As promised, here is an update on the (nearly) definitive program for SMX Stockholm 2013 for which I am Chair for the first time. We have ended-up with 4 Keynote / plenary sessions sessions at the start and end of the conference:
- 14/10 9.30 – Julius van de Laar: “Storytelling and Microtargeting”
- 14/10 10.15 – Bas van den Beld: “Consumer Psychology and Search & Social”
- 14/10 17.00 – Dixon Jones: “Can Big Data save the World”
- 15/10 16.00 – Mike Moran: “What’s Next for the Digital Marketer?”
(detailed agenda here: http://smxstockholm.se/stockholm2013/agenda/)
So we are starting the conference with a Keynote which is an eye-opener on how Digital Marketing works in Politics and how you plan your messaging, your interaction and your content distribution. For most Search Marketer this should be a bit of a Wake-up call on the power of contents and social media. Julius van de Laar has previously keynoted SMX Munich with great success and this session is an absolute must. We have placed the session at 9.30 so travellers on early flights from all of the Nordics can just make it to the session if Stockholm traffic isn’t too bad that day.
In the following session, State of Search founder Bas van den Beld will take us a little closer into known territories but will focus on the person behind the click in his Consumer Psychology session. Knowing the quality of Bas’s frequent presentations this should be both very fun and very instructive so here is another can’t-miss session.
And we are closing the Day 1 program with an inspirational session by Dixon Jones from MajesticSEO. Just the kind of thing we need before wrapping up on an intense first day – with a focus on “Big Data” as well as on our role and responsabilities as Search Marketers today. Search has proven to be one of the most Data-intensive disciplines on the Web and most of us were already Big Data-enabled when the buzz-word arrived. So can Big Data save the World?
On Day 2 at the end of the conference we have placed a Check-out Keynote by Mike Moran on the future perspectives for the Digital Marketer. Mike Moran is an engaging speaker and with his closing session we are making sure everybody has a compelling reason to stay until the end of conference. You can still reach a return flight from Arlanda and you will have plenty of food for thought on your way home after this session.
Between the keynotes, the Day 1 program has 2 tracks where the Organic Track is focused on Organic Media, including SEO and SMO as those disciplines are tending to overlap and integrate. The Paid Track is focused on Biddable Media including Paid Search and Display advertising. As an umbrella to the two tracks, we have placed a plenary session dedicated to the co-habitation of Organic and Paid Media and the synergies between them.
The Day 2 program has two different tracks where the Advanced SEO track is aiming to cover both complex technical subjects like Semantic mark-up, Google Analytics for SEO and the popular session on pulling data from the APIs directly into an Excel sheet – and then the more conceptual themes like Authorship and the rise of G+.
The other Day 2 track is the Nordics Track where international experts will present custom research on the Nordic markets in terms of Social Media landscape, Ranking factors, PPC characteristics and Link landscapes. I wrote some more about this session in an earlier post which you can find here: Nordics Track
The format of this years SMX Stockholm is a little different from other years in its overarching structure as described above, however, the individual sessions will have a familiar format with 2 speakers providing different angles on the topic with 15-20 minutes formal presentation time and room for questions in the end. We will also aim to make all the presentations available to participants after the end of the conference. Many of the main speakers have already been announced on the conference website and more will be added as they are confirmed.
We think this is quite an attractive program and I am personally looking very much forward to this conference. I hope my role as conference chair will also allow me to sometimes just sit back and listen to some of the excellent speakers. There is an early bird pricing which ends on 6 of September which you can find here.
Comments and feedback on the program is more than welcome both before, during and after the conference. So don’t hesitate to connect via social networks or come and have a chat in Stockholm.
