Like Minds: Measuring Social Media conference

Commuting is a reminder that there’s live outside of London, and it’s amazing how many great events and conferences can slip by if you’re not looking beyond the capital.

One case in point is the inaugral Like Minds conference, taking place on Friday, October 16th, in Exeter, Devon. The topic is ‘Measuring Social Media and making it sustainable‘, including measuring social media ROI, carrying out online campaigns to compliment an offline mix, how to target and best engage online audiences, and turning customers into brand advocates.

Not bad for £35 (discounts for students, unemployed and freelancers).

And there’s a great line-up of speakers, including a couple I can personally recommend. The full list is: Trey Pennington, Olivier Blanchard, Darren Forsyth, Dhaljit Bhurji, Nick Tadd, Andrew Ellis, Laura Whitehead, Andrew Davies, Rick Waghorn, Carl Haggerty and James Barisic.

I’ve shared drinks and chatted with both Darren and Rick, and spent a lot of time chatting with Andrew Davies about the magazine and publishing industry – particularly as I’ve closely followed the start-up he co-founded, idiomag.com.

In fact, I’m feeling a bit hard done by – a chat with Andrew normally involves buying a couple of drinks at London prices. But with 11 speakers for £35, you’re getting each one for the price of a pint. And it’s compacted pretty tightly into just four hours, and after-party drinks – and it’s easier to get out of work for a half day at the moment than it is for a full day of talks. Check out alikeminds.org for details of the venue and booking.