Libby Fordham Communications

The following speakers are available for interview in relation to the iStrategy Sydney 2010 social media marketing conference.

Join leading social marketers from companies such as LinkedIn, Nestle, Kimberly-Clark, CBA and Bayer Health Care to get the latest in trends, innovations and behavioural targeting at the iStrategy Sydney Conference, 23rd & 24th November, 2010.

Download the media kit here.

iStrategy Sydney is set to start a whole new discussion about Australia's social media marketing sphere when it hosts its conference in November, 2010. The event is completely end user driven and has no sponsors or exhibitors in attendance. The interactive workshops place delegates at roundtables designed to maximise mind sharing, learning and peer to peer discussions.  Only 300 delegates will attend the conference.

Leading speakers for the conference will include Clifford Rosenburg, Managing Director, LinkedIn, Australia and News Zealand, John Broome, Head of Marketing, Confectionery and Snacks, Nestle, Australia, and Mark Wynne, President, Kimberly-Clark South Asia, Managing Director Kimberly-Clark Australia and New Zealand.

Read more: iStrategy Sydney Speakers Unveiled

As the Australian Federal Election 2010 finale looms, and there is still a division on which broadband policy stacks up the best, one thing is for certain.  Social media users, informed businesses and tech-heads are all relying on Australia showing itself as a progressive nation within this realm.

And as social media marketers strive to give their customers more reasons to engage with them in open forums, there are still opportunities for even further uptake in regional areas of Australia, despite opinion that uptake of broadband is a laborious and difficult pastime - see The Australian

Consumers are poised for engagement.  While marketers are seeing the joys of this new two way conversation, in all its glory and heartache, the elected Government needs to bring to the table the knowledge, practical skills and systems which can pull us into the future as a nation and allow us to be as competitive as possible.  Some of the questioning and apparent lack of knowledge has proven cringe-worthy, to say the least. There is no longer just a national market waiting for the taking.  Business, brands, people, innovation and investment sits centre stage as a global concern and Australia needs to make sure it is primed to make the most of its opportunities.

Read more: Social Media grows despite Australia's Broadband Blackhole

The Communication Research Institute has put product information back on the agenda as the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), in Australia, has made it mandatory that a risk management plan be developed for all new pharmaceutical products as part of the approval process which allows a product to be released into the market.  This follows similar changes to regulation within the European market.

Read more: Product Information Overlooked in Risk Management Planning

NBC's program, Today, has opened its annual wedding competition to allow gay couples to enter for the first time in the competition's eleven year history. The program invites its viewers to act as wedding planners ,choosing what the winning couple will wear, where they will honeymoon and who will ultimately win a wedding at the Rockefeller Plaza.

The controversial move came as a federal judge in Boston ruled part of the Defense of Marriage Act, within the US, as unconstitutional.  The theme of the competition this year is 'modern love' and the show's move to include gay couples has created a lively debate, including this letter to the Los Angeles Times by community commentator, Andrew Heslop.

He writes,"The decision by the NBC Today Show to allow same-sex couples to enter the program's annual wedding contest is both landmark and revolutionary. It's also not unexpected from a show that has been a consistent leader since its inception.

Read more: Heslop Responds as Today Opens Wedding Competition to Gay Couples