When: February 19th, 2009 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Where: University of Miami Storer Auditorium (5250 University Drive Coral Gables, FL 33146)

Speakers

• Rafael Urbina- CEO of Batanga
• Joe Laratro- President of SFIMA
• Dan Alpert- Digital Marketing Services Lead for Avenue A | Razorfish
• Nathaniel McNamara- CEO of Socialfeet

Though the term Web 2.0 may be on its way out, there’s one thing that is here to stay – the use of social media by businesses.  Our event will focus on monetizing with social media, whether you own a social media property or if you are a business owner wanting to advertise on a social media property.  Some questions we’ll delve into include:

• How can you monetize in a down economy?
• How can social media help you better interact with your customers?
• Are advertising dollars there for social media properties?
• Why has social media entered the mainstream?
• Revenue Models That Do and DON’T Work

More About The Speakers

Rafael Urbina

Rafael Urbina is the Chairman and CEO of Batanga, the leading next-generation Hispanic media company. Since August 1999, Urbina has been the driving force beyond the company’s strategic planning, business and product development efforts, and revenue generation.

In his capacity as Chairman and CEO, Urbina successfully completed a series of acquisitions and negotiated multiple rounds of funding for the company, positioning Batanga for long-term growth in the Hispanic online market. Batanga’s most recent acquisition of HispanoClick, the premier online Hispanic ad network, has extended Batanga’s core offering beyond Latin music and entertainment to content in a variety of categories.

Prior to Batanga, Urbina was part of the founding team for several media start-ups including: MulticanalTPS in Spain and Portugal, HBO Latin America and Omnivision in Venezuela. Urbina has extensive legal experience, with a focus on copyright and content licensing and proven expertise in the content field. He has marketing experience in Latin America, Iberian Peninsula and U.S. Hispanic markets.

An MBA graduate of the University of Miami, Urbina also holds a Law degree from Universidad Católica Andres Bello in Caracas, Venezuela. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his wife and two kids.

Nathaniel McNamara

Nathaniel is CEO of SocialFeet, the leading enabler of social browsing.  Since launching at the beginning of 2009, dozens of sites have added SocialFeet to their site by adding a single line of code, driving traffic and improving the experience for their users.

Nathaniel was previously an investor with HIG Ventures, a $300 million fund based in Miami.  Nathaniel focused on New Media and Internet related investments.  While at HIG Ventures, he co-founded NextMiami to bring together entrepreneurs, technologists, and investors in Miami.

Nathaniel was an entrepreneur twice before, serving as President and COO of Chintano, a contextual ad network, and the Director of Business Development for PrivacyBank.com, an online commerce company.  Chintano was acquired by Datran Media and PrivacyBank.com was acquired by InfoSpace.  In addition, Nathaniel has worked for JP Morgan Chase, McKinsey and Company, Millennium Technology Ventures, Andersen Consulting, and the White House.

Nathaniel holds a BS in Information and Decision Systems from Carnegie Mellon University, an MS in Public Policy and Management from the H.J. Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University, and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dan Alpert

Daniel Alpert is the Client Director and Digital Marketing Services Lead for Razorfish, the largest interactive marketing agency and now the largest digital media buyer in the industry with offices in all major US cities. Dan is resident in the Ft. Lauderdale office where approximately 35 full time consultants are based and he has oversight across the Southeast region for all media-related services.

Dan is past President of the South Florida Interactive Marketing Association (SFIMA), a support and best practices group for the interactive marketing community.

Joe Laratro

Joe Laratro is a recognized and leading expert in the Search Engine marketing Industry. For more than 6 years, Mr. Laratro served as the Chief Technology Officer at MoreVisibility, one of the world’s largest and most experienced Search Engine Marketing and Optimization firms, based in Boca Raton, FL. He joined the Company in 2000, bringing over 11 years of Computer and Internet-related experience. Mr. Laratro’s work encompasses all facets of search engine marketing including optimization, natural search, pay per click management, paid inclusion, ROI analysis, and Web analytics.

Under his technology leadership, MoreVisibility quickly expanded and was named to the INC 500 list in 2005 and 2006 as one of the fastest growing privately held firms.

In 2006, Mr. Laratro founded Tandem Interactive to move beyond the click. His mission for Tandem Interactive is to work together with clients for web site success through online marketing strategies that will drive bottom line results. These strategies include local search marketing, pay-per-call lead generation services, corporate podcasting, blogging, analytics, conversion consulting, usability consulting, search engine marketing training and education, and search engine marketing department formation and development.

As one of the first 100 certified Google AdWords Professionals, a contributor to the founding of the Yahoo! Strategic Provider Program, and a certified Yahoo! Strategic Provider Ambassador Mr. Laratro continues to prove that he is on the cutting edge of industry developments. In March of 2006, he was invited, as one of only twenty professionals, to sit on the MSN adCenter Search Council.

Mr. Laratro is a highly regarded expert in the industry and is an active speaker at industry events including Webmaster World and Search Engine Strategies (SES) Conferences. He frequently moderates numerous sessions at the Webmaster World Search Conferences across the nation and has also been quoted in numerous articles in Internet Retailer, eMarketer, DMNews, eWeek, MediaPost, and Target Marketing. During his career, Mr. Laratro has serviced over 5,000 web sites spanning an array of companies including Fortune 500s, privately held mid-tier corporations, and cottage industry businesses.

Mr. Laratro is also a graduate of University of Miami and is MCSE, MCT and CCA certified.