Activ8Social's team will be attending What's Next DC at the end of January and providing our social media input as floating experts throughout the day.  We are supporters of the awesome team over at Green Buzz Agency and would like to help them spread the word about this new up and coming conference series. It's an event we are pumped about and an educational experience we think will spark at least one original idea you can bring back to the office. Below is an overview of What's Next—Your Marketing Communications Roadmap.   When: Monday, January 24 | 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Where: George Washington University, Marvin Center, Grand Ballroom, Washington, D.C.   View Larger Map Kick off 2011 with fresh thinking and new approaches to marketing and communication. What's Next DC has cut the fat from your typical bloated business conference. There are no sales commercials masquerading as presentations here, or sleepy Q & A sessions where only 1 of 8 questions apply to your business. What's Next DC is about brainstorming, case studies, energy, networking, strategy and - best of all - personalized solutions to your company's most important challenges.   How will What's Next DC accomplish this? By jamming as much information into the day as possible. The conference will have floating experts in a variety of fields available, so if you hear something you like and want to bounce ideas around right there on the spot, you can! The good people at What's Next DC have scheduled group brainstorming/strategy sessions and niche learning sessions where you can discuss your areas of interest and expertise. There will also be an area dedicated solely to networking all day long.   This is not just a conference, it is an experience. Come prepared and energized to learn and share with other Marketing, Public Relations, Advertising, and Communication Professionals!   Green Buzz Agency has graciously provided the readers of our blog and social media channels a limited use coupon code ** Activ8Social25 ** which gets you 25% off registration. The Early Bird Special is already sold out, and only a limited number of Activ8Social discount codes are available, so hurry and register now!   If you tweet about the conference, please be sure to use the official hashtag which is #WhatsNextDC (this is key for listening to what attendees are saying). For more information, please visit the What's Next DC website at www.whatsnextdc.com or register on Eventbrite here.

Activ8Social invites you to network with us and other sports business professionals that work or live in the Washington, DC area at our first event of the year. This will be a great opportunity to meet new people, exchange ideas and talk sports. (more...)

The Activ8Social team would like to thank Lewis Howes from Sports Networker and Amy Martin from Digital Royalty for hosting an informative event this past Monday at New York City's top social media gathering place, the Roger Smith Hotel (we really encourage you to check out this family-owned and operated artsy boutique).    Much like the Princeton Sports Symposium on Friday, December 4, the a8s team took advantage of an opportunity to meet and hang out with some of the brightest minds in the sports social media, sponsorship, and marketing space.  While the larger Princeton event on Friday was aimed as much at students as it was our peers, the Sports Networker Summit was less a conference and more a room full of interactive discussions.   Many of the participants could be seen with pen and paper in hand while others, like the a8s team, were rocking laptops and simultaneously following Twitter discussion via the real-time broadcast on livestream.  You can check out a photo of the Roger Smith Hotel here.   By far the highlight of the day was the extremely entertaining and informative Converging Social Media and Traditional Media discussion between 3 industry veterans. It's not often you get the chance to hear one of the world's most widely read newspapers share thoughts on the future of the industry with an extremely disruptive (to traditional media) site like SB Nation.

 
• Jim Bankoff - Founder of SB Nation
• Brian Cuban - Founder of The Cuban Revolution
• Tom Jolly - Senior Sports Editor for the NY Times

In between discussions and after the event, a8s enjoyed putting faces to a few tweeple in the sports social media world making some worth-while chatter out there including Ed Tseng, Amanda Rykoff, Stefanie Mara, and Zachary Lipari.   We also met some intriguing companies that work with college/ pro sports teams including Brand Thunder which has developed plugins for Firefox and Internet Explorer that brand your browser and  Rocketseed which offers a service for intelligent branded email.  We encourage you to check out both these companies because they are building cool products which enhance your digital experience.   If you happened to miss the entirety of the Sports Networker Summit or even a small segment because the boss wouldn't let you out to play, be sure to check out the video replays of the other 3 discussions here.   Sports Sponsorships and ROI

 
• Ben Sturner - Founder and CEO of Leverage Agency
• Bob Gearing - VP Corporate Partnerships, Staten Island Yankees

  Social Media Marketing and Measurement

 
• Ryan Holmes - Founder and CEO, Invoke Media
• Michael DiLorenzo - Director of Social Media Marketing & Strategy, National Hockey League

  Ticket Sales, Service, and Retention via Social Media

 
• Drew Cloud - VP of Ticket Sales, Service & Retention, NY Knicks/MSG Sports
• Brian Simpson - Director of Social Hospitality, Roger Smith Hotel

The Activ8Social team just capped off a long, eventful day at the prestigious 2009 Princeton Sports Symposium, which was the fourth installment of this event that has become an annual landmark in the sports industry and on the Princeton University Campus.  Founded by Chris Chaney, Princeton class of '07, the symposium provides a forum where students and sports professionals can interact and acquire invaluable knowledge about this fast-growing industry.   Anthony Caponiti of Activ8Social was a featured panelist on the "Digital Media & Technology" panel, alongside the following renowned industry veterans:  

• Troy Ewanchynia - Senior Director, Comcast SportsNet Digital Media
• Derrick Heggans - Principal, HACE Sports Media Consulting
• Greg Shaheen - Senior VP, Basketball and Business Strategies, NCAA
• David Birnbaum - Senior Advisor, Strategy and Acquisitions, Alloy Media + Marketing

The highlight of the day for us was listening to the keynote address by Tony Ponturo, who served as President and CEO of Busch Media Group and the VP of global media, sports and entertainment marketing of Anheuser-Busch, Inc.   During his 26 year tenure at Anheuser-Busch, Tony managed over $700 million in media, sports and entertainment properties per annum, overseeing broadcast exclusives in the Super Bowl, FIFA World Cup, USOC and International Olympics.  In addition, he steered official beer sponsorships with MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS and NASCAR.   We also enjoyed finally getting to meet some fellow rising stars of the sports and social media industry in person, including Lewis Howes, Amy Martin, Peter Robert Casey, Darren Heitner, Joshua Duboff, Brian Gainor, and Russell Scibetti.