For Immediate Release

Note: This episode is the first of several that experiments with a streamlined format: two guest co-hosts instead of three panelists and fewer stories. The goal is to slim FIR down to a more listenable length. This first effort shaved more than 30 minutes off the usual length and next week we hope to reduce even more. Please let us know how you like the format — and the length by sending an email to [email protected]. 

Christopher Carfi and Serena Ehrlich join Shel Holtz for this week’s episode, which covered these stories…

* At least three Super Bowl commercials were forthright in addressing issues that are controversial in the early days of the Trump Administration and the increasingly polarized political atmosphere

* President Trump was referenced in 32 of the S&P 500 quarterly earnings calls in January, 20% more than  President Obama was in 2009. Do Investor Relations professionals need to factor the president into their planning?

* Not too long ago, some columnists and analysts predicted Volkswagen might not survive its emissions-fraud scandal. Today, they are the world’s top automaker. How did crisis communication help save the company?

* Dan York reports on a new report from the International Red Cross about using messaging apps in humanitarian crises and Snapchat’s introduction of Snapcodes that let users open your company website

* Hundreds of thousands of people deleted Uber’s app from their phones during the three days the #DeleteUber hashtag trended. What did Uber do wrong?

Connect with guest co-hosts on Twitter at @ccarfi and @serena.

Links to the source material for this episode are on Contentle.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

FIR is usually recorded using Zencastr.

About today’s panel:

Christopher Carfi is GoDaddy’s Director of Content Marketing, and leads the team responsible for GoDaddy’s global content marketing strategy and its execution. A veteran of both startups and the enterprise, Chris also has a deep track record in developing customer community and evangelist programs for brands such as Adobe, H&R Block and Aruba Networks while holding executive positions at Ant’s Eye View and Edelman Digital, and he was co-founder and CEO at Cerado. He currently lives in the Bay Area with his family. Chris holds a degree in Computer Science from Northwestern University and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University.

Serena Ehrlich, Director of Social and Evolving Media, provides guidance for internal and external content creation and distribution services, ranging from PR programming to mobile marketing to social media updates. Throughout her career Ehrlich has worked to provide guidance on investor relations, public relations and overall consumer behavior relations trends. Before rejoining Business Wire in 2013, Ehrlich designed and implemented successful local, national and international social, influencer, mobile and traditional marketing campaigns for brands including Kraft, Kohls, Avon, Mattel, Mogreet and more. A ’91 graduate of Brandeis University with a B.A. in History, Ehrlich was named one of the 2013 Top 25 Women in Mobile to Watch by Mobile Marketer.

Kelly Hoey, Andrea Weckerle, and Lynette Young were on the panel this week, reacting to the non-stop torrent of news from the White House and how business has responded, along with other communication-focused update, including…

* The range of corporate reactions to the presidential order implementing a temporary ban on immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries

* Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 press conference, which some believe raised the bar for corporate apologies

* The Public Relations Society of America’s statement on “alternative facts” and a call for public relations professionals to uphold the standards articulated in PRSA’s code of ethics

* David Murray’s assertion that public relations professionals are in the unusual position, if we play our cards right, of being the most credible people with the best ability to wield influence

* Another view from Bill Sledzik that PR needs to turn the corner from advocacy to “responsible advocacy,” putting public interest and social responsibility ahead of, or at least on par with, client interest

* Snapchat’s announcement about how it intends to minimize fake news in its Discover section

* The new surge of rogue Twitter accounts in the wake of the Administration’s restrictions on agencies speaking with the public and the new trust issues they raise

* The use of Trump attacks as a marketing hook by everyone from PRSA to Dippin’ Dots

* A survey of B2B marketers found original research the most effective form of content marketing

* Nearly 20% of all online media consumed is influencer content; does this make content marketing more imperative for companies?

Connect with our panelists on Twitter at @jkhoey, @aweckerle, and @lynetteradio.

Links to the source material for this episode are on Contentle.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

FIR is usually recorded using Zencastr.

About today’s panel:

Author and investor Kelly Hoey is a networking expert whose new book Build Your Dream Network is to be released in January 2017 by Tarcher Perigee. Kelly has reinvented her career from corporate lawyer to influencer, author and investor. In addition to her portfolio of angel investments (Levo League, Hullabalu, Smigin, CloudPeeps, flowthings.io), she is a LP in Laconia Capital Group. Kelly advises several emerging company initiatives (NZTE and CTA) and is an adjunct professor at LIM College in New York City. In addition to her professional pursuits, Kelly is the Chief Tech Ambassador for the YWCA of NYC’s Girls Geek Club. As a connector, and networking expert, Kelly has been lauded from Forbes (“1 of 5 Women Changing the World of VC/Entrepreneurship”) to Fast Company (“25 Smartest Women On Twitter”). She has a column on Inc.com, blogs on myturnstone.com (as well as Medium and jkellyhoey.co) and tweets frequently. Kelly has appeared as an investor panelist on CNBC’s Power Pitch and is the host of the BroadMic podcast.

Andrea Weckerle founded and leads CiviliNation, a nonprofit organization taking a stand against online harassment, character assassination and violence. Its focus is on advancing the full capability of individuals to communicate and engage in cyberspace in a responsible and accountable way. She is the author of the book

Steve Crescenzo, Steve Lubetkin, and Jen McClure joined host Shel Holtz to discuss a range of topics with an overarching connecting theme: trust and its decline. This week’s stories include…

* Sean Spicer, the White House Press Secretary, held his first press briefing, which violated “the top two tenets of being a good PR person,” according to one analysis.

* It turns out a little negative buzz can have a big impact on how people perceive a brand despite great advertising and marketing.

* The 2017 Edelman Trust Barometer is out and the numbers are not good.

* Dan  York reports on the new video capabilities and advertising opportunities in the new JetPack update for WordPress, along with a feature that didn’t even make the announcement: The ability to publish 360-degree videos.

* The New York Times has released an internal report on what it needs to do to continue adapting to the digital news world (and it includes more direct involvement of readers).

* Unilever released a study on advertising stereotypes. The results are fascinating, but so is the fact that Unilever researched the issue in the first place.

* Why (you may ask) is it intriguing that Unilver surveyed the population on gender stereotypes in advertising? It makes sense when you hear about a study that found online sentiment is better for companies that talk about their own CSR activities.

* A school district fired a staff member for a tweet that should have gotten her a promotion.

Connect with our panelists on Twitter at @crescenzo, @podcaststeve, and @jenmclure_JEM.

Links to the source material for this episode are on Contentle.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

FIR is usually recorded using Zencastr.

About today’s panel:

Steve Crescenzo  started Crescenzo Communications 15 years ago after leaving his post as Editorial Director and VP of New Product Development at Ragan Communications. I should point out that Steve does a lot of great communication work, but his wife Cindy runs Crescenzo Communications. Both Steve and Cindy do presentations, internal communication audits, and internal communication consulting. Steve and Cindy both present frequently, together and solo, at a number of communication conferences at events, and Steve has been recognized as the top speaker at IABC’s world conference a number of times.

Steve Lubetkin is the managing partner of The Lubetkin Media Companies LLC, an award-winning producer of documentary and news-style audio and video programming, digital photography, and websites. In 2012, he was named one of the Philadelphia Business Journal’s “Social Media Stars,” for podcasting. He is co-author, with Donna Papacosta, of the book, “The Business of Podcasting: How to Take Your Podcasting Passion from the Personal to the Professional”. He is Accredited in Public Relations (APR) by the Public Relations Society of America and is a member of PRSA’s prestigious College of Fellows. He currently serves as vice president, technology operations, for the IABC Philadelphia Chapter.

Jen McClure is CEO of JEM Consulting & Advisory Services. Prior to founding JEM, Jen was Vice President of Digital & Social Media and the head of the Digital Center of Excellence at Thomson Reuters. In 2005, Ms. McClure founded the Society for New Communications Research, a nonprofit research and education foundation and think tan...

Chris Christensen and Jen Phillips joined host Shel Holtz to discuss these topics:

* Most employees don’t know what makes their company different from the competition — and can’t explain it to customers

* U.S. travelers make 140 different website visits (on average) before booking a trip. Do you know your customers’ path before they make a decision on your product or service?

* Some companies have turned insults and attacks by the President-elect into badges of honor — and merchandise for sale.

* Getting people to share your content isn’t as big a deal as some marketers think. What does it take to amplify your content (and what should we be measuring)?

* Tech correspondent Dan York follows up on the Amazon Echo ecosystem and reports on China’s notice to app developers, Facebook’s fake news filter rolling out in Germany, a change to then notification on Facebook that a post has been edited,

* The panel also discusses the Amazon Alexa’s dominance at CES (while VR struggled to capture marketers’ attention)

* Jen found an Alexa-like product in development aimed at seniors

* A study found investors pay attention to company tweets, and there’s a difference between how the react to good and bad news

* The Washington Post has introduced a newsletter that summarizes reader comments. There’s a business model there for brands and agencies.

Connect with our panelists on Twitter at @chris2x and @jenzings.

Links to the source material for this episode are on Contentle.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

FIR is usually recorded using Zencastr.

About today’s panel:

Chris Christensen is the CEO at BloggerBridge.com, a website that helps connect companies with relevant bloggers, writers, podcasters, videographers, and other content creators. He’s also the host of the Amateur Traveler Podcast, which he’s been producing almost as long as this show, since June 2005. Chris is also a coder; he was a director of Engineering for TripAdvisor, Executive VP of Engineering and Operations for LiveWorld, and a manager at Apple, designing and programming server solutions.

Jennifer Zingsheim Phillips is the principal at 4L Strategies, consulting and providing content development for a variety of industries. She has worked in communications and public affairs for 20 years. Her background includes work in electoral politics, government, lobbying, and public affairs PR work.

Three IABC Fellows — Priya Bates, John Deveney, and Mark Schumann — joined Shel Holtz for this week’s FIR to talk about these topics:

* More on how companies can prepare for the prospect of a tweeted attack by the President of the United States

* Companies bucking the vitriol trend by creating TV commercials that spotlight inclusion of Muslims

* With Facebook Live gaining steam, some companies are expecting employees to know how to host a live video

* Mariah Carey’s handling of her lib-synching debacle on New Year’s Eve isn’t exactly a crisis communication case study (unless you want to stay in the story cycle)

* IBM’s Watson is replacing white-collar workers at a Japanese insurance company. The communication implications are coming for pretty much every company

* Is the PR/communication industry ready for voice to be the next big digital platform?

* Tech correspondent Dan York follows up on his participation as a panelist in last week’s show, including the unmasking of a Go champion as a Google AI program; he also reports on database security and Russia’s demand for Apple and Google to remove the LinkedIn app from their app stores

Connect with our panelists on Twitter at @priyabates, @johndeveney, and @dmarkschumann.

Links to the source material for this episode are on Contentle.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

FIR is usually recorded using Zencastr (but not this week, due to technical problems).

About today’s panel:

All of this week’s panelists are IABC Fellows who participate regularly in the Circle of Fellows broadcast/podcast here on the FIR Podcast Network.

Priya Bates is a senior communication executive who provides strategic internal communication counsel in order to ensure leaders, managers, and employees understand the strategy, believe in the vision, act in accordance to the values, and contribute to business results. She is president of Inner Strength Communications in Toronto, and previously served as senior director of Internal Communications at Loblaw Companies Limited.

In 1996, while on the fast track to a partnership in a growing PR agency, John Deveney opted to strike out on his own and form Deveney, a process and a practice that embraces the soundest principles, the newest media, and the most innovative technologies. Based in New Orleans, Deveney is particularly strong in the areas of crisis, healthcare, tourism, and hospitality. (After hurricanes Katrina and Rita, John led the only on-site communication operation and media center for both the City of New Orleans and the Louisiana Office of Tourism.)

Mark Schumann is the director of graduate business communication programs for the Zzicklin School of Business at Baruch College, City University of New York. He is also founder and principal of re-communicate. Most recently, he was VP of marketing and communications for Western Connecticut Health Network. He served as IABC’s chair in 2009-2010 and is currently IABC’s liaison to the Global Alliance. He was a managing principal and global communication practice leader at Towers Perrin for 26 years.

Artificial Intelligence is on the panel’s mind — among other things — as C.C. Chapman, Neville Hobson, and Dan York join Shel Holtz for the first episode of 2017 and the beginning of our 13th consecutive year of podcasting. Here’s the rundown:

* The incoming press secretary for President-Elect Donald Trump has warned us not to expect business as usual when it comes to the administration’s relationship with the media. What does that bode for the press’s ability to hold the administration accountable — and will the philosophy extend beyond the White House to business?

* Some businesses have begun preparing for unexpected criticism from President Trump while others have already had to respond. Crisis experts are advising companies to add presidential jabs to the list of potential crises for which they must prepare.

* Five industries are under threat from technology, according to the Financial Times: travel agents, small component manufacturers and distributors, auto insurers, financial advisers, and auto repair garages. How can they prepare (or can they)?

* Artificial Intelligence will soon make it possible to create fake video with little effort. Think fake news is a problem now? Just wait.

* Edelman Digital is out with its 2017 trends report. Among the issues the report raises, the panel was particularly interested in bots and conversational experiences, blockchain, and over-the-top entertainment.

* Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey asked users what they wanted to see Twitter improve or create in 2017. He got answers (including one from longtime social tech leader Anil Dash). In the meantime, does Twitter know yet what it wants to be when it grows up (and will its recently announced live 360 video make a difference)?

* Apple has published is first Artificial Intelligence paper.

Connect with our panelists on Twitter at @cc_chapman, @jangles, and @danyork.

Links to the source material for this episode are on Contentle.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

FIR is recorded using Zencastr.

About today’s panel:

C.C. Chapman is a bestselling author and agile, performance-based marketer with over 15 years of experience in marketing and emerging technologies. C.C. is the author Content Rules (co-authored with Ann Handley) and Amazing Things Will Happen. C.C. has specialized skills in conference speaking, creative development, social media marketing, online direct response, working with large brands in helping them understand how to apply emerging technologies and social learnings to their marketing plans.

Neville Hobson co-hosted this show for 10 years and 8 months, from its inception through October 2015. Neville is based in Bracknell, outside of London in England where he works as a senior business consultant for IBM Social Consulting. Neville has spent much of his career analyzing trends, behaviors and practices in digital communication. As an independent consultant before joining IBM, he focused on social business, the collaborative economy, wearable technologies, and the professionalism of PR. He also held a position with WCG as head of social media for Europe, and was VP of Corporate Communication for Scala Business Solutions in Amsterdam.

Dan York, FIR’s tech correspondent and host of the occasional “FIR On Technology” podcast, is a passionate advocate for the open Internet, focused on helping people understand the changes going on all around us within communication technology and practices. Dan currently serves the Internet Society as the Senior Content Strategist, creating,

Not much news of interest to communicators is reported over the holidays, so Ayelet Baron, Eden Spodek, and Brad Whitworth joined host Shel Holtz for a higher-level conversation on these topics:

* Science kits from GE integrate with the Amazon Echo. How far can this kind of integration of cloud-based AI voice tech and real-world products go?

* Mark Zuckerberg admits Facebook is a media company, albeit a new kind of media company. What might this mean for fake news (in the wake of a nuclear threat in response to a fake news story)?

* Is creating a startup a realistic goal for your very first job?

* How can companies attract young workers who are more inclined to try the startup path? (Is a 10-second Snap Spectacles video enough?)

* Dan York reports on Facebook Live Audio.

* Only about half of employees embrace their companies’ strategic narrative. Communicators have their work cut out for them.

* A new report says companies in crisis should apologize quickly, but corporate cultures have to change before CEOs will take that step.

* And speaking of corporate cultures, can they change enough to allow for whistleblowers and prevent suicide from overwork?

Connect with our panelists on Twitter at @ayeletb, @edenspodek, and @bradwhitworth.

Links to the source material for this episode are on Contentle.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

FIR is recorded using Zencastr.

About today’s panel:

Ayelet Baron is the author of  “Our Journey To Corporate Sanity: Transformational Stories from the Frontiers of 21st Century,” published just last month. She is co-creator of CreatingIs LLC. Ayelet is passionate about ushering a new path for business as a force of good by helping 21st century leaders imagine what’s possible. She has been building community her entire life and believes trust, relationships and community are the new currencies for today’s human-to-human purpose and experience driven era. Author of Our Journey to Business Common Sense. She spent 15 years at Cisco Systems, most recently as Vice President  of Strategy, Innovation and Transformation for Cisco Systems Canada. Ayelet recently was honored with Watermark’s Women Who Make the Mark Award. She was an innovator in residence at Roche, working on the product development innovation leadership team designing and implementing a connected network strategy.

Eden Spodek, founder & CEO, Eden Spodek Inc. is an award-winning digital communications and social media marketing strategist with more than 25 years of experience on the client and agency side in several verticals. In 2010, she launched her own digital consultancy practice and is a blogger, podcaster and community leader. In 2015, she worked tirelessly on a successful Kickstarter campaign and has been invited to advise on others. Eden co-developed the Digital Strategy and Communications Management certificate program at University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies. This week, Eden is hosting a free webinar, the A to Z Blueprint for Planning, Building and Launching a Crowdfunding Campaign. She’s an active participant in the digital community and was lead co-organizer of PodCamp Toronto for five years. A sought-after speaker, Eden is frequently invited to join panel discussions and speak at a variety of workshops and conferences. Eden is the co-host of the technology podcast,

Kami Huyse, Marshall Kirkpatrick, and Laura Pevehouse join host Shel Holtz to talk about these topics:

* An update on the latest news about fake news, including the steps Facebook is taking to call it out, Germany’s new law that could cost Facebook 500,000 euros for each fake news item it publishes, how big brands are inadvertently funding fake news, how fake news is inspiring people to turn their attention back to mainstream media, and why owned media (especially corporate blogs) are more important than ever

* A new app that lets employees engage anonymously with other workers in their company led 200-plus Amazon employees to critique their employer’s handling of a colleague’s attempted suicide

* A look at how blockchain could play a part in marketing and advertising

* A streaming video update, including Facebook’s introduction of live-streamed 360-degree videos, Instagram’s rollout of Instagram Live, Twitter’s introduction of live-streaming from directly within the twitter app, Twitch’s introduction of live streaming, and the first-ever live-streamed surgery using Snapchat’s Spectacles

* Facbook’s disclosure of measurement errors (and what it means for communicators)

* Whether Mixed, Augmented or Virtual reality headsets will ever become a common consumer appliance (and if not, what will?)

* What to expect from influencer marketing in 2017

* Dan York reports on Evernote’s kerfuffle with its revised privacy policy and adds his $.02 on streaming video

Connect with our panelists on Twitter at @KamiChat, @MarshallK, and @LPVhouse.

Links to the source material for this episode are on Contentle.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

FIR is recorded using Zencastr.

About today’s panel:

Kami Huyse founded Zoetica Media. She writes an award-winning blog, Zoetica Talks, on the topic of public relations and social media strategy. Kami is a national leader in the use of social media for public relations. She speaks at social media events and conferences all over the country and her work in social media has earned her the SNCR’s 2008 Reputation Management award and IABC’s 2009 Gold Quill of Excellence Award. Kami was a 2010 fellow of the Society for New Communications Research where she pursued a study on how cause marketing in social communities can benefit companies. She is also the co-founder and organizer of the Social Media Breakfast Houston.

After a successful career blazing trails in new media as one of the top tech bloggers in the world (first hired writer at TechCrunch, co-editor of ReadWriteWeb), Marshall Kirkpatrick led the Little Bird team building software for enterprise marketers to do research, real-time market intelligence and marketing amplification. The tool for influencer marketing, content marketing, and research was acquired recently by Sprinklr, the full-service social media management system, where Marshall now serves as director of R&D.

Laura Pevehouse is Chief Blogger for Direct2Dell. Laura brings 16 years of experience in corporate communications and digital marketing roles to her work,  including jobs in public relations, employee communications, branding, community engagement, event management, online commerce, social media and virtual world development. In her role as Dell’s Chief Blogger, Laura is responsible for the development, coordination and execution of strategy and content for Dell’s corporate blog, Direct2Dell. Since taking the Direct2Dell reins, Laura has recorded an 80% increase in time on pag...

Maris Callahan, Justin Goldsborough, and Tim Hayden join host Shel Holtz to talk about these topics:

* An update on the latest news about fake news, including a boycott of the new Star Wars movie, companies waking up to the threat, and data showing most Americans believe fake news headlines when they see them.

* PR is still saddled with a reputation as spin doctors, liars, and sharks circling startups in order to take a chunk of their flesh.

* As automated systems replace real people, what happens to the human-fueled customer experience?

* Do marketers need to move beyond branded content if they’re going to contribute to the company’s revenue stream?

* Corporate values used to be fairly mundane but today they can provoke partisan anger and blowback. “Pretty much every charitable donation, advertising dollar, and policy position has become a political statement with the potential to anger a sub-section of the company’s employee and customer base,” writes Paul Holmes.

* Advertiser excitement over Snapchat Live Stories is waning while Instagram Stories are producing massive swipe-throughs.

* One company has introduced a bot as an influencer while another is looking to a team of influencers with less klout than the big go-to celebrities. Is the shape of influencer marketing changing?

* In his Tech Report, Dan York looks at WordPress 4.7 and JetPack 4.4, as well as Telegram’s new “Telegraph” lightweight blogging service.

Connect with our panelists on Twitter at @MarisCallahan, @JGoldsborough, and @TheTimHayden.

Links to the source material for this episode are on Contentle.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

About today’s panel:

Maris Callahan is director of Public Relations at Donuts Inc., the world’s largest registry of new gTLD’s (or as the folks at Donuts call them, “not-com” domain name endings). With over 10 years of experience in public relations on the agency side and as an independent consultant, Maris is responsible for the planning and execution of Donuts’ B2C and B2B public relations strategy. Before Donuts, she was an independent consultant to small and mid-size businesses seeking brand awareness. She also worked for some of the top PR agencies in the world, including Edelman, Burson-Marsteller and Lippe Taylor. Maris is also the creator and writer of In Good Taste, a food and lifestyle blog founded in 2008.

Justin Goldsborough is a senior vice president and social media lead at FleishmanHillard Kansas City and is a member of the agency’s Social Innovation Leadership Team. During his 7.5 years at FH, he’s led communications strategy for clients such as Sleep Number, Hallmark Cards and Children’s Mercy Hospital. Before coming to FH, Justin was at Sprint for two years where he managed the company’s employee social network, Sprint Space, and led efforts to improve customer outreach via social media, specifically Twitter. Justin also spent some time in the food biz when he managed employee communications, including the company Intranet and initial social media efforts, for Applebee’s International. Justin is a past president of Kansas City IABC, where he led his local chapter to the highest honor IABC bestows – International Chapter of the Year. Justin is also a diehard Kansas City Royals fan and is much more eager to talk baseball these days than he was from 1986-2013.

Tim Hayden has two decades of experience in leading high-growth technology firms and marketing agencies. Before Brain+Trust, he was head of marketing at Zignal Labs,

Chris Abraham, Cindy Crescenzo, and Steve Farnsworth join host Shel Holtz to talk about these topics:

* Breitbart News called for a boycott of Kellogg’s after the cereal company pulled its ads, then started publishing articles critical of the company after calling the decision to withdraw advertising “censorship.” Is this the new reality for companies making what used to be simple business decisions?

* Employee engagement surveys aren’t worth much anymore according to one expert, since people are more concerned about survey scores than addressing engagement issues. Is it time to stop measuring engagement?

* Virtual Reality headset sales aren’t setting any records. Can public relations help make it go mainstream?

* With the Amazon Echo and Google Home, along with Siri and Google Now, it’s fast becoming a voice-driven world. Brands and agencies will have to adapt.

* A lot has happened on the fake news front since we first reported on it, including a shooting in Washington, D.C. by a North Carolina man “self-investigating” a fake news story. We’ll bring you up to date.

* Brands have jumped on the emoji bandwagon, but audiences think they’re trying too hard.

* Figuring out what people are talking about using Google Trends is a better way to do real-time marketing.

* Dan York reports on the Internet Governance Forum this week in Mexico, a panel last week on Internet fragmentation (which communicators don’t want), and WordPress’s move toward promoting more SSL/TLS.

Connect with our panelists on Twitter at @ChrisAbraham, @CreativeComms, and @Stevology.

Links to the source material for this episode are on Contentle.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

About today’s panel:

Chris Abraham, digital strategist and technologist, is a leading expert in digital: search engine optimization (SEO), online relationship management (ORM), Internet privacy, and online public relations with a focus on blogger outreach, blogger engagement, and Internet crisis response. He operates his consultancy at Gerris Corp. A pioneer in online social networks and publishing, with a natural facility for anticipating the next big thing, Chris is an Internet analyst, web strategy consultant and adviser to the industries’ leading firms. He specializes in Web 2.0 technologies, including content syndication, online collaboration, blogging, and consumer generated media.

Cindy Crescenzo brings more than 15 years of research, measurement and planning expertise to the corporate communications world. Her passion for numbers and audience research have helped thousands of communicators all over the world transform the way they communicate, by teaching them the power of surveys, metrics, focus groups and executive interviews.  She and her husband and business partner, Steve Crescenzo, founded Crescenzo Communications more than 20 years ago and together they have energized the communication industry with their proven tactics and strategies to combine research and strategy with creativity and best-practice communications.

Steve Farnsworth has over 15 years as a senior digital marketing executive, and is currently the Chief Marketing Officer for the @Steveology Group, a content marketing for demand generation agency serving high tech B2B organizations. He works with mid-sized and large companies, and funded start-ups to develop and implement multimedia content marketing programs that increase inbound leads and grows brand reputation. Steve is a Forbes top 50 social media influencer.