The USF College of Public Health’s Social Marketing Conference is headed back to the beach as it enters its 26th year with a continued and vigorous commitment to social marketing’s robust capacity to influence complex social problems. Based at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater, FL, the May 27-28 conference includes plenary sessions, interactive panels and focused collaborative sessions. A training academy will be held right before the conference on May 25-26 to provide in-depth training on the social marketing process.

The conference will attract an estimated 250 professionals working in fields such as environmental health, transportation, wildlife preservation, financial literacy, education, not-for-profit management, labor relations, the arts, health and many more.

In recognition of social marketing’s expansive reach and increasing interest in persons in other disciplines, organizers have shifted the scope of the Social Marketing Conference beyond public health to welcome all professionals who work in social marketing.

Newcomers to the field are encouraged to attend the Social Marketing Training Academy in addition to the main conference. This two-day intensive pre-conference training offers participants an opportunity to gain social marketing expertise in a concentrated time frame. Using a combination of live case studies and interactive group exercises, academy trainers help participants understand how to increase the impact of behavioral change by learning the core elements of a successful social marketing initiative.

The main conference offers a blend of plenary presentations by internationally recognized social marketing experts on topics of interest to learners at all levels; panel presentations and conversations that focus on a variety of topics relevant to the practice, application and dissemination of social marketing; continuing professional development; and “hatch labs” to enable participants to discuss ideas with each other and invited experts.

Additionally, examples of social marketing practice and research will be showcased during a poster walk and reception.

Keynote Speakers include:

• Rex Briggs, author, consultant and speaker
• Dr. Roy Eidelson, psychologist
• Sara Isaac, director of strategy and planning for Marketing for Change
• Jeffrey Jordan, president and executive creative director for Rescue Social Change Group
• Rose McGee, creator of Sweet Potato Comfort Pie
• Bill Novelli, founder of Business for Impact at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business

For additional information on the Social Marketing Conference and to register, visit http://thesocialmarketingconference.org/ or contact socialmarketing-coph@usf.edu.

Story by Caitlin Keough, USF College of Public Health