For the first time, I had the opportunity to attend WVU’s IMC Conference, or a.k.a. Integrate 2011. This conference is so unique and one-of-a-kind, it is a must-attend event for anyone working in the marketing field. If you missed it, well you really missed it!! You may want to bookmark the WVU IMC website to watch for next years conference and plan to attend. Trust me . . . you’ll be glad you did. Here is a blog post of one of my dear friends and colleagues (and former PR professor) Karen Freberg to help support my statement.
I know what you’re thinking . . . “Why attend a conference on integrated marketing communications? What makes this conference so great?” Let me start my sharing a conversation I had with several of my former classmates as we talked about our careers in the marketing field. I shared the fact with my friends that I love the job that I currently have, however I’m concerned because I don’t have the opportunity to utilize my marketing skills and talents. You know the old saying . . . “If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it!” That couldn’t be more true in the marketing industry, and things change so fast a marketer can be left behind for the wolves before they know it.
The IMC conference is one way that I, and other professionals who may not currently be practicing marketing as much as we would like can catch up on current trends. Heck, even those who are in the field can learn more about what’s going on and what new trends are peaking around the corner as well. The best part of the conference is that actual practitioners are the ones conducting the sessions, and they are right there, knee-deep in the marketing mire and muck and can tell you exactly what’s going on, what to expect and recommend which step to take to keep you out of the quicksand.
Over the next few posts, I plan to share some insight from what I gleaned during the conference. I’ll talk about social media, public relations, branding and more. I hope you will come back and visit my blog to see what was discussed during the conference, and perhaps learn something new that you can use in your career, your business and your personal life. I’ll leave you with a video that gives you a little more detail about the Integrate 2011 conference.
