Digital Disruption and Transformation: How to Survive and Thrive
DIG FESTIVAL UNVEILS LEADING INTERNATIONAL DISRUPTORS AS HEADLINERS
In an exciting day for the DiG Festival, organisers have today announced an amazing line-up of international leaders in digital disruption and transformation who will provide attendees with a framework to navigate change, not only to survive, but to thrive in the new economy. The DiG Festival and Conference is loosely based on the extremely successful SXSW festivals in Austin, Texas which are run over 3 weeks and cover Film, Music and Interactive. Over the years SXSW has helped Austin become recognised as a leading technology centre with a vibrant artistic culture. SXSW now contributes over $100 million to the Austin economy annually.
Heading the list is Eve Mayer, CEO of Social Media Delivered, and ranked by Forbes as the Seventh Most Influential Woman in Social Media. Eve, who resides in Dallas, USA, will present a keynote address to the Festival entitled “When Social Media Erupts”. She will also conduct a workshop; “The Social Media Business Equation”.
Eve is the author of Social Media for the CEO and The Social Media Business Equation. Her ground breaking work in social media has been featured on American Express Open Forum, CIO.com, Forbes, Social Media Today, Mashable, Huffington Post and many others. Recognised by Webbiquity as one of the Top 50 Women on Twitter and by CNN as one of the 8 Women on Twitter Who Will Inspire, Inform and Amuse You, she shares her social media knowledge with a network of over 100,000 fans and followers. She has also been ranked number 7 on the most powerful women social media influencers and ranked 14th on the overall social media power influencer list according to Forbes. Eve has spoken in over 30 U.S. cities, as well as in Ireland, France, the UK and Iceland at universities, companies and conference groups, including Cisco, Vistage, Microsoft, Purdue, and Manchester Metropolitan University.
Joining Eve will be Scott Yates, founder of Blogmutt. Based in Boulder, USA, Scott founded BlogMutt after successfully building and selling two previous businesses, one related to traffic information and another related to state-level legislation. He earned a patent for his first business, and co-authored the book The Future of Water. Before startups, he was an award-winning writer and editor. Scott is a regular tech talk contributor in US media. In his spare time he’s spearheading an effort to fix Daylight Saving.
Kit Seeborg is a well-known Content Strategy Consultant also from Boulder. Kit helps organisations achieve their goals using digital content and online platforms. Co-author of the book “Present Yourself: Growing Your Business with SlideShare,” Kit has participated in numerous startups, judged startup competitions, and spoken on transformative technologies. She is also the founder of the digital music licensing company, BumperTunes.
In 2013 Kit produced University of Colorado’s live-streaming video webinar series, Climate Conversations, of which the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy selected Episode 1: Water in the West for inclusion as a MOOC in its Climate Education and Literacy Initiative. Kit serves on the Advisory Board for South by Southwest ECO; has chaired and spoken at numerous conferences, including SXSW Interactive, Association of Health Care Journalists, WebVisions PDX and NYC, IxDA Colorado.
CEO of Creative Agency Secrets Rebecca Caroe is a specialist in new business – with all the tools, techniques and processes you need to win new customers. She has been consulting and writing about business development for 15+ years and blogging since 2006. Using a tried and tested eight step methodology, Rebecca aligns organisations to the budget and skills they already have to give them the greatest returns. A graduate of Cambridge University in the UK and a competitive rower, Rebecca has spoken previously at DiG Festival and events such as South By South West in USA.
And last but not least is a presenter known as the Nerd Butler - Levi Sauerbrei. Another Dallas local, Levi is an IT professional, technology trainer and business analyst with over 20 years’ experience in a broad range of disciplines. He is known as the Nerd Butler for his ability to predict the technology needs of businesses and individuals and to serve it to them before they know they need it. As the owner and CEO of Nerd Butler, he works to increase clients’ return on their technology investments by pairing the right tools with training, documentation, reporting, and data analysis. Levi has presented and trained delegates at dozens of events in the USA and internationally since 2006.
“The relentless cycle of innovation we are experiencing has led to an unprecedented era of change, where new technology and business models are emerging daily to threaten our once dominant and secure industries and organisations,” said DiG organiser Craig Wilson today.
“The problem for organisations, especially here in Australia, is that they are not evolving their business models quite as rapidly as technology.”
The Program
Eve Mayer – USA
Keynote: When Social Media Erupts
Workshop: The Social Media Business Equation
Scott Yates – USA
Keynote: How Crowdsourcing Can Transform Your Business
Kit Seeborg – USA
Presentation: The Disruption Resilience Toolbox
Rebecca Caroe - New Zealand
Presentation: Working with Millennials – should we adapt business practices for them?
Levi Sauerbrie - USA
Presentation: Throw Away Your Servers: Finding An Affordable IT Infrastructure In The Cloud
Panel: Technology Agnosticism: The Machine No Longer Matters
Will you be a victim of digital disruption or will you prosper from transformation?
Mark the date now!
DiG Festival 2015
12 & 13 October
Newcastle, Australia
Tickets on sale July 1, 2015
If you are interested in becoming involved in the DiG Festival as a sponsor or a partner – please contact one of the organisers immediately
Craig Wilson – Craig@stickyads.com.au Stephanie Hinds – steph@growthwise.com.au
Tracy McKelligott – Tracy@eclipsemediaevents.com.au
About DiG Festival
DiG stands for DESIGN + INNOVATION + GROWTH
Since 2013 DiG Festival has attracted major speakers from the USA, Great Britain, New Zealand and around Australia to anchor each event and ensure that it is seen as a truly national or international event with vibrant social activity. The DiG Festival is designed to also be a showcase to the world for the Hunter Region and Newcastle as not only a tourist destination but a center of innovative expertise and entrepreneurial excellence.
Why?
There is a serious lack of quality innovation and technology events in Australasia, certainly nothing to remotely rival SXSW and other leading events in USA or Europe. There is a need to promote and foster modern creativity and innovation in Australia in order to compete internationally beyond resource booms. We see DiG as having the potential to become the showpiece for Australia’s transition to a technologically smart and clean economy. The DiG Festival is intended to act as a catalyst for attracting a new generation of business and investment to the Hunter focused on clean, green and innovative business. Newcastle also has a vibrant and innovative cultural scene which will be embraced and included in the DiG Festival and Conference. In addition to the Cultural side of the City, we have a sizable music, art, film, technology and medical communities. The region is well known as a trial area for many innovative projects; currently we are trailing the Smart Grid technology and various Government e-health initiatives.
Source: Press Release