The fall 2010 ICMA conference will take place in a backdrop of royalty, imperial palaces and amazing mountains, Vienna, Austria.  Social Media, strategy, affiliates and partnerships are just a few of the hot topics that we will cover to ensure that the ICMA members and delegates are ready to tackle the “Next Generation” of classifieds.

The conference will run for a full 3-and-a-half days, from the Wednesday Welcome Reception and dinner through three full days of sessions and networking, and finishing with the Gala Party on Saturday. The draft programme is published below and will be updated as speakers are confirmed in the next few weeks.

Registration opens on 9 August for Early Birds (EUR 549 for members or EUR 799 for non-members) until 19 September when the Standard rate (EUR 699/EUR 999) will apply.
     

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Wednesday 3 November

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14.00 -17.00      Tour of Vienna

17.00 - 19.30      Registration

19.30 - 22.00      Welcome Reception and Dinner


Thursday 4 November

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Session 1        
 
Chairperson's Welcome and Opening

Keynote Address
We have the pleasure of welcoming 'one of the leading media futurists in the world' according to the Wall Street Journal, Gerd Leonhard.  Gerd’s work focuses on the Future of Media, Content, Technology, Business, Communications and Culture, and he is considered a leading expert on topics such as Web/Media 2.0, social networking and social media, cultural changes due to disruption by new technologies, copyright vs. technology issues, online content commerce models, media convergence, mobile entertainment, entrepreneurship, the future of advertising and branding, future planning, digital content strategies and next-generation business models. So buckle up and get ready for a cracking keynote!

Speaker: Gerd Leonhard, Media Futurist / CEO of TheFuturesAgency, Switzerland

Session 2

To Tweet or Not to Tweet
What is the impact of social media to classifieds?  What role dose it play to evolving your business?  This session will discuss social media strategy covering the big three  – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn...  and how they prove to be critical in moving into the next decade of classifieds.

Speaker: To be confirmed

Facebook Friendly
Don’t miss this session which covers different affiliate programmes that can be applied to three angles-  generating content, traffic and revenue.  We will hear first hand Oodle’s experience with AOL, MySpace and Facebook.
 
Speaker: Duncan Dunlop, CEO, Oodle, UK       

Changing Online Behaviour
Our use of the web is maturing; people are becoming smarter at searching to find what they want. Social media and real time search are also starting to impact how people shop and buy online. In this session we’ll take a look at how people are behaving online, what’s influencing them and who we ought to be watching and working with.

Speaker: To be confirmed    

Where are we now with marketplaces?
Users are looking for a one stop local shop and we are looking to fill that need… on all platforms. Marketplaces was the buzzword a few years back when it was emerging as a new application of local search technologies just making its way into classifieds, now with social and mobile apps it is more accessible than ever.  The question is how many of us are tapping into our local marketplaces on all levels?  Through qualitative research an expert in Marketplaces will inform us if we are on the right track and if not how to get there (STAT!)

Speaker: To be confirmed            

Lunch
 
Sessions 3&4
 

Late afternoon: Solution Providers Hour

Evening: Viennese Heurigen
 

Friday 5 November

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Session 1            

Classified Storefronts
Are classified storefronts the new cash cow of classifieds? A leading classified player will share their unique story of how their business has flourished with the addition of online shops, in which they offer different price points for auto storefronts than for real estate or an all–in-one offering.  Their customers can choose their own subdomains, select their own design and edit their own content. This may very well be the “ka-ching” you’ve been looking for.

Speaker: To be confirmed

Online Sales
What is the best way to sell advertising online?  With automated systems, instant tracking and reporting it seems like it should be a solid sell.  Is there a place left for the traditional sales force or should your website be all the sales force you need?  How do you provide customer service and account management with online systems?

Speaker: Mike Blinder, President, The Blinder Group, USA

Why 5 big changes at Google are great news for classified sites –

and how you can take advantage of them
Let’s be honest - Google hasn’t been particularly kind to classified websites over the last few years; but recently the tide has been changing in your favour. This session will cover what these big opportunities are, how you can take advantage of them and help you deal with issues like spotting the SEO charlatan, making link building something that happens naturally and not something that costs you a fortune plus how search marketing can help you in your quest to make more money from your site.
 
Speaker: Kelvin Newman, Creative Director, SiteVisibility, UK

Session 2          

The power of the brand
It seems we have forgotten the power of the brand in the pursuit of traffic from search, just when Google have shown a preference for brands.  This session will cover how a business goes about determining what its brand stands for and how to communicate this through traditional branding and through social media.
 
Speaker: to be confirmed

Panel: Captains of the Media Ships
We are bringing in the three top guns from Directories, Newspapers and Classifieds and asking them the tough questions.  Where do they see their respective industries heading?  How can we make money when everything is free? How can we make it through these rough waters? Come with your questions ready.

Panelists: Tim Gordon, Group Strategy and Development Director at European Directories, UK

Others to be confirmed

Lunch

Session 3&4    

Workshops
We will be offering 3 workshops which will run for 90 minutes and which will be repeated twice. These interactive sessions allow 20 - 25 participants to work closely with an expert facilitator to guide their discussions and answer questions as they share experiences and ideas.

* WORKSHOP 1 –MAXIMIZING PRINT PROFITS
Print is still alive and kicking (and for some thriving.)  So as requested by the delegates in Berlin we are providing a workshop focused on cross-promoting digital assets with print and other available media predominately using Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to help maximize print revenues.

Facilitator: to be confirmed

* WORKSHOP 2 – ADSENSE OPTIMIZATION FOR CLASSIFIED WEBSITES

Participate in this workshop if you want to learn how to increase revenues without harming your business model.  This session will cover the potential of AdSense on classified websites, including best practices worldwide, special ad formats for classifieds, revenue potential and cannibalization effects and case studies.

 

Facilitator: Hannes Fehr, AdConversion, Germany

* WORKSHOP 3 – LESSIONS LEARNED: LEVERGING SOCIAL MEDIA TO CREATE MULTIPLE CHANNELS FOR USER ENGAGEMENT
This workshop will cover community engagement, building trust and evangelism, while also discussing honestly the successes and failures that have come about in learning to leverage social media marketing.   “Poking the Bear” and responding to user demands “fast and flexible” will be discussed.  You are asked to attend with a mind open to experimentation as Usedeveywhere.com saw 3x’s Facebook fan growth in less than 30 days!

Facilitator: Tish Hill, General Manager, UsedEveryWhere.com, Canada

Evening: Free time


Saturday 6 November

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Sessions 1-3
 

Biking across Africa

We guarantee you will not want to miss this spectacular Saturday kick-off where longstanding ICMA member, Gerald Coniel,  who traveled from Cairo, Egypt to Cape Town, South Africa, a total of  12,000 km by bicycle, shares the life-affirming lessons gained in competing in the Tour D'Afrique.  Many valuable insights were taken that parallel getting the most out of your business.

 

Speaker: Gerald Coniel, CEO, Junkmail Classifieds, South Africa

ICMA Member Meeting
The 2011 budget, Committee open seat election, report on 2010/11 projects – come and get involved in your Association!

Business Leaders’ Forum
The Business Leaders' Forum is designed specifically for senior executives to come together in an intimate closed meeting in order to share their opinions and ideas with their peers. The Vienna  "BLF" will take a look back over some of the main themes of the conference and provide an opportunity for us to debate the key issues affecting our businesses today.

Chair: Loren Dalton, CEO, PennySaverUSA.com, USA

Sales Survival Workshop
The Sales Survival Workshop will focus on the basic techniques and methods, necessary in today’s competitive, challenging media environment, to make sure that your sales teams are poised and postured to aggressively garner new business and attack the competition! The Sales Survival Workshop will challenge the attendees to become better at their jobs as media managers, through implementing better methods of sales accountability, training, coaching and mentoring the sales process, to achieve maximum performance from their sales people.

Check out the agenda here.

Speaker: Mike Blinder, President, The Blinder Group, USA

Business Operations Forum
This dedicated session will focus on marketing and ICT.  The “BOF” is an excellent opportunity for middle management to have one session dedicated to their specialty while also participating and learning more about the other departmental needs, which allows for smoother operations overall and in the process they will come away with new revenue generating or process improving ideas from around the world.  

Chair: To be confirmed

        
Evening: Gala Party