, after establishing the popular New York City studio Sonic Yoga, launched his career as an author with his first book, Career Renegade. He also created an extensive report, The Truth About Book Marketing, that exploded across social media and inspired him to launch TribalAuthor.com in an effort to add a bit of hardcore entrepreneurship and sanity to the process of book marketing.
Scott Porad is the CTO of the Cheezburger Network, the company behind the hugely popular I Can Has Cheezburger? and Failblog.org. The Cheezburger Network is a collection of web sites where every day millions of people share moments of joy through the humor and wonder of LOL. Since 1995, Scott has been building industry leading web sites in online media, user-generated content, online communities and e-commerce. His previous experience includes launching drugstore.com, working on ESPN.com at Paul Allen’s Starwave Corporation and for Seth Godin at Yoyodyne Entertainment.
Lorelle VanFossen is a public speaker, trainer, writer, and consultant on web writing, web design, and blogging, especially working with WordPress. She also travels the world as part of the duo team of VanFossen Productions, professional nature photographers and writers presenting workshops and programs on travel, writing, and nature photography. Lorelle is also the author of the popular Blogging Tips: What Bloggers Won’t Tell You About Blogging, a book covering the basic to intermediate tips you need to know before and during your blogging experience, the first book of its kind. She shares her many years of online journaling, web writing and publishing, and blogging experiences as one of the first website owners and publishers on the web.
Steve Woodruff creates, along with a talented group of people, Opportunity Networks, a community committed to supporting one another, learning from one another, and opening up doors of opportunity for personal and professional advancement. Steve is an unusual hybrid of conceptualizer, strategist, branding guru, analyst, wordsmith, semi-techie, and all-around nice guy. Aside from his company Impactiviti LLC, Steve also writes as a contributor at the MarketingProfs Daily Fix blog, and has been interviewed as an industry expert by TheStreet.com. Steve created and launched the Marketing Bloggers Portal (a portal with feeds from over 100 marketing blogs) and headed up the collaborative BrandingWire blog with 11 co-conspirators. He also contributed chapters to two collaborative book-writing ventures (Age of Conversation 1 & 2; Not Quite What I Was Planning).
An ex-programmer and CIS professor, Lucretia M. Pruitt left the glamorous world of academia for the fast-paced world of being a stay-at-home-Mom. But once a geek, always a geek. Her blogging habit started back in 1998 and she’s had one or more ongoing blogs since. After years wading about in Social Media she discovered Twitter and the unique environment enticed her to jump into Social Media both feet first. Around the same time, she started this blog to try express the whole “21st Century Mom” experience. Currently, she can be found here at GeekMommy.net, as well as being a contributing blogger at Blissfully Domestic, and living on Twitter, FriendFeed, Pownce, Ustream, Stickam… and just about any Social Media site she can find.
A serial entrepreneur, Edward “Ted” Murphy has founded six companies since 1994. Murphy’s latest venture, IZEA operates a variety of social media properties including SocialSpark and PayPerPost, the world’s largest Consumer Generated Advertising Network. Founded in June of 2006, IZEA has raised over $10 million in venture funding from leading venture capitalists including Draper Fischer Jurvetson, Village Ventures and Inflexion. Murphy’s creative prowess and passion for the unconventional has earned him the ear of some of the world’s largest marketing organizations including FOX, Bombardier, General Motors and Disney. His efforts have received national recognition, including A/V Multimedia Producer Magazine’s “Top 100 Multimedia Producers” for two consecutive years. In 2006 Murphy’s viral campaign created for the launch of PayPerPost was inducted into Marketing Sherpa’s Viral Marketing Hall of Fame. Murphy is a prominent visionary, speaking and presenting to marketing and Internet professionals around the world.
Jason Falls owner of Social Media Explorer LLC, is a social media educator, a social media strategist and a public relations professional. His company provides education to help businesses understand and utilize the social web and engage consumers online. He has also advised major, regional and niche brands including Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark and Knob Creek bourbons, NASCAR driver Robby Gordon, Humana, Gary C. Johnson Law Offices, Purely Products, SHPS, Sun Tan City, Mighty Dog, Louisville Slugger, Bionic Gloves, The National Center for Family Literacy and WeSeed.com. In addition to receiving a 2009 Sammy Award, he has also been the recipient of the No. 1 ranking in Advertising Age Power 150 Blogs for his site SocialMediaExplorer.com.
Jeremy Wright is a longtime serial entrepreneur who has been involved with the business, programming, and IT aspects of the technology industry for nearly a decade. He was the CEO, President and Co-Founder of b5media, Inc, a prominent blog network. He is currently a Digital Hitman (aka CEO) at netmobs, a digital strategy and execution agency based in Toronto. Jeremy is the author of Blog Marketing, a business book on blogging as well as a father to his two wonderful boys.
L.P. “Neenz” Faleafine is the Chief Evangelist for leading news aggregation site, Alltop and the Founder of Hawaii based media marketing company, Pono Media. Often called an Ambassador of Aloha, Neenz is the Executive Editor of online magazine, Hawaii Traditions, a contributing blogger for the Hawaii Visitors and Conventions official blog, So Much More Hawaii, and the Honolulu Advertiser’s Metromix blog, Fresh from the grill. A leader in her community, Neenz was named one of the Top 20 Social Media Geeks in Hawaii by Bytemarks Cafe host, Burt Lum. She is an organizer with the following influential conferences and events in Hawaii, powered by the use of social media: [re]Think: Hawaii, TEDxHonolulu, Twestival Honolulu, So Much More Hawaii. Comfortable in front of any audience; Neenz has spoken to educators, professionals, small business owners, politicians, government officials, students, and entrepreneurs.
Drew McLellan has not only survived 20 years in the advertising and marketing arena, he’s thrived in it. After working for several other agencies, including Young and Rubicam’s CMF&Z, Drew created McLellan Marketing Group in 1995. At MMG, strategy and passion collide as they bring their unique style and practical smarts to life for their clients small and large. Drew and his talented band of co-workers have developed a proprietary branding process that has helped propel their clients to the top of their game. Over the years, Drew has lent his expertise to clients like Nabisco, IAMS pet foods, Kraft Foods, Meredith Publishing, John Deere, Iowa Health System, Make-A-Wish, University of Central Florida, SkiDoo and a wide array of others. When he’s not out preaching the good word of branding, Drew spends time with his family and pondering why the Dodgers can’t seem to get back to the World Series.
Steve Farber is the president of Extreme Leadership, Incorporated, an organization devoted to the cultivation and development of Extreme Leaders in the business community. His latest book, Greater Than Yourself: The Ultimate Lesson In Leadership, was a Wall Street Journal® and USA Today® bestseller. His second book, The Radical Edge: Stoke Your Business, Amp Your Life, and Change the World, was hailed as “a playbook for harnessing the power of the human spirit.” And his first book, The Radical Leap: A Personal Lesson in Extreme Leadership, is already considered a classic in the leadership field. It received Fast Company magazine’s Readers’ Choice Award and was recently named one of the 100 Best Business Books of All Time.
Chris is President of New Marketing Labs, a new media marketing agency, as well as the home of the New Marketing Summit conferences and New Marketing Bootcamp educational events. He works with large and mid-sized companies to improve online business communications like marketing and PR through the use of social software, community platforms, and other emerging web and mobile technologies. Chris is a ten year veteran of using social media and both web and mobile technologies to build digital relationships for businesses, organizations, and individuals. Chris speaks, blogs, writes articles, and makes media of all kinds at chrisbrogan.com, a blog in the top 10 of the Advertising Age Power150, and in the top 100 on Technorati.
Brian Clark, Copyblogger, is an Internet marketing strategist, content developer, entrepreneur, and recovering attorney. In addition to building four successful offline businesses using online marketing techniques, he has sold scores of products and services online via joint venture and affiliate arrangements. Brian’s blog, Copyblogger, is a must-read for anyone writing content for the Internet.
Missy Ward is the Co-Founder of Affiliate Summit, FeedFront Magazine, GeekCast.fm, VelocityNYC Press, AffStat.com, AffiliateBuyersGuide.com, ShipToTroops.com and AffiliateMarketersGiveBack.com. In addition to her role on the advisory board of Izea and A4UExpo, she is also a contributor and editor of the new book, Internet Marketing from the Real Experts. The net proceeds of this book are donated to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Missy is a mother, sister, wife, fundraising activist and blogs about affiliate marketing, social media, events, and things she loves. Before working for herself, Missy was the Director of Public Relations for Media Breakaway LLC, Vice President of Partnership Marketing for eBound Strategies, President of Aluria Software and Vice-President of Marketing for Global Travel International.
Naomi Dunford grew up in a family of entrepreneurs and got bitten by the be-your-own-boss bug pretty young. With ten years experience in marketing and corporate communication for Fortune 500 companies, Naomi developed IttyBiz to help businesses with fewer than 5 employees create dynamic marketing campaigns on the cheap. She works from her laptop on her couch, surrounded by goldfish crackers and Lego, and she’s never been happier.
Geoff has worked as a public relations strategist in the Washington, D.C. region for 15 years. Dubbed a “local blogging guru” by the Washington Post, Geoff’s award-winning book on new media “Now is Gone” was released in 2007. The book has been cited by the Wall Street Journal as a valuable resource for social media. Some of his experiences include Bartleby Books, United Way, Save Darfur, the Consumer Electronics Association, Ford Motor Company, the Washington Nationals, Network Solutions, Sully Erna (Godsmack lead singer), Verizon Wireless and many others.
