First off before we start allow me to introduce myself since it’s my first blog post. I am the one and only Kevin .J. Sandiford, Kevin to my friends so you can call me Kevin…friend. I am the head of Systems Programming at Island Evolved Inc.  I was born and  currently live in Barbados and I love my little island but I also love to travel. When I am not in Barbados I am usually spending time in my second home, Miami. I love meeting new people and learning about different cultures. People are the most interesting thing on this planet and the most important part of technology is the human element (which i’ll explain in a later blog…so stay tuned ). I’ll try my best to entertain and inform. Being an Entrepreneur on an island in the Caribbean is an experience, so I’m calling my blog series (drum roll)….The Sandman Experience! So Let’s Go!!!

The Conference…

It was a beautiful sunny day in Miami. I don’t know if it was the day or the anticipation of the knowledge I was about to receive, anyway though I was excited. Entrepreneur magazine was holding it’s Entrepreneurs Magazine’s Winning Strategies for Business conference today and I made sure to register Island Evolved Inc weeks before. On entering the Miami convention centre I could just feel the productivity in the air. The hustle and bustle of entrepreneurs networking. I went up and collected my name tag and schedule and was welcomed into this group. This was a unique experience especially being from the Caribbean where meetings like these are few and far in between. Now I was ready, ready to exchange ideas with potential world changers but more importantly, to learn from them but 1st, I’ll have some breakfast.

After breakfast we all made our way to the ballroom where the welcoming remarks were done by Entrepreneur Magazine‘s Editor-in-Chief Amy Cosper (@EntMagazineAmy). The ballroom was pretty flooded, luckily there were room for most, a few stood at the back but i’m sure that was by choice. Everyone was attentive with a few murmurs. All this while perusing through my conference swag which consisted of Entrepreneur Mag’s current edition, a pen and a note pad, fun! fun! Right after that was the keynote address by industry-expert Gabe Zicherman on how to “Get your game on – discover just how to leverage game platforms and social media tools to generate unprecedented loyalty” where I was introduced to the word “Gamification” you can visit his Gamification blog at http://gamification.co/. Gamification is the use of game design techniques and mechanics to solve problems and engage audiences. The technique can encourage people to perform chores that they ordinarily consider boring, such as completing surverys, shopping, filling out tax forms, or even reading web sites. This was the first time for me hearing this term one thing came to mind, genius, I will explain this further…stay tuned .

The whole convention would then be broken down into 3 seminar sessions of our choice.

Session 1: Small But Social: How Small Businesses Can Win With Social Media Marketing - In this seminar, Social Media Expert (yes they exist) Jason Falls (@JasonFalls) covered management approaches and tools that help make social media marketing feasible for small businesses as well as how to account for the time and money invested in a social strategy. What can I say about Jason Falls? He’s a straight up no non-sense guy who says it how he sees it, so when talking to him..don’t be afraid of the truth. Oh yes that’s when the F-bombs began lol.

Session 2:Rethinking Unpopular: Five Strategies for Branding Success-  by Erika Napoletano (@RedheadWriting) Digital Strategist, Author and Columnist at Entrepreneur Magazine. Very engaging yet in-your-face look at the five core themes to consider when developing your brand: personality, approachability, share ability, scalability and profitability. What can I say about this lovely lady? I like her…alot, she not afraid to speak her mind, even if her mind is filled with F-A-S (and all kinds of letter) Bombs. This was a fun session, Ms Napoletano is a very intelligent and fun individual…I’m a fan. She informed us and I put in my own words- In business as well as in life it doesn’t benefit us to try to please everyone, cause you can never succeed in this, you will only end up chasing off your true fans. Focus on those who will love you for you.

Session 3: the final session- The Beginner’s Guide to SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Internet Marketing Expert and Top 100 blogger Neil Patel (@neilpatel) gave us a lesson on what you need to do to rank on page 1 of the major search engines. From Optimizing your code to building links, this seminar was a comprehensive guide to search engine optimization. Very technical session, very important…VERY! Can’t explain this session without stating a bunch of techie jargon but I will though fellow techies …stay tuned .

So that was mainly an overview of my experience at the Entrepreneurs Magazine’s  Winning Strategies for Business conference. For the next couple weeks i’ll be watering ya down in the knowledge I learned at the conference. Knowledge I like to call Project Social. So,what is Project Social? To be Continued….