As professionals living and working in Buffalo, we know how great the city it is, but how do we tell others from outside the area? This is your opportunity to learn about marketing Buffalo through social media from a diverse group of practitioners!

Discussion topics will include:

• A look at Buffalo’s selling points
• Overcoming stereotypes when dealing with people from outside Buffalo
• Success stories from the ‘city of good neighbors’
• The excitement presented to communications professionals due to Buffalo’s resurgence
• Conveying the excitement of  Buffalo’s resurgence through social media

Speakers:

Peter Burakowski, Senior Marketing Manager, 43North
43North is the world’s largest business idea competition and part of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion initiative, which is driving new economic opportunities throughout Buffalo and WNY. Peter previously held positions as communications manager for Visit Buffalo Niagara and director of communications for the Buffalo History Museum, as well as marketing roles with the Talking Phone Book, Righteous Babe Records and Sony/BMG Music. He holds a bachelor of science degree in management and international business from Canisius College.

Steve Cichon, President and CEO, Buffalo Stories LLC
Steve founded Buffalo Stories in 2013 to help Buffalo businesses speak to fellow Buffalonians. He has 20 years of experience in radio and television journalism, working as a producer, reporter, and news director. He’s also a published author, an adjunct communications professor at Medaille College and writes daily for buffalonews.com.

Marti Gorman, Executive Director, Buffalo Citybration
Citybration is a year-round campaign that utilizes push e-media and multiple social media channels to promote Buffalo as a great place to live. Marti is a Buffalo native who previously held director-level marketing and public relations positions with the Colorado Chiropractic Association as well as in the geographic information systems industry. She also helped to rebrand Xerox in developing markets through a multilingual knowledge forum, and covered Latin America as a journalist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She is the author of seven books and hundreds of articles.

Ed Healy, Vice President of Marketing, Visit Buffalo Niagara
Ed is responsible for VBN’s destination marketing strategy. During his tenure at VBN, Buffalo has been named one of the National Trust’s Dozen Distinctive Destinations, the No. 1 Mid-Size Arts Destination in the United States by American Style Magazine and one of 44 Places to Go in 2009 by The New York Times. He is the producer of “Buffalo: This Place Matters” and numerous promotional videos that have been viewed nearly one million times on YouTube. He is also a co-founder of Buffalo’s National Garden Festival.

Notes: Registration begins at 7:45 a.m. Program will run promptly from 8 to 9 a.m. Light continental breakfast will be provided. Parking has been arranged at St. Michael’s Church (651 Washington St, Buffalo 14203), across from the Buffalo Niagara Partnership. It is easiest to enter the lot from behind the church, on Ellicott St : http://www.thepartnership.org/documents/Parking-2013.pdf