The Midwest Digital Marketing Conference, also known as MDMC18, is the largest digital marketing conference in the Midwest, which is going to take place at St. Louis’ Union Station on March 27 and 28, 2018. Going into its sixth year, the conference boasts more than 100 speakers from such companies as BuzzFeed, Facebook, HubSpot, LinkedIn, Google, GoDaddy, Nestle Purina, Monsanto, Yelp, and brings marketing professionals together from all over the US.
Being a full, two-day event, MDMC18 will feature more than 100 concurrent sessions across nine tracks, namely, Data, Digital Strategy, Entrepreneurship, Academic, Career, Creative, Innovation, Social Media, and Technology.
With such a variety of topics offered for discussion the choice which sessions to attend is not an easy one. Keeping that in mind, we decided to help MDMC18 attendees get the most out of their conference experience and advise which sessions might be beneficial for them to attend based on their professional role.
Role: Social Media Manager
For those who manage social media and deal with various social media platforms on a daily basis, here is our recommended bucket list.
Day 1, March 27th
9:40 – 10:30 am
○ Crisis at the Speed of Social, Cully Eisenberg, FleishmanHillard
○ Digital Content Creation – Art or Science?, Finola Austin, Refinery29
10:40 – 11:30 am
○ Combining Paid Social and Influencers to Drive Growth for Your Business, Steve Weiss, MuteSix
○ Mobile and Video Media Revolution, Kevin Murphy, DistroScale, Inc.
○ Massive Instagram Growth for Small Businesses, Stefani Pollack, Build Digital Marketing, and Scott Thomas, Grillin’ Fools, Inc.
1:00 – 1:50 pm
○ Livestreaming for Your Brand, Stephanie Liu
2:00 – 2:50 pm
○ Livestreaming Panel
○ Facebook Family Feud, Clayton Clark, Big Rush Marketing
○ How to Create Digital Videos that Drive Real Results, Tyler Kelley, SLAM!
3:10 – 4:00 pm
○ The Future of Visual Search, Raashi Rosenberger, Pinterest
○ Metrics That Matter: How to Show ROI On Your Social Media Marketing, Steph Nissen, Atomic Revenue
○ Social Media Crisis Management Panel
Day 2, March 28th
9:40 – 10:30 am
○ Why is Fewer and Bigger . . . Better on Facebook?, John Patten, Facebook, and Stephanie Harwin, Nestlé Purina
10:40 – 11:30 am
○ $4.6 Million, 24 Hours: Using Facebook Live to Raise Millions in Louisville, Chris Strub, I Am Here, LLC, and Cara Baribeau, Community Foundation of Louisville
○ Social Video: 5 Mistakes You’re Probably Making, Jeremy Corray, Coolfire Studios
1:00 – 1:50 pm
○ The Power of Full Funnel Content on LinkedIn, Rachel Rickles, LinkedIn
2:00 – 2:50 pm
○ The Secret LinkedIn Playbook to Generate High Quality Leads, Build Relationships, Pat Henseler, LinkedSelling
3:10 – 4:00 pm
○ AI Can Drive What We Buy: How Social Media is Changing Content and Commerce, Obele Brown – West, Weber Shandwick
○ #Ad Isn’t Enough: Laws Affecting Influencer And Social Media Marketing, Mark Sableman, Thompson Coburn LLP
Role: Vice President / Director
Below is the list of sessions we would recommend to those holding managerial positions and defining company’s strategy.
Day 1, March 27th
9:40 – 10:30 am
○ The Challenge of Becoming a Data-Driven Company, Sean Cotton, Coegi, and Matt Hertig, Alight Analytics
○ Level Up Your Marketing: Using Gamification to Enhance Marketing Campaigns, Mitch Canter, Vanderbilt University
○ Can Elephants Dance? Agile Marketing At Scale – CA’s Story, Yuval Yeret, AgileSparks
10:40 – 11:30 am
○ Marketing & Media: The Intersection, Aaron Perlut, Elasticity, and Jack Speer, NPR-Washington
○ The Future of Advertising, Ben Williams, Eyeo/Adblock Plus
○ Building A Digital Dream Team Panel
1:00 – 1:50 pm
○ The Price of Privacy, Ayana Miller, Privilgd
○ Mobile UX Case Studies – Mistakes, That Most Of The App Designers Make, Csaba Hazi, Webabstract
○ Avoid The Trappings That Lead Digital Teams Toward Failure Or Mediocrity, Kevin Farr, CNTRD
○ Live Podcasting Panel
2:00 – 2:50 pm
○ Livestreaming Panel
○ Why Can’t We Be Friends? A Modern Marketer’s Guide to Teaming With Sales, Sam Mallikarjunan, HubSpot
○ Turning Big Data to Shopper Experiences, Shaun Brown, Momentum Worldwide, and Steve Mackinnon, IBM Global Business Services
3:10 – 4:00 pm
○ Making The Case For Interactive Email, Heidi Olsen, and Cher Fuller, eROI
○ Ways to Leverage AdWords, Google Shopping, & YouTube for Full Funnel Growth, Brett Curry, OMG Commerce
○ Programmatic: The Quality Conundrum, Lindsey Freed, Centro
○ They Filled Out a Form; Now What? Drives Sales with Marketing Automation, Shane Freeman, Eureka Consulting Group
○ Social Media Crisis Management Panel
Day 2, March 28th
9:30 – 10:40 am
○ How to Supercharge Your Marketing with Competitive Intel, Ellie Mirman, Crayon
○ Building Brand Love in B2B, Jazzy Danziger, Atomicdust
○ Beyond The Tactics: Integrated Marketing Strategy For New Product Launch, Joe Duffin, Spry Digital
10:40 – 11:30 am
○ How To Get Fans To JOIN Your Brand, Andrew Cohen, Moosylvania
○ Your Brand Is A Hypothesis: Data Science & Creativity, James Campbell, Slalom
○ Facebook Advertising Panel
1:00 – 1:50 pm
○ What’s The Deal With Location-Based Marketing?, Matthew Davis, Reveal Mobile
2:00 – 2:50 pm
○ Visual Storytelling: Creating A True Connection With Your Content, Carl Reed, Lion Forge Comics
○ Harnessing Our Humanity: Shifting Perceptions With Employee Storytelling, Kim Clark, GoDaddy
3:10 – 4:00 pm
○ AI Can Drive What We Buy: How Social Media is Changing Content and Commerce, Obele Brown – West, Weber Shandwick
○ #Ad Isn’t Enough: Laws Affecting Influencer And Social Media Marketing, Mark Sableman, Thompson Coburn LLP
Role: Small Business Employee
Running a small business has its own benefits and challenges. Here are the MDMC18 sessions that we think would be beneficial for those working for small businesses.
Day1, March 27th
9:40 – 10:30 am
○ Crisis at the Speed of Social, Cully Eisenberg, FleishmanHillard
10:40 – 11:30 am
○ Massive Instagram Growth for Small Businesses, Stefani Pollack, Build Digital Marketing, and Scott Thomas, Grillin’ Fools, Inc.
○ Combining Paid Social and Influencers to Drive Growth for Your Business, Steve Weiss, MuteSix
○ The Echo Chamber: How Content Is Ruining The World And What We Can Do To Fix It, Kasim Aslam, Solutions 8
1:00 – 1:50 pm
○ 12 Principles Of Viral Content, Ryan McCready, Venngage
○ Live Podcasting Panel
2:00 – 2:50 pm
○ Livestreaming Panel
○ Facebook Family Feud, Clayton Clark, Big Rush Marketing
○ 2018 Hiring And Compensation Trends, Elizabeth Ledbetter, The Creative Group
○ How to Create Digital Videos that Drive Real Results, Tyler Kelley, SLAM!
3:10 – 4:00 pm
○ They Filled Out a Form; Now What? Drives Sales with Marketing Automation, Shane Freeman, Eureka Consulting Group
○ Social Media Crisis Management Panel
Day 2, March 28th
10:40 – 11:30 am
○ $4.6 Million, 24 Hours: Using Facebook Live to Raise Millions in Louisville, Chris Strub, I Am Here, LLC, and Cara Baribeau, Community Foundation of Louisville
○ Social Video: 5 Mistakes You’re Probably Making, Jeremy Corray, Coolfire Studios
○ The Blogger’s Mindset – Find Topics, Write Faster, And Reach More People, Mike Alton, The Social Media Hat
○ Facebook Advertising Panel
1:00 – 1:50 pm
○ Why You Need To Optimize Your Video Content For Mobile, Elizabeth Giorgi, Mighteor
○ Branding While Broke, Keisha Mabry
○ Search Snippets: How To Create Content That Targets Spot No. 0 in Google, Jared Reed, Pan Galactic Digital, LLC
2:00 – 2:50 pm
○ Effective Advertising: The Keys To A Great Creative, Elizabeth King, Nielsen
○ The Secret LinkedIn Playbook to Generate High Quality Leads, Build Relationships, Pat Henseler, LinkedSelling
○ Harnessing Our Humanity: Shifting Perceptions With Employee Storytelling, Kim Clark, GoDaddy
3:10 – 4:00 pm
○ Making Digital More Human, Eliot Frick, Bigwidesky
○ Next Level Native With BuzzFeed, Phil Cara, Buzzfeed
○ Improving Your SEM Campaign To Reach Your Goals Panel
Role: Enterprise Employee
Working for a big company has its own peculiarities. We recommend the following MDMC18 sessions for those working for enterprises.
Day 1, March 27th
9:40 – 10:30 am
○ The Challenge of Becoming a Data-Driven Company, Sean Cotton, Coegi, and Matt Hertig, Alight Analytics
○ Level Up Your Marketing: Using Gamification to Enhance Marketing Campaigns, Mitch Canter, Vanderbilt University
○ Can Elephants Dance? Agile Marketing At Scale – CA’s Story, Yuval Yeret, AgileSparks
○ Crisis at the Speed of Social, Cully Eisenberg, FleishmanHillard
10:40 -11:30 am
○ Combining Paid Social and Influencers to Drive Growth for Your Business, Steve Weiss, MuteSix
○ Poetry Is The One Simple Hack To Increase Creativity, Shawn Pfunder, GoDaddy
○ Massive Instagram Growth for Small Businesses, Stefani Pollack, Build Digital Marketing, and Scott Thomas, Grillin’ Fools, Inc.
○ Building A Digital Dream Team Panel
1:00 – 1:50 pm
○ The Price of Privacy, Ayana Miller, Privilgd
2:00 – 2:50 pm
○ 2018 Hiring And Compensation Trends, Elizabeth Ledbetter, The Creative Group
○ Turning Big Data to Shopper Experiences, Shaun Brown, Momentum Worldwide, and Steve Mackinnon, IBM Global Business Services
3:10 – 4:00 pm
○ Digital Storytelling: How Brands Can Better Understand Their Consumer Through Underground Blogs, Cami Thomas, FTCTV
○ Social Media Crisis Management Panel
Day 2, March 28th
9:40 – 10:30 am
○ Data Driven Conversion Optimization, Sara Kear, Adept Marketing
○ Marketing Trends: Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Craig Rutkowske, SAS
○ Building Brand Love in B2B, Jazzy Danziger, Atomicdust
○ Beyond The Tactics: Integrated Marketing Strategy For New Product Launch, Joe Duffin, Spry Digital
10:40 – 11:30 am
○ Is Your Brand Ready For AI, IoT And The Sonic Revolution?, Gabe Tartaglia, Pandora
1:00 – 1:50 pm
○ The Power of Full Funnel Content on LinkedIn, Rachel Rickles, LinkedIn
2:00 – 2:50 pm
○ Harnessing Our Humanity: Shifting Perceptions With Employee Storytelling, Kim Clark, GoDaddy
○ Making Effective Data Visualization Is A Key Marketing Skill, Kaiser Fung, Principal Analytics Prep
3:10 – 4:00 pm
○ Next Level Native With BuzzFeed, Phil Cara, Buzzfeed
○ AI Can Drive What We Buy: How Social Media is Changing Content and Commerce, Obele Brown – West, Weber Shandwick
Role: Non-profit Employee
How does working for a non-profit organization differ from working for a for-profit company? Despite utilizing similar tools, marketing professionals build different strategies, target different audiences and employ tactics specific for the non-profit sector. Here is the list of MDMC18 sessions that we recommend to those employed by non-profits.
Day 1, March 27th
9:40 – 10:30 am
○ Social Media for Non-Profits Panel
○ Digital Content Creation – Art or Science?, Finola Austin, Refinery29
○ Massive Instagram Growth for Small Businesses, Stefani Pollack, Build Digital Marketing, and Scott Thomas, Grillin’ Fools, Inc.
10:40 – 11:30 am
○ Poetry Is The One Simple Hack To Increase Creativity, Shawn Pfunder, GoDaddy
○ Data Driven Video – Your Unfair Advantage: Bringing Data to the Entire Marketing Funnel, Tony Yi, Videology Group
○ Mobile and Video Media Revolution, Kevin Murphy, DistroScale, Inc.
1:00 – 1:50 pm
○ 12 Principles Of Viral Content, Ryan McCready, Venngage
○ Live Podcasting Panel
- The Price of Privacy, Ayana Miller, Privilgd
2:00 – 2:50 pm
○ Livestreaming Panel
○ Facebook Family Feud, Clayton Clark, Big Rush Marketing
3:10 – 4:00 pm
○ Social Media Crisis Management Panel
○ Digital Storytelling: How Brands Can Better Understand Their Consumer Through Underground Blogs, Cami Thomas, FTCTV
Day 2, March 28th
9:40 – 10:30 am
○ Why is Fewer and Bigger . . . Better on Facebook?, John Patten, Facebook, and Stephanie Harwin, Nestlé Purina
10:40 – 11:30 am
○ $4.6 Million, 24 Hours: Using Facebook Live to Raise Millions in Louisville, Chris Strub, I Am Here, LLC, and Cara Baribeau, Community Foundation of Louisville
○ Social Video: 5 Mistakes You’re Probably Making, Jeremy Corray, Coolfire Studios
○ Facebook Advertising Panel
1:00 – 1:50 pm
○ Why You Need To Optimize Your Video Content For Mobile, Elizabeth Giorgi, Mighteor
○ Branding While Broke, Keisha Mabry
○ Search Snippets: How To Create Content That Targets Spot No. 0 in Google, Jared Reed, Pan Galactic Digital, LLC
2:00 – 2:50 pm
○ Effective Advertising: The Keys To A Great Creative, Elizabeth King, Nielsen
○ Harnessing Our Humanity: Shifting Perceptions With Employee Storytelling, Kim Clark, GoDaddy
3:10 – 4:00 pm
○ #Ad Isn’t Enough: Laws Affecting Influencer And Social Media Marketing, Mark Sableman, Thompson Coburn LLP
○ Making Digital More Human, Eliot Frick, Bigwidesky
○ Next Level Native With BuzzFeed, Phil Cara, Buzzfeed
Role: SEO/SEM Managers
MDMC18 offers a number of sessions for those working with SEO and SEM. Here is the list.
Day 1, March 27th
9:40 – 10:30 am
○ Digital Content Creation – Art or Science?, Finola Austin, Refinery29
10:40 – 11:30 am
○ Mobile and Video Media Revolution, Kevin Murphy, DistroScale, Inc.
1:00 – 1:50 pm
○ How To Befriend Google & Win!, Chris Brewer, Online Marketing Giant and OMG Commerce
2:00 – 2:50 pm
○ Turning Big Data to Shopper Experiences, Shaun Brown, Momentum Worldwide, and Steve Mackinnon, IBM Global Business Services
Day 2, March 28th
9:40 – 10:30 am
○ Data Driven Conversion Optimization, Sara Kear, Adept Marketing
○ Marketing Trends: Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Craig Rutkowske, SAS
○ The Future Of Mobile, Stephanie Cox, Lumavate
10:40 – 11:30 am
○ How To Win At And With SEO, Dave Rohrer, NorthSide Metrics
○ Is Your Brand Ready For AI, IoT And The Sonic Revolution?, Gabe Tartaglia, Pandora
1:00 – 1:50 pm
○ Search Snippets: How To Create Content That Targets Spot No. 0 in Google, Jared Reed, Pan Galactic Digital, LLC
○ Content Development Panel
2:00 – 2:50 pm
○ Mapping Your Digital Footprint, Juntae Delane, Digital Branding Institute
3:10 -4:00 pm
○ Improving Your SEM Campaign to Reach Your Goals Panel
Role: Entry Level Professionals
For those conference attendees who are making their first steps in digital and social media marketing MDMC18 recommends attending the sessions listed below.
Day 1, March 27th
9:40 – 10:30 am
○ Crisis at the Speed of Social, Cully Eisenberg, FleishmanHillard
○ Digital Content Creation – Art or Science?, Finola Austin, Refinery29
10:40 – 11:30 am
○ Poetry Is The One Simple Hack To Increase Creativity, Shawn Pfunder, GoDaddy
○ Mobile and Video Media Revolution, Kevin Murphy, DistroScale, Inc.
1:00 – 1:50 pm
○ 12 Principles Of Viral Content, Ryan McCready, Venngage
○ Live Podcasting Panel
○ The Price of Privacy, Ayana Miller, Privilgd
2:00 – 2:50 pm
○ What They Say vs What We Hear: Translating Business For Creatives, Douglas Davis, New York City College of Technology
○ 2018 Hiring And Compensation Trends, Elizabeth Ledbetter, The Creative Group
○ How to Create Digital Videos that Drive Real Results, Tyler Kelley, SLAM!
3:10 – 4:00 pm
○ Social Media Crisis Management Panel
Day 2. March 28th
9:40 – 10:30 am
○ Marketing Trends: Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Craig Rutkowske, SAS
○ Why is Fewer and Bigger . . . Better on Facebook?, John Patten, Facebook, and Stephanie Harwin, Nestlé Purina
10:40 – 11:30 am
○ Social Video: 5 Mistakes You’re Probably Making, Jeremy Corray, Coolfire Studios
○ The Blogger’s Mindset – Find Topics, Write Faster, And Reach More People, Mike Alton, The Social Media Hat
○ Facebook Advertising Panel
1:00 – 1:50 pm
○ Branding While Broke, Keisha Mabry
○ Search Snippets: How To Create Content That Targets Spot No. 0 in Google, Jared Reed, Pan Galactic Digital, LLC
○ Content Development Panel
2:00 – 2:50 pm
○ Making Effective Data Visualization Is A Key Marketing Skill, Kaiser Fung, Principal Analytics Prep
○ Personal Branding Panel-Creating And Applying A Successful Personal Brand
3:10 – 4:00 pm
○ Making Digital More Human, Eliot Frick, Bigwidesky
○ Next Level Native With BuzzFeed, Phil Cara, Buzzfeed
Check the full conference schedule here.