UHeart Digital Media Conference to be held Oct. 9 and 10

What do The Toledo Symphony, Shazam, The Detroit Lions and Good F*cking Design Advice have in common? All of them will have representatives at the UHeart Digital Media conference on Oct. 9 and 10.

This is the second year the conference, which focuses on utilizing digital media for business and communication purposes, will be held. According to the event’s website, attendees will learn a number of necessary skills including “[leveraging] social media to build your digital brand,” and “[targeting] niche markets.”

Kevin Taylor, events and licensing manager, said, “We think that students will definitely want to attend, especially if they have interests in media and the direction it is heading. College is a tremendous time to take in as much information as possible, and this conference will provide unique perspectives from highly successful speakers.”

The conference costs $80 for early registration which ends Oct. 1, $55 for student registration, $100 for registration after Oct. 1 and $150 for registration and a hotel room.

Although the last conference was held in the Student Union, this year’s two-day event will be in the Radisson Hotel on the Health Science Campus.

Larry Burns, vice president for external affairs, said that the change in location is meant to draw attendance from a wider geographical range.

“The reason we went from having it in the Student Union, from last year, to now the Radisson, is because of the hotel trying to appeal to people that would come from, let’s say, from Columbus, Cincinnati, Chicago, wherever.”

As for the speakers, Burns said that a small committee sits down and decides what they think people would like to hear, both individually and as a company.

“We start with sort of the big picture people,” Burns said. “Once we have sort of the national scope of speakers from the really big organizations, we try to find organizations and people that might be leaders in what they’re doing, but not quite as well known, and then we add some local speakers as well, to give it a local presence, too.”

The keynote speaker for the conference is Brian Kibby, president of McGraw Hill Higher Education. Burns said that Kibby will be speaking on how technology has changed his company, from textbooks to online learning.

The conference began from an idea to bring people to campus from the region and provide exposure, while establishing UT as a leader in businesses as related to technology.

“The university is at the forefront of technology and digital media, and we wanted a way to provide information to interested individuals throughout the region,” Taylor said.

The first year was only a one-day event, which received numerous positive reviews, according to Burns. This year’s conference has made several changes to better accommodate attendees. Besides a change of location and extending the duration from one day to two, several panels have a ‘track,’ or an intended audience.

“All the reviews from the attendees regarding the speakers were very good,” Burns said. “One of the suggestions that was made was to have two different tracks, one for beginners, one for more experienced people … so we listened, and this year we have two tracks, a beginner’s track, and one for a more sophisticated person.”

According to the website, one of the highlights of the conference is a special event called Pitch and Pour. During this ‘Shark Tank’-style event, entrepreneurs whose applications have been selected will get a chance to pitch their idea for a start-up to a panel of judges. The winner will receive start-up money and support for their company.

With five minutes and five slides, the applicant will have to impress panel judges Bradley Hoos of Grand Circus, Richard Shulman of Skribl, Brian Biurge and Jason Bacher of Good F*cking Design Advice and Kristen Kiser of Communicã. Unlike the rest of the conference, Pitch and Pour will be held inside the Nitschke Technology Commercialization Complex, and busing will be provided for participants and observers.

Over the next few years, Burns hopes to see the conference expand even more.

“I would love to see it be a real regional conference, meaning people from Pittsburgh, Chicago, Ann Arbor, Detroit, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Indianapolis — that they would come and see this as something worth their while.”

About 230 people attended last year, which was 30 more than the projected number. This year, Burns hopes to see at least 250 people in attendance, if not more.

Taylor said he would like more speakers to be added to see the conference grow.

“The general hope will be to continue to grow by providing highly relevant speakers that people want to hear,” Taylor said. “The conference can be something that individuals throughout the region look forward to attending each year, and it is fantastic to think that this can take place right here at the University of Toledo.”