Conference Agenda
Click on the links to the right, to jump to the Track you are interested in. Click through the tabs of each track to view all four sessions each track has to offer throughout the day. Each tab shows a unique session topic, description, and speakers. Attendees will receive videos of all sessions, because we know you cannot see them all in person.
MORNING KEYNOTE
AFTERNOON KEYNOTE
BRAND TRACK
SEO TRACK
PAID TRACK
MOBILE & MORE TRACK
MORNING KEYNOTE
8:30 a.m. – 9:20 a.m.
Governor Ballroom – 4th Floor
Conversations Beyond Voice Search: Exploring the AI era of search
We’re currently moving from a typing-only world to a voice-dominated world. But in the middle of those two worlds are conversations that happen via typing. It’s a hybrid of the two worlds and it is where we are now. Most importantly, this is where we’ve seen see monetization take place in countries like China and India. And to add to that, there are also conversations that are enhanced by images and the latest AI-fueled advances in visual search.
In this keynote, Purna will share insights into how AI is changing how we behave as marketers and what we need to do as marketers to adapt. Attend this session to get a practical guide on what search marketers need to do in order to prepare.
Purna Virji
Microsoft
Moderator: Anna Hutson – Avenue
BRAND TRACK – Governor Ballroom, 4th Floor
The Two Content Marketing Opportunities You’re Missing
- TOO MUCH CONTENT Every year, your industry gets more saturated with content, and every year, your competitors get better at producing and promoting their content. Smart content marketers know they need to continue improving just to keep up, but where to focus? In this session we’ll cover which factors are no longer optional for content marketing success, from strategic planning to tactical formatting and promotion, and help you uncover actionable things you can do to step up your content marketing program.
- NOT THE RIGHT KIND OF CONTENT We all know by now (or at least should) that visual content is essential in today’s marketing landscape, but you should be creating visual content that has a purpose by now. Does it generate a lead? Does it help make a sale? Does it help with brand or community building? What is the purpose behind your visual content? Instead of focusing all efforts on a piece of content that you hope goes “viral”‘ let’s instead learn how to create the kind of visual content that is going to have a long-lasting effect and move the needle.
Topic Level: Everyone
SPEAKERS:
Matt Siltala Avalaunch Media |
Kane Jamison Content Harmony |
Moderator: Lisa Williams – Oregon Health Science University
Email: Your Secret Weapon in the Digital Media Mix
With all the shiny objects in search and social media, it’s easy for companies to overlook email marketing. Merkle’s Jose Cebrian explains why that’s a mistake, highlighting how companies are building relationships and driving revenue more efficiently than ever through email and automation. Building on that foundation, Portland Localist’s Lynnette Fusilier will show you how to take your email marketing program beyond basic brand awareness, helping you focus on the human relationships at the center of your business’ success.
Topic Level: Everyone
SPEAKERS:
Jose Cebrian Merkle |
Lynnette Fusilier Portland Localist |
Moderator: David Mihm – Tidings
ACTIONABLE ANALYTICS
Map out a strategy by leveraging your search analytics data. In this session you’ll learn how to understand and develop a framework to find and test your results, and learn how to get actionable insights from your data.
Topic Level: Everyone
SPEAKERS:
Leslie To 3Q Digital |
Dave Roth Emergent Digital |
Moderator: Anna Hutson – Avenue
Catching the Buzz: Lifestyle Marketing Lessons From the Worlds of Beer and Cannabis
Marketing opportunities abound in the exploding lifestyle categories of beer and cannabis (especially here in Portland). Like any online gold rush, these opportunities come with a myriad of competitors and challenges. Listen to Rebecca and Mark’s experience in growing brands in these segments, and how it might inform your next marketing leap.
Topic Level: Everyone
SPEAKERS:
Rebecca Kelley Leafly |
Mark Knowles The Growler Guys |
Moderator: Matthew Brown – Freelancer
SEO TRACK – Grand Ballroom, 3rd Floor
AMP Up Your Website with Accelerated Mobile Pages
AMP has been developing into a more mature platform for building fast pages. Our speakers will cover the basics and then take you into the realm of more advanced AMP features including addressing AMP for E-Commerce. Attendees will leave being able to deploy form, analytics, and some of the more advanced AMP components that you should consider using for a more dynamic AMP deployment.
Topic Level: Advanced
SPEAKERS:
Max Prin Merkle |
Paul Shapiro Catalyst |
Moderator: Kevin Getch – Webfor
Voice Search & Social: Changing The Face of Digital Marketing
Want to learn about the biggest changes coming in the world of digital marketing? Two of the biggest are: (1) the explosive growth of voice search and voice driven devices, and: (2) the changing face of social media. This session will cover the critical changes happening on platforms like Facebook and Reddit, and how they create a new landscape of opportunities in social, as well as how the world of voice will transform the way you acquire new customers for your business. Brent & Eric will not only lay out how the market landscape if changing in these areas, but how you set yourself up for success as these changes unfold. There’s one thing left to say… “Alexa, Bookmark this session.”
Topic Level: Intermediate to Advanced
SPEAKERS:
Brent Csutoras PeakActivity |
Eric Enge Stone Temple Consulting |
Moderator: Scott Fish – 32° Digital
Enterprise SEO: The Forecast for 2018
It seems like we say this every year, but the rapid rate of change in 2017 caused no small amount of hand-wringing on big SEO teams. William and Caleb are here to talk about which SEO efforts are the same as ever, and which Google changes should change your team’s direction right now.
Topic Level: Advanced
SPEAKERS:
William Sears Disney |
Caleb Donegan Vacasa |
Moderator: Matthew Brown – Freelancer
How do links work in a post Penguin 4.0 world?
In this session you will learn about why links are important for SEO and what has changed in their use over the last few years. Are links still important? If so, how do you get them? This session includes an interactive discussion in which you will learn how to tell whether a link is a good one or one that is likely to be considered unnatural by Google.
Topic Level: Everyone
SPEAKERS:
Kristine Schachinger Sites Without Walls |
Marie Haynes Marie Haynes Consulting Inc. |
Moderator: Alan George – Columbia Steel Casting Co., Inc.
PAID TRACK – Billiard Room, 2nd Floor
Search and Social Creative: Shaken, Not Stirred
You’ve heard the recommendations for creating better converting ads: Use the keyword in your ad copy. Include a call to action. Take up more search real estate. Make sure you have enticing images. Though these principles are common, they don’t always lead to more conversions. As users become more sophisticated (and more distracted!), your ads should meet their ever-increasing expectations. In this session, we’ll share strategies for how to write better ad copy and provide a better creative experience for your users in search and social. We’ll delve into the latest tactics and the psychology behind them. Your consumers demand that your ads stand out. Find out how.
Topic Level: Everyone
SPEAKERS:
Susan Wenograd |
Matt Umbro |
Moderator: Todd Mintz – 3Q Digital
When Worlds Collide: Paid Search on Marketplaces – presented by Elizabeth Marsten
It’s no secret that Amazon has been making aggressive moves into monetizing their own properties into advertising machines and now everyone wants to be there. Which of course brings up questions like where does the budget come from? Who does the work? Is it the same? What shouldn’t I re-use from search? How do we measure success? And of course – how can I charge for it? Avoid burning up on entry and take a ride through marketplace paid search with an eye towards search engine marketing.
How to Make Competitive Intelligence a Strategic Asset – presented by Matt Van Wagner
Sports teams scout opponents to know what to expect in the next game. It’s no different for SEO, SEM and social digital marketers. We want to know as quickly as possible when competitors launch new campaigns, products/services, and ideally, identify threats before they are launched. In this session we’ll show you what signals to watch, how to gather, sift-through and organize competitive data, and what online tools and resources you’ll want to have at hand.
Topic Level: Intermediate to Advanced
SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Marsten |
Matt Van Wagner |
Moderator: Dan Sundgren – FreeGren Digital
Facebook Advertising
These two master tacticians and their companies have spent millions on Facebook ads for their clients, with industry award winning success. Even If you’re already an expert in Facebook ads, we guarantee you’ll still walk away with actionable tips and a renewed enthusiasm for the platform. You’ll likely learn concepts that you havent even imagined were possible. Don’t miss this.
Topic Level: Advanced
SPEAKERS:
Marty Weintraub Aimclear® |
Will Scott |
Moderator: Scott Hendison
Campaign Structure & Targeting for Maximizing Efficiency
If you’ve ever done PPC marketing, you know that some of the biggest hurdles are budgets, targeting and efficiency. In this session, Ada and Michelle will discuss how to maximize small budgets while scaling your campaigns, as well as proper audience targeting and how to structure your campaigns to reach that audience as efficiently as possible, while driving the best results.
Topic Level: Everyone
SPEAKERS:
Michelle Morgan |
Ada Pally |
Moderator: Robert Frost – RPerro Media
MOBILE & MORE TRACK – Library, 2nd Floor
She Said, He Said. Two SEOs give their take on how to solve your SEO questions.
SEO is rarely a do X and call it a day type of discipline. In this session both speakers are going to tackle common and not so common problems with their own take on how to work around all the real life constraints that you also see in your daily life. The goal is to cover as many real life scenarios as possible during the 75 minutes! If you have a (current or past) issue you would want to hear them cover, go to this form and submit it! They won’t be able to cover every submission but will try and cover as many as possible.
Topic Level: Intermediate
SPEAKERS:
Dave Rohrer NorthSide Metrics |
Carolyn Shelby tronc |
Moderator: Mike Rosenberg – Veracity
Mobile Trends: From SEO to User Experience
In this session you will get a deeper understanding of current and upcoming mobile trends that may impact your business. With Google’s recent announcement of its mobile-first index digital marketers are scrambling to make sure they are prepared. We’ll discuss what you should and shouldn’t do to make sure you’re getting the most out of your mobile strategy.
Topic Level: Intermediate
SPEAKERS:
Eli Schwartz SurveyMonkey |
Natalie Aller 3Q Digital |
Moderator: Kevin Getch – Webfor
Local SEO in 2018 & Beyond
Thought it was enough to claim your Google Business Listing? The work doesn’t stop there. Google’s approach to SMB’s & “local” search results have evolved so much and that it’s tough to keep up. Google is more focused than ever to keep searchers ON Google instead of sending them to your website. How do business owners deal with that? Forget what you know about Local SEO. Our panelists are going to cover what’s happening today and what you can do to get a leg up on the competition. We will dive into current ranking factors for local SEO, and updating your strategy to incorporate engagement signals for optimal results.
Topic Level: Intermediate
SPEAKERS:
Dana DiTomaso Kick Point |
Dan Leibson Local SEO Guide |
Moderator: Ben Lloyd – Odysys
COMMUNITY SPEAKERS (voted to speak at Engage by SEMpdx members)
PR Your Way to the Top of Google (presented by Amy Rosenberg) – Earned media can do wonders for SEO and reputation management. This crash course in digital PR will help you efficiently gain quality links. Do you have to call a reporter? Run a press conference? Hire an expensive PR firm? No! Amy Rosenberg of the digitally-focused PR firm Veracity will run through some easy, actionable PR tips as they relate to SEO.
Impactful SEO in 33 Minutes a Day (presented by Christian Bullock) – Learn about a proven process I created so I could maintain effective, impactful SEO for my clients in only 33 minutes a day. You’ll hear about how I focused on a specific aspect to SEO on each weekday, the resources and tools I used, and the essentials for growing organic search visibility for any website.
Topic Level: Everyone
SPEAKERS:
Amy Rosenberg Veracity |
Christian Bullock MKG Marketing Inc |
Moderator: Ryan Campbell – ProSites
AFTERNOON KEYNOTE
4:10 p.m. — 5:00 p.m.
Governor Ballroom – 4th Floor
From Mailers to Customer Experience – 20 years of marketing, and where we’re going next
Stop. Breathe for a second. Think about how far we’ve come. 20 years ago, we were still spending 90% of our budgets on direct mailers and print ads. Now we use psychographic targeting, structured data, and real-time multivariate testing. What’s next? Intelligent customer experience.
Ian Lurie gives his unique perspective on the first 20 years of digital, then talks about where we’re going as an industry.
Moderator: Kevin Getch – Webfor
Ian Lurie
Clearlink
Ian Lurie is the Founder of Portent, a Clearlink Digital Agency. Portent provides paid and organic search and social media, content, and analytics services to B2B and B2C brands.
Ian’s professional specialties and favorite topics are marketing strategy, search, history, and all things nerdy. He spends far too much time poring over Amazon search patents, Google rankings and natural language processing theory. His random educational background includes a B.A. in History from UC San Diego and a degree in Law from UCLA. Now, he teaches and trains his most excellent team, consults, and teaches his kids to play Dungeons and Dragons.
Ian recently published Technical SEO Best Practices – a free guide to Technical SEO. You can find it here: https://essentials.portent.com/
You can find Ian on Twitter at @portentint