Posted by randfish
To help keep the balance, I"ll shine some light on some of my favorite things about search conferences:
- Presenting - It"s exciting to be on stage, sharing ideas and being a thought leader. There"s an undeniable allure to it, and while I take it as a serious responsibility, I admit that I have a real passion for it, too.
- Meeting New People - Very smart, talented, entrepreneurial and well-connected folks show up at search conferences - thousands of them.
- Seeing Old Friends - Since there"s at least a half dozen conferences I"m at each year, they"re very practically a place to see friends from all over the world that I"d never have the opporuntity to know were it not for the group environment.
- Expensing Travel - It"s a beautiful thing.
- Expensing Meals - mmm... free food (kind of).
- Learning New Techniques - Every conference I go to, I come away with tactics I"d never heard of before.
- Hearing About New Companies - Competitors expose themselves, new potential partners reveal themselves and new ideas you"d never think could work come out at conferences.
- Search Engine Announcements - I can virtually guarantee that 2 of the 3 major search engines (and probably all 3) will announce big news next week.
- After-Hours Parties - You"d have a hard time beating the search industry for after-hours get togethers, both public and private.
- Wearing Yellow Shoes - I never put them on at home.
- Losing Weight - I almost never eat more than 6-700 calories a day at conferences, so Mystery Guest always loves it when I come back after a week and I"ve lost those extraneous 5 pounds.
- Blogging on the Road - it"s so much more dynamic and engaging when you get instant feedback and direct access to people.
- Hotel Mints - That and having your room cleaned for you.
- Seeing a New City - OK, so downtown San Jose is a bit boring, but I"ve been to London, China, Munich, Toronto, New York and many more
- Free Stuff - SWAG may not be everyone"s cup of tea, but I always try to bring back something for my coworkers who couldn"t attend.
- Drama - WHen it"s on stage, it"s terrific to see two sides attack and defend - I think that"s when the most specific and relevant tips are exposed.
- Nametags - Since I suck at remembering names, I love seeing nametags around people"s necks.
- Black Hats - They rarely come out online (at least in the places where I hang out), but they"re all over the conference world.
- Burying the Hatchet - If you"ve had an online disagreement, chances are that 5 minutes in person will smooth it over.
- New Research - Someone always comes out with some new research showing click fraud is X% or Google is susceptible to this kind of spam or Yahoo! local contains 80% businesses started by ex-Microsoftees, etc.
- An Official Party Coordinator - Oh, wait...
- Drinking - Responsibly, of course.
- Wrestling - With which parties to attend, I mean. Not this kind.
- Comics - from Boowrecka, yeah :)
- New Tools - from SEOmoz (oh wait, was I supposed to keep that secret?)
OK - Your job is to fill up the other 25 in the comments...
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>>Source Link
>>Blog: SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog
>>Publish Date: 8/19/2007 11:02:17 AM
>>Keywords: search conferences
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