Home » Neal Mann, Simon Crerar & Tom Eslinger to Speak At Social Media Week Sydney

4 August, 2014

Neal Mann, Simon Crerar & Tom Eslinger to Speak At Social Media Week Sydney

organisers Rinsed and Evolve Social have announced the speaker line up for Social Media Week Sydney.

Neal Mann from the Wall St Journal, Simon Crerar from BuzzFeed Australia, Tom Eslinger from Saatchi & Saatchi and John Heywood from Twitter will all be speaking at the inaugural event this September.

The news comes alongside the release of early bird SMW insider passes, which are now available via the SMW website.

Each of the speakers announced today will contribute a unique and valuable perspective to the conversations around Social Media Week’s global theme for 2014, “The Future of Now”. SMW Sydney’s event program will do this with a key focus on Innovation, Advertising & Marketing, and Society & Culture.

Wall Street Journal, Multimedia Innovations Editor, Neal Mann, will host the Future of Publishing panel, alongside BuzzFeed Australia and other panelists to be unveiled soon. Mann has recently been spending time in Australia working on Strategy for News Corp, and will be sharing views gained from his local and international experience.

Speaking on his involvement, Mann said “After the success of SMW in NYC, it’s great to see it come to Australia and host a panel on the future of publishing. I’ve always seen SMW as an important forum to discuss the changing media landscape. With the heavy shift to mobile consumption in the Australia it’s vital we change the way we publish and deliver content to engage consumers.”

In addition to participating on the panel with Mann, Simon Crerar, Editor of BuzzFeed Australia, will present insights on what content Aussies share most and why they share it. BuzzFeed is known globally for its approach to highly sharable content and Crerar’s keynote will put a distinctly local flavor on why some content shares better than others.

Commenting on the news, Crerar said “Australia is a genuinely social country and since BuzzFeed opened its local office at the beginning of the year we’ve learned lots about the content that makes Aussies tick. That can be Mulligrubs or knights and dames, but that doesn’t mean we don’t also care about news and viral content from around the world. I’m very excited to be involved in SMW Sydney and look forward to seeing the week unfold.”

Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide Digital Director, Tom Eslinger, brings more than a decade worth of experience in mobile creative and production to SMW Sydney. He will present his unique ‘Mobile Magic’ methodology, based on real human insights, to demonstrate why mobile is an essential part of the marketing mix in our post-PC era.

Discussing his session, Eslinger said “Mobile is such an essential part of the modern marketing mix, and people sometimes forget that. As user behaviours change, marketers need to identify where the real opportunities exist to add value to conversations and make a meaningful experiences for consumers. I’ll be talking about this more at SMW Sydney, and I hope to spark ideas for those that will be attending.”

Twitter’s Senior Product Marketing Manager for advertising products, John Heywood, is also travelling from San Francisco to present at the event. Heywood is currently leading Twitter’s marketing strategy and development for TV and will be participating in several sessions throughout the weeklong event.

The Twitter team has been working diligently at local and global levels to create better social and TV experiences for consumers, as well as better opportunities for marketers. Acknowledging that Australia has one of the most advanced and active social media communities in the world, Heywood is looking to discuss social TV, how the industry is performing and possibly even what could be next.

With over 60 total keynote, panel and master class sessions planned across the event’s two major venues – The University of Sydney and The Beresford Hotel – and more than 120 total speakers and panelists expected to be involved in the official program, SMW Sydney is slated to be a world-class event. The quality of the key speakers announced today also speaks to the quality of the full event program that will be announced in coming weeks.

Early bird SMW Sydney Insider Passes are also available from today. The Insider Pass costs $239 and entitles holders to:

Admission to two (2) SMW Sydney Master Classes
Priority Access to all regular sessions at the Official HQ, The Beresford
Invite-only Official SMW Party
Exclusive benefits from SMW Sydney partners and sponsors

Commenting on the announcements, David Wesson, Managing Director at Evolve Social said “We have been working for months to put world class speakers and industry leaders at the center of SMW Sydney. Today we’re thrilled to be able to announce this initial taste of what is to come for the event. The variety of the sessions and the quality of our speaker line up we are confident will engage the local marketing, education, technology and social media communities.”

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