Digital and online community innovators and international experts will share their insights and discuss the trends shaping the industry at the fourth annual Swarm conference in Melbourne 3^rd – 4^th September 2014.

Swarm was the world’s first online community management conference when it launched in 2011, the brainchild of co-founders, CEO of Quiip Alison Michalk and international online community authority Venessa Paech.

In just four years, Swarm has grown from a seed of an idea to become a must-attend event on the online community management calendar, featuring a compelling line up of speakers and attracting sponsorship from leading industry players, major institutions and corporations including Quiip, Polpeo, Dialogue Consulting and Social Status, as well as the University of Melbourne and realestate.com.au.

“Swarm is the only online community management conference in Australia that connects established experts with new talent through a broad-ranging agenda and hands-on workshops designed for anyone involved or interested in the social media management, moderation and communications fields,” said Alison Michalk, co-founder of Swarm and CEO of Quiip.

“The strong focus on community makes this the ideal forum for industry authorities and up-and-comers alike to share ideas, inspiration, insights and best practice, as well as take advantage of the networking and collaboration opportunities made possible by having so many industry participants together under one roof,” she added.

The Swarm 2014 confirmed speaker line-up to date includes:

• Justin Isaf – Principal of The Communl Group, Justin’s decade-plus industry experience includes growing the largest actively managed community on the Internet by four-fold in 18 months. He was previously Director of Community at Huffington Post, managing 95 million pre-moderated comments per year, and ran the Community Team at Change.org, which boasted two million members.
• Dr Michael Wu – Chief Scientist at Lithium, Dr Wu’s R&D work investigating the social web and developing predictive social analytics and actionable insights, saw him named a 2010 Influential Leader by CRM.
• Andy Cronin – Lead Community Manager at Isobar Australia, recipient of the AdNews Australian Digital Agency of the Year and Campaign Asia Pacific Digital Agency of the Year awards.

Hot button agenda topics include:

• Community as the central pillar of business
• Measuring your community-chi: Community health index
• Beyond the online community
• Network versus community
• Federated community management

Interactive workshops include managing adverse events from the digital frontline, presented by Karalee Evans, Head of Social at DDB Group Australia and ABC Radio Social Media Editor Rod McGuinness.

Delegates come from a wide cross-section of digital, creative, government, not-for-profit and corporate organisations including industries such as media, advertising, financial services, automotive and health. Swarm is co-presented and sponsored by University of Melbourne.

When: 3^rd – 4^th September, 2014

Where: Woodward Conference Centre, Level 10, Law Building, University of Melbourne, 185 Pelham Street, Carlton, Melbourne. 

Tickets and event information: swarmconference.com.au