My blog post today is inspired by going through a final call with my panelists for the Digital Hub Conference tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the start of the Digital Hub Conference (or non-conference), the biggest and best digital marketing event in Cincinnati.  If you aren’t already registered to attend – you should be.  I attended the conference last year as a blogger/tweeter for the conference, and I admit, I was skeptical about how good an event like this would be in Cincinnati.  I go to over 20 conferences a year (yeah, I’m a bit of a junkie), so I wasn’t sure that a local event could really cut it.

The conference totally exceeded my expectations and I would strongly encourage anyone in the Cincinnati area who has not already registered to seriously consider this conference.    I’m presenting a panel this year on mobile and would encourage anyone who can make it to the 2 day affair to attend.  Here are my top 3 reasons:

1. Killer Speakers

Keynote speakers include John Battelle, founder of Federated Media and Winston Binch, VP of Interactive at Porter + Bogusky.  These are top notch speakers who are leaders in the industry and fascinating people overall.

Also of mention is Cincinnati’s own Bob Gilbreath, Chief Marketing Strategist at Bridge Worldwide.  I had the pleasure to hear Bob speak at the event last year and was incredibly impressed with his insights.  He was one of the highlights of the event last year, and I was really excited to see him slotted for a keynote this year.  He is also a super friendly and approachable guy – I met with him for coffee after the event last year and have been following the MarketingWithMeaning initiative ever since.

Also on the roster are some of the smartest and most interesting social media people that I know including:

• Kevin Dugan (you may know him as @prblog)who writes The Bad Pitch Blog and now resides at Empower Media Marketing.  Kevin is always insightful and funny (he also takes great pictures).
• Pete Blackshaw author of Satisfied Customers tell Three Friends, Angry Customers tell 3,000 (a great book btw) who also has some fancy title at Neilson where he works.  Pete is a super smart guy with TONS of great ideas.
• Jim Price who is the VP of Media Innovation (I think) at Empower Media Marketing.  Jim is not only a nice friendly guy but also has great insights about emerging media.  He had a great panel last year on measuring social media and showcased some innovative things that Empower is doing.

• And one of my favorite social media people will also be making the treck up from Louisville – the fabulous Jason Falls of Social Media Explorer.  Don’t let his hillbilly accent fool you – Jason is one of the industry leaders on social media and is a fantastic speaker and all around nice guy.

2. Great Value

Most of you already know that I make my way around the conference circuit and see a ton of different things.  Most of the conferences that I attend like Ad:tech, PubCon and Search Engine Strategies cost as much as $1,000 just to attend.  When to tack on travel and hotel you will probably end up paying $3,000 just to go to one of these conferences.

The Digital Hub conference has great speakers, killer content and costs a fraction of the price.  Early bird rates were only $299 which is a steal for a two day conference (plus they feed you).  This is probably the best value conference that you can attend.

3. Awesome Networking

The Digital Hub Conference is being put on by the Cincinnati American Marketing Association and Ad Club Cincinnati.  In addition other organizations are supporting the event including PRSA, Social Media Cincinnati and The Circuit (there are probably others that I’m missing).

This means that all of the best and smartest digital marketers and organizations will be attending.

Last year I met some extremely valuable contacts and friends at the Digital Hub conference, many of whom I still keep in touch with.  I got clients out of it, job offers and made some new friends.

Unfortunately, I have an out of town wedding on Friday so I won’t be able to attend the conference, but I will be there on Thursday for my panel and hopefully at the networking afterward.

So I know this sounds like a sales pitch for the conference.  I’m not an organizer and nobody even asked me to write this.  I’m excited about the event tomorrow and wanted to share some of the highlights of what to expect with you.

– Krista