The agenda below may be subject to change. Click on course titles to see a full description.

Day One | Day Two

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Keynote - Andrew Lark

8:15 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.

Andrew Lark, Vice President of Global Marketing & Communications at Dell

WOMM-U keynote presenter Andrew Lark’s 20 years experience across the BtoB and BtoC sectors spans leading award-winning programs and teams for Fortune and Times 100 companies, global brands, start-ups, and the world’s biggest advertising and communications agencies. During his career, he has worked and lived in the majority of the world’s major markets and developed a reputation as a highly creative executive, reputation turn-around specialist, and marketer. He is a prolific writer, blogger, and speaker on marketing, emerging business strategies, marketing/communications measurement, and Web 2.0.

Today, Andrew is vice president at Dell, where he is charged with leading the company’s communications, conversations, and communities. Andrew joined Dell from LogLogic — a technology start-up that provides breakthrough technology for collecting, storing, and analyzing IT log data from systems of all kinds. Andrew leads all marketing activity as CMO, as well as the company’s business efforts in Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.

Hear Andrew speak at WOMM-U and learn:

• How word of mouth and social media have changed Dell forever
• How Dell is using more and more non-traditional marketing and communications
• The efforts Dell is making to be a part of the conversation with their customers

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Marketing to Today’s Consumers: ‘Ain’t We Got Fun’

10:30 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.

Speakers:

• Jordan Corredera, Manager of Interactive Marketing Strategy, Carnival Cruise Lines
• Ted Wright, Managing Partner, Fizz

Join presenters for an interactive discussion of Carnival Cruise Lines’s evolution from one way, push marketing strategies (which featured Kathy Lee Gifford singing “Sunny weather/All together/ Ain’t we got fun?” on T.V. ads) to insider blogs and profound word of mouth marketing campaigns.

Learn:

• How Carnival Cruise Lines has transformed the way that they communicate with consumers while increasing profits and managing the pressures of being a change-agent in a hyper competitive industry
• How Carnival influenced word of mouth in the high-talk travel category
• What WOMM techniques Carnival used to get people talking about its cruise experiences

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Case Study - Get a Booth: How a Restaurant Company Got Intimate With Its Customers

2:50 p.m. - 3:55 p.m.
Speakers:

• Jen Gulvik, VP Marketing, Houlihan’s Restaurants, Inc.

Learn how Houlihan’s transformed the way it communicates with customers by inviting them to HQ — a branded community, WOM hub, and social network, all under one roof. Members of HQ’s Advisor Group have a voice in everything from the company’s menus to interior design. Forums and surveys provide a wealth of research from these loyal, well-networked foodies whose Brand Lover index is off the charts!

And it’s about to get bigger: In April 2008, thousands more email club members will be invited to become HouliFans. These customers will be deputized to spread WOM on such things as Sex and the City martini promotions to new seasonal menus, with HQ acting as the hub.

Hear how letting customers into the halls at Houlihan’s headquarters has been a path to loyalty, consumer insights, word of mouth, and ultimately, restaurant visits.

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Breakout Session Options

Over the course of two days, you will have the opportunity to attend six of the twelve breakout sessions described below. All twelve sessions will be available during each 30-minute time slot, so you can design your own curriculum and choose your own WOMM-U agenda!

Track One: WOMM Engagement Building Blocks

Building a Complete Blog Program (One That Meets Your Business Objective)

Blogs are a great way to engage directly in a conversation and express a point of view. For brands and business, there are dozens of different ways to blog, many ways to measure success, and lots of things to put in place to make your effort successful. Join this conversation with your peers to discuss:

• Blogging best-practices
• How to tell if your blog efforts are succeeding
• What to watch out for when launching a complete blog program.

Managing Reputation at the Speed of Social Media

Word of mouth spreads like wildfire in today’s video-fueled, instantly blogged, and hyper-networked world. Today, search engines and YouTube have more to do with managing your organization’s reputation than traditional media. From “putting good will in the bank” to responding to crisis — spend time with your peers talking about what they do to leverage social media as an effective reputation management tool.

Activating WOM in Social Networks: Beginners

We’re talking about how we are using Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Eons, and more to spread word of mouth and connect with customers in ways they find valuable.

Let’s talk about basics:

• What can brands do in the major social networks?
• What are the ten best strategies?
• What is the best place to start?
• What do you need to know about playing by the rules of the venue?
• How can brands provide value in ways that make consumers want to opt-in?

Activating WOM in Social Networks: Advanced Social Media

You’ve designed your Facebook applications, created a page for your brand within several social networks, tapped into Sermo and Gather … Now what?

• How do you go beyond initial try-and-learn programs and begin to move towards using social networks more strategically?
• How are we measuring success?
• What are the performance indicators that matter?

This is a great opportunity to talk with your peers about taking that next big step into social media. What have they tried that has been successful, and what lessons have they learned so far?

Communities: Build, Buy or Rent?

“Communities” offer a tremendous way to bring affinity groups together and make them accessible in ways that marketers can tap into their wisdom and engage them to the point where they may start talking about a brand or topic.

Establishing and managing a community, however, is no small feat. Software and services make it seem easy, but there are hidden “soft” costs. And then there are the questions of:

• How do you get your community off the ground?
• How to keep community members happy and engaged?
• How do you find the platform that best meets your community needs?

All of these issues lead to the ultimate community question: What are the advantages to interacting with existing communities versus building a community of your own?

Tools: Speed Trials

• What are the newest, coolest tools out there?
• What are some of the shiny new things you’ve put to work for your WOM efforts?

Join a roundtable show-and-tell to share your new WOM tool discoveries with your peers — and see what everyone else is playing with, too!

Track Two: WOM Strategy

Selling-in Word of Mouth Programs to the CMO, the Communications Officer, the and CEO

You’ve got a great WOM program — now: - How do you get it approved?

• WOM sits at the nexus of many marcom disciplines. How do you define results that satisfy the marketers and the public relations people?
• Do you know the social media score of your own organization?
• Is it ready for the ultimate WOM program or merely a toe-in-the-water?

Learn the key ways your peers are selling-in successful WOM programs to their bosses and their clients.

Going For Big, Fast Buzz Now

Sometimes you just have to raise awareness by getting folks to talk, share, and participate … fast. But getting that big buzz ball rolling isn’t always easy.

• How can you get lots of buzz happening around your product, service or initiative quickly?
• Viral video, shareable games, contests, and sweepstakes can drive interest but what are the pitfalls?
• And when should you go for the quick hit vs. sustained WOM?

Come talk about your experiences with the good and the bad around explosive, one-off buzz.

Building a Sustained Word of Mouth Program

Sometimes short-term buzz isn’t the answer. The tools you use to raise awareness are different from the ones you use to build a long-sustained word of mouth marketing program.

If you’re looking to build a thriving word of mouth program that grows over time:

• What do you need to commit too?
• How does sustainable WOM differ from quick buzz efforts?
• What internal structures need to be put in place to support WOM long-term?

From establishing communities and rewarding brand fans to being of-use to your customers, we’ll talk about how we are building enduring, long-lasting programs

Measurement 1: How Does WOM Scale?

Your CMO says: “If I gave you X dollars more for WOM, what would I get?”

Knowing how WOM programs scale is key to their growth and acceptance by traditional marketers. It requires a measurement discipline that becomes predictive.

Find out:

• How different organizations are scaling up their WOM programs beyond the high-touch, personalized approach
• The ROI answers your peers are delivering to their CEOs

Measurement 2: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) That Work

KPIs that actually work will earn you respect — and not laughter — from the C-suite.

While WOMMA continues its work in developing measurement standards for WOMM, what are word of mouth marketers using in the meantime? What are the metrics that are patching you through?

Measurement 3: The ROI of Fans

• What is the value of one satisfied customer?
• How about one evangelist?
• One detractor?

Hear — and share! — examples of how and why marketers are increasingly able to value and disproportionately invest in their evangelists.

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WOMM in Action

To participate in WOMMA’s WOMM in Action sessions, attendees will choose one of the charitable organizations listed below. (Check back soon, as we’ll be updating this list as WOMM-U approaches!) During the allotted times on the agenda, WOMM-U attendees will work together to create a unique, innovative WOMM program to help their charity of choice address current challenges without breaking the bank — and to ultimately help spread the word about the work they are doing.

This is a great opportunity to work closely with your fellow WOMM marketers and share ideas in a way that benefits one of our hand-picked nonprofit organizations! The finished, ready-to-launch WOMM in Action programs will be presented during lunch on Day Two at WOMM-U.

The Overtown Youth Center

The Overtown Youth Center is a prevention program dedicated to providing Overtown’s inner-city youth to realize their full potential by providing comprehensive educational, cultural, and recreational services in a safe environment. Working with children from grade 2 to graduation, the OYC offers in-school, after-school, weekend, and summer programs that focus on inspiring, empowering, and enriching the lives of the children it serves.

The Overtown Youth Center’s vision is to inspire, empower, and enrich the lives of their students. Their goal is to be an integral part of the community by delivering enrichment services that foster hope and promote life-long learning and success for inner-city youth and citizens. Their goal is to help build a child who is resilient. A resilient child is a child who can live in an environment that is loaded with risk factors, including drugs and crime/violence, and still have a chance at growing into a competent and productive member of society.

The Wilderness Society

The Wilderness Society’s mission is to protect wilderness and inspire Americans to care for our wild places. They bring scientific expertise, analysis, and bold advocacy to bear at the highest levels to save, protect, and restore America’s wilderness areas.

The Wilderness Society’s programs include:

• Protecting the last great American wilderness area, the Arctic Wildlife Refuge, from oil and gas drilling
• Staving off logging and road building on 58 million acres of roadless lands
• Curbing the abuse of our lands by off-road vehicle users

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