BizJam Seattle 08 July 9, 2008

Savvy business owners are taking advantage of social media to promote their businesses‚ locate prospects‚ build buzz for their products and services‚ and learn about the changing needs of their customers. BizJam is a two-day conference designed to help you learn how to use the current crop of low- or no-cost social media tools, such as social networks, wikis, blogs and sharing sites like Flickr and YouTube, to grow your business faster and make it more profitable.

Learn how your business can ride the wave of change, rather than get buried by it. Social media experts who will be teaching workshops at BizJam include include Metafilter founder Matt Haughey, business blogger DL Byron, and the original cybergirl, Aliza Sherman. See below for full list of speakers. The conference schedule lists all "JamSessions."

Day One - Wednesday, July 9, 9AM to 5PM
Social Media Essentials for Small Business
It is more important than ever for indie and small businesses to embrace and apply social media and web 2.0 tools to achieve and maintain success. From blogging to Basecamp to Google analytics, you'll learn about the top tools and how to know which are right for your business.

Day Two - Thursday, July 10, 9AM to 5PM
Business-Building Workshops + Networking
There is so much to know when you're running your own show. This day has it all and it comes to you in the way of strategies, skills and connections to help take your business to the next level. Of course you can go it alone; get the guidance you need to go in the right direction.

Cost is $195 for either day individually, or $390 for both days.
Register online now.

Speakers include:

Matthew Haughey

Workshop: Authentic Communication with your Customers (Thursday, July 10)
Bio: Matt Haughey is an early pioneer in blogging, and founder of the large community site MetaFilter.com in 1999. He worked on early versions of Blogger.com at Pyra Labs, and was creative director at Creative Commons.

Currently, Matt maintains half a dozen blogs, writes for the New York Times Technology section, takes daily photos, and rides his bike thousands of miles per year. Matt is based out of the Portland, Oregon area where he lives with his wife, daughter, and two horrible cats.

D. Keith Robinson

Workshop: Entrepreneurial Success By Design (Wednesday, July 9)
Bio: D. Keith Robinson is a Founder, Principal and the Creative Director of Seattle-based design agency Blue Flavor - www.blueflavor.com.

Keith has been working on the web, in some form or another, for almost 13 years. He started his career with Microsoft and quickly moved to a three-year stint at Boeing, where he worked as a designer and developer for some of Boeing’s highest profile projects.

He left Boeing to pursue the dot-com boom, and jumped ship just before the dot-com bust to head back to work for Boeing on the Connexion project. Since then, he has spent a few good years at Children’s Hospital Seattle, had a two-year gig as Editor-in-Chief for Digital Web Magazine, and gave the agency world a shot. Along the way, he has met some great people and worked on some amazing projects.

Keith is a recognized expert on web design, information architecture, and web publishing and he is a frequent speaker and writer on those subjects. In addition to the terrific companies above, he’s worked with AAA, Adobe, Connexion by Boeing, Real Networks, and Sony.

Aliza Sherman

Workshop: Surviving Social Media: How to Manage and Leverage Your Multiple Social Media Accounts (Wednesday, July 9)
Bio: Named by NEWSWEEK magazine as one of the "Top 50 People Who Matter Most on the Internet,"
Aliza Sherman is a Web pioneer; Web 2.0/3.0 and integrated social media marketing consultant; published author; radio and television producer; international speaker; and regular contributor to national magazines, web sites and blog.

In 1995, Aliza started the first woman-owned full-service Internet company, Cybergrrl, Inc. She also started the first women's Internet organization,Webgrrls International, that grew to over 100 chapters worldwide with 30,000 members. Today, she advises companies and nonprofit organizations on their Internet communications, social media, and virtual world strategies.

Aliza's books include Streetwise eCommerce: Establish Your Online Business, Expand Your Reach, and Watch Your Profits Soar! (2007), The Everything Blogging Book: Publish Your Ideas, Get Feedback, And Create Your Own Worldwide Network (2006), Powertools for Women in Business: 10 Ways to Succeed in Life and Work (2001), and Cybergrrl at Work: Tips and Inspiration for the Professional You. She blogs regularly for WebWorkerDaily.com, WorkItMom.com as The Entrepreneur Mom, Anchorage Daily News as AK Tech Girl and on her own blogs including Aliza Sherman Rants & Raves and Cybergrrl Oh: Living a 2nd Life. She also podcasts for the Quick and Dirty Network as Small Biz Tech Girl.

She currently lives in Anchorage, Alaska with her wildlife biologist husband and their 2-year old daughter.

Geoffrey Grosenbach

Workshop: Business Networking via Personal Journalism (Wednesday, July 9)
Bio: Geoffrey Grosenbach is Senior Visionary at Peepcode Publishing - peepcode.com, the screencast publishing company he runs out of his home in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood. He's also host of the Ruby on Rails Podcast - podcast.rubyonrails.org, and blogs at Nuby on Rails - nubyonrails.com. Geoffrey will share how he created a profitable business by fully tapping the power of two social media: podcasting and blogging.

Lisa Johnson

Keynote: The Free Agent Formula (Thursday, July 10)
Workshop: The Free Agent Formula Worshop (Thursday, July 10)
Bio: Lisa Johnson, who will give the keynote address at BizJam 08, is the co-author of Don'€™t Think Pink (AMACOM, 2004), author of Mind Your X's and Y™'s (Free Press, 2006), and CEO of The Reach Group - reachgroupconsulting.com. A leading corporate trainer and brand consultant, Lisa has worked with top companies nationwide and has up-to-the-minute knowledge of market forces, trends and consumers'€™ buying minds.

Her marketing concepts have appeared in Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge, the New York Times magazine, The Chicago Tribune and on NPR's Marketplace. SoundViews named her first book, Don't Think Pink, one of the top marketing books of all time.

Eric Weaver

Workshop: OMG! U So Need to Leverage Social Marketing (Wednesday, July 9)
Bio: Eric Weaver is vice president of Edelman Digital, where he helps companies with branding, messaging, naming and positioning, as well as launching new marketing efforts like podcasting, product blogging, and RSS marketing. As a brand/marketing strategist, he helps clients leverage social trends and market realities to better connect with their customers and grow revenue.

Throughout his career, Eric has worked with some of the biggest brands in the US and abroad, including BMW, Brita, Clorox, De Beers, eBay, Ford, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft Foods, Lincoln, Mattel, the Mayo Clinic, MCI, Procter & Gamble, UPS, the US Dept of Commerce, and many more.

Ilise Benun

Workshop: How Not to Network (Thursday, July 10)
Bio: Ilise Benun is an author, consultant, national speaker and co-founder of Marketing Mentor - www.marketing-mentor.com. Her books include, The Designer's Guide to Marketing and Pricing (How, 2008), Stop Pushing Me Around: A Workplace Guide for the Timid, Shy and Less Assertive (Career Press, 2006), The Art of Self Promotion (2007), and co-author of Public Relations for Dummies (2006) with Kirshenbaum and Bly.

Her work has been featured in national publications such as HOW Magazine, Inc. Magazine, Nation's Business, Self, Essence, Working Woman, The New York Times, The Washington Post and many more. Through Marketing Mentor, Benun consults privately with creative professionals on their marketing and other client-related issues. She started her Hoboken, NJ-based consulting firm in 1988 and has been self-employed for all but 3 years of her working life.

Brian Rauschenbach

Workshop: Getting Found in Search: SEO Myths Busted and Secrets Exposed (Wednesday, July 9)
Bio: Brian Rauschenbach is chief marketing officer at his own advertising agency, Add Three - addthree.com, based in Seattle, WA. Prior to that he worked at Match.com, where he was the director of online marketing after the Kiss/uDate.com acquisition. Before Match.com, Brian spent eight years managing the media buys for Kiss.com and uDate.com. He has worked with and represented several online brands including PeopleFinders.com, PerfectMatch.com, BagBorroworSteal.com, King.com, Photoworks.com, Trumba.com, JudysBook.com, and Jott.com. He is a search marketing expert.

Robbin Block

Workshop: Going Virtual: What Social Networking Can Do for Your Business (Wednesday, July 9)
Bio: Robbin Block, Lead Consultant at Blockbeta Marketing -- www.blockbeta.com, has been helping businesses use traditional and online marketing effectively for over 25 years. She has taught at the university level, and has consulted and worked for companies of all sizes and types -- from seed to corporate. As a cross-pollinator, she merges ideas from various business models to reveal previously hidden strategies and opportunities. Of particular interest is the combination of Web and wireless to build added-value services and integrated customer communications.

Robbin gives engaging, motivating and often humorous presentations on entrepreneurship, strategy, Internet marketing and Web 2.0., providing practical tips and tools that can be put into practice immediately.

Robbin has an MBA from Boston University and a BA in Economics from the State University of New York at Albany. As a SCORE counselor on marketing and the Internet, she’s worked with hundreds of small businesses and startups since 2003. She also volunteers at KBCS 91.3FM on the One World Report public affairs program as a writer, copy editor and voice talent.

Bryan Brewer

Workshop: Introduction to Business Plans (Thursday, July 10)
Bio: Since 2000, Bryan Brewer has helped startup clients raise more than $10 million in investment capital. Bryan brings a broad business background, strong communication skills, and deep connections to the Seattle venture community to his consulting practice.

In his practice at Business Plans Northwest, Bryan provides business coaching services for entrepreneurs, and expert business plan writing. He brings decades of experience in both large firms and startups companies, having worked in a variety of fields, including management, marketing, sales, technology, and finance.

DL Byron

Keynote: Hacking the Enterprise with Social Media (Wednesday, July 9)
Workshop: Build & Run Your Business More Profitably with Blogs, Twitter, Flickr & Facebook (Wednesday, July 9)
Bio: DL Byron is principal of Textura Design - texturadesign.com, which is co-presenting the "Social Media Essentials" day of BizJam Seattle 08 with Biznik. With more than twelve years of experience, Byron is an expert blogger, web designer and developer. An entrepreneur and an inventor (Clip-n-Seal), he also consults with clients, co-founded the Blog Business Summit, and publishes a network of successful blogs, including one of the first business blogs.

Byron lives in Seattle with his wife Pam, two children, and a pug named Cap'n. When he is not blogging, he races his bicycle with the Union Bay Cycling Club.

Michelle Goodman

Workshop: Ins & Outs of Non-Fiction Publishing (Thursday, July 10)
Bio: Michelle Goodman fled the cube in 1992 to become a freelance writer and has yet to look back. Her books include: The Anti 9-to-5 Guide (Seal Press, 2006), and My So Called Freelance Life (Seal Press, 2008). Her reported pieces about alternative careers, human mating rituals, and popular culture have appeared in Salon, Bust, Bitch, Bark, the Seattle Times, and the San Francisco Bay Guardian. Her essays have been anthologized in The Moment of Truth: Women's Funniest Romantic Catastrophes and the forthcoming Single State of the Union: Single Women Speak Out on Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Happiness. In 2006 she was a writer-in-residence at Hedgebrook, a prominent women's writing retreat in Washington that receives hundreds of applications from around the globe each year.

In her former 9-to-5 existence, Michelle worked as a newspaper reporter, book editor, publicist, and web community editor. Michelle lives in Seattle with her eighty-pound lap dog, Buddy.

Lara Eve Feltin

Biznik Co-founder
Bio: Lara Eve Feltin has been an indie photographer since 1999. As Studio LEAF, she specializes in a documentary style of black and white portraits of babies and children. She co-founded Biznik with Dan McComb in November, 2005. As a visual artist (painting, sculpture & photography) and proud of her Montessori education, Lara tends to think outside the box in regards to most things, contributing a creative and innovative eye to every project she embarks on.

Molly Gordon

Workshop: How to Get Clients Without Shouting (Thursday, July 10)
Bio: Molly Gordon is a certified business coach dedicated to helping independent professionals and artists reconcile the challenges of building thriving livelihoods and loving their lives. Her business coaching, teleclasses, books, and seminars help small business owners to evolve authentic practices that make doing business a heartfelt expression of their gifts in the world, while ensuring that they and their families prosper.

Chris Haddad

Workshop: Why Your Website Sucks - The Workshop (Thursday, July 10)
Bio: Chris Haddad is a Seattle copywriter and proponent of value-based pricing. His articles have earned him the coveted "expert" rating on Biznik.com, where his articles have collectively received more views than any other author to date. He has been hosting workshops on Biznik since 2006. "I help you build your business to staggering heights through the profoundly perturbing power of hardworking words," he says.

Leif Hansen

Workshop: Raving Fans: Using Social Media Tools to Build an Online Community for your Business (Wednesday, July 9)
Bio: Leif Hansen heads up Spark Northwest and Spark Social Media. Spark Social Media is a partnership of experienced technologists, geeks, programmers, innovative consultants, designers, and technology coaches, who can help your business reach a wider audience by using all the latest, fun, interactive technologies on the net --many of which are still totally free.

See the recent Seattle PI Article about one of their workshops.

Howard Howell

Workshop: Shameless Bragging for the Professional Networker (Thursday, July 10)
Bio: Howard Howell opened his first business (a restaurant) in 1966. Since then, he has started and run businesses in distribution, sales, manufacturing, retail, service and software development companies. An engaging public speaker, Howard enjoys sharing his experience with business owners.

Currently, Howard serves as a small business mentor through seminars, networking events, and workshops, which he hosts regularly on Biznik. Howard's approach to instruction is practical, real-world tips and advice. At his current businesses, www.thatleaseguy.com and www.bizfinancialservice.com, he provides small business commercial loans for equipment and vehicles.

Beth Yockey Jones

Workshop: Why Your Website Sucks - The Workshop (Thursday, July 10)
Bio: Beth Yockey Jones describes herself as a "publisher, writer, small business badass." She is also a designer and graphic artist as well as an experienced business manager at Yockey Communication - yockeycommunication.com, a small family-run publisher of business books. A graduate in social studies and English, Beth is also at home with statistical analysis and technology. She has worked in television production and has coordinated a number of multimedia presentations. As art director, editor and chief researcher of Yockey Communication, she is involved in every phase of every project.

Karrie Kohlhaas

Workshop: Powerhouse Packages: Dramatically Increase Business and Have Happier Clients (Thursday, July 10)
Bio: A business cultivator, Karrie Kohlhaas combines a unique blend of cultural anthropology, brain studies and on-the-ground business experience. After providing cutting-edge consulting to Fortune 500 companies in Chicago, she decided to offer her services to small business owners exclusively. She translates 11 years of experience, research and observations into insights that business owners can implement immediately to achieve rapid, tangible results. Her company, ThoughtShot Consulting - thoughtshotconsulting.com, offers unconventional solutions that help her clients manifest more authentic, profitable and sustainable business growth.

Whitney Keyes

Workshop: High-Impact, Low Cost Marketing: Secrets to Maximizing Your Marketing - for Almost Free! (Thursday, July 10)
Bio: Whitney Keyes is a consultant for entrepreneurs and one of the executive producers and co-hosts of WhitneyandWyatt.com - whitneyandwyatt.com, a Web TV talk show. She currently produces Biz Bites, a new Web TV show for small businesses. Prior to launching her own company, Keyes spent six years at Microsoft as a senior manager where she worked directly with Bill Gates. At Microsoft she developed and helped manage many of the company's global initiatives including its first corporate social responsibility report, the launch of Office 2000, and viral marketing initiatives.

Keyes speaks and teaches internationally on a range of business, marketing and lifestyle topics. She writes a daily blog on the Seattle PI for entrepreneurs called The Biz Bite: A Blog to Boost Business. An engaging, entertaining and motivating speaker, Whitney enjoys sharing the zigs and zags of her entrepreneurial career with spunk and humor.

Jason Levine

Workshop: Marketing Yourself as a Brand and Branding Yourself as a Business (Thursday, July 10)
Bio: Jason Levine Jason Levine is the Founder and Executive Director of Perfect Pixels Media Group - www.perfectpixels.com - a digital media branding agency. PPMG focuses on creating for its clients brand significance through design, messaging and user experience. Clients include All Recipes, ING, Microsoft, Trulia and Getty Images.

Formerly a Creative Director within Virgin's Travel Group in the UK and Design Director for Classmates.com, Jason has over fifteen years of experience in interactive design. He has a background in brand strategy, usability & heuristics analysis, and interface design.

Jason has developed sites for clients ranging from the UK's National Lottery site to idealab! to Microsoft and Hewlett Packard. He spent several years in Los Angeles with the branding agency Siegel & Gale working with clients ranging from American Express, Countrywide, Experian, Rockwell and CB Richard Ellis. He also worked in Siegel & Gale's San Francisco and New York offices founding their information design departments, before moving to London. Jason has won several industry awards for his designs and teaches usability in design.

Elizabeth Mance

Workshop: There’s More to Your Numbers Than Your Tax Return (Thursday, July 10)
Bio: Elizabeth Mance runs Accountability Services - accountabilityservices.biz, a full-service Seattle accounting firm. Prior to establishing the firm, Elizabeth worked for Arthur Andersen for 12 years where she worked her way up from auditor to tax manager, and then eventually became Andersen's CFO for their Software Development division at their Technology Campus in Sarasota, Florida. In 1997 she left Andersen to pursue her dream of starting her own business here in Seattle.

Elizabeth is an honors graduate in Accountancy from the University of South Florida and also holds a degree in Marketing. Her combination of education and experience give her a well-rounded background that is ideal for providing clients with strong financial solutions and overall business guidance.

Dan McComb

Biznik Co-founder
Bio: Dan McComb is a former award-winning photojournalist whose work has appeared in newspapers and magazine such as Time and Newsweek. After two years as a publication designer at Sasquatch Books, in 2000 he began a freelance career developing websites for schools and non-profit organizations. In 2005, frustrated with the lack of good networking options in the Seattle area, he and Lara Feltin began working to create a business networking community for local, independent business people. Today Biznik currently has more than 12,000 members in 96 countries.

Thomas Schmitz

Workshop: Tracking Your Web site Progress With Google Analytics and Beyond (Wednesday, July 9)
Bio: Thomas Schmitz is an SEO analyst and social media marketing consultant at Portent Interactive. Thomas brings twenty years professional online experience dating back to 1987 when he was an Assistant Systems Operator for GEnie, a predecessor of AOL, and served as editor of GEnie Lamp, a periodical for Apple II computer users. As the Marketing Director of Sotheby’s International Realty’s Honolulu office Thomas helped pioneer the use of the Internet as a marketing tool to sell high-end real estate internationally. Thomas has also served as a communications and development director for several nonprofits where he repeatedly demonstrated how web sites could be used as an integral campaign tool.

Jason Swihart

Workshops: Twitter? I Don’t Even Know ‘Er: Social Media & the Significance for Entrepreneurs (Wednesday, July 9)
and Social Media Fundamentals Q & A (Wednesday, July 9)
Bio: Jason Swihart has been working on the Web since the early 90s when, as an undergrad at the University of Minnesota, his blossoming career as a Gopher developer was derailed by something called the "World Wide Web." Since then he has worked on a wide variety of projects for clients ranging from non-profits to Fortune-500s to mercenary publications.

Now at Textura Design, Jason works with clients like Intel, Boeing, and Wellpoint, providing Social Media consulting and strategy. As part of a two-man firm, Jason shoulders responsibilities including business management, training and education, project management, and development.

Mikelann Valterra

Workshop: How to Set and Raise Your Fees with Confidence (Thursday, July 10)
Bio: "Earn Your Worth Queen" Mikelann Valterra, founder and director of the Women's Earning Institute - womenearning.com, is passionately devoted to helping professionals earn what they're really worth. Mikelann is a published author, speaker and nationally sought after expert on earning issues. She is the author of Why Women Earn Less: How to Make What You're Really Worth (Career Press, 2004), and How to Set and Raise Your Rates - A Woman's Guide.

Pamela Ziemann

Workshop: Authentic Presentation Skills (Thursday, July 10)
Bio: Pamela Ziemann is a communication coach who has taught communication and presentation skills workshops throughout Australia, the United States and Canada. She teaches workshops that help business owners build confidence in public speaking, and make more money by voicing their deepest values and aligning these values with the products and services they offer. She is a former member of the National Speakers Assoication.

Sponsors include:

IdeaBlob.com, iStock Photo, Intuit, Washington Mutual.

Register now.

Official Website: http://www.bizjamseattle.com