If you have been around SEO and SEO conferences over the past few years, you have most likely heard of #EpicDinner. I have been to several and it is pretty amazing to see the spectacular events Alan Bleiweiss puts together.

100+ people gathered together over good food and good conversation is really hard to beat. Alan recently acquired EpicDinner.org to get the word out in a more centralized location. We have decided that he really needs a logo and that’s where you come in.

Killer Prizes

Between now and midnight PST on March 31st, 2013, we will be accepting logo design submissions for the #EpicDinner brand. A winning logo will be selected from the submissions before April 5th and the winner will receive some pretty sweet prizes. First of all, as the person who comes up with the #EpicDinner logo, you will always have priority sign up for any #EpicDinner event. You will also receive attribution and recognition on EpicDinner.org for your contribution.

That in itself is pretty bad ass, but there is more! AuthorityLabs has decided to make the prize even sweeter. The winner will receive a 16GB Wi-Fi iPad mini in the color of their choosing and 6 free months on a Pro subscription to AuthorityLabs.

Hints & Tips

• There is currently no preferred color scheme, so feel free to use any colors you think would work well.
• No logos will be shown publicly until after the submission deadline. We don’t want you copying other people.
• Be creative, be original. We are not looking for a stock logo only consisting of fancy lettering: originality is key.

Rules

• Limit of 3 submissions per person. If you submit more, we will disqualify all of your submissions
• AuthorityLabs and Alan Bleiweiss reserve the right to determine that no logo submissions were of sufficient quality to award a winner. If that happens the contest deadline may be extended as needed.
• In order to receive their prize, winner will need to agree to assign all rights to the logo to Alan Bleiweiss as well as supply the logo in vector format such as .eps or .ai.
• All submissions should be emailed to epiclogo@authoritylabs.com and should be in .png or .jpg format.

Good luck!

Can’t attend an upcoming trade show because it’s too far away, you don’t have the money or can’t find a babysitter? With the right social media accounts, you don’t have to miss a thing. Savvy trade show marketers are using social media to get the word out about their trade show display presence. If you’re not able to attend this year’s events, you can still enjoy them without having to buy a ticket or wait in lines. Here’s how to use social media to get (almost) everything out of a trade show without stepping foot in the door.

1. Follow the Event Page on Facebook

Image via Flickr by stoneystiner

Most trade shows set up their events page well ahead of the scheduled event. By liking and following their page, you will get regular updates about the show in your Facebook news feed. They’ll often post articles and pictures about the upcoming show, and this is a great way to find the speakers, vendors and others involved with the show who you’d like to follow.

2. Follow Notable Speakers on Twitter

Image via Flickr by shawncampbell

Once you’ve found the show on Facebook, you can start following the businesses and people involved in the show for regular tweets, articles, photos and more. If you’re unsure of the exact Twitter name of the event, search for the venue where it’s held and find it there. Likely, there is enough information on the venue’s upcoming events page to find the name of the show, and perhaps notable speakers and other people or businesses involved.

3. Connect With the Event and Notable Attendees on LinkedIn

Image via Flickr by mariosundar

LinkedIn is a wonderful platform for professional networking. There is probably already a group (perhaps more than one) set up to follow the trade show, notable persons involved in the show and groups of people planning to attend. Search for businesses and people you know are working with the show or who plan to attend and then you’ll have more resources for tracking the events.

4. Read Blogs About the Trade Show

Image via Flickr by Mike Licht NotionsCapital.com

While searching for the name of the trade show, you’ll also likely find industry bloggers, and then you can follow their blogs for even more information. Bloggers often host live broadcasts of the event, making you feel like you were really there. Look for podcasts and webinars the bloggers are planning to host or broadcast from the trade show. Follow as many blogs as you can relative to the event, so you have a better chance of seeing the speakers and demonstrations you’re most interested in.

5. Watch YouTube Videos of the Trade Show

Image via Flickr by codenamecueball

During and after the show, the event organizers, speakers and businesses who participated in the show will likely all be posting YouTube videos of the highlights. Whatever you weren’t able to keep up with through the bloggers and other social media, you can usually find on YouTube after the fact.

When searching Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media sites, be sure to take a look at their recommendations for other people, pages and businesses you might be interested in. Often, these suggestions lead you to other resources about the trade show.

It’s that time of year again when summer ends and conferences seem to happen almost every week. Check out our favorites –

For more info on these conferences –

BrightonSEO – If you’re looking for tickets to this, we have a few left. Don’t wait to grab these.
PubCon
BlueGlass X
Affiliate Summit

What are your favorite conferences?

So here’s the deal…we’ve heard nothing but great things about BrightonSEO and decided to hook 20 people up with a ticket AND we’re giving away 2 free tickets to the paid workshops. Tickets sold out to this event in less than an hour when they were made public a few weeks ago. We have some of the only remaining slots available.

BrightonSEO is a one day search marketing conference and series of training workshops held at the Brighton Dome followed by an after party at The Corn Exchange. If you’re in the UK, Europe, or just looking to travel overseas for a great day of learning and networking, this is a great event to attend.

How to Get a Free BrightonSEO Ticket

We’re giving 20 event tickets to the first 20 people who follow AuthorityLabs (so we can DM you) and Tweet the following –

“I want a #brightonseo ticket from @authoritylabs http://authoritylabs.com/brightonseo”

If you’re the 21st person to tweet that, you’re out of luck, so don’t wait.

How to Get a Free BrightonSEO Workshop Ticket

There’s a very limited number of tickets to the workshops happening the day before BrightonSEO. We have 2 to give away. These things are priced at £300 each, so free is a pretty awesome deal.

We will be randomly selecting the winners of the workshop tickets from those who tweet the message above for the conference tickets. If we run out of conference passes, you still have a chance to win a workshop pass.

The winners will be selected and notified on August 31, so don’t wait to get your entry in.