The Association and member publishers continue our conference collaborative project to ensure cities and counties know of our industry’s sustainability efforts and public policy positions. We started in Saratoga Springs, NY on Sunday for the two-day annual meeting of the New York State Conference of Mayors & Municipal Officials and will also have meetings in Albany, NY. Attending are Sarah Wilson (DexMedia), Matt Krug (Yellowbook), Gene Wilk (LSA) and myself.
Since the exhibit hall opened on Sunday afternoon and our booth was located in the reception room, we’ve been fortunate to have many great one-on-one conversations with elected officials from cities throughout the state.
We’ve been describing how print, Internet and mobile app directories are the critical link between local businesses and local customers, and we’ve been explaining how our consumer choice program is worth promoting among their constituents.
All of us are looking forward to today’s full day of participating in the NYCOM conference and having the opportunity to meet more of New York State’s local elected officials.
From L to R: Wesley Young (LSA), Sarah Wilson (DexMedia), Gene Wilk (LSA) & Matt Krug (Yellowbook)
In addition to all the great speakers and workshops, our conference is a great opportunity to network with decision makers from some of the most influential companies in local search. We offer a variety of networking events ranging from formal, informal and everything in between. The events planned are as follows:
Conference Golf Tournament (Sunday, April 14)
Sponsored by Yellow Pages Group This year’s conference golf tournament will be held at the beautiful Arroyo Golf Club nestled alongside the breathtaking Red Rock Canyon in Las Vegas. Make some new connections and enjoy a nice relaxing round of golf on a course designed by Arnold Palmer himself. For just $250, you get 18 holes of golf, breakfast, transportation from the hotel and a chance to win some great prizes! You can sign up for golf when you register for our conference.
Women’s Round Table Event (Sunday, April 14) Sponsored by Ponytale Talk and Global Business Therapy Come and hear from Kimberli Lewis, President of the European Association of Data Base, Search and Directory Publishers (EASDP), for her talk titled, “10 Problems Women Face in the Workplace and their Similarity to Hot Dogs.” Yes, we know it sounds strange, but Kimberli offers some great insight into the topic.
Night in Black and White (Sunday, April 14)
Sponsored by YP Join us for a “Night in Black and White” as we honor the most innovative and creative work in local search during the Industry Excellence Awards. Watch a brief silent film that highlights all of our winners and stick around for drinks and networking after the show. (black & white business casual attire)
Viva Las Local Cocktail Party (Monday, April 15) Sponsored by Local Market Launch Before the “Viva Las Local” dinner, join us for cocktail hour just above the casino floor on the mezzanine level. This casual setting is a great opportunity to unwind after a packed day of great speakers and presentations. Talk business or anything but, and make some connections that are sure to continue after conference.
Viva Las Local Dinner (Monday, April 15) Sponsored by SuperMedia – Celebrity look-alikes sponsored by hibu
After cocktail hour, the party continues during the “Viva Las Local” dinner. Join us for food and drinks at The London Club. And Vegas just wouldn’t be Vegas without some celebrities. Get pictures with some special guests and take advantage of even more opportunities to network.
I left New Jersey on an early Sunday morning flight to attend the Southeast Recycling Conference (SERC) & Trade Show that started later that afternoon in Destin, Florida. Joining me again is the successful crew from the Keep America Beautiful conference that was held in January: Yellowbook’s Matt Krug and YP’s Felicia Smith, flying from Iowa and Georgia respectively.
I’m losing an hour from Daylight Savings Time but I’m gaining an hour for crossing into the Central Time Zone. I’m calling it an even trade!
Hundreds of attendees from the recycling industry in twelve southeastern states are converging on the Gulf Coast in the Florida Panhandle from March 10-13. The agenda is packed full with fantastic speakers and we’re happy to be talking with attendees about our industry’s great strides in sustainability and consumer choice.
(L-R) LSA’s Gene Wilk, Ray Laughter (Environmental Services Manager of DeSoto County, Mississippi), Matt Krug (Yellowbook) and Felicia Smith (YP).
LSA’s Gene Wilk (center) with Alice Smith (left) and Lisa Ruffe (right) who came to SERC from Brevard County, Florida. Alice is the Recycling & Sustainable Acquisition Program Manager for NASA at its John F. Kennedy Space Center.
We are pleased to announce our third and final keynote speaker for the “Search Starts Here” conference: Jason Finger, CEO of CityGrid.
During our fireside chat with Jason, he will discuss the current environment and future of “local” including merchant product offers and the investment landscape. In addition, he will give a glimpse of what’s to come for CityGrid’s properties such as Citysearch, Urbanspoon and Insider Pages.
CityGrid is one of the largest content and advertising networks for local and small businesses. Jason oversees the entire ad network in addition to all of CityGrid’s owned and operated websites that include Citysearch.com, insiderpages.com, Urbanspoon.com and GetFelix.com.
Prior to CityGrid, he cofounded SeamlessWeb in 1999 and was responsible for growing the company’s presence to 22 cities throughout the U.S. and London. SeamlessWeb was acquired by Aramark in 2006 at which time Jason was responsible for setting and executing corporate strategy for 260,000 employees in 19 countries.
In addition to his success at CityGrid and SeamlessWeb, Jason has been named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Innovator of the Year by the Corporate Executive Council of New York, and to Crain’s 40 Under 40 list of leading young executives.
We are looking forward to hearing from another great keynote speaker at our annual conference: Dan Levy, Director, Small Business, of Facebook.
Dan will be discussing Facebook’s “Nearby” feature that has captured a lot of press recently for its impact on local search. He will share insight into some of the recent updates to Nearby as well as plans for future updates such as the addition of information from third-party services.
Facebook’s Nearby combines the social elements of Facebook with its geo-location services by allowing users to find local spots that friends have checked into or “liked” such as restaurants or other local stores and businesses. In addition to social information, users are provided with addresses, contact info and hours of operation for these local businesses. Facebook also goes a step further by tapping into the hugely successful online reviews space with features that allow users to rate and review local businesses and recommend them to friends.
Dan leads the Small Business team at Facebook. He is responsible for sales, marketing, and service for the millions of small businesses who use Facebook to connect with their customers and grow their businesses. Dan joined Facebook in 2008 to start the Payments and Risk organization leading Facebook’s efforts to expand payment acceptance, industry relationships, and operations. Prior to Facebook, Dan started his own marketing business – Justarrive, and spent seven years at PayPal.
Dan will be speaking on Day 2 of “Search Starts Here” to close the conference via a fireside chat format. Get your questions ready!
Visit our conference website for more information and make sure to register for our conference by February 13th to receive $200 OFF the full registration price!
Planning is in full swing for our annual conference, “Search Starts Here,” taking place April 13-16 in Las Vegas. As you may have seen, we were pleased to announce last week that Jean-Pierre Remy, president and CEO of PagesJaunes, will be delivering the conference keynote on his company’s remarkable transformation from a traditional print publisher into one of the world’s most progressive local search companies.
Today, I’m excited to share that we are offering two special discounts to help you make it to our event:
Returning annual conference attendees who register today will receive an Early Bird Discount of $200 OFF their registration price. This offer ends February 13.
First time annual conference attendees can take advantage of attractive member and non-member prices that are both nearly half off the regular prices.
Our annual conference, which is one of the largest industry gatherings of the year, will be held this year at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. The event will feature a four-day jam-packed agenda of exciting speakers and panelists, coordinated with industry veteran Greg Sterling. Attendees will also benefit from popular Strategic Exchange Sessions to meet and discuss strategic opportunities with partners, the Industry Excellence Awards ceremony, and opportunities for professional networking at several receptions and dinners.
So whether your work is in traditional or digital local advertising media, our conference is a great opportunity to learn and network with the best in the industry. Attendees will include local search experts, innovators and professionals who specialize in print, digital, mobile and social media. Don’t miss out on this chance to raise your company’s visibility with this influential group, while benefiting from the latest insights into the future of our industry.
After registering, don’t forget to reserve your hotel room. Be sure to book early and use our attendee group code “SMLSA3” to guarantee our special room rate. Feel free to call Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino directly at (866) 317-1829 or book online.
We look forward to seeing you there! For more information, visit our conference website.
On the final day of the event, Neg Norton and I attended several sessions on sustainability. Many of these city leaders were in the early stages of building sustainability plans for their communities. They were looking for a place to start, the process for implementing a plan, and more insight into what a plan should look like. Some appeared frustrated regarding how to measure the benefits of such plans. It was a clear indication to both Neg and me that we have a great opportunity to continue to engage local communities about our industry’s efforts and encourage them to work with us as they develop their approaches to sustainability.
One of the speakers, Peter Brandom, sustainability manager for Hillsboro, Oregon, later stopped by our booth and we were able to discuss the benefits of www.YellowPagesOutOut.com. We were able to share with Peter that our industry-run website is available at no cost to governments or consumers. Peter said that Hillsboro had been paying for a similar opt-out service. I think examples like these demonstrate why it’s so important that we continue to build visibility for www.YellowPagesOutOpt.com among audiences such as those at the NLC conference.
Our industry’s exhibit booth – well-staffed by Yellowbook’s Matt Krug, YP’s Jim Troup and Dex One’s Tim Foster – continued to garner interest for www.YellowPagesOptOut.com and its benefits as a straightforward, easy-to-use and free way to address the issue of unwanted directory delivery. We also spoke with many city leaders who had positive things to say about the local benefits of Yellow Pages. Many city officials we met were also small business owners and appreciated the return on investment that Yellow Pages provided their businesses. I also once again ran into Mayor Melodee Colbert-Kean of Joplin, Missouri, and she told me that her tweet about www.YellowPagesOptOut.com sparked response from constituents who thought it was a great idea, as well as some who believed that receiving the print Yellow Pages were still important in helping them find local businesses. All in all, the exhibit booth was a great way to raise awareness of our members’ products as well as our consumer choice website.
With many state receptions at the end of the conference, Neg and I chose to attend those for states that were most active on issues pertaining to our industry. We attended the Oregon/Washington reception and the Joint Constituency Group reception for several minority groups. We met city officials from the Washington cities of Everett, Auburn, Redmond, Medina, Snohomish, SeaTac, and others. I also continued to develop relationships with members of the Asian municipal officers constituency group, and went to dinner with a few of them after the event.
(L-R) Doris McConnell, Councilmember – Shoreline, WA, Suzanne Lee Chan, Councilmember – Fremont, CA, Gilbert Wong, Councilmember – Cupertino, CA, Wesley Young, Local Search Association
Overall, the NLC conference was a great opportunity to meet local officials on an informal basis, to network with them, and to let them know that we are available to work with them to address issues regarding our industry’s products in their communities. There were so many attendees, that it was impossible to meet with them all, yet in a surprisingly short time, we were able to develop some really solid relationships and build significant goodwill. The National League of Cities is a group we will continue to invest in moving forward.
We’re on-site at the National League of Cities’ Congress of Cities and Exposition at the Boston Convention Center & Exposition Center this week, as more than 3,000 mayors, city managers, city council members, government staff and industry corporate partners gather to discuss, among other topics, ways for cities to build more sustainable communities.
Yesterday, Dex One’s Tim Foster, Yellowbook’s Matt Krug and YP’s Jim Troup set up Booth #1149 in the Sustainability Pavilion in the Exhibition Hall in preparation for the event, which officially begins today.
In the evening, Neg and I attended the NLC’s Board of Directors reception and dinner, where we had the opportunity to meet with a variety of attendees. Notably, Neg spoke with Seattle City Councilmember Richard Conlin about our industry’s desire to work with the City of Seattle to address its concerns about directory delivery and update them on positive developments when it comes to our sustainability and consumer choice initiatives.
At dinner, we had the chance to talk one-on-one with Melodee Colbert Kean, the recently elected mayor of Joplin, Missouri. Mayor Colbert Kean, who is the first African-American to be elected as mayor of Joplin, was a very engaging woman and told us stories about how her city was recovering from the devastating 2011 tornado. She discussed how one-third of the city was damaged or destroyed and that more than 160 lives were lost in the storm.
But Mayor Colbert Kean also emphasized how her city is emerging from the destruction with a new hope and vision. She said rebuilding is taking place with a master plan – including the construction of a vibrant city center – to make the city more attractive to new residents and businesses. As part of the rebuilding, the Mayor said she recognized the usefulness of phone directories in helping local businesses in Joplin attract new customers, in addition to providing residents with useful information to use in emergencies like a storm.
Mayor Colbert Kean did note that she believes some residents would prefer to opt-out of directory delivery. She was so encouraged to learn about our consumer choice website at www.YellowPagesOptOut.com that she tweeted about it from the dinner table. The Mayor said she looks forward to gauging interest in the tool from her constituents and will report back to us.
A very exciting and productive kick-off to what we know will be a very productive week. Stay tuned for additional updates from the NLC conference!
The event agenda is jam-packed with exciting speakers from across the spectrum. I’m particularly interested in hearing from:
Kris Barton, chief product officer at ReachLocal, who will talk one-on-one with BIA/Kelsey’s Charles Laughlin on Sales Force Transformation
Tobias Dengel, CEO at WillowTree Apps, who will participate on a panel discussing mobile’s impact on interactive local media
Andrew Shotland, principal at Local SEO Guide and a BIA/Kelsey associate, who will join Paul Wicker, director at Kenshoo Local in reviewing the new landscape in local/social SEO
There are also many, many others I look forward to hearing from. As usual, I’ll be blogging on-site for the duration of the event, so stop by here for the latest.
As in previous years, I’ll be live-blogging the various expert speakers and panelists as they discuss opportunities for small- and medium-sized business to increase their investment in digital marketing and experience strong return-on-investment.
Two sessions I’m really looking forward to include:
Managing Ever-Expanding Digital Portfolio Panel: Mike Centorani, cofounder, Sales Transformation Now, and Bob Sanders, president and COO, Axiom Sales Force Development, will discuss how local media companies are successfully blending their traditional and digital media products. The panel will explore evolving sales strategies, impact on recruitment and training, and effective multimedia selling tactics.
Presentation by Fred Haung, manager, Partner Relations, Facebook: Haung, who previously led SMB marketing for Google in China, will discuss Facebook’s SMB initiatives.
We’re just several weeks away from BIA/Kelsey’s highly anticipated SMB Digital Marketing Conference 2012, taking place Sept. 17-19 at Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago.
This annual event, which brings together innovators, influencers, and inventors in the digital marking place, will focus on small and medium sized businesses’ increased investment in the space and their greater appetite for ROI-based strategies. Specific topics will include local sales strategies, merchant outreach, SMB engagement and promotions, local search, social media, mobile strategies and technology innovation.
Barnell Holloway, Manager, Local Business Outreach, Yelp
Sanjay Gupta, VP, Global Merchant Marketing, Groupon
Visit the conference website and register today! I look forward to seeing many of you in Chicago. For those who cannot attend, stay tuned to Local Search Insider for live coverage of the event.
The CRRA conference, which takes place this upcoming Sunday through Wednesday at the Oakland Marriott City Center in Oakland, California, will feature an exhibit booth staffed by on-site representatives from Yellowbook and the Association.
Be sure to check out Yellow Search TODAY’s annual Yellow Search TODAY! Conference, taking place November 16-17 in Copenhagen.
Formerly known as Yellow Pages TODAY!, Yellow Search TODAY!’s premier event will continue to target Yellow Pages providers, but will also appeal to the companies committed to the SME market. This year’s event will include search engines, website design & servicing companies, SEO & SEM providers, social media networks, mobile web-design & mobile location-services, as well as video production & servicing companies.
Speakers and participants from various sectors of the international response-related community come together in Copenhagen to explore the future of this market. Not only will participating companies expand their knowledge of the SME market, but they will have the opportunity to network and create lasting relationships with other participants.
It sure has been busy over here as we get ready for our annual conference in Las Vegas next month at Caesar’s Palace. We’re really excited about this year’s theme: Search Starts Here because 2011 is such a pivotal year for our industry and it sets the tone for great discussions about the shift towards digital integration that we’ve been talking about on this blog for the past few months. I look forward to hearing about all the new ways that we can better serve customers in the local search market, among many other topics.
We are also pleased to announce that our keynote speaker will be former Governor of Minnesota Tim Pawlenty. He has always been a strong supporter of small business and his balance of innovation and leadership helped Minnesota balance its budget, cut spending, reform health care, and improve schools without raising taxes.
We’ll be giving away copies of his new book, Courage to Stand, to all attendees, signed immediately after the close of the General Session on Tuesday, April 19. We hope you can join us to hear first-hand what this potential presidential contender has to say.
Some of our other key speakers include:
Dan Danner, President, National Federation of Independent Business
Yvette Liu, Facebook
Rachel Pasqua, VP Mobile Group, iCrossing
Marc Tellier, President and CEO, Yellow Pages Group
Martin Tobias, CEO/President, Tippr
And like last year, we’re bringing back the very successful Strategic Exchange Sessions. In place of a traditional conference exhibit hall, these sessions give companies an opportunity to make appointments with industry executives and set the stage for profitable business initiatives.
There will be many opportunities for attendees to engage in one-on-one conversations with industry leaders, attend a variety of networking and awards receptions, and enter our golf tournament or play video games in our Game Cafe.
We hope to see you in Las Vegas. For more information, including the list of speakers, agenda, and registration form, please visit the conference page on the YPA website.
This year, Yellow Pages Association is proud to once again partner with BIA/Kelsey to present Directional Media Strategies (DMS), one of the most important industry conferences of the year, scheduled for Sept. 14-16, 2010, at the InterContinental Hotel in Dallas.
For those of you who haven’t yet signed up for DMS ‘10, be sure to check out the latest version of the agenda and list of speakers to get a better sense of the exciting lineup we have in store for this year’s conference:
Several highlights include:
Bruce Cortterill, CEO of Yellow Pages Group in New Zealand, will provide an inside look at how one incumbent operator has successfully focused on increasing value in the short-term while preparing the organization for long-term success.
Paul Dawalibi, President and CEO, Praized Media; Michael Francesconi, Director, Content and Community, CityGrid Media; and Andrew Shotland, Proprietor, LocalSEOGuide.com, will discuss how Yellow Pages publishers can realistically make the shift from traditional to social media.
The future of Digital Yellow Pages will be debated by top minds in the industry, including Eitan Ackerman, Executive Director of Marketing and Sales Engineering, Amdocs; Gianluca Carerra, VP New Media, Truvo; Sivan Metzger, GM, Kenshoo Local; Neil Salvage, Executive VP Advertising, CityGrid Media; and Gregg Stewart, President, 15Miles.
We’re really looking forward to DMS ‘10 and the great exchange of ideas and building of business relationships that will take place. To register, visit the conference registration page today to benefit from reduced pricing. See you in Dallas!
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