From the moment we drew down the lights on the final session at Design Bloggers Conference (DBC) in Los Angeles early last March, we kicked off our year-long organizing cycle for the upcoming March 4-6, Design Bloggers Conference 2018 at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. Planning alongside the conference’s industry advisory board and Esteem Media’s organizing teams is a uniquely privileged way to spend a year in our industry. I’m lucky that way, with just one lingering question; should DBC be more aptly monikered as a gathering for the entire design industry?
Designers, bloggers, social media marketers, brands, market centers, affiliate marketers, and online platforms in the luxury home design industry tell us every year that DBC is a game changing conference experience for them. Past attendees’ experiences, from every corner of the industry, reflect new comfort and activity with social media influencers and online opinion leaders after attending DBC. Many go on to ultimately thrive in our industry’s digital transition. While The Design Bloggers Conference is the place for design bloggers and social media influencers to advance content marketing and business agendas, DBC has purposely evolved under its own broad mission of offering networking and education for building brands and selling design in a digital world.
Conference name aside, early attendee registration and sponsor participation indicates that DBC 2018 will be the largest since it was launched in 2011, better attended than last year’s record breaking 450 conference delegates. In 2018, DBC will showcase more sessions and speakers than it ever has; 26 educational opportunities and 43 speakers and panelists. We added a must-attend closing gala party and Champagne tasting for all conference attendees and sponsors on Tuesday evening at a prominent LA designer’s private residence, some down time to visit showrooms on La Cienega, eight different breakout sessions on Sunday afternoon, and an extra keynote slot on Sunday evening before the first networking cocktail party hosted by Benjamin Moore.
Besides our always popular design industry rock star keynotes like this year’s Miles Redd, Jamie Drake, Michelle Workman, Mat Sanders and one more yet to be announced star, the agenda incorporates a wider array of digital design marketing strategies. Leading speakers on affiliate marketing, paid acquisition on Instagram and Pinterest, designer/photographer collaboration, ways to make Houzz transformative, strategies for using social media to get the attention of design broadcast networks like HGTV, SEO secrets for small businesses, creating multiple digital revenue streams, how to plan for publishing a book or securing your own line, social media etiquette, converting Instagram communities to clients, trends and new opportunities in traditional design media, online influencer marketing, cause marketing, design blogging 101, and millennial marketing will take the stage. Hours of networking, sponsor interaction, and after-parties round out the experience.
We have had to run faster every year to keep up with the digital transformation in design marketing and consumer purchase patterns. We hope you take some time perusing the conference website to see why you should join your industry colleagues in Beverly Hills in early March 2018. We organize the conference as a safe and productive experience for design professionals to grasp topics and tactics that can sometimes feel uncomfortable to the many of us that are primarily passionate and creative design professionals, not digital marketers. See you in LA?