ILM East in Boston March 21-23 is shaping up to be one of the most substantive conferences we’ve ever put together. Leaders have been confirmed from most of the major companies in local. Just added is Google’s Ben Wood, who has responsibility for Google’s resellers in North America. Ben, who comes out of the newspaper business, has a lot to say about where things are going.
You already know about our Daily Deals and Offers Superforum, which gets our undivided attention for the entire morning on Day 3. Citysearch’s JP Bendoya has just been added – our 11th Superforum speaker. It is going to be quite an intense session, with Living Social head Tim O’Shaughnessy, Gilt City President Nate Richardson leading the way. And then we hear from a slate of innovative executives thinking about next steps for offers, such as Victoria Ransom from WildFire Apps.
There is also a lot of game-changing content that we’re just getting our arms around. Take check-ins, for instance. You already know that FourSquare GM Evan Cohen is keynoting. But on Mike Boland’s Mobile Superforum, we’ve just added two of the real thinkers of the marketplace aspects of this space: Lawrence Coburn of DoubleDutch, plus Christina Dorobek from Scvngr.
Other confirmed speakers on the Mobile Superforum include Walt Doyle, WHERE; Ted Morgan, Skyhook Wireless; Andrew Osis, Poynt; and Tobias Dengel, Willow Tree Apps;
We’re also zeroing in on what this space means for specific segments. What’s the nexus of leads and search? That’s a subject we’ll tackle with Reply.com COO Sean Fox. Broadcasters will have a dedicated “special interest group” meeting before the bell at a special breakfast on day 2. Speakers include Belo’s director of Interactive Strategy Belinda Baldwin, and Tide Radio’s Tom Davis.
All this adds to the previously announced program, including our opening keynote, Harvard’s David Weinberger, one of our favorite thinkers on social media and co-author of The Clue Train Manifesto; Facebook’s Maz Shirafi, who is a key player in its local development; and Boston Globe Publisher Christopher Mayer.
Other highlights include AT&T’s Maria Kermath and Chuck Lee; a session of local SMBs, who will candidly discuss their digital options; our local online retail panel, with Milo.com‘s Jack Abraham, PaperG’s Victor Wong and JiWire’s David Courtney; our events panel with Eventbrite’s Kevin Hartz and Goby’s Mark Watkins; a really good national advertiser session with U-Haul’s Elnora Palms and Progressive Insurance’s Matthew Marko; and an all-star “hyper-relevant” panel featuring Gannett Digital/a> head Josh Resnick, Yahoo Local head Matt Idema, AOL Local SVP Mike DeLuca and The Washington Post’s Tim Condon.
See you in Boston? Register now before prices go up. (hint: And get your hotel room, too while our bloc is still available).
