Speaking Archive
This is an archived version of my website from ~2014-2018, when a large part of my professional identity was community builder, speaker, and evangelist for email designers + developers. Links may be broken.
Past Events
I’ve had the opportunity to inspire and educate thousands of marketers, designers, web developers, copywriters, strategists, and other digital marketing professionals. With experience presenting at intimate seminars, hands-on workshops, user groups, webinars, conferences, and everything in between—I can help create a session for the needs of your audience.
MOZCon
2016 • 2017 • 2018 | Seattle, WA
I was honored to speak at MozCon not once, not twice, but three years in a row.
The Hidden Talents of Email: Creating Customer-Centric Messages (2016)
Watch video →
Read recap →
Why Email Marketing Is Key to Maximizing Marketing ROI (2017)
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Read recap →
The Golden Rules for Human-Centric Email Marketing (2018)
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Read recap →
MOZCon Local
February 2016• Seattle, WA
Optimizing and Hacking Email for Mobile
Email may be an old dog, but it has learned some new mobile tricks. From device-a-palooza and preview text to tables and triggers, I discussed the subscriber experience to help this audience of local marketers get the most from their next email campaign.
call to action conference
SEPTEMBER 2015 • VANCOUVER, CANADA
Channels come and go, but in the last 15 years nothing has replaced, displaced, or outpaced email as one of the most effective means to engage your customers. In this session, Colin Nederkoorn and I showed the audience how email can be fun, engaging, and an extremely powerful conversion tool that powers all other aspects of marketing and business.
WISTIAFEST
MAY 2015 • CAMBRIDGE, MA
Using animated cat gifs and a personal blooper reel to illustrate the power and pitfalls of email marketing, I explained how to leverage email to deliver video in personal, 1-on-1, and contextually relevant ways. We also covered a number of common mistakes that marketers routinely make as they get started with email.
marketing united
april 2015 • nashville, tn
Emma says this talk was “...one of the highest-rated sessions in our post-conference survey.” I shared my best tips to help the audience “unsuck” their emails, covering everything from subject lines to design to CTAs; including tips and strategies to optimize email for a whole range of mobile apps.
Marketingsherpa email summit
2014 + 2015 • las vegas, nv
I’ve been honored to participate in three sessions at the Email Summit, alongside fellow email experts Ryan Phelan, Jessica Best, Wacarra Yeomans, and others. View excerpts and recordings of each session below:
DIGITAL SUMMIT CHARLOTTE
APRIL 2015 · CHARLOTTE, NC
This session, called “How to Make Email Awesome” covered the latest stats and trends about how people are interacting with email and tactics to make your emails stand out in the inbox—including responsive design, behavioral triggers, video, animated GIFs and more.
KANSAS CITY DIRECT MARKETING ASSOCIATION
APRIL 2015 • KANSAS CITY, MO
Email Design for the Non-Designer
Think you’re not a designer? Think again! Design doesn’t require innate talent or a fancy degree—in fact, there’s a method to the design madness. In this session, I discussed:
Using white space, content hierarchy, color, and images in email
How marketers of any skill level can learn basic design principles
A framework to create effective email communications
ASCEND SUMMIT
October 2014 • Philadelphia, PA
Three Strategies for Mobile-Optimized Emails
Subscribers read messages in more apps, devices, programs and platforms than ever before—interacting with emails not only from their desktop, but also from mobile phones and tablets. With half of all emails opened on a mobile device, it’s crucial to account for fat fingers and small screens and ensure a consistent and effective email experience.
This session covered the implications of various screen sizes and operating systems, strategies for approaching mobile-friendly emails, common pitfalls, and easy wins to implement right away.
Read the session recap
SEARCHLOVE
September 2014 • San Diego, CA
Designed for Success: Optimizing the Email Experience
Great design is more than stunning graphics—it’s a key strategy to unlocking the success of email. And as one of digital marketing’s highest performers, email requires its own unique set of content, marketing, and design considerations. Discover the six stages of the inbox experience and pick up actionable tips to help you create amazing emails that get opened, clicked, and stay out of the spam folder.
ARTIFACT
MAY + SEPT 2014 • AUSTIN, TX + Providence, RI
Responsive Email: It’s Not As Bad As You Think
Fluid, flexible, and responsive techniques are well-known for the web, but applying those concepts to email is misunderstood at best and appalling to web designers at worst. Having drank the fluid + flexible kool-aid, inspired email designers have successfully applied responsive concepts within the constraints of a famously standards-adverse email universe. These sessions covered how to apply responsive concepts email, tips for approaching a responsive email project, and examples of well-known brands building awesome responsive emails.
SXSW V2V
July 2014 • Las Vegas, NV
Customer-Centric Email Marketing
Co-presented with Ros Hodgekiss and Colin Nederkoorn
View the slides →
This fast-paced, one hour workshop covered the key elements that go into compelling, customer-centric campaigns—as well as how to measure an email program’s success.
Featuring a selection of real-world campaigns from B2B and B2C senders, we showed attendees how companies and startups are successfully using email—and covered the types of emails every company should be sending throughout the customer lifecycle to reach lapsed customers, engage new users, and simply communicate what’s new and valuable.
KISSMETRICS GUEST WEBINARS
How to Create Great Emails that Get Opened and Clicked
3 Strategies for Awesome Mobile-Optimized Emails
Watch the recordings →
In these webinars geared toward beginner- to intermediate-level marketers, I covered the basics of creating great emails for desktop and mobile inboxes:
How using performance-driven email design can drive email strategy that delivers results
Best practices and principles for creating great emails that get users to take action
Simple strategies and A/B tests to maximize conversions
How to find out who is opening your emails on mobile
Implications of various screen sizes and operating systems
Common pitfalls, easy wins and the secret to getting responsive email working in email clients such as Outlook