Social Media for Events: Engaging Participants Before, During and After

Jessica L. Levin, MBA, CMP, CAE
President and Chief Connector, Seven Degrees Communications

Jessica uses social networking tools to build and strengthen both personal and business relationships and teaches others how to embrace social media as a way to create both corporate and personal brands. Jessica's professional background includes experience in the professional services arena, association management and industrial marketing. Her strategic approach to marketing includes a mix of both traditional marketing channels and web 3.0 tactics. Jessica is a frequent presenter on the topic of strategic social media, marketing, networking, event engagement and technology. She has authored numerous articles on marketing, event design and social networking and blogs at Sevendegreescommunications.com.

Jessica is the President of the New Jersey Professional Marketers Association (NJPSMG) and is the Digital Communications Chair for the Association for Accounting Marketing (AAM). She currently serves on the social media advisory group for the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA). She was named Planner of the Year by the New Jersey chapter of MPI and is a JASPER Award winner in the special event planning category. Jessica holds the designation Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) and Certified Association Executive (CAE). She was named New Jerseys 2009 Top Forty Under 40, a Planner to Watch by Convention South magazine in both 2010 and 2012 and was inducted into the New Jersey Social Media Hall of Fame in 2010. In 2011 Connect Meetings and Rejuvenate Magazines named her to their Forty Under 40 list.

Midori Connolly
CEO and Chief AVGirl, Pulse Staging and Events

Midori Connolly is the CEO and Chief AVGirl at Pulse Staging and Events. Midori began her career in hi-tech as a Curriculum and Instruction Coordinator for an adult and adolescent educational software company. Although just 19 years old, she combined her love of technology with her natural passion for, and understanding of, adult learning theory to design a custom database and create and conduct the associated training program for this multinational organization.

Now Midori is the CEO of a nationally renowned Audio Visual staging firm, providing AV for meetings and events around the United States.

She was also recognized as a Platinum Speaker by Meeting Professionals International and speaks to groups about overcoming their fear and intimidation of technology. In 2009 Midori was selected as the San Diego MPI Rising Star Award and was most recently named to the 2012 Most Innovative Event Professionals by BizBash Media and 40 Under 40 for Collaborate Magazine. She is the AVGirl advice columnist for PlanYourMeetings.com, Director on the Green Meetings Industry Council International Board of Directors and was the only woman who served on InfoComm Internationals first-ever Green AV Task Force. Midori truly is devoted to making technology more human, approachable and sustainable.