Note: MRY, my employer, is an official media sponsor of the Westchester Digital Summit, and MarketersStudio.com is supporting the sponsorship as well. You're welcome to read my Media Sponsorship Policy to learn more about what that means.
Next month, I have a homecoming of sorts. For the first time, I'm speaking at a public event in my home county of Westchester. Yes, after about 250 speaking gigs, I'm finally coming home, thanks to the Westchester Digital Summit.
I grew up in Mamamroneck, went to Mamaroneck High School (go Tigers - one of about 50 high schools with a Tiger mascot in the county), and lived in New Rochelle, and my parents now live in White Plains - essentially a few feet from where the Westchester Digital Summit will be May 15.
That's not why I'm speaking there, of course. Last year, I wanted to, but it coincided with when I was wrapping my tenure at my previous job and accepting the new role at MRY. This year, when I saw the event was back, I called producer Chris Dessi telling him how much I wanted to be there, and he was kind enough to include me on the agenda.
I was impressed by the speakers he got last year, and this year, it's an amazing mix, including friends like Mashable's Adam Ostrow, Big Fuel's Avi Savar, Jesse Redniss of the software company formerly known as Mass Relevance, and the ubiquitous Gary Vaynerchuk, who I believe is only speaking at 16 events that day in 5 states. There are also execs from some exciting brands, like GE's Linda Boff, ESPN's Gabe Goodwin, Heineken USA's Quinn Kilbury, and IBM's Tami Cannizzaro. There are also execs from Facebook, LinkedIn, RebelMouse, and Huffington Post, among others you've heard of or should hear of. And then there are people who I've never heard of from companies I've never heard of but probably are pretty good if they're on stage at this shindig.
As for me, what am I doing there?
Funny you should ask. I'm doing a fireside chat with Chris Hansen, who is best known for his "To Catch a Predator" segments from Dateline. We will be discussing the impact of digital and social media on modern TV, journalism, brand identity, personal identities, and the second screen experience. And we have to get through this in under a half an hour, so maybe we'll focus it a bit more once we prepare for the session.
As you can tell, I'm pretty excited, and not just because people who don't know me will wonder how the heck Westchester Digital Summit was able to get Chris Hansen of "To Catch a Predator" to appear on stage with David Berkowitz (there's more than one David Berkowitz, apparently).
Lest I forget, there's also a discount code to reward you for reading this far. Save $100 by entering the code "MRY" (without quotes) at the registration page.
Let me know if you'll be there. Maybe I'll even photobomb that selfie you take with Chris.
Meanwhile, follow them at @WDSummit to get all the latest info on the event.
