We are looking for Speakers! If you, or someone you know, loves Local Search Marketing or works in Real Estate, Event or News Marketing or Travel and want to get your voice hear, the 2009 GeoDomain Expo in San Diego, CA (Apr 23rd, 2009 - Apr 25th, 2009).
We hold annual conference each year, and with each successive year, the conference has grown bigger and bigger. It is a conference that focused on the development and monetization of “Geodomains” (Chicago.com, Florida.com, Resorts.com, etc.). You would be presenting to a group of “Geodomainers”, as the term is evolving. The owners of SanFransico.com, Seattle.com, Portland.com, Vancouver.com, NewYorkCity.com, LosAngeles.com, Glasgow.com, Buenosaires.com, PigeonForge.com, Nashville.com, Chicago.com, Cuba.com, etc. etc. will be there.
The attendees consist of the owners/Chairpeople/CEO’s and VP Biz Dev, etc. It is a pretty elite event for our industry, our one annual get together. The decision makers are there, not the subordinates.
The group as a whole represents over 20M/+ unique visitors a year that are primarily interested in travel and tourism information, and now crossing over into local and directory services for some.
The group easily represents $1B+/year in annual gross hotel bookings, and perhaps even up to 5-10X that number. Other large revenue drivers are ticketing (Broadway in NYC, Theatre in London and Chicago, Baseball, Concerts, Basketball, Football, etc.) and local/directory services.
Here are the spots where we need speakers ASAP (if you have recommendations for new topics, please contact me):
FRIDAY, APRIL 24
1:30 - 2:30 p.m.
News strategies for GeoDomains
If GeoDomains are going to be a successor to local newspapers, should they commit resources to news reporting? Does citizen journalism or aggregation fill the gap? Or should site operators commit resources to make their sites more relevant, and, if so, what’s the business model? We’ll hear from leading representatives of the new generation of online local newspapers, who will share their thoughts on how online local news is filling gaps left by the disappearing print-based news sources.
2:30 - 3:30 p.m.
Business Directories
Business directories offer a way to become more than a destination portal and engage local businesses. Some GeoDomain operators have seen great financial returns as well. Learn from experts about acquiring data and launching a directory on your geo site. How to build, automate and sell a directory, or partner with a provider to create a geo-branded listings system for your city.
4 - 5 p.m.
Building the brand, extending your reach
As search engines, social media and mobile applications provide alternative paths to local information, a GeoDomain needs to be more than a convenient browser address. Improving content depth, creating personality and leveraging social media to extend the brand become imperative. Learn how not to just coexist with Facebook, Yelp, Twitter and socially-enabled IYPs. Use them - along with real world community-building activities like events, promotion and community outreach - to strengthen your geo-franchise.
SATURDAY, APRIL 25
9:30 - 10:45 a.m.
Travel industry tips and tricks
Despite the general slowdown in travel and an ultra-competitive online landscape, some geo sites are showing year-over-year growth. Find out how to leverage technologies, pricing, compelling content, conversion optimization and search marketing to get a bigger piece of the online travel spend.
9:30 - 10:45 a.m.
Real estate tips and tricks
The latest techniques for lead generation, including IDX and MLS feeds, Realtor directories, mapping, content strategies and other tools to compete with the big real estate services.
11 a.m. - noon
Dailies: They’re gone, now what?
Now that the predicted disappearance of daily newspapers is occurring, who will rule the local space? Whose news will be aggregated when there is no more reporting to steal and rewrite? Will citizen journalism sites, national brands, foundation-funded experiments, IYPs, hyper-local blogs and social networks take over where dailies left off? Or will the strongest local brand win? GeoDomains discuss strategies for winning the local space race. Moderated by Gordon Borrell of Borrell Associates.
2:30 - 3:30 p.m.
Events calendars and entertainment coverage
How to integrate events feeds into your site and engage the community in posting information. Engage writers to cover culture in your community. And monetize through ticket sales and advertising. Moderator: Kyu Kyung of SF Station.
If you are interested in speaking at this event, please contact me ASAP as spots will fill up fast.
