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Digital Marketing Professionals Give Back at SearchFest

SEMpdx annually selects a Charity of Choice to benefit from donated marketing services and a portion of yearly proceeds. From left to right, Heather Svoboda and Karen Green of the Cat Adoption Team (CAT) receive a check from SEMpdx Board Members Mike Rosenberg and Michael Cottam.

Portland, February 28, 2014. Nearly 450 professionals attended the eighth annual SearchFest at the Governor Hotel. The record number of attendees raved about the speakers, content and venue, with the conference once again trending on Twitter throughout the day. During the event, SEMpdx presented a $1,600 donation to its 2014 Charity of Choice, the Cat Adoption Team (CAT). Based in Sherwood, Ore., CAT is the Pacific Northwest’s largest nonprofit, limited-admission and adoption-guarantee cat shelter—meaning it is able to take in new cats while finding homes for the remaining cats in the shelter. The conference theme for the year was New School and Old School marketing; including the opening and closing keynote presentations given by Joanna Lord and Jeremy “Shoemoney” Schoemaker, respectively.

SEMpdx members mingle and socialize with many of the 32 speakers the night before SearchFest.

SearchFest Opening Keynote Joanna Lord provides “New School” marketing strategies for the capacity crowd.

“Old School” Closing Keynote Jeremy “Shoemoney” Schoemaker preaches a return to the basics (with some new technology of course) to round out the day.

“SearchFest’s continued success points to why Portland is a hotbed for digital marketing. No wonder Google wants to bring super-fast internet to our city,” said Alan George, SearchFest Director and SEMpdx board member. “Other companies are taking notice too. We had record sponsorship revenues, up 60 percent from 2013. Headlining sponsors included Moz, KISSmetrics, Bing and Yext.”

SearchFest is currently the only search and social media conference organized by a nonprofit business organization (SEMpdx) in the Northwest — allowing tickets to be one-third of the cost of other conferences featuring the same caliber of speakers. Lower ticket prices paired with national experts has led to tremendous growth of the event.

Companies as varying as Nike, Xerox, Puppet Labs and Zupan’s Markets sent employees to SearchFest this year. While speakers from organizations such as Salesforce, Airbnb, Huffington Post/AOL, Bing/Microsoft and more presented.

SEMpdx, the Search Engine Marketing Professionals of Portland, is a nonprofit group dedicated to nurturing the development of the search engine marketing (SEM) and social media marketing (SMM) industries in the greater northwest. Created as a resource for both local industry professionals and area businesses, SEMpdx strives to build national credibility for Portland as a hub for the SEM/SMM industry, as well as improve the quality of work and life for its

professionals. SEMpdx is committed to giving back to the local community by supporting charitable organizations.

Each year, SEMpdx selects a charity of choice to support for a 12 month period.

Visit www.sempdx.org for more information.

Elisa Klein

I’ve been a professional journalist and writer since 1987, (and long-time reporter for KOIN-TV.) As a nationally published reporter, with a Master’s Degree in Journalism, I love to report positive news and information. Journalism has also connected me with another non-profit where I served as a leader; the Northwest’s biggest writer’s organization: The Willamette Writers.