Digital marketing conference nears

By Adam Earnheardt

DOYO Live, Youngstown’s digital marketing and interactive design conference, is back for year two. The conference takes place next Thursday (Aug. 3) at Youngstown State University’s Williamson College of Business.

Tickets are still available, but they’re going fast. “Last year’s event was completely sold out,” said DOYO Live founder Dennis Schiraldi. “Tickets are in high demand again this year. We’re expecting another great turnout.”

To get tickets, go to doyolive.com.

Youngstown State President Jim Tressel will provide opening remarks at the conference.

This year’s keynote speaker, Debra Jasper, is CEO of Mindset Digital. Jasper has headlined some of the largest marketing conferences in the world, including PubCon, one of top conferences and expos for professional digital marketers.

If her name sounds familiar, it might be because of Jasper’s Ohio connections. Jasper and Mindset Digital co-founder, Betsy Hubbard, spent seven years directing the Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs Journalism at Ohio State University.

Jasper helped launch a social media fellowship for journalists, showing reporters how to tell powerful stories through social media. She became director of the Kiplinger Program in 2004, after working as an investigative reporter covering presidential campaigns and state politics.

This year’s conference will also feature breakout session leaders that have presented at marketing conferences across North America, including HubSpot’s Inbound conference, CMWorld, Marketo Summit, and the Mayo Clinic Social Media Healthcare Summit.

If you’re a professional or student (or both) interested in learning more about social media, digital marketing, and interactive design, this event is for you, regardless of the industry in which you work.

DOYO Live might be the only marketing conference of this size and type in the Valley.

It will feature more than 15 breakout sessions this year, a slight increase over last year, and a sign of growth. For me, the best part about those breakout sessions is that most of the speakers are from the Valley.

“Topics in these sessions include content marketing strategies, Facebook advertising, live streaming, social media marketing, branding, design and a lot more,” Schiraldi said.

Sponsors for this year’s DOYO Live include the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, Valley Digital Services, R. Kashmiry & Associates Inc., Eastwood Mall Complex, Purple Films, The City of You, Icons of Youngstown, NR Media Group and Incept Grows.

To learn more about DOYO Live, follow it on social media. Promo codes for savings on tickets to the event will be released.

I’ll be at DOYO Live this year and I look forward to seeing you. If you’re a regular reader of this column, please stop me and say hello.

Adam Earnheardt is chair of the department of communication at Youngstown State University. Follow him on Twitter at @adamearn. Have a column idea? Email him at acearnheardt@gmail.com.