What SheSaid

Above: Kim Hoang, Melinda Moore, Raquel Krouse and Melissa Robinson.

SheSays finally landed in Los Angeles this past Wednesday, with its launch event at the Weber Shandwick offices.

With existing chapters in London and New York, SheSays offers resources (such as roundtable discussions, networking events and a mentoring program) for professional women worldwide to supplement their creative digital career development.

During the chapter launch, the panel discussion centered around the apropos topic of social media, and featured three of the industry’s thought leaders.

The presentations kicked off with Melinda Moore, VP of Trailer Park, who has worked on cross-platform campaigns for companies including imeem.com, msnbc.com and Vivendi Universal Televsion. Melinda shared case studies from her work with YouTube as a tool for social change, with a spotlight on will.i.am.’s use of the video sharing site to gather support in the effort to end world poverty.

Raquel Krouse, VP and Social Media Lead at the IPG Emerging Media Lab, provided insight on the importance of listening as customers are talking more with their peers online about products and brands. Raquel presented examples of how active listening has helped social media-savvy brands uncover opportunities, stay competitive, manage their reputation and avert crisis.

Bringing it all together was Weber Shandwick’s own Melissa Robinson, SVP, Digital Communications, who drove home the point that with new outlets and tools, companies still need to create content that is relevant and compelling. Melissa shared her work with Stand Up To Cancer and how they engaged organizations, bloggers and social media sites to help mobilize a legion of supporters. They joined a “Virtual Standup,”  which increased online conversations and helped drive consumer participation in the telecast which ultimately helped raise $100 million for the cause.

The Q&A session which followed allowed for an in-depth discussion with the audience on the future of Twitter, ROI measurement and the importance of human analysis of data collected from listening tools.

The SheSays launch had a terrific turnout and leveraging the momentum and success of the launch, the next event, featuring mobile gaming, is already in the works and is slated to take place early April.