In an industry rife with failures and poor service, Richard Bartrem, Vice-President, Culture and Communications for WestJet will take you through the story of how WestJet owners are empowered to deliver an exceptional guest experience that drives word of mouth among the airline's guests and has made it one of the most successful airlines in the world. Find out how WestJet embeds a customer evangelism focus into the fabric of its company and how the marketer's role inside their company expands beyond just external communications to include responsibilities for the overall customer experience and employee-brand culture.

Battle-hardened WOM veterans will engage in a rapid-fire assault on your traditional business senses. These experts will debate, discuss, harangue and collaborate on key questions that you as a prospective word of mouth marketer face. Attend and track the number of insights and informed opinions shot out of this experience cannon per minute.

How do word of mouth marketers operate differently in a B2B world? What unlocked value is trapped in your customer network? What tools do you use to harness? How do you mange the process inside a B2B organization? How do you sell these ideas into organizations? What's the scoop on corporate blogging and co-creation with your customers?

What are the common elements to formulating a word of mouth plan? What's the best way to turn your customers and employees into advocates? What's the best approach to social networks, blogs and brand experiences? Is the notion of creating your own brand community a fool's dream or smart marketing? Find out the answers from leaders in the beverage and financial worlds.

The women behind Mabel's Labels have found that WOM in the "mom circuit" is red hot and can be attributed to Mabel's lightning growth. Mabel is marketed to moms; a strategy that has proved very fruitful! Moms are willing, able and evangelical about spreading word-of-mouth. Early on, customer devotees were asking for a kickback for all the friends they were converting. This brought on the Agent program. Women throughout North America began selling Mabel's Labels on commission spreading by WOM. Mabel has tried many marketing, advertising and PR avenues, but they are convinced that "feet on the street", grass roots chatter is what works for this product. The power of a mama-blogger's endorsement continues to amaze. Facebook, med.ium, YouTube, digg, stumble… all are incredibly relevant in marketing to moms. If you think "mom" = "Big Box Retail"? Think again!

How do you harness an international community of hard core ambassadors and fans? Find out how a leading global brand like Specialized Bikes created the "Facebook" of mountain biking. Covering everything from the internal hurdles and challenges to external community development and engagement needs, this session provides insight into the power of creating your own brand community through online and offline social networking. Discover a number of translatable learnings for big gorilla brands and underdog grassroots brands alike by finding out how to involve your customers and fans effectively within your product planning and marketing processes. Don't go gonzo, watch out for that "close-minded marketing" tree stump and keep your eyes peeled for some authentic brand awesomeness ahead!

He's sold millions of albums worldwide as both a solo artist and the frontman for the rock band, Moist. David Usher is a multi-platinum award-winning musician who has entertained millions. Through his own website, www.DavidUsher.com, David is in constant experimentation mode with online social networks, video sharing sites and more. He's not only a passionate artist, but someone who understands the power of word of mouth. During this very exclusive luncheon conversation, David will discuss the ever-changing face of the music industry, how his word of mouth continues to spread, and what marketers need to know about nurturing fans. Mitch Joel - President of the award-winning digital marketing agency, Twist Image, Blogger and Podcaster (Six Pixels of Separation) will conduct the interview.

Find out from the experienced pros the right and wrong ways to do WOM and how to push the line and not go over. Determine the difference between authenticity, great storytelling, stealth and faking it. Learn how to weave ethics into every marketing initiative and word of mouth program you do. Determine when you have a problem and what exactly you need to do.

Not-for-profits have been organizing and activating grassroots influencers since their first inception. Learn from some of Canada's top and most innovative non-profit organizations and initiatives on how they build community, activate influencers and build support for their causes. If you are a non-profit or CSR-focused organization, this is a must attend segment.

Yes, word of mouth can be measured, quantified and leveraged. Understand how to track your organization's word of mouth, both online and offline. Discover the value of a conversation, what key metrics to look for and how to gather it. Understand what people are saying, how to make sense of it and make it actionable for your management.

Douglas Rushkoff, founder of NYU's "Narrative Lab" originated the now-popular concepts of "viral media" and "thought contagion". His book Media Virus changed the landscape of messaging and marketing by showing how our new interconnectedness promotes the flow of ideas based on their capacity to challenge our unconscious assumptions.

Consumers don't want to engage with brand mythologies, they want good products – and good excuses to share what they've learned with other people. Rather than looking to media to create your brand for you, accept that your product is itself a medium. This is first step towards learning how to invest a product with what it needs to survive in a transparent and virally communicative mediaspace.

Douglas will explain how and why he developed the notion of viral media, why most marketers still misunderstand the basic proposition, and how to invest a product with the social currency required to make it worth sharing with others.