Gearing up for a busy fall, as I’ll be leading workshops at three different events organized by the Advanced Learning Institute, a conference organizer based in Chicago. It’s a great pleasure for me to be involved, as I’ve learned so much and made some lasting relationships at their conferences.

So here’s where you can find me this fall:

• Social Media For Government Conference, September 29 - October 2 in Ottawa
• Social Media For Healthcare, October 5 -8 in Washington
• Social Media For Crisis Communications in Government, November 2 - 5 in Washington

I’ll be running variations of the same workshop at all three events, the basic description of which is:

In today’s marketing environment, it’s vital that you respond to the right conversations in the right places. Using social media monitoring tools that are openly available, you can learn what’s being said, identify the most active and influential conversations and know where you need to be present online.

In this workshop, you will learn why it’s crucial to monitor the web to lead your marketing efforts, plus how to choose and prepare a community ambassador to voice your web presence. In addition, a hands-on approach will be taken to teach you how to monitor conversations using free tactics, tools and websites, including:

• Understanding the concept of RSS feeds and how to set up an RSS reader
• Looking at key free monitoring tools and how to subscribe to search results
• The importance of keyword selection
• Knowing where to listen to online conversations
• Preparing to respond and initiate online conversations when necessary - starting to really use social media

The early bird deadlines are still available for the October and November events - but you only have until August 12 (this Wednesday) to take advantage of a reduced rate for the Social Media for Healthcare conference. In addition, at any time during the registration process, if you mention my name, you’ll get a 50% discount off the current rate.

Also, to follow along during these events, search for #ALI on Twitter while the conference is in session. You’ll get a lot out of the sessions when you keep on eye on the back channel.

Hope to see you there!

Tags: #ALI, @all4monitoring, @amygerstein, @kellyflynn, @markgoren, Advanced Learning Institute, Monitoring, Planting Seeds, Planting Seeds online, PlantingSeeds.ca, Social Media for Crisis Communications in Government, Social Media for Government, Social Media for Healthcare, Social Media Monitoring