The 2012 conference date is set for September 22 — you can keep up with the latest news on twitter at @MNBlogCon.
There is a tremendous blogging community in Minnesota. We have bloggers who write about politics, parenting, food, sports, fashion, technology, communications and even weight loss! You name it, we have it covered.
The first conference in September 2010 was a big success! We also had a great mini-conference event in January, 2011 and another full day, free conference in September 2011. Everything about the conference was developed with your input via survey and committees, and we focused the speaker panel to Minnesota bloggers to keep our focus on the wonderful talent within our community.
Organizers
Missy Berggren @marketingmama
Melissa (Missy) Berggren is a marketing manager with Allina Health, focused on brand and advertising. She blogs on marketing and business at melissaberggren.com and on the rest of her life (parenting, family activities and health topics) at Marketing Mama. Named one of the top 11 Tweeps of the Twin Cities, Top Ten Titans of Twin Cities Social Media and Top 50 Women of Twitter, Missy isn’t far from any online discussion and regularly appears in local media.
Arik Hanson @arikhanson
Arik Hanson is principal of ACH Communications, a digital communications firm focused on serving as strategic thought partners to financial services, health care, not-for-profit and other organizations. With more than 15 years of marketing and communications experience, Arik has spent the last few years focusing on the world of digital PR and blog marketing. Arik blogs at Communications Conversations and has played a lead role in many social projects and initiatives online–both locally and nationally–including: founder–Help a PR Pro Out Day; Organizer/speaker at BlogWorld (2009, 2010); Founder of the PR Reader’s Choice Blog Awards; Co-founding the B2B Voices blog; and a regular contributor to Ragan.com, PR Daily, the PR Breakfast Club and MinnPost.
2012 Planning Team
Sara Kerr @Sara_G_N_Kerr
Sara Kerr teaches marketing, including social media at St. Catherine University where she leads St. Kate’s new Sales and Social Media Lab. Sara also directs social media activities at Good Ground Press. A typical member of Generation X, Sara is fond of saying that in 20 years she has worked in three continents and eight countries in three languages and six industries. You can find her online at sara-kerr.com where she blogs about local marketing, on Twitter @Sara_G_N_Kerr and the other usual places.
Jenny Huschka @PrincessSushi
Creative Manager
Jenny Huschka loves to tell people what to do, especially if she thinks it will make them more successful. In marketing at SPIRE, a credit union serving residents of Minnesota and Wisconsin, Jenny works to trumpet the benefits of belonging to a credit union. She also designs print and online collateral, builds web sites and conducts social media coaching for customers and friends alike.
When she’s not tweeting (which is rare) or telling people what to tweet, Jenny entertains her children and her 2 small dogs. Jenny spends her nights moonlighting as a karaoke singer at one of many local drinking establishments or shooting up the opposition on Xbox under her alter ego, Princess Sushi. She has enjoyed gaming, computers, gadgets and good times as long as she can remember.
Robert Dempsey @Robert Dempsey
Speaker Consultant
Robert Dempsey is the CEO and Founder of Dempsey Marketing, a marketing strategy and SEO firm in New Ulm, Minn. A computer geek with an MBA, Robert helps clients attract and convert their ideal customers while working with his partners to launch product after product. But life is about more than business — he’s a husband to a fantastic Thai cook and the father to a young daughter too smart for her own good.
Ryan May @MNPR
Community Manager
Ryan May is currently the principal of RDM Consulting, providing public relations, marketing, communications and social media support to non-profits and businesses nationwide.
Ryan is an industry leader with proven experience in planning, directing and implementing organization’s marketing, public relations, social media and communications activities. He is a highly experienced, well respected executive with 10+ years of public relations and marketing experience launching new products, penetrating new markets and producing record results in a variety of product arenas. Through his work, he has been recognized as an energetic leader and award-winning strategic thinker in marketing, communications, social media, and as an esteemed adviser to management.
Lee Owens @EdinaEater
Public Relations Manager
A writer of many hats, Lee has created content for a variety of distribution channels dating back to the smudgy ink days of print and is thrilled to be a wired blogger today. What better way to combine a life-long love of writing and food than with a blog focused on the culinary delights found in the ever-expanding culinary destination of Edina? As public relations manager for the Minnesota Blogging Conference, she is eager to reach out to fellow bloggers and learn more about this fascinating forum of online discussion that empowers writers with interests as varied as the War and Peace-sized menu at the Southdale Cheesecake Factory.
Stacy Pearson @TheBlogunteer
Charity Manager
Stacy Pearson is a working mother of two kids. She has been married to her wonderful husband (and sometimes blog post writer) Brent for more than 11 years. She launched The Blogunteer in 2010 with a mission to highlight nonprofits and volunteers with hopes of inspiring volunteerism. In 2012 she expanded The Blogunteer’s focus to include promoting kindness through a series of guest posts. Stacy is a project manager by trade and a volunteer at heart. She is very involved with the Minnesota Women of Today organization and also enjoys cooking and baking in her spare time.
Anna Rendell @anna_r
Registration Manager
Anna writes with simple honesty about the joys and struggles of faith, motherhood and the everyday at Girl with Blog. She serves as the Social Networking and Webinar Manager for Vibrant Faith Ministries — a national resource company for faith formation in churches and homes. She is a Certified Master of Social Media, has been featured on several blogs and websites, was a speaker at the 2011 Upper Midwest Social Media Conference, and partners frequently with companies for reviews, giveaways and guest posts. Anna lives in Burnsville with her husband, their baby boy Sam and a big golden retriever. You can also find her on Twitter and Facebook.
Grant Spanier @grantspanier
Interactive Manager
Grant Spanier is a student at the University of St. Thomas with a passion for advertising, marketing and general creativity. He is majoring in communications/journalism with an advertising emphasis and minoring in Spanish and graphic design. A jack of all trades, he works within a variety of disciplines especially social media, graphic design, writing, blogging, web development, SEO, video production and music.
He blogs about his adventures in business, advertising and life at grantspanier.com. It may be relevant to note Grant nearly won the spelling in 6th grade, but was thwarted by the word “onomatopoeia.”
Jen Westpfahl @JenPioneerPress
Registration Manager
Jen Westpfahl is the social media editor for the Pioneer Press/TwinCities.com and mother of three. After three years of regular blogging, she has focused her efforts on various social media channels. She is also a scrapbooker, cheapskate, bookworm, introvert, wannabe environmentalist, perfectionist and procrastinator.
Leah Zins @LeahSTP
Event Day Registration Manager
Leah is a young professional living and working in the beautiful city of Saint Paul, Minnesota. She works for a medium-sized financial services company in the Twin Cities and attends school at St. Kate’s, working towards a degree in marketing and management. She loves networking, drinking coffee, talking about cats and tweeting.
Teresa Beardman @Tboard
Teresa is a Realtor, a weekly columnist for Inman News, where she writes to the real estate industry on a wide range of topics, and is also a profuse serial blogger who has written thousands of blog posts on multiple blogs. She started StPaulRealEstateBlog in 2005 and is considered an early adopter and blogging pioneer by her peers in the real estate industry. Her blog has gained local and national recognition, and is her primary source of new real estate clients. She is also the author of StPaulPhotos.com showing St. Paul, Minn. one photo at a time. She provides photographs for local businesses and for the Saint Paul Visitor and Convention Bureau specializing in architectural, landscape and fine arts photography.
