Like our digitally obsessed peers, we were drawn to iMEDIA Social Media Conference like moths to a bright mobile screen. We had so much fun participating and learning all weekend! Here are some of the things that made iMEDIA 2017 so awesome:
The Master Classes
Bluetrain was fortunate enough to be involved with both of the master classes on Friday. Roxanne, our Content Strategist, kicked off the morning and joined the Content Strategy Master Class run by Idris Fashan. Later that afternoon, Avery and Bryan had the pleasure of running the Social Media ROI Master Class where they not only enjoyed sharing Confetti Sweets cookies but also passed on some valuable insight on social media goal setting, campaign tagging, and building a dashboard that matters.
The Keynotes
Adam Rozenhart and Jennifer Hollett were so well spoken and engaging. iMEDIA gets major props for bringing these two in to drop some truth and knowledge on us. Adam and Jennifer were blunt and to the point during their presentations, which we absolutely appreciated!
The Breakout Sessions
While Avery and Roxanne were unable to attend every breakout session (there were just so many awesome ones to pick from), they did divide and conquer and joined a number of fantastic presentations throughout the weekend. A few that stood out were:
- Creating Bite-Sized Content with Brian Siddle where we learned about planning ahead, setting goals, the importance of video, and Brian’s hate for Caillou.
- Storytelling Through Media & Social Media with Suzanne Pescod where we learned about voice, the importance of titles, Facebook Live, and so much more.
- The Dark Side of Social Media with Beverley Theresa where she put poor social media practices on blast and emphasized the need for true engagement over vanity metrics.
- Podcasts on Podcasts on Podcasts with a very knowledgeable panel who talked about what it takes to start a podcast and the different levels of a podcast that someone can have (e.g. super professional with fancy equipment vs. buying a mic and mixing it on Garage Band).
The Food
You know what they say… The first prerequisite of elaborate mental exercise is a full stomach.
When we think conference, we usually think muffins, bagels, and sandwiches (a.k.a. all the carbs). iMEDIA took it one step further by serving tacos for lunch on Saturday, complete with adorable cake pops for dessert and buttery popcorn later that afternoon. Yum! Thank you, iMEDIA!
The Swag
In true digital media fashion, all orders were processed online. It was an easy shopping experience and picking up your items at the swag table was made even more enjoyable due to their super friendly volunteers!
Other goodies we left with included some socks from The Promo Addicts (#PromoYEG) in exchange for joining their mailing list. Our feet are so warm and toasty now!
The Details
It’s all in the details.
iMEDIA was decked out from top to bottom with adorable details that showed conference-goers just how much the organizers care about this event (and likely how much fun they had planning it too).
The Community
There were plenty of networking opportunities at iMEDIA 2017. We really enjoyed meeting so many people from Edmonton’s marketing and entrepreneurial community who are equally as obsessed with social media as we are! Everyone was so enthusiastic about the conference and all that it had to offer. The live Twitter feed was a nice touch as well. It really got people engaged with the hashtags and gave us a platform to share tidbits of knowledge from the weekend.
iMEDIA truly outdid themselves this year. From the quality of the keynotes and presenters to the funky and unique details, this is not an event to be missed!