Ask the Experts

DUE TO UNEXPECTED CIRCUMSTANCES, THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED AND WILL BE RESCHEDULED FOR A FUTURE DATE.

Ask Our Experts! gives you the opportunity to hear—and then interface directly with—some of the most innovative and accomplished marketers.   This event starts with presentations and, then, puts you up close and personal at a speaker-chaired roundtable discussion.   Much more than Q&A, you get knowledge to GO!

Liz Thomas, CEO of Thomas/Boyd Communications asks “Wanna Get Engaged?”  No, she is not proposing marriage.  Liz will share with you ways to engage your target audience by using effective public relations tactics to produce desired results. In her 20+ years in the field of communications Liz has founded and run numerous successful agencies.  Named one of NJBIZ's "Best 50 Women in Business," Liz has worked for some of the biggest brands in the world including BP, Merrill Lynch and Verizon Wireless.  She has also managed significant events including the passage of the Battleship New Jersey through the Panama Canal, the opening of the first renovated building on the New Jersey side of Ellis Island and the opening of the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial which attracted 15,000 guests.

Jason Magidson, Ph.D., Partner of Wildfire Commerce, Inc., discusses “Going Beyond the Voice of the Customer: Differentiating Your Offer.”  Jason will show you how to create ideal customer experiences using case studies that illustrate ways to break out of current frameworks.  He’ll be sharing his techniques for engaging customers in the design process to ensure your new products and services are relevant and on-target. For over 20 years Jason has engaged end users in product, service, system, and organizational design.  Many of his strategies and tactics were perfected in his ten years at GlaxoSmithKline, where he was most recently Director of Innovation Processes.  Jason’s articles have appeared in the Harvard Business Review and The Journal of Product Innovation Management, and has authored two books including Idealized Design (2006).

Gail Bower, President of Bower & Co. Consulting, in her presentation “More Than a Logo on the Back of a T-shirt: What Corporate Sponsorship is and How Your Brand Benefits,” will show you how to connect with audiences drawn together by a cause, passion, or purpose and will inspire you to re-imagine your sponsorship efforts with a focus on ROI. Gail Bower, author of How to Jump-start Your Sponsorship Strategy in Tough Times, is a professional consultant, writer and speaker, with nearly 25 years' experience managing some of the country’s most important events, festivals and sponsorships.  Launched in 1987, Bower & Co. improves the effectiveness and results of its clients’ marketing strategies, events/festivals, and corporate sponsorship programs.   She blogs about sponsorship, at SponsorshipStrategist.com.

Bring your objectives, curiosity and an open mind.  You’ll get important insights and personal assistance that will assist, enable—and inspire—you.