NEW YORK (Jan. 17, 2012) — The former journalist who brought the World Economic Forum (WEF) to the social Web, and the co-founder of one of Silicon Valley’s premier technology communications firms, OutCast Agency, will lend their expertise to The Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA) 2012 Digital Impact Conference. Matthias Lüfkens, Burson-Marsteller’s EMEA managing director of digital, and Caryn Marooney, Facebook’s director of technology communications, will deliver keynote addresses at one of the public relations industry’s leading digital conferences. The Digital Impact Conference will be held in New York City April 2–3, and will focus on the interplay of influence and persuasion in the digital world.
Lüfkens’ innovative use of social media, YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Wikipedia, Qik and Livestream drove the WEF’s digital strategy. A former Baltic States correspondent for Agence France-Presse, Libération and The Daily Telegraph, he later served as deputy editor-in-chief of EuroNews television before joining WEF. In 1991, he founded the “In Your Pocket” city guide series in Lithuania, now Central Europe's premier publisher and provider of city information. He joined Burson-Marsteller in 2011 and leads the digital practice across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Lüfkens will present “The Role of the Social Media Architect: Build and Integrate Strategic Communications” at the conference.
Marooney oversees Facebook’s product, platform, infrastructure and technical recruiting communications. In leading outreach to the technical community, she engages developers, engineers, technology influencers and bloggers who write about their products and technology strategy. Prior to joining Facebook in 2011, Marooney co-founded OutCast Agency, where she was responsible for the planning and execution of communications for companies of every size, including Amazon, Netflix, salesforce.com and Vmware. The Digital Impact Conference will feature three tracks: Strategies and Innovations; Theory, Tactics & Technology for High-Tech Public Relations; and New Communications Research. This year’s programming focuses on mobile communications, big data, platform overload and social media fatigue, social change, emerging technologies and branding. A few presentations include:
- “From Community to Kinship via Digital Media”
- Katrina Klier, senior director, Microsoft.
- “PR at a Hot Startup: The In-House Perspective”
- Peter B. Himler, principal/founder, Flatiron Communications LLC.
- Joe Ciarallo, vice president, corporate communications, Buddy Media.
- Adam Isserlis, director of corporate communications, Zynga.
- Justin Kazmark, communications director, Kickstarter.
- Erin Gleason, public relations manager, Foursquare.
- “Tips & Best Practices for Running a Winning Online Contest”
- Sandra Fathi, president and founder, AFFECT.
- Ben Pickering, CEO, Strutta.
- “3D Bubble Mania — Traditional, Social and Mobile PR Outreach”
- Kathleen Dunleavy, communications manager, Sprint.
- “Do You Have the Right People to Manage Your Social Media Initiatives?”
- Steve Radick, lead associate, Booz Allen Hamilton.
- “Monster.com: Planning, Managing and Measuring Multiple Content Streams”
- Douglas Haslam, account services lead, Voce Communications/Porter Novelli.
- Kathy O'Reilly, senior director of social media relations, Monster Worldwide.
The conference, which will be held at the Sentry Center in midtown Manhattan April 2–3, will be attended by public relations, communications and digital media professionals seeking guidance, inspiration and ingeniousness from leaders of the continued digital media revolution. PRSA is currently offering a saver rate for individuals who register by Feb. 27.
Co-presenters of The Digital Impact Conference include the PRSA Technology Professional Interest Section and The Society for New Communications Research.
About the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)
With more than 31,000 members, PRSA is the largest organization of public relations professionals and students. PRSA is comprised of 111 local Chapters organized into 10 geographic Districts; 16 Professional Interest Sections that focus on issues, trends and research relevant to specialized practice areas, such as technology, health care, financial communications, entertainment and sports, and travel tourism; and the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), which has more than 300 Chapters at colleges and universities in the United States and abroad. PRSA is headquartered in New York.