MRU Social Media Shift 2012 – May 10, 2012

Mount Royal University in Calgary, AB is hosting the second annual Social Media Shift one day conference.  I missed it last year so I am uber excited to be attending this year.  Over the past few years I have gotten more and more involved in social media.  At first as a way to promote my blog (and for fun), then I expanded into using social media to help the community through charity fundraising (Twestival & Holipalooza) and now I’m the Social Media specialist for the company I work for.  It’s been an amazing ride but I still have so much to learn.

I have a minor in Marketing from waaaaaaay back in the dark ages when I was at the University of Alabama.  Thing is, many of the marketing theories I learned are still very relevant but often social media requires you to change….or maybe bend…the way you think about them.  This year’s Social Media Shift focusses on bridging the gap between traditional marketing and social media.

Oh…and did I mention the great line-up of speakers?

Now do you see why I’m so excited?  I love short but packed conferences because they are easy to fit into your schedule but are still worth the effort.  Early bird registration ($375 + gst) lasts through the day on April 23rd (newly extended from the original April 10th date) with regular pricing after that ($425+gst).  Online registration for MRU Social Media Shift. 

The only downside?  With all the great ideas I’m sure I will take away from the conference, I will have to figure out how to schedule time to implement them. Starting a new job, handing off responsibilities from my old job (and keeping a couple of accounts) and jump into the deep end of technical writing for an ongoing project (part of my new job) and keeping my blog afloat has been a challenge to say the least.  I hope that, one day, I will learn how to fit all that in while keeping my sanity.  One day.

Disclosure: I have been asked to write about the MRU Social Media Shift 2012 conference in return for registration. As always, all opinions are my own.

Do you try to stay abreast of new developments in your work/personal life by going to conferences?  If so, what was your last conference?