Where is Kennesaw and the Integrating Social Media Conference

This week one of my coworkers and I had the opportunity to attend the Integrating Social Media Conference at Kennesaw State University in Georgia. After flying to Atlanta, we programmed our destination in the rental car's GPS and drove the hour and a half in traffic to arrive to Kennesaw, located northwest of Atlanta.

The conference was hosted by the Center for Sustainable Journalism at university. Topics discussed during the two day event included social media planning and ROI, to the future of social media, web strategies, and unifying social media and public relations. The presenters I most enjoyed listening to at the conference were (in alphabetical order) Olivier Blanchard (@thebrandbuilder), Marla Erwin (@marlaerwin), Jesse McDougall (@catalystwebwks), and Shiv Singh (@shivsingh).

In addition to talking about social media, the conference attendees and presenters participated in the event via social media as well. Using the hashtag #SMIATL I joined the other conference participants and shared observations and insights on Twitter during the conference, continuing the conversation online.

While it would be difficult for me to relate everything I learned and observed at the conference, I would like to share a few insights. Over the next few weeks I will post a series of blog entries – #SMIATL Lessons – about what I learned in Georgia.