'Not another day of general marketing advice': New international conference brings YouTube and Canva to Northern Ireland for the first time

Entrepreneurs and business owners from across the UK and Ireland, along with delegates travelling from Philadelphia, Canada and the Netherlands, will gather in Belfast next month for Raise Your Visibility Live, a new international conference focused on online visibility.

Taking place on Thursday, October 8, the conference will also mark two firsts for Belfast, with YouTube and Canva each hosting a workshop in the city for the first time as part of the event.

Belfast-based consultant Louise Brogan launched Raise Your Visibility Live after years of travelling to conferences across the UK and the United States in search of the kind of practical advice and networking she wanted to bring back home. She has brought together speakers who would typically appear on stages in Boston, California and London.

Louise said: “I wanted people to experience the kind of conference I had to travel the world to find, without leaving Belfast. This conference will give businesses a clear system for getting found, trusted and paid, built around LinkedIn, AI, video, podcasting and email, not another day of general marketing advice.”

Louise has secured US author, journalist, marketing consultant, and social media marketing expert Chris Brogan to headline Raise your Visibility Live. Chris Brogan has delivered more than 1,000 keynotes worldwide, written 10 books, and helped one founder scale a business from $10 million to $275 million in annual revenue.

Louise added: “I am delighted that Chris Brogan will be the keynote speaker at Raise Your Visibility Live. He’s joined by an international line-up of speakers covering sales, podcasting, video, YouTube, AI and email marketing, including Jess Lorimer, Caroline O'Neill, Minal Patel, Luke Sherran, Mike Russell, plus Martin Huntbach and Lyndsay Cambridge of Jammy Digital.

“I have personally picked each speaker and know that they will offer both practical advice and inspiration to attendees.”

The workshop day, on Wednesday, October 7, in addition to the main event. will include the first workshop YouTube has hosted in Belfast, delivered by Rob Malone, YouTube's Ireland Ambassador, titled “Why every business needs a YouTube channel: getting started with video that brings customers to you”.

Canva will also run its first ever Belfast workshop, “Stand out or get scrolled past: B2B personal branding”, led by Lorna Bladen, SMB Community Business Manager at Canva.

Rob Malone, YouTube's Ireland Ambassador, explained: “I'm so excited to bring YouTube to Belfast for our exclusive YouTube for Business workshop. The session is designed for entrepreneurs who want to start, scale and grow their business on YouTube.”

Lorna Bladen, SMB community business manager at Canva, added: “Belfast's entrepreneurial energy is impossible to ignore, and Canva is showing up to help fuel it, bringing Canva World Tour to Northern Ireland to back the next wave of small business founders.”

The conference's charity partner is Young Enterprise, whose students will help run the registration desk on the day.

Louise Brogan concluded:“Young Enterprise students will get real, hands-on experience of running an event as well as access to the outstanding line up of speakers. I hope that they will come away inspired to start their own businesses or take an entrepreneurial spirit into their future careers. “

Raise Your Visibility Live runs from 9am to 5pm on Thursday, October 8 at Assembly Buildings Conference Centre, Belfast. The workshop day on October 7 takes place at Ulster Bank, Belfast, with sessions on YouTube, Canva, website design, email marketing and LinkedIn advertising included in the ticket price.

Tickets start at £225 with a special charity rate of £175 and are available at https://louisebrogan.com/raise-live/.