Conferences & Speaking Engagements
Eastern AHEC's 28th Annual Sustance Abuse Services State of the Art Conference
November 7-8, 2012 in Greenville, North Carolina Empowered Ideas Co-Founders, James Wong & Virginia Johnson (CSAPC), were honored to present a 3-hour session on Ethics and Professional Responsibility in the World of Social Media at the Eastern AHEC's State of the Art Conference. 2053
Empowered Ideas was invited by TechMedia to present at the 2012 Digital East Conference in Washington, D.C.
In fact, co-founders James Wong and Virginia Johnson were asked to teach a pre-conference workshop on Nurturing Social Engagement Through Email — in addition to a main session presentation on Utilizing Email Engagement for Nonprofit Fundraising & Advocacy.
About Digital East
Join hundreds of Digital executives, senior marketers, entrepreneurs, web strategists, bloggers, and investors at the Third Annual Digital East for expert content on opportunities and trends created by the latest in web innovation. Hear from dozens of industry thought leaders and innovators on topics such as Social Media, Mobile, Cloud, Analytics, Big Data, Search, Online Advertising, Ecommerce, Email and much more! In addition to learning from thought leading keynotes, actionable presentations and expert panels – attendees will have numerous networking opportunities to make lasting relationships, while also exposed to some of the top new internet firms in the demo showcase.
On November 1, 2012, Empowered Ideas was invited to speak to the membership of the RDU Chapter of the National Black MBA Association — recently recognized as the NBMBAA Chapter of the Year.
Empowered Ideas Co-Founder, James Wong, led an inspiring discussion about how following your passions in life, can ultimately unveil true professional success when integrated with a few simple core ideals, such as:
- Have several diversified passions in life, but always stay true to them
- Surround yourself with individuals smarter than yourself
- Never stop learning, especially when everyone else tells you otherwise
- Network & grow your connections in the unlikeliest places
Empowered Ideas has always supported diversity in leadership, especially in the Research Triangle Park area. It was truly an honor to be invited to speak to the general membership, and we look forward to working closely with the RDU Chapter of the NBMBAA in the near future.
As a special "thank you," Empowered Ideas Co-Founder, James Wong, was awarded a Certificate of Recognition by the RDU Chapter of the National Black MBA Association.
INBOUND 2012 by HubSpot | August 27-30, 2012 | Boston, MA.
Virginia Johnson and I recently attended HubSpot's Inbound 2012 Conference in Boston, MA. To properly explain in detail how inspiring and exciting this conference was to us, would take several blog posts to even scratch the surface. HubSpot has successfully pulled off not only the "World's Largest Gathering of Inbound Marketers," but also one of the greatest marketing conferences in the last decade.
In addition to the knowledge leadership and presentations at #INBOUND12, the networking opportunities were bountiful, as was the after-hour socials and entertainment. The two biggest highlights of course was the keynote by Gary Vaynerchuk, and the interview and concert with world-famous performer, Cyndi Lauper.
To our amazement, we even had a photo-op with Gary Vaynerchuk after his keynote, which was as energetic and vulgar as was expected at one of his speaking engagements.
Vulgarities aside, Gary is a "people's marketer." He has the ability to truly understand his customers, and does his due diligence to craft messaging and campaigns which targets his audience with as little disruption as possible. Gary and other marketers like him are so successful because they see marketing and customer service as one-in-the-same, and craft their campaigns accordingly.
About the Inbound Conference
Besides being the world's largest gathering of inbound marketers, INBOUND is a 3-day marketing conference and training event designed to help marketing professionals, business owners, and agency executives deepen their knowledge of inbound marketing through a combination of inspiring keynote presentations, focused breakout sessions, expert-led small group workshops, innovative product demos, and exciting networking activities. 
