Expert Series Speakers

Get inspired. Get informed. Get a front-row seat.

Sunday, August 12, 2012 | 9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.–4:30 p.m.

These three-hour intense sessions are offered at two different times on Sunday, August 12. The expert series will focus on successful business growth through sales, networking, social media, and marketing.

Chris Brogan

Twitter handle: @chrisbrogan

Chris Brogan is president of Human Business Works, a media and education company dedicated to helping companies improve customer acquisition and community nurturing.

Chris is the New York Times bestselling author of Google+ For Business: How Google’s Social Network Changes Everything, and he blogs at chrisbrogan.com, a blog in the top five of Advertising Age’s Power 150. Chris consults and speaks with companies like Disney, SAS, Citrix Online, Microsoft, Pepsico, Ford, and many others.

Chris educates businesses and organizations on emerging business, communications, and technology trends and strategy insights. His speaking style is vibrant, humor-laden, energetic, and personal. Chris customizes every presentation to address the audience at hand, and he adjusts during the presentation to match the level of comprehension as he goes along.

Chris covers these topics from the 10,000-feet level all the way down to the step-by-step level, depending on audience and need. He has presented to book publishers, school administrations, technologists, marketers, government agencies, realtors, students, entrepreneurs, and many other groups. Private corporate speaking has included places like SAS, Microsoft, Google, IBM, Vanguard, American Family Insurance, General Motors, Coke, Titleist, Pepsico, Comcast, and others.

Sessions

P-0788A/B Expert Series: Cultivating Visibility: How to Amplify the Human Digital Channel
You’ve invested time and money into your website, which serves as the online representation of your shop. Learn how to become the ultimate digital shopkeeper by understanding how to use social media to build relationships with your prospects and your customers. You’ve been told that you should have a Twitter account and that you should be on Facebook, but what does that all do for you? How do you make it meaningful for your business? Learn how to create media that’s useful and compelling and that “saves your seat at the table” between sales. Learn how to earn leverage from your community by cultivating two-way loyalty and earning referrals. Understand how to make your buyers feel like they belong, instead of simply feel like numbers. Join Chris Brogan, New York Times bestselling author, for this intensive three-hour Expert Series workshop.

Timothy Chou

Twitter handle: @timothychou

Timothy Chou has been a leader in bringing enterprises to the cloud since 1999, when he returned to Oracle to work for Larry Ellison as the president of Oracle On Demand. Since leaving Oracle, he returned to Stanford University and launched the first course on cloud computing. More recently he also started a cloud computing class at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. Based on his lectures, he authored Cloud: Seven Clear Business Models. It is his second book and follows the very successful The End of Software.

Timothy has been a visible pioneer in evangelizing this major shift in computing. He has appeared in various publications including Forbes, Business Week, The Economist, and New York Times as well as on CNBC and NPR. He has also been a keynote speaker for business and technology executive audiences in North America, South America, Asia, and Europe.

Timothy holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from North Carolina State University and a master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois. He served as a member of the board of directors of Embarcadero Technologies (NASDAQ:EMBT) from 2000 until the purchase of the company in 2007. In 2007 he joined the board of directors at Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) and currently serves on the compensation committee.

Sessions

P-0820A/B Expert Series: Beyond the Cloud: Understanding the Changing Business Model in IT

Susan Solovic

Twitter handle: @SusanSolovic

A woman of many talents, Susan Wilson Solovic is an award-winning entrepreneur; a journalist; New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Amazon.com, and USA Today bestselling author; multimedia personality; and attorney. But behind every achievement, Susan embodies ideas that make her universally—and intimately—relatable to all entrepreneurs: hard work, fortitude, and persistence. In a world of quick and questionable viral fame, Solovic is a rare commodity: She is what she preaches. 

As CEO and cofounder of ItsYourBiz.com (formerly SBTV.com), Susan led the company from a concept to a multimillion-dollar, award-winning enterprise. In 2006, Susan accepted the Stevie Award on behalf of ItsYourBiz.com for the Most Innovative Company under 100 employees; that same year, ItsYourBiz.com was voted the Best Investment Opportunity presenting to a Venture Forum event in the Silicon Valley.

Susan is a small-business contributor for ABC News. She is a guest expert for Fox Business and Fox News, and can be seen frequently on MSNBC, CNN, CNBC and many other stations across the country. In conjunction with PBS, she created a feature program called “Reinvent Yourself Now: Become Self-Reliant in an Unpredictable World.” In addition to television and radio appearances, Susan is a featured blogger on numerous sites. Recognized by major brands as the foremost small business expert, Susan can be seen currently on the AT&T small business website.

Susan has written four bestselling books: It’s Your Biz; The Girls’ Guide to Power and Success; Reinvent Your Career: Attain the Success You Desire and Deserve; and The Girls’ Guide to Building a Million-Dollar Business.

She has a passion for meeting and learning about new people and making a positive impact on their lives. Having reinvented herself time and time again—while still holding on to core principles--she is an archetype of the entrepreneurial spirit, which affords her a unique vantage point from which to share information and insight with business owners around the world.

Sessions

P-0797A/B Expert Series: Surefire Strategies to Ramp Up Your Revenue
From the strategic to the tactical, leverage action-oriented steps to help your business soar to success. Join Susan Solovic, bestselling author to stop, look, and listen. Learn how to reevaluate the status quo based on real-time market trends. She’ll teach you that just standing still is not an option. Learn strategies that will keep you a step ahead of your competition and understand how to build strategic alliances for business development. After attending this three-hour workshop, you will be able to walk away with marketing secrets only the pros know. And get the tools you need to sell on value—not price. Understand how to stop selling and start partnering with your customers. Learn how to engage your customers and build brand buzz. You won’t want to miss this interactive workshop geared to help you ramp up your revenue.