January 28, 2009 (CAP Newswire) — CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com ("CAP"), the world’s largest and longest-running affiliate marketing directory for the online gaming industry, has announced a new keynote speaker for its CAP Euro London conference, which kicks off tomorrow. Sharon Baylay, the General Manager for Microsoft Online Services Group, U.K., will be delivering the keynote address on Friday, January 30th, at 2:30pm local time.
At Microsoft, Ms. Baylay holds responsibility for running the Windows Live and MSN portal and advertising businesses. She also oversaw the introduction of the new MSN Search and adCenter services to the U.K. market, including the acquisition of Multimap to deliver enhanced local search and mapping functionality. In addition, Ms. Baylay oversaw improvements to Hotmail and Messenger, including establishing relationships with premier social networking sites like Facebook and Bebo.
Ms. Baylay also managed the integration of ScreenTonic and aQuantive with Microsoft, which saw the introduction of enhanced mobile and direct advertising services. As a result, Ms. Baylay grew the U.K. business 50 percent year over year, and took the U.K. online services group to be the largest and most successful international online subsidiary for Microsoft.
Prior to her current role, Ms. Baylay spent the previous five years running international MSN business in Asia Pacific, Greater China, Canada, the Americas and EMEA, where she was responsible for overseeing all joint ventures and partnerships and developing other new business opportunities in these countries, as well as implementing investment strategies for emerging markets to help extend MSN’s global reach.
Ms. Baylay’s skills in managing the growth of emerging markets dates back to 1996, when she worked as a regional manager for the Africa, Mediterranean and Middle East region — specifically running Microsoft’s Anti-Piracy and Internet Security team. Many of Sharon’s experiences are related to how information technology is becoming a significant enabler of the economies and people in developing countries.
Before joining Microsoft, Ms. Baylay worked in the PC and PC Services Industry for Olivetti and was an Accredited IBM, Apple and Compaq Systems Sales Manager.
At CAP Euro London, Ms. Baylay will discuss social media, covering her experience of various social networking sites and the positive and negative factors of marketing through these channels. She will also discuss:
• How social networking is more than just Facebook
• How social media tools like Xing and LinkedIn can help your business
• The pros and cons of advertising through social networking sites, and what levels of success they may offer advertisers
• The potential value of hosting your own branded social network as a method of attracting and retaining new players
• The advantages of localization (language sites, local searches)
• How new online communication methods such as Web 2.0, Social Networking, blogs, Wikis, RSS, etc. may affect future online marketing strategies
• Targeting these new techniques for developing markets
• The effectiveness and relevance of offline and mobile marketing methods
Sharon Baylay is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, and has travelled the world extensively in her roles at Microsoft. She lives in Wimbledon, South London with her partner and their baby son.
The event's originally scheduled keynote speaker, Susan Kish, was unable to deliver the keynote address after a skiing accident.
"We're extremely excited to have Sharon Baylay on board as our new keynote speaker. Her impressive range of experience will no doubt provide much helpful insight to the thousands of affiliates, online marketers and webmasters who will be attending CAP Euro London," commented Lou Fabiano, CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com's Founder and President. "And, of course, our sympathies go out to Ms. Kish and her family, and we wish her good health and a speedy recovery."
Please visit the CAP Euro London schedule page at http://www.capeuro.com/schedule/ for more details on CAP Euro London.
About CAP Euro
One of Internet gaming's most celebrated events, CAP Euro is a semi-annual trade show extravaganza organized by CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com (CAP) to bring the iGaming affiliate marketing community together in one event. Held in London, Barcelona, and Amsterdam (with the possibility of expanding to other European locations), CAP Euro events are not only the industry's premier opportunity to network and trade tips with the biggest names in the business, but also serve as the venue for the annual CAP Awards ceremony, held each January. For more information on CAP Euro, please visit www.capeuro.com. For more information on CAP Awards, go to www.capawards.com.
About CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com
CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com (or CAP, as it's commonly known as) is the largest and longest-running online gaming affiliate resource, featuring an active community forum, chat rooms, affiliate marketing tools, industry news/articles, scam alerts, and a rigorous and distinguished certification process for online casino affiliate programs. The CAP Certification Process is held in the highest regard among industry experts, and is designed to protect the integrity of affiliates and the online gaming industry as a whole.
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