Learn about the SEO issues surrounding website redesigns at NJ CAMA’s April event, “How To Avoid Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Disaster During a Website Redesign.” This presentation will provide insights into the impact a website redesign has on a company’s search engine rankings, now one of the top ways a that prospective customers find websites.

Join NJ CAMA members and other communications professionals on April 17 from 6-8 p.m. at D&R Greenway in Princeton, NJ for an informative presentation by Glenn Gabe, President of G-Squared Interactive. Glenn will share his real-world experiences with helping companies retain search engine rankings while going through a website redesign. He will explain how to avoid SEO disaster, as well as how to recover from a poor URL migration (when the redesign process negatively impacts SEO). Some of the topics Glenn will cover include interactive design, programming, content optimization, and the impact of content management systems (CMS). Ultimately, this discussion will focus on important topics that a redesign team should address so companies can avoid long-term damage to organic search traffic.

Glenn Gabe is a digital marketing veteran who helps companies develop marketing strategies that leverage SEO, Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Social Media Marketing (SMM), and Web Analytics. Glenn is also an avid blogger and covers the latest in digital marketing strategy on his blog entitled The Internet Marketing Driver. He is also a columnist at Search Engine Journal, a contributor at the Microsoft adCenter blog, and is a featured author in the Google Analytics Help Center.

When: Tuesday, April 17 from 6-8 p.m.
Where: D&R Greenway, Johnson Education Center, RWJ Auditorium, One Preservation Place, Princeton, NJ
Directions: http://www.drgreenway.org/directions.htm
Cost: $25 per person for members, $30 for non-members (catering by Christopher’s Personal Chef Service). Please pre-register using the EventBrite widget below!

Join NJ CAMA members, friends, and creative professionals from around the region for an evening of mingling and making new business connections as you enjoy complimentary appetizers, a cash bar and the comfortable accommodations of the Metro North Bar & Grill.  Metro North is located at 378 Alexander Road in Princeton, NJ and has ample parking.

Don’t miss this great opportunity to reconnect with fellow members or see what NJ CAMA is all about.

When: Tuesday, March 6 from 6 to 8 p.m

Where: Metro North Bar & Grill, 378 Alexander Road, Princeton, NJ

Directions: http://metronorthprinceton.com/contact-metro-grill-princeton.php

Cost: FREE to NJ CAMA members and non-members, but please pre-register using the EventBrite widget below!

New Tools Panelists take questions from NJCAMA audience

NJ CAMA kicked off the new year with an educational networking event on January 10 from 6:00-8:00 PM at D&R Greenway in Princeton, New Jersey.

Attendees learned about new tools for communications professionals such as Open Source, Open Workforce and cloud computing and other design applications and e-marketing software that are changing the way agencies and freelancers approach creative work and deliver results to their clients.

Download a PDF of the January 4, 2012 article about this event from the U.S. 1 Newspaper here.

Watch the video podcast produced by Lubetkin Global Communications LLC after the jump.

A panel discussion, moderated by Creative Marketing Alliance (CMA)’s Interactive Designer, Matt Kulcsar, will feature Ed McLaughlin, Chief Marketing Technologist and Co-founder of SVM E-Business Solutions and Brian Crooks, Executive Creative Director at Influence Interactive discussing “New Tools and Environments for Creatives.”

Watch the Video Podcast (Video will be available here after 5pm EST January 30, 2012.)

About the panelists

Ed McLaughlin

Formerly the creative director at Razorfish, Crooks has over 20 years of experience in the design field and has created several notable fully integrated consumer and BtoB interactive media campaigns, including those of Nestle, Dove, Sallie Mae, Neiman Marcus and General Motors. He will discuss how creatives need to be free to think and have access to the information that drives original thoughts. Attendees will learn to embrace new technologies that are catalysts for ideas, not simply an electronic box of tools. Crooks will focus on the convergence of the physical and digital—the space in which ideas can percolate and where information, observations and insights are the coin of the realm.

Matt Kulcsar

McLaughlin has executed countless online marketing initiatives with organizations large and small, from Fortune 500 to non-profits, across a broad array of industries. A champion of the emerging role of the marketing technologist, Ed has a professional passion for the business-changing potential of open source software, distributed workforce models and cloud computing.  McLaughlin will focus on the concept of the “Distributed Agency,” meaning a shift from physical environments to digital environments and leveraging software-as-a-service, cloud computing, and the collaborative tools and ethos of the open source movement.

Where: Chauncey Conference Center Bar and Lounge at ETS, 660 Rosedale Rd., Princeton, NJ

Get directions: http://www.acc-chaunceyconferencecenter.com/directions.cfm

Cost: FREE to NJ CAMA members and non-members if you register in advance; $10 at the door if you don’t pre-register by Dec. 7 at 5 p.m.

The party includes appetizers, door prizes and a cash bar. Please RSVP by Dec. 7 to attend for free!

Happy Holidays from the NJ CAMA Board of Directors!

Questions? Email programs@njcama.org.

October speaker Maisha Walker, center poses with program chair Beth Brody, left, and Larry Trink, board member

Attendees at the October NJCAMA event got a tour around the social media networking world from Inc. Magazine columnist and social media consultant Maisha Walker.

October NJCAMA speaker Maisha Walker makes a point during her presentation on social media.

Speaker Maisha Walker with NJCAMA president Lisa Kanda.

Members enjoy a Happy Hour at Katmandu

We shook off the “winter blahs” and sprang into networking at KatManDu’s “Friday Night Fever” Happy Hour on March 25. Frank Veronsky made photographs of the networking activities, and our webmaster PodcastSteve turned it into this video slide show. Enjoy!

My first job as President for 2011 is to wish all of you a very happy new year. I would also like to extend my deepest appreciation to Bill Petzinger for his leadership and hard work during his presidency which began March 2009 and ran through December 2010.

I am delighted to announce that the following NJCAMA members have joined the board of directors: Erin Higgins, Gil Howard, Steve Lubetkin, Jennifer Pierce, and Rosanne Zack. As a volunteer-run organization, it’s important to find people with not only the skill and professionalism but with dedication. Returning to the board are folks who exemplify these qualities: Beth Brody, Nina Malone, Ellie Patounas, Bill Petzinger, Stephanie Sharp and Larry Trink. They made 2010 a great year for NJCAMA and I’d like to personally thank each one of them.

The year is moving forward quickly and we are planning many exciting programs and events to support our members’ professional needs and interests. Among them are

• Astra Awards
• NJCAMA’s 25^th Anniversary Celebration
• Important programs featuring practitioners and experts
• Networking events (free for members)
• Roundtable discussions (free to members)
• Professional development
• Annual holiday party
• Discount membership

We are putting the finishing touches on a new strategic plan, the details of which we will share with you soon. As part of this plan, we will look at the very fundamentals of what we do and how we do it. For example, how does the NJCAMA board best serve the interests of our members? Do our speaker programs meet the needs of all members? How can we build a dynamic association of members and experts, online and offline?

Your input, ideas and feedback are of great value and we will make every effort to ensure that NJCAMA will find new ways to engage and collaborate in 2011.

So, small steps at first perhaps, but important ones and in the right direction. I look forward to it.

Sincerely,

Lisa Kanda

President

P.S. – The deadline for joining CAMA at the discount rate expires today. Renew your membership or join today and take advantage of these low rates by visiting our website.

Princeton, NJ (Jan. 12, 2011) – Enjoy KatManDu’s “Friday Night Fever” Happy Hour while mixing and mingling with the area’s leading professional association for marketing, advertising, public relations and communications professionals on Friday, Feb. 4, from 6 to 8 p.m.

The New Jersey Communications, Advertising and Marketing Association (NJ CAMA) is hosting this free event, which will combine great company with good food and drinks. Business-build in a casual atmosphere while taking advantage of KatManDu’s $3 food specials and discounted beer and drink specials. There is no fee or cover charge to attend.

“KatManDu is a great central location for this gathering,” said NJ CAMA President Lisa Kanda of Elkay Corporate Advisors, LLC. “It’s a time to reconnect with colleagues and make new contacts.”

During the event, NJ CAMA will offer a “one day sale” on membership for those who missed the opportunity in December or were sidetracked by severe weather. Join NJ CAMA at the Feb. 4 Happy Hour and take 25 percent off 2011 dues. This incentive drops the price for an individual membership to $75 and a company membership to $150.

“We want to extend NJ CAMA membership to as many interested professionals as possible, and are confident this ‘sale’ will do just that,” Kanda added.

KatManDu is located at 50 Riverview Executive Plaza, Route 29, in Trenton, (next to the Trenton Thunder stadium) and has ample on-site parking. Visit http://www.katmandutrenton.com/06_directions.htm for directions.

While there is no charge to attend the event, please register below so we can get a sense of how many people are coming!

In the event of inclement weather, the Happy Hour gathering will be moved to Friday, Feb. 11.

For more information about this event, contact programs@njcama.org. For membership information, contact membership@njcama.org.

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Follow us to make sure you receive timely information about what’s going on with New Jersey’s fastest growing professional association for leaders in the communications, advertising, marketing, and creative arts.

The area’s leading professional association for marketing, advertising, public relations and communications professionals is offering a Blizzard Blowout special: 25 percent off its yearly dues.

Many in New Jersey were hobbled by the end-of-the-year storm. Now that the new year is here and everyone is back to business, it’s a great time to renew or join the New Jersey Communications, Advertising and Marketing Association (NJ CAMA). Start the year with savings: this incentive drops the price for an individual membership to $75 and a company membership to $150.

Joining NJ CAMA is quick and easy at http://njcama.org/membership/membership-application/ Act fast: discounted rates are good only through Jan. 12, 2011.

NJ CAMA membership includes:

• Discounted entries to NJ CAMA’s awards competition, ASTRA
• Special member rates for programs and events
• Member-to-member discounts
• Cutting-edge programming to keep members at the forefront of industry trends, professional techniques and business development strategies
• Marketing and visibility opportunities
• Networking and business-building events within the creative community

Solo shop? Large company? We have a membership that’s just right:

• Individual membership is perfect when only one representative will be attending our events.
• Company membership allows up to five reps to participate at member rates.”

For more information about NJ CAMA, contact Membership Chair Jennifer Pierce: membership@njcama.org or  917-459-3755.