Do you want to engage your online audience with an impact? Want that info at a bargain?

Then you need to go to The New Media Asia 2011 Conference to hear some of Asia’s foremost entrepreneurs and social media warriors share their insights.

Held this 11 and 12 May 2011 at the Royale Bintang in Kuala Lumpur, TNMA is organized by the jovial and popular Colin Charles (@bytebot).

The theme for 2011 is ‘Impactive Engagement’ and the program promises an amazing line-up of speakers including TED-ster Derek Sivers (Founder, CD Baby), Timothy Tiah (Founder, Nuff Nang), Paul Moss (GM, Alt Media), and Jon Wade (Head of Digital, Weber Shandwick) to name just a few.

It’s such a sexy line-up that my friends @meiyingt (Yolk, Grey Group), @nikicheong (RAGE.my, Star), @davidlian (Text 100) and @preetamrai will also be speaking at this event. (P/S: Follow the speakers on Twitter).

So what makes this conference different? Well for one, at RM499 for 2 full-days,  you’ll be getting GREAT content at a crazy bargain.

In contrast, we paid well over RM3,300 for me to attend the last digital summit. More importantly, this is your opportunity to engage with the cream of Asian new media movers, influencers, and smarts.

If you’re in KL this is a no-brainer. Anyone and anybody in social media and digital marketing will just have to show up unless you have a good reason to miss it.

Anywhere else in the region, maybe I need to say this again… you’ll pay US $180 only for a 2-day conference, listening to no less than 30 experts share what they know about what works.

WHY would you miss this?!

But wait…

If you register before Friday 6th May 2011 using the ‘SMCKL’ promo code, you’ll pay…

RM388 only!

So go on and register quickly at http://www.thenewmedia.asia before it is sold out. Follow @bytebot @thenewmediasia on Twitter while you’re at it too.

For hooking you up, all I wish is for you to tell TNMA that you found them through practical-strategy.com. Happy engaging!!!

ABOUT TNMA

The New Media Asia Conference is a 2-day conference on Social Media and the New Media. This includes the many facets of social networks, news portals, podcasts, etc. We will be exploring the usefulness of social media, as well as the reach of new media. For more information, please visit http://www.thenewmedia.asia.

Last week was so eventful as far as the web world goes that it would be blasphemous not to make a note of it.

FIRST, THERE WAS THE IPHONE 3G FRENZY…
The crazy queues you witnessed have generated $330 million in sales over a few short days and caused a month-long inventory shortage. It is just a month’s wait if you really want one. However, If you find that you are being tempted to lie, cheat and steal to get one, don’t do it because there are always some on eBay.

FORRESTER LOSES TWO
Earlier in the month, Charlene Li one of my favorite analysts (co-author of Groundswell) announced that she was leaving Forrester and Friday was her last day. Coincidentally Peter Kim announced that Friday was also his last day at Forrester. He will be joining Jeffrey Dachis (founder of Razorfish, Inc.) to start a social computing endeavor. Their insight and presence as analysts will be missed, but I’m sure the wealth of information and skills that they have gathered at Forrester will be used to the fullest extent to excel in whatever they will be dabbling with moving forward. In short, we won’t be hearing the end of them.

Let us all hope that Josh Bernoff and Jeremiah Owyang will continue to stay with Forrester for a while longer, and that we didn’t just witness the beginning of an exodus of top-class talent from the IT research company that many of us really smart people have come to depend on for insight. Saying that, Forrester is hiring more researchers and analysts so if you would like to give it a shot now is the right time to send your résumés and CVs across!

JASON CALACANIS RETIRES FROM BLOGGING
An even more dramatic news last week was Jason Calacanis‘ announcement that he will be retiring from blogging. The CEO of Mahalo.com states that he will be maintaining an exclusive mailing list of no more than 750 people (so far that is the news) so for the hundreds and thousands of people who have fallen in love with Taurus and Fondue… this is your cue to go get your own pet.

SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES
Other than that, Twitter acquires Summize, FriendFeed has been getting a lot of coverage and a spin-off aggregator called Moopz is all-the-buzz. I thought I’d cover last week’s underground headlines for you in a neat and nice little summary.

A few weeks ago, I attended a webcast forum organized by the Women’s Leadership Network (WLN), an IPG-wide organization that promotes the advancement, retention and recruitment of women within the IPG network. The forum was hosted out of Chicago over the afternoon, seeing the attendance of close to a thousand women who work within the IPG network in 11 markets. The forum was hosted by Genevieve Bos, who is a fantastic speaker with the pizzas that is worth every ounce of one’s attention. She was joined by three inspiring women; Nina DiSesa, Chairman of McCann Erickson New York, Kerri Martin Brand Innovation Officer at Goosebumps, and Margo Giorgiadis, EVP and CMO of Discover Financial Services LLC.

I thought the forum was inspiring and empowering for ambitious women who might have otherwise felt trapped under a glass ceiling, but the dynamic could also be read as feminist in tone if viewed from a different angle. I however recognized the well intent of a women’s professional networking group and took what I wanted from that discussion to apply in context to my professional and personal development.

If you’re interested, you can watch the webcast and let me know what you think.