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 [ppt]
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
Drilling Down Supplement: “User
View” study (The Kelsey Group and ConStat – February 2005). [ppt]
Blog
posts at Buzzhit!.com
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
Blog
posts at Buzzhit!.com
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 [ppt]
Kevin
M. Ryan, Search Editor, iMedia
Communications
Christopher Skinner, Managing Partner,
MakeBuzz
Blog
posts at Buzzhit!.com
Selling SMEs
on Local Search
10:45 am
– 11:30 am
Keynote Address
Udi Manber, CEO,
A9.com
Q&A Following Keynote - Captured by Jason Dowdell,
published by Search Engine Guide
Blog
posts at Buzzhit!.com
Amazon Mocks Up
the Yellow Pages
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. Blog
post
Tony Gentile, Owner, Buzzhit.com
Karthik
Iyer, SVP, Business Development, Intelliseek
Stuart
MacFarlane, CEO, InsiderPages
Andy Sack, CEO &
Co-Founder, Judy's Book
Blog
posts at Buzzhit!.com
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
Blog
posts at Buzzhit!.com
Getting
Small Business on the Web
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
Blog
posts at Buzzhit!.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
Blog
posts at Buzzhit!.com
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
Blog
posts at Buzzhit!.com
5:30 pm
– 7:30 pm
Networking Reception Sponsored by
MapQuest
Pre-Conference
| Day 1 | Day
2
