Today, I'm attending the American Marketing Association (AMA Oregon) Forward 08 Conference at the Portland Art Museum. [Given the nature of this post, and the focus of the conference, this entry should probably exist as a tweet, but I'm still easing into the water with Twitter. —Ed.]
The morning keynote is Andy Sernovitz of Word of Mouth Marketing fame. I'm enjoying his book, Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking and have followed his Weblog for a while now. The afternoon keynote taps Mrinal Desai, Former Business Development Executive at LinkedIn and Co-Founder of CrossLoop. If you've read this, you know that your correspondents have been fiddling with LinkedIn for some time, so Mrinal's presentation should be interesting. A panel discussion promises to "address new frontiers in marketing; connecting with the customer on a more personal, experiential level through their passions." Panelists include: G. Cody QJ Goldberg, former Sports Marketing Manager, adidas America; Jason Goldberg, VP Marketing & Creative Services, MTI; Garett Stenson, CEO & Creative Director, db clay inc.; and Brian Linver, Partner, Pinnacle Marketing Group. I'll provide a short report following the event.