Upcoming Events
- “Authenticity in the Age of AI: What’s Next for Outdoor Photographers?” panel at Outdoor Writers Association of America Conference – August 22-24, 2026 in Madison, Wisconsin
- “Future of Digital Outlook” panel at eMarketer Summit 2026 – September 15, 2026 in New York City, New York
- “Answer Engine Ready: How United Rentals Is Rebuilding Discoverability for the AI Search Era” at Marketing Brew Summit 2026 – September 30, 2026 in New York City, New York
- “Found, Chosen, Booked: How Today’s Travelers Decide—and What Marketers Must Do Next” at the Kansas Tourism Conference 2026 – October 19-21, 2026 in Wichita, Kansas
- “How Travelers Find Destinations Online Today: What’s Changed, What Hasn’t, and What to Do About It” at the Iowa Tourism Conference 2027 – March 11-12, 2027 in Altoona, Iowa
Past Events
| Event | Topic | Description | Downloads |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs Evolve, San Diego, USA, October 2025 | The Modern Search Journey: A Creative New Approach to Cross-Platform Discoverability | The “linear” search journey was always a myth. Today, AI is rewriting the search playbook, and the ecosystem extends far beyond Google into marketplaces, social platforms, AI assistants, and countless other touchpoints. Customers move fluidly between these spaces, often in a single decision cycle, while platforms themselves blur the lines between search, social, content and commerce. For marketers, the challenge isn’t recognizing this fragmentation, it’s cutting through the complexity to make it work brilliantly for clients. In this session, we’ll reframe the searcher journey for the AI era and show you how to: 1. Map the core modes of search across platforms and contexts, from inspiration to purchase 2. Identify high-value opportunities in non-traditional search spaceslike marketplaces, AI assistants, and niche communities 3. Adapt your strategy to the blended role of AI in discovery, synthesis, and decision-making | Ahrefs Evolve 2025 |
| Five Elms Growth Summit, Kansas City, USA, October 2025 | The Modern Search Journey: What’s Changing in B2B, Tech & SaaS Search | People in the search mindset rarely stay in a single lane. They weave in and out of many platforms – not only search engines – to find stories and information. As an outdoor communicator, this can create overwhelm – or opportunity. This presentation can help B2B, technology and SaaS brands of all kinds to navigate the changing search/digital landscape. With Google’s long-time dominance, brands and marketers put all their eggs in the SEO basket. But the reality is much messier – and it’s changing in real-time as AI changes how people discover information. This talk will tackle the fast-changing search landscape, and propose a simpler way to think about where you should focus your energy to make your brands discoverable in the modern AI search era. | Five Elms 2025 |
| Outdoor Writers Association of America, Chattanooga, USA, August 2025 | Discoverability Crash Course for Outdoor Communicators | Get hands-on training from veteran career search expert and fellow outdoor communicator Heather Physioc to improve your discoverability. No matter what or how you communicate online – the written word, photography, video, social posts, or something else entirely – it can be optimized to be discovered when people search, whether that is in traditional search engines, social media sites, or any of the new emerging AI search platforms. In this workshop you will learn: • Keyword research essentials to uncover what language people use and the questions they ask to find content like yours. • Web page optimization to create a repeatable workflow that ensures every piece of content you publish is optimized to perform. • Social optimization to help your social content perform better and be more discoverable in different social algorithms. • Multimedia optimization to help image, video and other non-text content perform better in search. • How to prepare for AI search, including signs of credibility, trust and authority and how we structure information. | OWAA Conference 2025 |
| SEOCon Bali, Bali, Indonesia, December 2024 | SEOCon Bali 2024 | ||
| SEOVibes Poland, Białka Tatrzańska, Poland, May 2024 | SEOVibes Poland 2024 | ||
| inOrbit, Portorož, Slovenia, April 2024 | inOrbit 2024 | ||
| Digitalzone, MENA, November 2023 | Digitalzone 2023 | ||
| BrightonSEO USA, San Diego, USA, November 2023 | BrightonSEO USA 2023 | ||
| Webbdagarna, Stockholm, Sweden, April 2023 | |||
| Friends of Search, Amsterdam, Netherlands, March 2023 | |||
| DigitalZone, Istanbul, Turkey (Online), December 2022 | |||
| BarbadosSEO, Saint John, Barbados, November 2022 | |||
| Atlassian Team ’21, Worldwide (Online), May 2021 | |||
| In Marketing We Trust, Australia, Singapore (Online), February 2021 | |||
| SEOcon, Jakarta, Indonesia (Online), February 2021 | |||
| Drupal FlyOver, Kansas City, USA (Online), September 2020 | |||
| MozCon, Seattle, USA (Online), July 2020 | |||
| BrightonSEO, Virtual Summit (Online), May 2020 | |||
| PubCon Austin, Austin, USA, February 2020 | |||
| BrightonSEO, Brighton, UK, November 2019 | |||
| SearchLove, San Diego, USA, October 2019 | |||
| SearchLove, London, UK, April 2019 | |||
| MozCon, Seattle, USA, July 2018 | |||
| SEMPO Cities, Kansas City, USA, Spring 2018 | |||
| MozCon, Seattle, USA, July 2017 | |||
| MozCon Local, Seattle, USA, February 2017 | |||
| KCDMA Summits, Kansas City, USA, 2017-2020 | |||
| PRSA Omaha, Omaha, USA, 2016 | |||
| TEDxWomen KC (Host), Kansas City, USA, 2016 | |||
| PRSA Mid-Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA, 2015-2016 | |||
| KCSEMA, Kansas City, USA 2015 | |||
| WordCamp, Kansas City, USA, 2015 | |||
| AACS, Phoenix & Orlando, USA 2010-2014 |
Other Work
University Lecturing: University of Kansas School of Journalism, University of Missouri School of Journalism, Rockhurst University
Podcasts: Experts of Experience, Human-Centered, Experts on the Wire, The Simple and Smart SEO Show, Breakthrough Innovation, ZipSprout, Behind the SEOs, RC Squared, Adventure Outdoors
