Funny Speakers

There’s lots to talk about from the conference – the tips, the tools, the companies that were there, covering everything: SEO, SEM, PPC, social media marketing, link building, content strategy, etc. But what I think I enjoyed the most, aside from running into so many AMAZING people, was that many speakers made me laugh.

I got to the conference late, of course, since I was working on my presentations at the last minute, as I always do. (It’s an illness.) So the first funny speaker I heard was Gil Reich, who never fails to amuse. Then there was Michael King, who flew in from the US to be at SMX! He was hilarious…and educational, all at the same time.

I think that Gil and Michael warmed up the crowd, so it made it relatively easy to get the audience to laugh during my talk – and laugh they did (thank God). And then there was Marty Weintraub. This guy is in his 50s (he told us in his talk!), and has more energy than all my kids combined. He definitely keeps you interested and entertained.

Overall, there was just a good, positive air at the event. Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick), the event chair, of course deserves TONS of credit for taking the leap into the Israeli conference scene in 2008 with the mini SEO conference, SphinnCon. That first get-together was about 150 people, and every year it has grown. Kudos also to all the organizers and sponsors, for making it all happen.

The Story

Lots was tweeted, blogged, presented, photographed, etc. during and after the conference. So I curated a lot of it in the following Storify board. I’ll be updating it as more SMX Israel related info is published.

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UPDATE: After posting about the Social Media Workshop, we received requests to give an additional seminar on SEO – search engine optimization. So, we added a One Day Seminar on “SEO – The Fundamentals of Optimizing your Site for Search”.  If you register for both the Social Media Workshop and the One Day SEO Seminar, you’ll get a 15% discount on both!

To register, click here

About the workshop

We will be covering:

• Key concepts of social media and online marketing
• Search engine optimization and why it’s important for social media marketing
• Identifying goals and audience
• How to use Twitter for marketing: Setting up profiles that work for business, building up community, promoting your profile, what and how to write, monitoring, measuring, the best tools, etc.
• Getting the most out of LinkedIn: Using your personal profile to achieve business goals, customizing your company page, understanding the power of LinkedIn groups and Questions
• YouTube: Why YouTube is a huge opportunity, creating and optimizing your YouTube channel, optimizing your YouTube videos, growing your community
• Using Facebook for business: Profiles, Pages, Groups, Questions. how to analyze Facebook Insights
• Managing your web presence: How to manage your social profiles, content, and campaigns, Social media dashboard options and setting up your dashboard, Monitoring tools
• Getting your site ready for social media activity: Optimization, capturing leads, shareability, email marketing, analytics, social buttons

View the full workshop schedule here and register

Lecturer: Miriam Schwab
This workshop will be taught by Miriam Schwab, the Friendly CEO of illuminea, who is recognized as a leading developer on the WordPress platform and regularly lectures and serves as a web marketing evangelist and resource to the broader internet community.

To see a list of the conferences and events that Miriam has spoken at, click here

Workshop details

Dates: July 20, 27, August 3, 2011 from 9:30am-1:30pm

Location: Tel Aviv area (Exact location to be announced)

Last day to register: July 13, 2011

The workshop will be taught in English.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions: info@illuminea.com

To register, click here

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Why WordPress?

WordPress is an open source Content Management System (CMS). Basically this means that regular people like you and me can, relatively very easily, build and tweak websites that are cool, clear, professional and unique.

What is the course exactly?

When: Starts Feb. 15, 2011. 9:30am-1:30pm Tuesdays for 8 weeks.

Where: Our office in Jerusalem

What: Here is the course outline:

1. HTML
2. CSS
3. How do websites and internet work? (And how to get mine to work)
4. Familiarizing yourself with WordPress part 1
5. Familiarizing yourself with WordPress part 2
6. Working with template files
7. Programming 101
8. Social networks, SEO, RSS…

Who’s teaching? Us, the illuminea team, will be teaching the course. We are the ones who work with WordPress every day and are very excited to share our knowledge with others!

Price: The course is 4,300 NIS though you’ll get a 10% discount if you sign up before January 13 and a 15% discount if you’re already an illuminea client. You will receive three months free hosting of your website and a certificate at the end.

Language

We decided that we’ll first offer the course in Hebrew. You can see our landing page for the course here.

Please let us know if you have any questions and/or if you may be interested in attending this or a different course later on in English.

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After a two year break, WordCamp is coming back to Israel, this time as WordCamp Jerusalem. And we’ve got an awesome lineup of speakers and topics in three tracks: Beginning WordPress Developers, Advanced WordPress Developers, and WordPress Tips and Ideas.

What is WordCamp?

WordCamp is a conference that focuses on everything WordPress. WordCamps are informal, community-organized events that are put together by WordPress users. Everyone from casual users to core developers participate, share ideas, and get to know each other. WordCamps are open to WordPress.com and WordPress.org users alike.

Tell me more about WordCamp Jerusalem

WordCamp Jerusalem is taking place on Sept. 5, 2010 at the Jerusalem College of Technology, who is generously sponsoring the conference. The conference will run from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm, and entrance is free of charge.

Here are some of the planned (tentative) lecture topics:

• WordPress performance under various server configurations
• Tools and techniques for building accessible WordPress websites
• Increasing traffic to your WordPress site
• Political blogging
• Don’t just shrink your WordPress site for mobile, adapt it
• WordPress 3.0 And You

And many more!

Find out more on the site, or reserve your space on the WordCamp Jerusalem Meetup site – you must RSVP there to make sure you have a space since space is limited.

Stay updated and spread the word

• Put one of our cool WordCamp Jerusalem banners on your site to help spread the word – the one at the top of this post is an example. They come in English and Hebrew.
• Follow us on twitter and/or facebook to get updates before, during and after the event.
• Use the twitter hashtag #WordCampJeru whenever possible
• Help us find more sponsors – entrance to the event is free, but we still need to cover costs!

Looking forward to seeing you there!

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To get caught up on all the latest event check out the illuminea events calendar!

August 1, 2010. Herziliya Pituach, Israel. Workshop: How to avoid strategic mistakes at the early startup phase. Join Yazamiyot for a Business Strategy Workshop where you will learn about the Business Strategy Principals and how they were demonstrated by some of the most renown companies in the world.

August 3, 2010. Tel Aviv, Israel. Tel Aviv Beer Tweetup – August 2010. After a month’s break and half way through the summer, they are back with our regular Tweetup (including A/C).  Nothing like a cold beer (or Cava) after a long hot summer day.

August 6, 2010. Rehovot, Israel. August Penguin 2010 Every year in August, there is a meeting for all the penguins (or Linux lovers, if you will) in one place. They hear lectures related topics: Linux, free software, open source, especially – meeting with other penguins! Come join and understand what all the hype is about!

To check out what other exciting event are happening this August visit our August calendar page. To look into the future, view illuminea’s calendar page.

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Here are some of the hottest business events going on in Israel this spring-time:

May 4, 2010. Ramat Gan, Israel. Techonomy 2010! 6 new companies will present their new products for the first time on stage in front of the Techonomy crowd and an expert panel of judges. Live updates will be taken by twitter from the audience and those watching on-line.

May 6, 2010. Jerusalem, Israel. Next Jerusalem Tweet-up HaGov / The Lion’s Den is a great new kosher bar and the perfect location for this event. Happy Hour specials last until 9:30. (That’s why the little Twitter Bird up there has passed out — no, he is not dead.)

May 17, 2010. Haifa, Israel. Web Personalization: From ICQ to Facebook. Personalization involves the use of technology to accommodate the differences between individuals. Personalization is increasingly becoming a factor in Web applications in education, healthcare, and business settings. This lecture will focus on current Web personalization trends in the hi-tech industry.

To check out what other exciting event are happening this may visit our May calendar page. To plan ahead, view illuminea’s calendar page.

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In addition, because its fun, we will highlight the top events at the beginning of each month on our blog.

Check out some of the most popular and exciting April 2010 events below:

April 15, 2010. Ramat Gan, Israel. Meet the WordPress Developers. Come meet the Israeli WordPress developers and learn about the upcoming 3.0 edition. Sign up now, space is limited.

April 12,  2010.  Tel  Aviv, Israel. Innovate!2010  Pitch Slam. Guidewire Group, a global market intelligence and advisory firm passionate about technology entrepreneurship, is teaming up with leading partners and sponsors to  host a global competition to identify and accelerate the world’s 100 top technology, media and telecommunications startups.

We are sorry to inform but the innovate2010 event actually took place on April 12, 2010. Sorry for the mix-up.

April 26, 2010. Tel Aviv, Israel. IMA Mobile Hybrid Challenge. This full day workshop for developers will cover the challenges of developing a mobile application in the 3 different architectures – Native, Web, Hybrid.  Get the discounted price of 320+VAT (only offered to MobileMonday Tel-Aviv members) when you register.

To view the rest of the events for April 2010 click here.

To view the whole calendar click here.

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This is an amazing opportunity for Israeli startups. Innovate!Europe will be holding a free workshop and networking event in Israel, and one startup will be selected to participate in  Guidewire STUDIO, an in-residence business accelerator in the heart of Silicon Valley valued at over $30,000.

But the deadline is March 25, so better hurry! Please pass this on to people who you think might benefit from it.

Read on for more…

Innovate!Europe is a competition to indentify Europe and Israel’s most promising startups and accelerate their drive into global markets. During this unique program, startups receive mentoring, promotion and critical introductions while competing for an exclusive spot at Guidewire STUDIO, an in-residence business accelerator in the heart of Silicon Valley valued at over $30,000.

Click here to learn more about the Guidewire Studio.

Innovate!Europe and its partners are hosting a Going Global workshops and networking meetup in Tel Aviv on April 1st. During this workshop, Guidewire Group’s expert analyst team will give you feedback on your company’s competitive value proposition and market opportunity, and help you hone the pitching skills you need to effectively compete for partners and funding.

Best of all, there is no cost to apply or to participate in the Going Global workshops.

Start-ups in the workshops held so far have raved about the experience.

Conor O’Neill of Ireland’s LouderVoice, called it “pure gold” and said it was “the most impressive start-up workshop I have ever encountered.”

Here are the details for the Israel event. You can find out about the European events on their  calendar.

1 APRIL Tel Aviv, Israel (co-hosted by Orrick)

• Going Global workshop from 9:30 to 17:30: apply now
• Networking Meet-up at 18:30 – RSVP required

Note: You don’t need to be a workshop participant to join us at one of the networking meetups. The meetups are also open to investors, journalists and other members of the entrepreneurial community. However, an RSVP is required as space is limited.

If you want to participate in the competition but can¹t attend one of the workshops, apply anyway. If you’re selected, Guidewire Group’s analysts will conduct a telephone interview with you. And if you’re not a startup, but know any that you think should compete, forward this note to them.

If you want to follow the competition, learn about the competitors and connect with other members of the ecosystem, subscribe to the blog or join the Innovate!Europe’sFacebook and LinkedIn groups.

Good luck!

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March 2, 2009. Avenue, Airport City, Israel. GameIS2009 – 5th Yearly Israeli Game Convention. This is a full day event about interactive entertainment and the people who make it all happen. They will cover everything from high end international business trends to how to get in the industry.

March 2-3, 2009. Tel-Aviv, Israel. IPv6 Forum Israel Day Conference at ISOC. The agenda includes speakers from the IPv6 Forum , Juniper Networks, Cisco Systems, the IDF, Bechtel, STKI, ECI Telecom, PurePeak and Tel-Aviv University.

March 3, 2009. Jerusalem, Israel PresenTenses’s Leaders in Philanthropy Panel will bring together three leading foundation executives who will share their experiences approving funding for the best and the greatest Jewish causes, reveal insider fundraising secrets and discuss the Jewish philanthropy climate during the financial crisis. *A unique, individual Q&A session will follow the panel, providing opportunity for brief one-on-one introductions.* (Hebrew)

March 4, 2009. Ramat Gan, Israel. MySQL User Group Meetup. Agenda: 16:00-16:30 – Gathering & Registration; 16:30-17:15 – Eliran Malki, MORE IT – MySQL success story; 17:15-17:25 – Break; 17:25-18:10 – Shlomi Noach, InterBit – MyISAM & InnoDB Tuning Fundamentals; 18:10-18:20 – Break; 18:20-19:05 – Moshe Kaplan, Rocketier – Sharing Design overview
March 12, 2009, Holon, Israel. GarageGeeks Session: Lost in Conversion? “Future of Web Analytics” Web analytics and conversion optimization is probably the biggest untapped opportunity within online marketing, particularly in a time of economic downturn. Within this GarageGeeks session, you be exposed to best practices and new developments in measurability, user behavior analysis and proven conversion rate tactics.

March 29, 2009. Airport City, Israel. TheMarker.Comvention and Social Media Summit: Israel which will explore the state of Social Media, where things are headed in the future and where the money is today and will be tomorrow.

March 31, 2009. Tel Aviv, Israel. Techonomy The event that delves into the business and economy behind the Web 2.0 technological revolution.

See all upcoming events and conferences in Israel for March 2009

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February 12, 2009, Jerusalem, Israel. Jerusalem Twestival, over 180 cities worldwide will be hosting Twestival 2009 to raise money for Charity:Water which provides clean drinking water to villages in Africa. More details.

February 15-20, 2009. Jerusalem, Israel. Jerusalem International Book Fair is a unique biennial event which draws over 1200 publishers from more that 40 countries who display more than 100,000 books in different languages. More details.

February 16, 2009. Ranaana, Israel. Lecture by Prof. Judith Donath on social media and networks “ Visible interactions: The Design of Sociable Media “Designers of online environments shape the social potential of these spaces far more profoundly than do the architects of our familiar physical spaces: they determine whether participants are anonymous or named, whether history persists, whether reputations are prominently displayed or privately discussed.

February 17-19, 2009. Eilat, Israel. International Renewable Energy Conference & Exhibition. Technologies, Investments, Implementations and Regional Development. The focus will be on formulating strategies to fight the global energy crisis. Examples of successful industrial or governmental strategies will be presented. Networking will be conducive to transforming specific threats into business opportunities. More details.

See all upcoming events and conferences in Israel for February 2009

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December 3, 2008. Tel Aviv, Israel. John Bryce is hosting a seminar series on Web2.0 – 4 meetings of 4 hours each to discuss web2.0 – blogging, social networking, wikipedia, Ajax, enterprise2.0, and more. More details.

December 3, 2008. Tel Aviv, Israel. Amazon Web Services, Tel-Aviv Meetup. At the Afeka Tel Aviv College of Engineering, The Ficus Building, Room 30. From 6:30 to 11:00 PM. Come meet the Amazon Web Services EMEA team and learn about how Cloud Computing is enabling Israeli companies to flourish in these troubled times.

December 3, 3008. 9 Hamenofim St. Herzeliya, Israel. “Head to Head” with Rich Zippel, VP CTO Sun Microsystems. At Ackerstein Tower A, 8th floor. From 13:00 – 15:00 you can be part of an open forum with Rich and ask him whatever you like. For instance: the future of cloud computing; how does Sun Labs manage its project flow; what is new with Sun; etc. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to interact with one of Sun’s driving forces.

December 3, 2008, Jerusalem, Israel. The Jerusalem Investing Meetup. Meet others interested in investing in stocks, bonds, options, and whatever financial strategy you care to learn more about. Join us at the Jerusalem Investment Group’s December meeting to learn and discuss how to persevere through this bear market and begin rebuilding your portfolio and wealth with an eye towards the future. Starts at 6:30 PM; join the meetup group for a precise location.

December 4, 2008, Petach Tikva, Israel. Job Search 2.0 – A workshop to help you build your profile on LinkedIn, tips for networking, good practices for dealing with human resources, and more. More details and to sign up.

December 4, 2008, Israel. Welcome, Herzeliyya Entrepreneurs and Investors! Meet a new network of local entrepreneurs and venture capitalists to share tips and problem solving techniques, get advice on profitability and career and discuss mentoring and business models. Swap business cards and watch your personal business directory grow! Join the meetup group to receive a location.

December 8, 2008, Present Tense Office, 64 Emek Refa’im, Jerusalem, Israel. SEO Expert Panel Discussion. Panelists will discuss their approaches to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and give specific practical tips on how to optimize Web sites for better search engine ranking. Admission is NIS 20 and registration is required via facebook RSVP. The office is directly above a bridal shop.

December 8, 2008. The Jerusalem College for Technlogy, Jerusalem, Israel. The Jerusalem Business Networking Forum. The JBNF promotes business networking among English speaking professionals in business, high tech and investment fields in Jerusalem. Each meeting will feature a speaker on a different topic relating to business in Jerusalem. 18:00 sharp! Cost is $5 per person. RSVP.

December 9, 2008. Tel Aviv, Israel. OpenSource08. More details.

December 9, 2008. Tel Aviv, Israel. Health08 conference. More details.

December 10, 2008. Tel Aviv, Israel. The Marketing and Communication Network of the Gvahim project is honored to invite you to attend its networking event:
Targeting Israeli customers: how to make successful your communication campaign in times of crisis? What are the key factors of success for an Israeli or an international brand to make an efficient marketing and communication campaign in Israel? At Beit Zion America (ZOA House), 1, Daniel Frish St. 7 PM. Register here.

December 14-15, 2008. Tel Aviv, Israel. Globes – The Israel Business Conference, considered the country’s most prestigious event. With the participation of the Prime Minister, ministers, businesspeople, and Israel’s most influential experts, the annual Israel Business Conference is the place where new business ventures, deals and decisions are announced, new trends are launched, and new strategies, plans and ideas are formulated. More details.

December 16, 2008. Tel Aviv, Israel. Breakfast with Jeff Pulver and friends.  Network with real-life social tagging. If you’ve never been to one of Jeff’s breakfasts, watch this video: Introducing the Personal Social Networking Toolkit

December 17, 2008. Jerusalem, Israel. Breakfast with Jeff Pulver and friends. 9 AM to 11 AM. 41 King George St. Network with real-life social tagging. If you’ve never been to one of Jeff’s breakfasts, watch this video: Introducing the Personal Social Networking Toolkit More details.

December 30, 2008. Tel-Aviv, Israel. TechAviv Israel December Meetup. For, by, and about Israeli tech startups. Presenters will be anonced shortly. Starts at 7 PM, for a precise time join the meetup group. For more general information, check out the TechAviv website.

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November 3, 2008. Tel Aviv, Israel.

November 4, 2008. Netanya, Israel. The Entrepreneurs club is hosting Asaf Peled, Benny Shneider, and Yoram Shamir at Cisco HQ. More details

November 4, 2008. Tel Aviv, Israel. Building a Social Network of Enviornmental Activists in Israel hosted by Jeff Pulver and Eilon Schwartz. More details.

November 5, 2008. Tel Aviv, Israel. Breakfast with Jeff Pulver and friends. If you’ve never been to one of Jeff’s breakfasts, watch this video: Introducing the Personal Social Networking Toolkit More details.

November 5, 2008. Holon, Israel. GarageGeeks are hosting Yahoo! BOSS(Build your Own Search Service) with Yossi Vardi. They’ll be discussing BOSS technology, with Q&A for Yahoo’s leading product folks headed by Bill Michels, GM of Yahoo! Search BOSS; Eran Palmon, Head of BOSS Egnineering; Ronny Lempel, Head of the Yahoo! Haifa Research Lab.More details.

See complete list of November 08 Events »

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