As great as reading blog posts and consuming content online is, there is something special about meeting face to face with other people. Marketing conference and events provide this opportunity and more.
Of course, there are returns from conferences which are hard to show in a spreadsheet — networking, learning from sessions and just having a good time in a new city — there are also very tangible reasons to attend a conference such as finding more leads, building your brand recognition, face to face time with companies who you want to ask specific questions.
And then there are the possibilities such as learning about a new tool before anyone else (and maybe even getting a specific discount) and the chance to find something different than you would from your online browsing.
With that in mind, here’s a list of the top marketing conferences coming up in 2019. Some of these are part of the same group but held in multiple locations and some are one time events in the year. To help you navigate all these events, we’re starting with the events which are held in multiple locations, and then we’ve listed them in the order they occur during the year. The events which occur in multiple locations will have fewer details later on.
Repeat events
Affiliate Summit
Affiliate Summit is a series of four events around the world that are focused on affiliate marketing. They all include streams for
- Affiliates
- Affiliate management
- Advertisers
- OPM and Agencies
- Solution providers
- and networks
They include speakers like Neil Patel and Mark Walters.
Mobile Growth Summits
There are six Mobile Growth Summits around the world in 2019 that focus on “providing mobile marketing professionals with frontline content and community events to help grow their app businesses.” Basically, if you are a mobile user acquisition agency or run affiliate acquisition campaigns, then these events will help you.
Ad:Tech
Learn, Network and Play at Ad:Tech. Ad:tech seeks to help marketers take advantage of the latest trends in the digital world. Ad:Tech hosts a series of events, 8 last year, across the world but with most occurring in Asia. There is only one confirmed event so far in 2019, Ad:Tech Sydney but more are sure to come.
SMX
SMX stands for Search Marketing Expo and contains the twin combo of SEO and SEM. Organized by Search Engine Land, these experts in Search run a tight ship of events. With five events already planned this year (and a sixth bound to come), there are options in North America, Europe, and a special Advanced event.
DigiMarCon
DigiMarCon is for digital marketers covering a wide range of aspects including digital strategy, programmatic advertising, web experience, mobile marketing, retargeting, video marketing, A/B testing and more. There are 15 DigiMarCon conferences around the world, mostly in the US but also in locations in Europe, Asia, and Oceania.
Social Media Week
Social Media Week is a conference for professionals in media, marketing, and technology. It focuses on delivering insights, ideas, and opportunities to help advance themselves and businesses.
Social Media Week takes place in over 25 cities around the world so there’s a good chance at least one will be close to where you are.
Now let’s see look at all the events coming this year.
January Marketing Conferences
Affiliate Summit West 2019
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Kicking off the year is Affiliate Summit West, the first in a series of events around the world that are focused on Affiliate marketing. They all include streams for
- Affiliates
- Affiliate management
- Advertisers
- OPM and Agencies
- Solution providers
- and networks
Starting the year by working on your business, and perhaps enjoying the other treats vegas has to offer isn’t a bad idea at all.
SMX West
San Jose, California, USA
SMX West is all about the double-edged sword of SEO and SEM occurring in San Jose. With the Google headquarters just round the corner, it’s no surprise that this is one of the key search conferences of the year. If you are looking to learn from and network with other search marketing professionals from across the globe in sunny California then SMX might be right for you.
February Marketing Conferences
Mobile World Congress
Barcelona, Spain
We’re all using our phones to do more and more, with a great percentage of web traffic and search coming from Mobile device. So understanding the latest developments in mobile technology and mobile marketing is vital. At Mobile World Congress, you’ll get both and a chance to explore the heart of Catalan culture. This conference is as tasty as the Jamón.
YoastCon 2019
Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Want to stay ahead in the SEO game? Come to YoastCon for two days of intense training from top experts. Joost de Valk started Yoast as a blog sharing his insights into SEO and quickly established himself as a leader in the field with pieces of training and a very popular WordPress plugin. YoastCon continues that trend with a focus on SEO experts from Yoast and beyond with the option to get specific feedback on your own site. If you collect organic traffic from search, then this is one not to miss.
Mobile Growth Summit
San Francisco, California, USA
If you are involved with mobile app marketing, be that as an agency or affiliate, then why not take a trip to San Francisco for the first Mobile Growth Summit of the year. With speakers from Reddit, GameJam, and Dashlane, there’s a wealth of experience to mine. This is also the largest of the Mobile Growth Summit with over 1,500 attendees. Plus you can visit the amazing sites that San Francisco has to offer like the Golden Gate bridge…which is red not gold.
VidCon London (Europe)
London, United Kingdom
Do you dream of being the next YouTube star? Maybe not but you’d still be a fool to ignore the importance of Video and VidCon.
Just as video is a growing online advertising platform and becoming increasingly important, so is the VidCon conference. VidCon London 2019 will be the third European VidCon and will include guests like Rhett and Link as well as thousands of screaming fans.
Social Media Week Lagos
Lagos, Nigeria
Social Media Week Lagos is one of the few marketing conferences in Africa and one of even fewer outside of South Africa. They state that their mission is “to help people and organizations connect through collaboration, learning and the sharing of ideas and information.”
The packed schedule covers many different topics and has everything from talks and panels to workshops and meetups. Even if you aren’t located in Africa, this could be a great opportunity to learn more and connect with people in a market with great potential.
Social Media Week Austin
Austin, Texas, USA
The second Social Media Week of the year and the first in the US quickly following Social media Week Lagos. Located in the capital of Texas, Austin you can also check out the great music scene during downtime. Confirmed speakers include
- David Gonzalez, Founder of Internet Marketing Party,
- Curt Maly, Founder of Social Media Ad Genius
- Re Perez, Founder and CEO of Branding for the People
If you are driving traffic from Social media sources or running retargeting campaigns then this conference could be invaluable to learn from experts and attend masterclasses to boost your results.
Social Media Week Copenhagen
Copenhagen, Denmark
The third social media week of 2019 and this one is in Europe. Speakers include
- Michal Obloj
- Maz Spork
- Anders Buchmann.
Sessions are in English and Danish.
Social Media Week Hamburg
Hamburg, Germany
Social Media Week Hamburg, unlike other social media weeks, is in German which will probably be a highly positive or negative deciding factor for you. Speakers this year include:
- Alexander Drechsel
- Martin Fuchs
- Andrea Frahm
If you run ads or drive traffic from social media and speak German, then this conference is for you.
Traffic & Conversion Summit
San Diego, CA
Traffic & Conversion is all about what’s hot and what’s working right now in digital marketing. The team behind the conference promise
- Actionable content
- Inspiration
- and networking and fun.
This year’s speakers include JJ Virgin and Frank Kern with more to be announced. With over 6,000 attendees and 108 sessions last year you’re bound to find something to aid your digital marketing efforts.
March Marketing Conferences
PodFest Multimedia Expo
Orlando, Florida, USA.
Podcasts have had a long journey to popularity but, despite their slow start, they are really growing now. PodFest focuses on both audio and video podcasts and promises
- World-Class Education
- Inspiration & Ideas
- and Community & Networking
If you are looking to reach new audiences by starting podcasting or grow your existing podcast audience, then this conference could be for you.
SXSW Conference & Festivals
Austin, Texas, USA.
South by Southwest describes itself as “helping creative people achieve their goals”. This might not sound like a natural place to go for marketers to go, but in fact is a frequent haunt of many of those at the top of their industry.
This is a great conference to go to not just to stay on top of marketing but to find out what the latest trends in your industry are.
Affiliate Summit Europe
Amsterdam, Netherlands
The second Affiliate Summit of the year and this one is based in Europe. If you’re an affiliate who can’t make one of the American or the Asia conference, or you have a focus on the European market, then you’ll want to check out Affiliate Summit Europe.
Ad:tech Sydney
Sydney, Australia
The Sydney chapter of Ad:Tech promises topics for this coming year including
- The end of Brand
- A future without advertising
- AI and Creativity: Even better than the real thing?
Certainly sounds like a forward-looking conference in the marketing space.
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Social Media Marketing World
San Diego, California, USA
Ignoring social media marketing is crazy in today’s world and with its rapidly changing nature, Social Media Marketing World is a great conference to consider. The sessions cover everything from
- Facebook ads
- Facebook organic
- Messenger bots
- Live video
- YouTube
- Social strategy
And more specific niche topics. The speaker list includes names like Mari Smith, Jay Baer, Amy Porterfield, Sue Zimmerman and more.
April Marketing Conferences
Social Media Week New York
New York, New York, USA
Stories is the theme for Social Media Week New York this year and it makes a lot of sense. Telling stories is a key part of social media strategy not to mention the growth of “story” social media sharing tools. Speakers include
- Marcus Collins, Chief Consumer Connections Officer at Doner
- Neil Vogel, CEO at Dotdash
- Lucie Greene, Worldwide Director at The Innovation Group
MarTech Conference West
San Jose, California, USA
SoloEntreprenuers may want to turn away (unless you are planning on expanding soon) MarTech is a conference blending Marketing, Technology AND management. This unique blend is great for leaders who cross traditional divides or want to get a step ahead by diving into adjacent topics.
The conference has sessions, workshops and networking events scheduled in but the agenda for the coming year isn’t out just yet.
Programmatic I/O
San Francisco, California, USA
Programmatic I/O is a conference organized by AdExchanger that is focused on Programmatic media and marketing. This is a great conference for newbies and old hands a like as there are 6 different tailored agendas depending on your needs.
Content Marketing Conference
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Content marketing is evolving and changing as our media landscape develops. The Content Marketing Conference is focused on staying on top of the latest trend and developments to help your marketing work.
The conference covers different stages of content marketing including
- Planning
- Creation
- Optimization
- and distribution
Sign up to get ahead of the content game.
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May Marketing Conferences
MAU 2019
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
MAU is the leading Mobile Acquisition and retention conference that is taking place in the MGM Grand Las Vegas this year. With presenters who
- Head mobile user acquisition for top companies,
- Create tools to aid Mobile User Acquisition
- And run agencies
There is a range of perspectives and experience. If you are interested, you’ll have to apply to attend, so you’d better hurry up and get your application in.
The Social Shake-Up
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
The Social Shake-Up is a social media focused conference that promises to feature heavily vetted speakers who will share strategies and tactics that have truly shaken up the social media ecosystem. The speakers for 2019 include
- Nina Mishkin, the Brand and Content Strategy Lead from Twitter
- Jason Dailey, The U.S. Agency partner development lead at Facebook.
- Brandi Boatner, the social and influencer communications lead in global markets at IBM
- John Carroll, the manager of local business outreach at Yelp
a small taste of their line up.
Mobile Growth Summit UK
London, UK
The UK leg of the Mobile Growth Summit world tour also focuses on effective mobile marketing. Although it is smaller in scale than the San Francisco event earlier in the year — over 400 attendees as opposed to over 1500 — the speaker lineup is also impressive with representatives from The New York Times, Rovio, and Blinkist.
DigiMarCon East 2019
New York, New York State, USA
DigiMarCon East takes place in New York City and includes a great lineup of speakers including
- Tim Hayden, President & Co-Managing Partner at Brain+Trust Partners
- Randy Rayess, Cofounder at Outgrow
- Erin Richards-Kunkel, Director, Social Media at Herbalife Nutrition
And delivering talks, presenting big ideas and sharing digital marketing stories.
Find Out More
DigiMarCon Canada 2019
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
If you were looking for a Canadian version of the DigiMarCon conference then you’re in luck. This year in Toronto you can join thousands of others in digital marketing to learn the latest trends and ideas. Speakers include
- Jason Falls, Director of Digital and Social Strategy at Cornett
- Yang Han, CTO and Co-Founder at StackAdapt
- Amanda Bond, Owner at The Ad Strategist
SMX London
London, UK
SMX is for Search Marketing and this SEO and SEM focused conference with a program organized by Search Engine Land. Topics include
- SEO ranking factors in 2018
- Succeeding with Google’s Mobile-First index
- The Art & Science of crafting successful Ads
And more. They offer a boot camp if you are new to search engine and social optimization.
Find Out More
June Marketing Conferences
SMX Advanced: Seattle
Seattle, Washington, USA
While other SMX events have sessions for beginners and less experienced marketers, SMX advanced is for experts only and promises speakers and a program to match. Registration opens in January so we’re waiting to hear who will be present this year.
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Israel Mobile Summit
Tel Aviv, Israel
Israel Mobile Summit is one day of Israel Mobile Week and has four tracks with different focuses.
- Innovation and growth
- Monetization and games
- Mobile advertising
- User acquisition and traffic
The agenda and speakers haven’t been announced yet so be sure to check back to find more specific details for 2019.
DigiMarCon South
Houston, Texas, USA
DigiMarCon South has a wide range of topics that focus on building traffic, expanding brand awareness, improving customer service and gaining insight into today’s latest digital tools.
Speakers include:
- Andrew Chow, Strategist at Ideas & Concepts
- Tim Hayden, President & Co-Managing Partner at Brain+Trust Partners
- Jeff Turnbow, Marketing Consultant at TURNBOW, INC.
DigiMarCon West
Los Angeles, California, USA
Digital marketing and LA, a great combination and with talks on storytelling, brand success and using AI in digital marketing, DigiMarCon west is a great conference this coming year.
Speakers:
- Matthew Perl, Director of Performance Marketing & Broadcasting at Oakland Athletics
- Andrew Chow, Strategist at Ideas & Concepts
- Simon Kelly, Chief Executive Officer at Story Worldwide
DigiMarCon Midwest
Chicago, Illinois, USA
If you head to DigiMarCon Midwest you’ll be able to see
- Rob Cressy, Founder at Bacon Sports
- Christy Kazlo, Director Marketing Technology, Data Activation at Conagra Brands
- Jason Falls, Director of Digital and Social Strategy at Cornett
and more, speak on incorporating Storytelling with your digital marketing strategy, from broad ideas and strategy to tool-specific tips.
July Marketing Conferences
VidCon
Anaheim, California, USA
The original and biggest VidCon is the place to go to learn about the latest in Video content. Their three track path provides options for those who want to meet the latest stars, who are creating video content and industry representatives who want to get ahead of the trends and network with others.
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MozCon
Seattle, Washington state, USA
Moz started off as a blog about SEO but thanks to their knowledge, expertise and useful tools they added for website SEO and local SEO they have become much more. Now their conference attracts experts focuses on leveraging search to reach more people.
Find Out More
August
Mobile Growth Summit New York
New York, New York State, USA
If you’re closer to the east coast of the USA and focused on Mobile user acquisition then the New York chapter of Mobile Growth Summit will be right up your street. Its lineup includes representatives from Google, Amazon Music, and MBolden.
Podcast Movement
Orlando, Florida, USA
Podcast movement is a conference focused on the growing industry of Podcasts. With tracks looking at the industry, marketing and monetization as well as creating and technical, this is not just a conference for podcast creators but also those seeking to connect with customers via podcasts. Speakers and schedule to be announced later.
Find Out More
DigiMarCon Australia
Sydney, Australia
If you are a digital marketer based in Oceania, then the DigiMarCon Australia conference will be right up your street. The speakers’ list also includes some local names including
- Tony Eades, CEO (APAC) and Chief Strategy Officer at Salted Stone
- Renee Stopps, Enterprise Account Director AUNZ at Microsoft
- James Gilbert, APAC Marketing Director
As well as some speakers from the rest of the world too.
Find Out More
August Marketing Conferences
Mobile Growth Summit Canada
Toronto, Ottawa, Canada
The smallest of the Mobile Growth Summit events doesn’t mean that it isn’t valuable. The agenda might not be as packed, nor the speaker list so full, but that means you have more time to for the events you want to attend. Speakers from Facebook, Budge Studios and Flipboard will provide valuable content.
September
Content Marketing World
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Content Marketing World is organized by the Content marketing institute. The last conference saw 3700 marketers attend and 2019 promises to follow suit with 120 sessions and workshop on topics such as
- Strategy
- Storytelling
- ROI
- Demand generation
- AI
And the latest developments that arise during the coming year.
Find Out More
INBOUND
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Do I really need to tell you about Inbound? Okay, Inbound in a huge marketing conference put on by HubSpot. With over 24,000 attendees in 2018 and speakers including Michelle Obama, John Cena, and Shonda Rhimes, Inbound goes beyond digital marketing.
If there’s one conference to check out next year, it’s this one.
Growth Marketing Summit 2019
Frankfurt, Germany
The Growth Marketing summit is organized by KonversionsKraft and focuses on established methodologies and data-driven processes to drive company growth. Unlike many other conferences spread across several days, Growth Marketing Summit is only on one long day. That gives it a very different feel and appeal to others.
DMEXCO 2019
Cologne, Germany
Dmexco brings together digital businesses, marketers, and innovators to connect and learn from each other. Dmexco focuses on the global picture as well as having locally specific advice. Their program includes debates, seminars, and exhibitions to guide attendees about the future of digital marketing and business. Adobe is the main sponsor and speakers including Itay Pincas of Saleup, Amanda Atherton of Zyper, and Luke Barnes of Vice.
MarTech East
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
MarTech East is the East coast version of the MarTech Conference which focuses on the combination of Marketing, Technology, and Management. With topics on using data correctly and product management thanks to technology,
Mobile Growth Summit Europe
Berlin, Germany
Unlike some of the other Mobile Growth Summit events, the European event takes place over two days not one. This means more time for sessions and, while smaller than the San Francisco event, a larger attendance of over 600 visitors.
You can expect speakers from The New York Times, Playspace, and Rovio as well as many more experts.
DigiMarCon UK
London, UK
The only DigiMarCon conference in Europe is DigiMarCon UK. While there are some familiar faces from other DigiMarCon Conferences, there are some unique speakers you can see here including
- David Reilly, Managing Director at Let’s Learn Digital
- Shelley Grierson, Marketing Manager at VidBuild
- Steven Lloyd Barlow, Director at VidBuild
With the venue by Heathrow airport, you definitely won’t get lost on your way from the airport.
Find Out More
DigiMarCon Asia Pacific
Singapore
The organizers of DigiMarCon Asia Pacific State that their aims for this year’s conference to help attendees develop their audience via building traffic, creating brand awareness, improving customer service and developing better use of digital tools. To fulfill this goal, they have drafted a group of speakers including.
- Tony Eades, CEO (APAC) and Chief Strategy Officer at Salted Stone
- Inez Gn, Digital Account Director at Carbon Interactive
- James Gilbert, APAC Marketing Director at HubSpot
October Marketing Conferences
DigiMarCon Middle East
Dubai, UAE
One of the few conferences in the Middle East, DigiMarCon Middle East will focus on emerging strategies, the latest innovative technologies and best practices from successful digital marketers including
- Christian Farioli, Digital Marketing Lecturer & Digital Transformation Advisor at ESD FZC
- Bahia Nar, communication and social media expert and trainer at Fireworks Consultancy
- Nick Vinckier, Chief Strategy Officer at Duval Union Consulting
PI Live
London, UK
PI live is a two-day conference centered around affiliate and performance marketing with a program for publishers, agencies, and advertisers. As the conference is focused on performance, they promise you’ll see a great ROI on your investment to attend. The program and speakers for next year have not been announced yet as so you’ll have to wait to find out more.
Marketing Nation Summit
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
The Marketing Nation summit is hosted by Marketo (a suit of marketing products from Adobe). Unlike some events doesn’t just include your usual bunch of up and coming solo marketers but also representatives of giants like Airbnb, Google Cloud and this year Jamie Foxx. As this event is run by Marketo, there are several tracks which focus more on the Marketo product but that’s not the only content here. The six tracks include:
- MarTech Innovators
- The Fearless Marketer
- Marketo Technical & Foundational Techniques
- Engagement Best Practices
- Marketo Product Showcase
- Product Updates
If you use the market products with your marketing, then this conference will be invaluble for you. If not, you might want to look elsewhere.
DigiMarCon Africa
Johannesburg, South Africa
Another conference in South Africa, and another chapter of the DigiMarCon conferences. As 2018’s conference has just finished, we are still waiting for more details on the agenda for 2019.
November Marketing Conferences
Web Summit
Lisbon, Portugal
Web Summit in Lisbon is a massive event with over 1200 speakers across 24 different tracks. This means it’s not solely focused on digital and performance marketing, but as these forms of marketing are almost always focused online, there is an abundance of crossover. There is a specific “Panda Conf” track for marketing and AdTech, but other tracks cover marketing aspects specific to their niche.
Speakers in 2018 included
- Ev Williams, Founder and CEO of Medium
- Tim Berners-Lee, World Wide Web Inventor
- Stephanie McMahon, Chief Brand Officer at WWE
Mobile Growth Summit Asia
Hong Kong, China
Another two-day event to help you boost your monetization and user acquisition tactics in the mobile market. Learn from great speakers from The New York Times, Rovio, and Playspace and network with others in Hong Kong.
DigiConMar Latin America
TBA
DigiConMar Latin America is the South America chapter, but in 2018 it has all taken place online. Perhaps this will change in 2019 but if not, then this provides a great option to attend a conference even if you can’t travel. The details of the next conference aren’t out yet so keep an eye on the page to learn more.
Which of These Marketing Conferences Will You Attend?
As I’m sure you can see, there are hundreds of marketing conferences happening every year across the globe. Some are more similar than others but may occur closer to you, others have a unique take and content that may really suit your business needs.
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5 comments
This blog gives very important information about different marketing conferences. Thanks for sharing.
This article reminds me about me old phases with lots of great facts to put on. Journey to the milestone we all are running through is also interesting as we all are working on different platforms with same enthusiasm
I will always keep this piece of information noted for my own future. Read More on my profession https://bit.ly/2eMYK1W
“Keep up the good work”
Great stuff. This blog gives information about best marketing conferences, which is an important one. Thanks for sharing.
Fabulous blog you have written, it has enhanced my skills and will be helpful in future.
Hi Chris!
Marketing conferences and events are really big ideas to share the knowledge and the key to success, you really shared the coolest marketing events.
What about MADCon: This is for all those passionate souls who live and breathe marketing.
I will also update this post on my social media channels.
Thanks for sharing it!