Speakers

Click Here for Session Agenda

Candace Schoner

Top Dog: at Lapdog Productions

Keynote Topic: ”Unleashing Your Blog Potential”

Topic Description: Creative and Management Strategies for Blogging Success. How to set-up and promote a blog. Learn how to find your blog voice. Time management tricks to maintain your blog. Techniques to avoid writers block. How to grow your blog traffic. Using your blog to grow your business

Bio: Candace has over 25 years-experience in marketing, advertising, and public relations. She is the Top Dog at Lapdog Productions, a marketing and advertising agency specializing in B2B marketing, web design, branding, and content management. Candace is the proud mom of two rescue canines, Maddy and Bogey; a professional blogger, a tennis and golf enthusiast, and a non-profit supporter. She currently serves on the board at FOCUS Women’s Resource Center and works part-time as the Development Assistant for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Charlottesville.

Amy Leigh Campbell

Co-founder: Pink Collar

Luncheon Speaker.

Bio: Amy Leigh Campbell, aka The HTMelle, is celebrating 2012 as her 10th year as an entrepreneur. Amy is the co-founder of and Creative Director for Pink Collar, a Web 2.0 Creative Agency. Pink Collar specializes in helping women business owners THINK, LINK and INK. Visit them on the web at pinkcollarink.com!

Amy is a passionate devotee of the Open Source Movement, and believes that the web should be a free and open platform for every individual to tell their story. Her passion for the use of Web 2.0 tools online is matched offline by her love of research and writing about constitutional law. Amy is the author of Raising The Bar, which was published in 2004 and traces the work of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the ACLU to combat gender discrimination in our nation’s laws.

Amy is currently serving as a Board Member and the Technology Chair for the National Association of Women Business Owners, and previously served as a Board Member for Virginia’s Corporation for National and Community Service. She is a proud alumna of both Sweet Briar College and the University of Virginia, and welcomes every opportunity to visit the most wonderful town in the world — Charlottesville!

Elisa Bricker

Owner of Elisa B. Photography

Topic: “Top 10 Plugins”

Topic Description: Discover and discuss the top ten plugins and web site tools that will grow your business and ensure your WordPress site is effective and engages your viewers. Save yourself countless hours of work by learning from the experts and learn how to effectively use must-have plugins and tools for your web site. Make your website work for you, rather than feeling like your web site is working you.

Elisa is an artist, a wife, and the consummate romantic.  Her quest to uncover and celebrate beauty is sublimely matched with the art of photography.  Melding a traditional, minimally processed photographic style with modern touches, she is deliberate in her approach.

From her modest beginnings at age twelve, with a 1970′s film camera and bare light bulb “studio lighting”, to today’s newest digital equipment, Elisa’s ambition remains unchanged: to capture who her clients are in the present, reflect their dreams for the future, and create art that emanates beauty.


Steinar Knutsen

President & CEO of New Site Media Group, LLC

Topic : Google+ All you want to know about this platform and how to drive your biz by using it

Steinar Knutsen is President & CEO of New Site Media Group, LLC, an Internet marketing and new media production company in Charlottesville, Virginia.  He is a seasoned strategic marketing professional with hands-on experience executing marketing campaigns at Fortune 500 companies and small to mid-size businesses.  His passion for marketing, technology and teaching are the winning combination that drives Steinar to help businesses succeed online.

Steinar holds a B.A. in International Marketing from Hiram College and an M.B.A. in Marketing & eCommerce Strategy from Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.  He has prior work experience as Senior Director of Segment Management at LexisNexis, Six Sigma Black Belt & Strategic Business Development Manager at 3M and various roles in consulting, marketing, sales, and pricing at Nacco Industries, Inc.

Businesses that work with Steinar benefit greatly from his first-hand experience and knowledge.  Whether it is selling products and services online, growing an online community of loyal prospects or customers, affiliate marketing, or leveraging new media to reach your market, Steinar has been there.

David Moody

Founder of AuthorPress.Net, a WordPress technology service company

Topic #1: “Top 10 Plugins”

Topic #1 Description: Discover and discuss the top ten plugins and web site tools that will grow your business and ensure your WordPress site is effective and engages your viewers. Save yourself countless hours of work by learning from the experts and learn how to effectively use must-have plugins and tools for your web site. Make your website work for you, rather than feeling like your web site is working you.

Topic #2 -Two Back-to-back Workshops: hands-on WordPress site creation.

Topic #2 – Workshop Description: In this workshop you will create your very own WordPress site in real time. At the end of the two sessions, you will take with you a completed phase 1 business or personal WordPress site customer ready and equipped with $199 of premium plugins. This workshop comes at an additional cost of only $99 and includes six months of free hosting, $199 of premium plugins, and $30 of support from AuthorPress.net. Only at Blogville Conference will you get this $500 offer for only $99!

Requirements:

  1. Laptop
  2. (optional) – a pre-purchased domain name.

David Moody is the founder of AuthorPress.Net, a WordPress technology service company. In David’s previous life he was a US Navy engineer, and has a degree in Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Protection.

In 1998, David launched four internet companies and, became an original founding member of the UVa Hospital Web Development Center. Since then he has been building CMS frameworks and implementing large scale Expression Engine, Drupal, and WordPress systems. David has been leading technology discovery groups in Charlottesville for over 10 years, including Adobe User groups, Flex Technology groups, mobile technology, and most recently WordPress and Drupal user group communities. As an engineer and entrepreneur David brings a unique perspective that spans from the earliest years of web development to the latest trends in technology.

David In his spare time, he enjoys Snowboarding and a good glass of Virginia wine but, not at the same time.


Denise Stewart

Founder of Wellness Charlottesville

Topic: Discipline and Ritual for Blogging.

Denise Stewart is a motivational speaker, wellness coach, writer and actress.  Trained as a performer, comedienne and writer, she brings style and humor to her belief in personal growth and transformation.

DeeDee Stewart is a motivational speaker, writer and actor – and blogger.  Over the past three years she has spoken to groups/events such as the CASA State Conference, AORN Nurses’ Conference, the Women’s 4-Miler Training Program, and the Rotary Club.  Denise holds an MFA in Playwriting from UVA and a BA in Theatre from Catawba College.  She teaches wellness workshops to companies, individuals and pre-teen and teenage girls.  She is currently touring her one-woman show, Dirty Barbie and other girlhood tales, with upcoming performances in Charlottesville, New York City, Washington, DC, and Edinburgh, Scotland.

Patsy Stewart

Founder of Social Buzz Lab, LLC

Topic: “How Facebook’s Timeline will Revitalize Your Community Engagement”

Topic Description: Learn the keys to building your community engagement by utilizing the features of Facebook’s new Timeline for your business page.  Find out why and where Brands have seen a significant amount of fan activity and learn the best practices you can use to increase your fan engagement.

Bio: Social Media Practitioner and Owner of the Social Buzz Lab, Patsy Stewart has over 10 years of Marketing and Branding experience with a strong background in Digital Media. She started the Social Buzz Lab last year and provided services for over 40 clients the first year. She is passionate about helping companies understand how they can use social media to generate BUZZ around their brand. She has extensive experience integrating social media with traditional media. She has always been an early adapter of technology going back to her early career, working in engineering at GE in Salem, VA.  Patsy is a National Speaker, Trainer and a contributor to Social Media Today as well as guest posts on many social media blogs.

Lindsay Keller

Company: Search Mojo Title: Account Manager

Topic: ”Marketing with Google and Facebook Ads”

Topic Description: I will go over the basics of setting up and running ads on both Google and Facebook, compare the differences between the two platforms, and review the benefits of marketing on both platforms.

Bio: Lindsay Keller joined Search Mojo in July 2011, where she manages both PPC and SEO accounts as an Account Manager. Lindsay’s interest in pay-per-click advertising began at James Madison University when she led her team to win the Google Online Marketing Challenge competition, placing first above all other teams in North America, Central America and South America. Lindsay is now a Google AdWords Certified Individual and a Microsoft Advertising Accredited Professional. She has worked with a variety of clients including, ScienceLogic, Meridian Systems, and WPS Health Insurance.

Darah Bonham

Founder: @AbolishCancer, LLC Title: President

Topic: ”Leverage the POWER of Twitter for your organization, your clients, or your cause in an impactful, engaging way.”

Topic Description: Darah created the Twitterthon with @abolishcancer that gets sponsors to donate $1 for every follower on Twitter to a particular cancer charity over an 18 hour period. These Twitterthons have generated over $50,000 in funds, 100% donated to various cancer charities.  Darah is also behind the @abolishcancer awareness campaigns such as #CancersNoJoke and #Rock2AbolishCancer which enlists celebrities to use social media on specific days to raise funds & awareness in the fight.

Bio: After 18 years in public education as a teacher and high school principal, Darah pursued his entrepreneurial and technology interests in forming @AbolishCancer as a means of uniting people to help fight cancer by utilizing the power of social media.  Over the past two years Darah has led social media awareness campaigns on Twitter that have raised over $50,000 for cancer organizations while connecting with numerous celebrities to help raise awareness.