It was an amazing three days at Hispancize 2011. If I were to post all of the information shared during the conference this blog post may have been too long for you to read. Since there will be a number of other conference reviews for you to browse through, I’ve decided to share only a selection of moments experienced.

DRAMA

You know you’ve made it when PETA decides to crash your event. Yes, perhaps the most unexpected act at the second annual Hispanicize conference was the abrupt appearance of a PETA protestor who dressed as a hotel staffer took over the podium during one of the conference’s luncheon keynotes. She was swiftly removed from stage and the hugely successful Hispanicize 2011 continued as planned. (I know this is what they were hoping came out of that stunt, guess it worked.)

SUCCESS

Over 400 attendees were at the event which took place at the Renaissance Hotel in the heart of Hollywood, almost doubling the attendance of Hispanicize 2010.  Key topics were discussed in 30 themed sessions, with over 70 panelist providing key insights about the industry.

INSIGHTS

Lee Vann, CEO and Founder Captura Group shared an informative presentation on how to build and manage engage communities of Hispanics on Facebook to drive ROI through a case study of Unilever’s ViveMejor program. Access the deck here. Great statistics!

Rosanna Fiske, APR, CEO and Chair of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the first Latina executive to ever lead the world’s largest public relations organization of 30,000 members gave one of the most dynamic keynote speeches during the conference. She shared the fact that spending on PR is up to $4 billion. That according to eMarketer, PR pro’s are the most effective in leveraging social media. She noted that Hispanics are the mainstream in America, and how the current Latino population is not ours abuela’s Latino population of two decades ago. Fiske talked about how we have to reclaim our identity and lead with it, pointing the fact that we are the next generation of US leadership.

Fiske continued by addressing two key points:

• Companies need to understand social media should be 1/3 about conversations, 1/3 about brand & 1/3 about others
• We need the next generation of Latino leaders in PR, we are not doing enough to develop our talent

Hispanic Public Relations Association (HPRA) announced the launch of a Dallas affiliate, which will become a full chapter later this year, adding to the organization’s New York and Los Angeles chapters.

Hispanicize announced that its third conference, Hispanicize 2012, will take place in Miami next April.

PRIZES, PRIZES and more PRIZES…

Conference attendees took home a number of prizes ranging from a washer, dryer and refrigerator courtesy of Lowes, to a number of iPads. I was fortunate enough to take home a Flip cam courtesy of Telenoticias and a $100 certificate courtesy of SuperBoleteria.com!!!

FUN

Hispanicize proved to be an excellent networking event; bloggers, journalists, PR pro’s and brands alike connected during scheduled cocktail hours and after-party. I had a blast meeting some of my twitter connections, including: @MNSiobal, @Eva_Smith, @IvetteZurita, @RJ_C, @JacqCarly, @ediaz33 and @lancerios.

Overall, a conference that can’t be missed.

Continue the conversation on Hispanic PR Chat…

The debate of blogger compensation was at center stage throughout the conference.  For additional insight on how to collaborate with bloggers, join Hispanic PR Chat (#hprchat) on Twitter this Wednesday at 8 pm ET.

Also, join the PR conversation with Rosanna Fiske, special guest of Hispanic PR Chat this October!!!