Our First Virtual Conference
Presented by:
Engage VIRTUAL Conference 2020 Agenda
View the details below for this year's Conference
Due to the pandemic of 2020, we're going VIRTUAL
August 5 & 6, 2021
Portland, Oregon
Conference: 9:00am - 4:20pm
After Party: On your own
Hashtag: #EngagePDX
Day 1
9:00 - 9:15 AM
Virtual Stage
Welcome/logistics
9:15am – 9:45am
Virtual Stage
Morning Keynote
Speaker:
- Wil Reynolds – Seer Interactive
Session Description:
How to be relevant in digital marketing for the next 10 years
I will show you how to get data, slice data, turn insights into action and how that will mitigate risk for you and your clients, as well as find pockets of opportunity your competitors don’t know exist.
9:45-9:50am
Virtual Main Stage
Sponsor Promo
9:50 - 10:20am
Virtual Stage
Paid Social
Speakers:
- Ashley (Ward) Segura – Top Hat Rank
Session Description:
Creative Tactics to Elevate Your Paid Social ROI
As Facebook, Instagram, and other social media channels continue growing their user base and more brands join in to get a piece of impression share, it’s important to find unique ways to stand out and drive consistent results. In this session, you’ll learn how to accomplish your paid social media goals by optimizing:
- Campaign structure and placement
- Psychographics audience targeting
- Ad copy and creative strategies
- Retargeting campaigns
- Engagement tactics
- And tons more!
10:20am – 10:25
Virtual Stage
Sponsor Promo
10:25 - 10:55
Virtual Stage
Paid Ads 
Speakers:
- Navah Hopkins – Henessey Digital
Session Description:
Man vs. Machine: How to Remain Relevant In An Automated World
We live in an automated world, and the practitioners who will thrive already embrace a degree of that automation. In this data driven and action item packed session, attendees will learn:
- What tasks are safe to delegate to automation (bidding, rules, some extensions), and which tasks should stay in human hands (testing, creative, keyword/audience analysis).
- A clear “if/then” guide to all automation settings (goals, bidding, creative, and rules) and how/when to opt in and out of them.
- How to learn from AI/automation via dynamic search ads (DSA) and network generated audiences like in-market, so you can conduct data driven query and auction price analysis.
10:55 - 11:15
Virtual Stage
Networking break/sponsor visit
11:15 - 11:45
Virtual Stage
Brand MarketingPaid Ads 
Speakers:
- Duane Brown – Take Some Risk
Session Description:
Snap Ads: Learn Why It’s Every Brand’s Secret Growth
Over 38% of Snap’s audience doesn’t use Instagram in a given day. If you want to invest your ad dollars outside Facebook, this session will help you launch your first campaign. 229 million users on Snap can’t be wrong.
11:45 -11:50
Virtual Stage
Sponsor promo
11:50 - 12:20
Virtual Stage
Video
Speakers:
- Bryant Garvin – Groove Life
Session Description:
Why Pay for Non-Brand Search When You Can Dominate with Video?
Advertising on non-brand search and shopping is one of the first channels most marketers invest in to drive growth. Why wouldn’t you invest there first? You would have to be stupid! I mean people searching for non-brand and category keywords are clearly interested in and looking for what you are selling right?
By the time Bryant is done sharing the growth stories of Purple & Groove Life you will likely leave the room wondering why more people aren’t skipping the highly competitive SERP and jumping straight into video to grow their brands & revenue. While the growth he will share is impressive, the fact that both of these brands achieved it without outside investment is even more impressive. You will walk away both inspired, and with tactical tips you can take back to the office to implement.
12:20 - 1:00
Virtual Stage
Break
1:00 - 1:30
Virtual Stage
Paid
Speaker:
- AJ Wilcox – B2LInked
Session Description:
Linked-in Ads
Join AJ Wilcox as he dives into the particulars of what makes LinkedIn a great opportunity for your business.
Whether B2C or B2B, you’ll learn what you need to have in place to drive awareness, leads and sales, including which ad formats you should use, pro-level targeting tips, which calls to action convert, and more.
1:30 - 1:35pm
Virtual Stage
Sponsor Promo
1:35 - 2:05pm
Virtual Stage
Paid
Speaker:
- Akvile DeFazio – AKvertise
Session Description:
Facebook Ads: Leveraging Innovative Targeting Tactics to Boost Conversions
As Facebook’s algorithm continues to evolve into a more sophisticated version of its former self, targeting options and their performance have also changed. In this session, you will learn:
- who to effectively target at various parts of the funnel
- creative custom audiences to expand your reach
- about the CCPA and how to still reach California users
- how to leverage weather-based targeting
- and more!
2:05 - 2:30pm
Networking Room
Networking
2:30 - 3:00pm
Virtual Stage
Paid
Speaker:
- Frederick Vallaeys – Optmyzr
Session Description:
Unlevel the Playing Field – How to take back control of PPC in an automated world
Automation in PPC has become unavoidable and while it can almost always help save time, automations created by the ad engines can leave sophisticated advertisers with less control. But fret not, there is a way to take back control, called ‘Automation Layering’.
Learn how creating simple automations delivers checks and balances on Microsoft and Google. You’ll gain back control and gain an advantage over advertisers who rely solely on the tools provided by the engines.
3:00-3:05pm
Virtual Stage
Sponsor Promo
3:05-3:35pm
Virtual Stage
Paid
Speaker:
- Mellissa Jensen – Cisco Systems
Session Description:
Moving Up The Search Maturity Curve: Becoming an SEO Native Organization
How can SEO lead a digital experience? We have all heard time and again that SEO is important, SEO is critical to any digital experience, SEO drives high engagement, make your content SEO friendly, user-friendly, mobile friendly. But what does it take to actualize this? How do you move Search from tactics to strategy, leading experiences so that customers always do come first?
This session will showcase how Cisco Systems used insights from Search to lead a digital transformation from the beginning planning stages, through to design, and finally execution.
3:35 - 3:40
Virtual Stage
Sponsor Promo
3:40 - 4:10pm
Virtual Stage
Social
Speaker:
- Lauren Teague – Convince & Convert
Session Description:
The Virtual Content Team Toolkit
When working from home is the new norm and all collaboration is virtual, teams must rely even more on tools to help execute great content. Discovery the software, apps, and organization systems industry leaders are using to be successful today.
4:10 - 4:30pm
Virtual Stage
Day Wrap Up
Day 2
9:00 – 9:15am
Virtual Stage
Welcome/Logistics
9:15 – 9:45am
Virtual Stage
Keynote
Speaker:
- Marcus Harvey – Portland Gear/Portland Diamond Project
Session Description:
From being fired from his first job out of college to hustling and starting Portland Gear from scratch, Marcus has grown a social following to over 435,000 followers and products sold all over the world. With notable collaborations with the Trail Blazers, Breakside, OHSU and more, Marcus has used his brand, logo, and social platforms to celebrate in the Rose City. This keynote will take attendees through the journey of a start-up brand beginning with local roots right here in Portland, to becoming a globally recognized brand with hundreds of thousands of followers.
9:45 - 9:50am
Virtual Stage
Sponsor Promo
9:50 - 10:20am
Virtual Stage
SEO
Speakers:
- Arsen Rabinovich – Top Hat Rank
Session Description:
Triage and Diagnosis of SEO Issues.
This tactical presentation will walk you through tools, processes and procedures for assessing symptoms related to declines in organic traffic referrals and search engine positions. And will deep-dive into actionable techniques that will get you on your way to recovery.
10:20 - 10:25am
Virtual Stage
Sponsor Promo
10:25 - 10:55am
Virtual Stage
SEO (Audience) 
Speakers:
- Leslie To – 3QDigital
Session Description:
Worst SEO Mistakes Brands Are Still Making in 2020 –
One of the hottest questions that came up during the 2020 planning cycle (and the past couple of planning cycles) was, “How do we continue to drive incremental SEO growth in the crowded SERP landscape?” In almost every vertical, the SERP is getting more competitive. Position #1 and, in some cases, Position #0 don’t matter nearly as much as they used to. And, for some verticals, the trend will only become more egregious.
In this session, we’ll talk about what can you do to fight click attrition, how and where should you even focus your budget, and what mistakes should you avoid to prevent your future self from falling into this trap again.
10:55 - 11:15am
Virtual Stage
Networking break/sponsor visit
11:15 - 11:45am
Virtual Stage
Branding
Speaker:
Session Description:
Brand Marketing
Positioning a brand is hard. But positioning a beloved, multi-billion-dollar brand AND revamping their entire marketing site on a two-month deadline? Impossible. And yet, not only did it happen: the company’s conversions doubled!
In this session, Joel Klettke walks through the customer-driven process behind HubSpot’s massive messaging revamp and shares how you can use the same process to help the brands you work with convert better.
11:45 -12:40pm
Virtual Stage
Break
12:40 - 1:10pm
Virtual Stage
Branding
Speaker:
- Matthew Clyde – Ideas Collide
Session Description:
Shelter in the Storm — Investing in Culture and Leadership to Strengthen Your Brand in Disruptive Times
In times of great disruption, some brands retreat while others step up, strengthen their core, lead out and continue to stay visible to their customers and advocates. Which brand are you? Which brand do you want to be?
In this session, Matthew Clyde will share 25 years of experience in branding and marketing amid similar turbulent times and will share ideas, inspirations and recommendations on how to weather the storm as a brand and marketing leader to come out stronger on the other side. Topics and key points will include:
- Leadership skills we all must utilize to weather the turbulent times
- How to build and maintain a strong brand for your organization or your client in challenging times
- Why investing NOW in your brand can set you up for long-term success
- How you can leverage new technologies and tools to connect with your audiences, coworkers, employees and clients
- Core marketing strategies and tactics to use across all channels during the COVID era and post COVID era
1:10 - 1:15pm
Virtual Stage
Sponsor Promo
1:15 - 1:45pm
Virtual Stage
SEO
Speaker:
- Ruth Burr-Reedy – Upbuild
Session Description:
Natural Language Processing and Entity Extraction for Content Marketers
Content marketers have been hearing “just create great content” for years. But what makes content great, and how do search engines know when content is great?
Search engines have made huge strides in understanding what people mean when they search and figuring out what information searchers are looking for. We’re no longer in a situation where we have to pick “writing for search engines” or “writing for users.”
In this session, Ruth Burr Reedy will discuss how writing content that’s easier for search engines to parse and understand can make you a better writer, how to spot writing mistakes that confuse search engines and users alike, and how to use natural language processing tools to optimize your content at scale
1:45 - 2:15pm
Virtual Stage
Networking break/sponsor visit
2:15 - 2:45pm
Virtual Stage
SEO
Speaker:
- Jeremy Epperson – Conversion Guides
Session Description:
Optimizing the Customer Journey: Driving ROI and Winning Tests Across Your Marketing
In this session, you will learn a proven framework and strategies that help you to understand your customers and convert them to leads and sales. This isn’t a theoretical look at who your customers may be. It’s a step by step process to be data-driven and customer-centric. You will get actionable research methods, case studies and tactics you can use to produce winning results in testing immediately.
2:45 - 2:50pm
Virtual Stage
Sponsor promo
2:50 - 3:20pm
Virtual Stage
Local SEO
Speaker:
Session Description:
There are special considerations to be made when managing local SEO for multiple business locations. Amanda will discuss the elements needed for a successful local SEO strategy.
3:20 - 3:25pm
Virtual Stage
Sponsor promo
3:25 - 3:55pm
Virtual Stage
SEO
Speaker:
- Jon Henshaw – Coywolf
Session Description:
Audience Development through SEO Strategy
Utilizing interdisciplinary strategies and tactics, Jon will share how agencies, publishers, and SMBs can leverage social media, news, site performance, and more to grow brand awareness and improve search engine visibility.
3:55 - 4:20pm
Virtual Stage
Wrap up/thanks
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