This draft will eventually be put on the AIC website.
AIC Social Media Workshop | Monday, June 27, 2011
We're deluged with discussions about social media these days. There are many ways to spend your time and/or money. What's best for you? The Association for Independent Consultants make social media real in this hands-on workshop. You'll learn where it fits into your marketing strategy and how to improve what you're doing. If you aren't already on LinkedIn and Twitter, be sure to setup accounts in advance. For the best results, bring your WiFi-enabled computer or tablet. You'll have time to start applying what you learn.
1 PM: Registration
This is also your time for networking as we won't have group introductions.
1:30 PM: The Big Picture with Sean Stanleigh
Your Business editor at The Globe and Mail

Is social media more than buzz? Sean will give an overview of the small business landscape. There are opportunities and threats. He will show where social media fits. What are the keys for success? Where can you go for help? This is your opportunity to find out what's really going on and ask questions.
Sean (LinkedIn profile)
is the editor of the Your Business
properties at The Globe and Mail. He is in charge of coordinating small-business coverage across three platforms: web, magazine and newspaper. He comes up with story ideas, assigns them to writers and reporters, edits the copy, and publishes. He also manages a group of regular columnists and contributing professors. There's a video and podcast series too.
Journalism today means more than writing and editing. Sean also also responsible for promoting content and extending the Your Business brand. Sean runs @GlobeSmallBiz
on Twitter, contributes to The Globe's page
on Facebook, and manages the Your Business group
on LinkedIn.
2:30 PM: LinkedIn with Paul Van Wart
Social Media Marketer at Paul 2 The Max

Paul will describe what makes a LinkedIn profile effective and help you improve yours.
Paul (LinkedIn profile)
is an avid social networker with a diverse background. He's certified through the Certified Coaches Federation to coach business owners and their employees in the use of Social Media to promote their business, services and products. He's also skilled at coaching job seekers on the use of social media to enhance their job search efforts.
3:30 PM: Break
Stretch, have coffee or continue working.
3:45 PM: Twitter with Stephanie Goodman
Digital Marketing Representative at Venture Accelerator Partners

Stephanie will explain how to use Twitter better and help you improve your usage. You'll also see how to connect Twitter with LinkedIn to expand the reach of your messages.
Stephanie (LinkedIn profile) has a passion for constant learning and social media. She has strong communication skills. You are likely to see here at social media and start-up events. She watches trends to spot new ways to generate sales leads and optimize B2B marketing programs. She is also the event coordinator for the Golden Horseshoe Venture Forum.
4:45 PM Content with Susan Corcoran
Managing Partner at Indigo Oceans
Creating original content shows your expertise and intent to help. Yet few bother and many who start quit. That creates an opportunity for you to stand out. Learn how to create quality content, find the time and stick to a schedule.

Susan (LinkedIn profile) has extensive, practical experience in long-term, high performing Sales and Marketing initiatives. She's worked with organizations — small to large — to create cultures that inspire leadership, engage employees, build effective teams and drive performance. Susan listens and offers pragmatic solutions to reveal what's possible.
5:45 PM Dinner
This is on your own. There are several places just steps away.
Regular evening program
This is when you'll be able to do your infomercials and share your good news stories.
7 PM: ePress Kits and Using Social Media to Find and Retain the Best Clients with Julia Hidy

Give the media, other bloggers and especially clients the information they need to about you and your work. By developing and posting an effective online ePress Kit, you can raise your profile and be seen as /the/ expert in your specialty. In this workshop, you'll be given examples of the key components of great press kits. Find out what kind of content industry-leading social media consultant, Chris Brogan, has on his website, and how this has helped him become a leader in his field. Also learn how businessman, Gary Veynerchuk, author of "Crush It!," took his online presence and WineLibrary web TV show and leveraged his media and social media reputation while growing his family business' revenues from $5 million to $65 million in under five years.
You'll get quick and inexpensive ideas to build a world-class online press kit. You'll also learn how you to pitch and build your relationships with consumer and trade media. You'll see how to use articles, guest blogging, radio interviews and/or TV interviews on your website so your current and new clients see you as a leader and content expert in your field. Find out how, why and what kind of dollar value media and social media can add to your business and well as helping your retirement or exit strategy.
Julia Hidy (LinkedIn profile) is a senior marketing consultant and strategist to leading North American retail and supply chain technology developers. Her boutique marketing, PR and advertising agency has successfully re-engineered flagging brands, dramatically increased client sales, and has run campaigns that have helped her clients win U.S. national awards and receive featured media coverage. She has been the key media and press contact for her clients at major U.S. and Canadian trade shows. Her campaigns have brought her clients page 1 Google rankings for highly competitive keywords and 'captured names' so she could give her client thousands of highly qualified leads for a million dollar solution.
Julia Hidy will also cover how and why her Canadian clients have been able to successfully compete against large, well funded global software solutions' leaders with only a fraction of these firms' budget. She will show you how she leveraged an advertising campaign for one of her clients that featured Gary Veynerchuk's company, WineLibrary. Julia Hidy is a non-fiction author and professional speaker. She has been a keynote speaker at BookExpo Canada and the Independent Publishers' Association's Publishing U in New York.









