Pre-Conference
| Day 1 | Day 2
Tuesday,
April 19
7:00
am – 8:00 am
Continental Breakfast Sponsored by Geosign / TrueLocal
8:00
am – 8:15 am
Introduction
& Conference Overview
John Kelsey, President & CEO, The Kelsey Group
8:15
am – 8:45 am
The
Emerging Online-Offline Paradigm
Notwithstanding the big gain in online holiday shopping, e-commerce
remains a tiny fraction of offline consumer spending. But that fact
does not reveal the degree to which consumers are increasingly using
the Internet to conduct research and shop for products and services,
especially in their local markets. Indeed, one hypothetical definition
of “local search” is Web-influenced offline transactions.
The Kelsey Group will present new consumer research findings about
changing media use and how the Internet is affecting traditional media
and offline commerce.
Greg Sterling, Program Director, Interactive Local Media, The
Kelsey Group
Neal Polachek, SVP, Directional Media Practice, The Kelsey
Group
8:45
am – 9:30 am
Consumers
and the New Multi-Channel Reality
The biggest gains online this past holiday season were recorded by
traditional retailers, so-called "brick and mortars" that
are more successfully integrating online and offline selling. Given
the rise of Internet adoption for local shopping, it's clear that
consumer behaviors are evolving. How are retailers adapting to those
new consumer behavior patterns? What trends are they finding -- especially
in local -- and what strategies are they adopting to drive traffic
to local stores?
Eric Chandler, VP, e-Commerce Marketing, SuperPages.com
Kendall M. Fargo, Founder & CEO, StepUp.com
Kay Lamming, Owner, Cotton Basics
Carol Yenne, Owner, Small Fry's
9:30
am – 10:00 am
Refreshment
Break Sponsored by Fast Search & Transfer
10:00
am – 10:45 am
The
comScore-Overture Study: Findings and Implications
The widely publicized findings of a seminal comScore-Overture
study will be explored in depth. The study found that 25% of search
engine users ultimately purchased a consumer electronics product and
that 92% of those purchases were offline. Generic search terms drove
more than 70% of the volume, while trademarked terms were responsible
for 20% and product terms the final 10%. Though the generic terms
drove most of the volume, the more specific terms revealed consumers
who were closer to a purchase decision. The study challenges conventional
assumptions about consumer behavior and suggests important changes
that will likely occur in search. Those shifts will have implications
for other online media as well as the local marketplace.
Anne Frisbie, Senior Director, Category Initiatives, Overture
Chris Henger, VP, Marketing & Product Development, Performics
Sara Stevens, Director, Marketing Solutions, comScore
Networks
Kevin M. Ryan, Search Editor, iMedia Communications
Christopher Skinner, Managing Partner, MakeBuzz
10:45
am – 11:30 am
Keynote Address
Udi Manber, CEO, A9.com
11:30
am – 11:45 am
Refreshment
Break Sponsored by OKS Group
11:45
am – 12:30 pm
Online
Word of Mouth: Blogs, RSS and Social Networks
Word-of-mouth is probably the single greatest driver of referrals
to local businesses. Over the past couple of years a number of firms,
portals and publishers have tried to create or add online community
features or full-blown social networking sites to replicate this offline
phenomenon. More recently, the Internet has been abuzz over blogs.
And marketers everywhere are tying to figure out how to tap blogs
and RSS to get their messages to consumers. How is word of mouth manifesting
online? Is it actually delivering leads to local businesses? How should
search engines, directories and classifieds publishers react? What
are the implications for current business models—online and
off?
Ali Diab, Senior Director, Local Products, Yahoo!
Jason Dowdell, Founder, GlobalPromoter.com; Manager,
Search Technologies, WebSourced Inc.
Tony Gentile, Owner, Buzzhit.com
Karthik Iyer, SVP, Business Development, Intelliseek
Stuart MacFarlane, CEO, InsiderPages
Andy Sack, CEO & Co-Founder, Judy's Book
12:30
pm – 2:00 pm
Lunch Sponsored by Aptas & YPsolutions
2:00
pm – 2:45 pm
SMEs and Sites: Crossing the 50% Threshold
As recently as two years ago there was still ambivalence and skepticism
among small businesses about the importance of a Web site. The rise
of broadband, search engines and Internet marketing has largely put
that to rest. Kelsey Group data now reflects that almost 40% of U.S.-based
SMEs have Web sites. Has this increasing adoption of Web sites by
SMEs resulted in more customers and local revenues? What are the leading
small-business Web hosts finding about the changing needs and attitudes
in the SME marketplace and how those needs are being addressed? When
do they believe that 50% of U.S.-based SMEs will have Web sites—later
this year, next year or longer?
Rich Cannon, Area VP, Strategy, Interland
Jim Collins, CMO, Affinity
Internet
Warren Kay, SVP, Business Development, Vista.com
Rich Riley, VP & General Manager, Yahoo! Small Business
2:45 pm –
3:30 pm
Fixed Fee, Guaranteed Clicks: Turning Search
into Yellow Pages
The various “simplified search” products increasingly
being offered to the local marketplace through small-business aggregators
(e.g., Yellow Pages, verticals, Web hosts, local SEMs) have been hailed
as the right product at the right time. But what’s happening
“on the ground”? What is the level of demand, and will
these products ultimately generate more business/leads for local advertisers?
Are they the key to unlocking the revenue potential of "local,"
or will they ultimately collapse under the pressure of rising prices
and shrinking inventory in a rapidly changing online/search marketplace?
Kirsten Mangers, Chief Strategy Officer, SME Global Solutions
John Keister, President, Chief Operating Officer, Marchex
Michael Kline, COO & VP Products, ReachLocal
Michael Sack, EVP & CTO, Inceptor
Neil Salvage, VP, Sales, YellowPages.com
Todd Walrath, CEO, Leads.com
3:30
pm – 4:00 pm
Refreshment Break Sponsored by CallSource
4:00
pm – 4:45 pm
Pay-per-Call: Update from the Field
Pay-per-call has been received by the press with considerable anticipation
and excitement as the product that will demystify online advertising
for local business. There are also many potential uses for national
advertisers and some intriguing, potential offline uses. Ingenio pioneered
the platform and FindWhat formally introduced pay-per-call in September
2004. Citysearch introduced a similar product in early December. Now
a major portal has adopted pay-per-call. How have advertisers responded
to date? Who’s using pay-per-call, and how far and wide is it
likely to penetrate the marketplace?
Marc Barach, CMO, Ingenio
Gerry
Campbell, VP & GM, AOL Search & Directional Media
Richard Rosen, VP of Business Development, CallSource
Michael Kerans, SVP/General Manager, FindWhat Pay-Per-Call
Jean-Pascal Lion, VP, Electronic Directories, Yellow Pages
Group
4:45 pm – 5:30 pm
Mapping the Future of Local Search
Maps are critical to any sort of robust local search experience. Mapping
and driving directions are consumer favorites. More recently, dynamic
mapping has been introduced allowing consumers to use maps as a doorway
into local search and directory listings. But there is still considerably
more potential innovation on the horizon. What can we expect from
the next generation of mapping tools and how will they become integrated
with other utilities to deliver value for consumers searching for
local information?
Walt Doyle, VP, Sales & Business Development, MapQuest
Jeremy Kreitler, Product Manager, Maps, Yahoo!
Bill Schwegler, Co-Founder & SVP of Strategic Initiatives,
Telcontar
Brad Sims, Manager, Product Development, SuperPages.com
Sukhinder Singh, General Manager, Local & Third Party Partnerships,
Google
5:30
pm –
7:30 pm
Networking Reception Sponsored by MapQuest
Pre-Conference
| Day 1 | Day
2
