What exactly is a military influencer?: MIC 2018

The Military Influencer Conference opened its 2nd year with a bang. Last year, Milblogging was revived and we saw Military Influencer Conference 2017, now we hit the sophomore year and expectations and energies were high.

Ostensibly, this is a 2 1/2 day event, however, because it is Sunday through Tuesday, many participants arrive Saturday and stay through Wednesday, and it is also held at the same time as the larger FinCon. FinCon is a premier conference (which I’ve personally never attended) which also sees numerous satellite conferences like MIC held at/around the same time.

So what exactly is a military influencer?

Great question.

military influencer conference

Even within the community there seem to be different perspectives. I don’t necessarily consider myself a military influencer, for example. But, maybe a better question is who is this conference for?:

  • Content Creators, Entrepreneurs, Organizational founders, and Intrapreneurs with a military connection, even if military-affiliated customers are not your target market.
  • Brands wanting to connect with content creators who have a military connection (but don’t just write for military centered publications).
  • Those who desire to deepen relationships with those military connected content creators, communications professionals, and entrepreneurs who want to see military-connected businesses succeed.
  • Speakers with quality content to deliver, but who are willing to waive their speaker fees.
  • Fortune 500 companies looking for small to medium enterprises and leading content creators with a military connection.
  • Brands who want to better understand how to market to the military family community.

Speaker

military influencer conferenceThis year, I contributed as a speaker and mentor all three days of the conference. I presented a workshop on copyright law and social media (specifically addressing military-related intellectual property resources and branch by branch licensing), I moderated a panel with Andrew Nelson (Fortis LLP) and Rachel Brenke (Connors & Brenke), and served as a mentor for small business owners. I also attended the Pre Conference Connection event hosted by Kayla Roof and Kristen Smith. This pre-conference event was a wonderful way to connect with a smaller group of attendees prior to the larger conference experience.

Want to attend next time? The 2021 event information is now available.