| Your Website Is Boring. Most radio station websites are boring. So boring, in fact, that the visitation numbers for many radio sites are embarrassingly low. Though everyone has to have a website today, there has been a dramatic change in how people use the Web in just the last year, with the massive adoption of social networking, mobile, apps, and, now, the iPad. Studies show that there are very specific techniques that increase site visits (no, not about talking about it on the air). It all has to do with the placement of content. Do you know how the average eye reads a website, where people linger, and what actions you want those people to take? Do you know about the critical matrix quadrant, a recent discovery concerning how to increase website success by several hundred percent? Do you know what's driving people away? Do you want to know why banner and website ads are not working as effectively as they could be? Would you like to drive increased traffic to your website and to the ads on your site? Do you know what words get noticed most and create the highest response? Do you understand how Google recently changed its SEO criteria? And how, if you're using last year's SEO techniques, you'll show up less in search? Do you understand the critical tools every website must have today? Do you know how to effectively recycle audience to your site? Do you know how to build personas around the temperaments of web users? Do you know what creates confidence based on your design, and what destroys it? Do you understand why mapping has become the new Google tool to drive traffic and how it has changed search in the last 12 months? Do you understand the colors and shapes that matter? Have you embraced the concept of "scent" with every Web activity? Do you get why it may be the most important concept you can understand about the Web? When Radio Ink launched its first Internet conference in 1998, most radio stations didn't have websites. Most who attended that conference adopted the strategies they learned there and launched websites. And, sadly, most radio station websites are still living in 1998. The world you need to understand deeply has changed, and very recently. Can you adapt? What will be the impact on your business if you don't? You might be surprised. At Radio Ink's Convergence, the "Sites Magnified" panel, moderated by MediaBridge One President and MediaSpan Online consultant Charles Andrew Whatley, will cover all the details on making a website more effective, more current, and more focused on today's needs for you, your listeners, and your advertisers. You'll learn the answers to the questions above. Whatley and panelists Jonathan Cobb, CTO/mobility and monetization for Limelight Networks, and Jeff Sexton, partner at Wizard of Ads and Persuasion Architect, know the answers, and online business, inside and out. Don't miss a chance to hear from these experts on a critical part of radio's future. Don't Miss These Mind-Altering Convergence Keynotes Radio Ink prides itself on bringing you brain-changing keynotes with practical money-making ideas for your radio stations and ideas that will stimulate your brain and challenge your current thinking. We draw on the tech industry so you're not seeing all the same faces from other industry events and you can gain a fresh perspective. The Second Coming Of Guy Kawasaki Guy Kawasaki is coming back to Convergence for a second time after last year's standing-ovation performance, and because one attendee survey after another said, "Keep bringing Kawasaki back." Kawasaki is set to present a new and expanded-length presentation on "The Art of Social Networking." With more than 140,000 followers on Twitter, he's in a position to open the audience's eyes to all that's possible with today's fast, free, and ubiquitous online tools, and he is planning to show radio how they can use it all to their advantage to boost sales and audiences. Jeffrey Eisenberg's keynote speech is titled "Clicking the Ruby Slippers: Why Business Can't Ignore Social Media." Eisenberg, founder and former CEO of Future Now, is an expert in Internet marketing and a specialist in improving online conversion rates and lead generation. He's also the best-selling co-author of Call to Action and Waiting for Your Cat to Bark? which was the first book in history to hit the New York Times best-seller list from online sales alone, never appearing in a bookstore. Eisenberg will show you how to use social networking and your digital strategy to generate revenues. With just one hour a week, Eisenberg is generating and extra $25,000 a month of found money with his new strategy, and he is going to teach you how to do it at your station. If You Don't Understand This Monumental Cultural Change... You Lose Quick, Steal This Before The Newspaper Industry Grabs It Closing keynoter Rob Curley has been called one of the most important young minds in media. We have been trying to get him to Convergence for two years. His ground-breaking work has been documented in everything from college journalism textbooks to industry and mainstream magazines and white papers to even a 20-minute segment on National Public Radio's Morning Edition and in features in Fast Company. A 2005 New York Times Sunday business story called Curley's work at a paper in Lawrence, KS, "the newspaper of the future." Curley is the senior editor of digital for the Greenspun Media Group and the Las Vegas Sun, which has given him an unlimited checkbook to reinvent the newspaper. And he believes that, despite the buzz, hyperlocalism has never been done right. Curley will showcase a new form of online hyperlocalism at Convergence -- something he hasn't unveiled to the newspaper industry. Radio Ink Publisher Eric Rhoads first met Curley at a Stanford University for venture capitalists. He says, "Rob is an Internet rock star. He had people lining up to meet him and hear more, and I suspect he will be remembered as one of the guys who figured out how to save the newspaper industry. If radio is smart, they will listen, embrace, and beat newspapers to the punch." What Do You Mean There's A Pre-Convergence Conference? What's That All About? We believe the Radio Tech Summit is important for managers AND engineers. It's designed so engineers can communicate these changing worlds to radio managers, who are invited to attend. (One group head is attending because he wants to understand this area more deeply.) This pre-conference event will start after lunch and end the following day, right before lunch and the start of the Convergence package. Attendees can receive a discount by registering for both. Are You An Unconscious Incompetent As A Manager? If you've been around radio, you'll remember sales trainer Chris Lytle. Lytle used to teach that there were four levels of awareness, the first being the "unconscious incompetent." This is the person who is completely incompetent in a specific area, and not even aware he or she is incompetent. The next level is the conscious competent, meaning someone who is aware of what he or she doesn't know. The third level is the unconscious competent, meaning you are good at something and not even aware at it. And the fourth is the conscious competent, meaning you know what you know. Which are you when it comes to Internet matters at your radio station? Most managers are either unconscious incompetents or conscious competents. But too many think it doesn't matter. Yet in Eric Rhoads' new traveling road show about radio reinvention, he points out that the world has changed. We're competing in a digital world locally and nationally, and if we don't embrace it at a local level now, we will be walking away from revenues that used to go to radio but don't any longer. Our goal with the Convergence conference is not to talk about all the cool things coming in the future. What we're discussing is what is relevant today, how it applies to your radio station from a sales, marketing, and programming perspective, and what specific actions you should be taking today. This conference is bold. We will tell you things you probably won't want to believe. We will show you things you had no idea were happening. And we will help you become a conscious competent. If you're a station owner, in a small or large market, this is impacting your business today. If you're a market manager and are not aware of the trends, you are rapidly becoming unemployable. If your company won't pay, you need to invest in yourself. If you're a program director, understanding these trends will impact your ability to build audiences. If you're an engineer who is expected to implement everything, you need to attend both conferences to remain relevant. Why Microsoft? Ever hear of Bing? Bing is hot. Microsoft is a changed company. In his book Microsoft Rebooted, Robert Slater explains how top executives changed the culture of Microsoft, which has been more innovative in the last two years than it was in the previous 20. When we decided to try a new venue and we learned that Microsoft had an auditorium used for training employees and for press conferences with Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates, we thought, "That's it. Let's send a message that we too can innovate after years of being stuck in the past." There is no hotel on site, just a conference area and an auditorium, but it's kind of cool to be roaming around Microsoft. Our CEO, Eric Rhoads, visited the venue last week and negotiated so that any attendee can buy discounted (employee pricing) software in the Microsoft store. It's added value and a good time to update your office suite! Why We Limit Attendance To 250 Let's face it. We don't have to limit attendance. But we've learned that intimate settings are the best way to learn and network. The networking at Convergence is probably as important as the content. (For instance, we have launched "Birds of a Feather Mentoring Dinners" so you can meet and talk with our expert panelists.) People get things done at Convergence. Unlike most conferences, we have no breakout sessions. We choose carefully, knowing that everyone in the room needs to hear the concepts being offered. Many groups and stations are now sending their top management teams together because they know they cannot possibly relay all the subtle concepts they learn, and they know one person will latch on to something another may have missed. This conference is for rebels, and there probably aren't 500 of them in the entire radio industry. The conference is better when you have people who are naturally curious, willing to buck the status quo and try new things. With all due respect, we don't want the whiners who disrupt things by clinging to the old ways of doing business. If you're at Convergence, you're a pretty special kind of person who has crossed the line and decided to stop clinging to the past. Are you ready to remain relevant? Are you one who feels that the world of radio has changed and you finally need to deeply understand concepts that are changing your world? Join us. But register soon, because Convergence always sells out.
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The MediaBridge One digital media consultancy specializes in assisting traditional media with online strategies, and Charles Whatley's background combines traditional and new-media experience. He's worked with major media companies including Clear Channel, New York Times Co., ABC, and Fox, and has served as president of American Media Services Interactive. 
Jonathan Cobb of Limelight Networks works with content creators on long-term publishing and advertising strategies. He is the founder of Kiptronic, acquired last year by Limelight, and his background includes posts as senior software architect for Covalent Technologies and integral roles at startups including Hyperic Software.
Jeff Sexton has been involving in Web copywriting since 2004 and worked with Bryan and (Convergence keynoter) Jeffrey Eisenberg at their former company, Future Now. While at Future Now Sexton became a certified Persuasion Architect, chief copywriting instructor, and consultant for several Fortune 50 companies. He is currently an in-demand copywriter and frequent guest blogger at writing and online marketing blogs. Sexton teaches a course titled "Writing for Radio and the Internet," and he's developed and perfected the concept of "scent" marketing for websites. He'll be sharing new information on eye tracking and building personas -- a revolutionary concept for Web success.
than 60 books in a row on the national best-seller lists of the New York Times, Amazon, USA Today, and others. Drew has developed a system that starts with building extensive platforms around personalities, through his expert approach to content delivery and audience interaction. At Convergence, Michael will present his acclaimed "Pendulum" presentation, which explains cyclical shifts in societal attitudes -- shifts that can be capitalized on by entrepreneurs that make themselves thought leaders. He will show how this changes the world of marketing and messaging, and how not understanding these changes will be detrimental to business. Drew recently gave this presentation onstage between the Dalai Lama and former GE Chairman Jack Welch. He will open your eyes to new realities, and you'll suddenly see how culture has changed. Drew will also share the platform-building strategies you can adapt to air talent to generate income in your local markets. 
Our ears perked up when we kept hearing from the technical community in radio that "We need a conference like Convergence for radio engineers and radio tech people." So when we launched our new publication Tech Ink, with legendary tech editor Skip Pizzi, we decided it was time to add a pre-conference conference for the engineering community. Because tech inside a radio station is more complex than ever and managers and engineers are now managing radio engineering and new forms of IP-based studio controls, and are deeply engaged in the technical strategy involving streaming and the Internet, it's clear these issues need to be addressed. Especially since they're being ignored elsewhere. 
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