Tomorrow marks the start of the Kelsey ILM show, which is also doubling as SES-Local, I’ll be there on Thursday morning, and will be speaking in the afternoon. Next Monday marks the start of SES-Chicago, I’ll be there on Wednesday, speaking on Thursday morning.

So what about the changes in the title? Well, it seems as though the structure of the presentations at these 2 conferences is going to be different to the structure in the past. At previous SES conferences, the presenters would each get 10-15 minutes, with the last 10-15 minutes being Q&A. Starting with SES-Local, each presenter is going to only get 5 minutes, what then follows will be a 20 minute or so panel discussion led by the moderator, which will then dovetail into the Q&A portion of the session.

What does this mean to the audience? Well, firstly it means that they’re assured of getting new presentations, as presenters will have to rework any previously given presentations to fit into the new format. It also means that they’re going to get less structured content up front. However, this also means that the job of the moderator is now much more important as they’re going to be more responsible for shaping the flow and direction of the conversation. It has the potential to make each session ‘fresher’ and unique, but it’s going to play havoc with those of us who can’t quite type so fast when we try liveblogging (we’ll just have to sit back and watch Tamar & The Lisa’s fingers travel at lightspeed across their keyboards).

If you’re going to be at either of these conferences, make sure to say hello, and if you want to go to Chicago, but haven’t booked it yet (that’s a true procrastinator), you can use code: 20SPK to get a 20% discount, and you can then spend some of your savings on a cider for me at Kitty O’Shea’s.  

Good question.  Here’s what’s been happening over the last few weeks, and what’s going to be happening over the next few, hopefully that’ll explain to you the temporary slowdown over here.

2 weeks ago I was over in the UK for SMX-London.  Prior to the show I got to see my family (it had been 3 years since I’d been over), and such cool things as the Dr. Who exhibit and my Grandfather’s DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross - RAF Medal earned during WW2).  At the show I got to meet a great bunch of people, and with the show being in the UK it was a different bunch of great people.  The show kept it’s Lisa quotient, despite Lisa Barone not being there, through Lisa Ditlefsen.  Her husband to be - Rob Kerry was also in attendance, with his company funding the last night party at a local Swedish pub.  Other people I met, in no particular order, were Lyndon Antcliff, Darren Maloney, Matt Paines, Judith ‘deCabbit’ Lewis, Tiffany White, Jane Copland, Kelvin Newman, Dean Chew, Jon Myers, and Edward Serrano (who I actually met on the plane ride back to the US).

On the RBDRodeo work blog I put up some notes for some of the sessions that I attended - The Keynote, The Global Search Universe, Leveraging Social Media Networks, Cutting Edge Linking Tactics, and a brief overview of the session I spoke at - Brand and Reputation Management.  2 further sessions were written up for SearchEngineGuide, and should go live on Monday.  Outside of the conference, I also had my regular SearchEngineLand article to write, so I cheated and let others write it for me - Inside Information: Interviews with In-House Search Marketers.

As for the future, well this week I’ll be heading out to Los Angeles for the Kelsey ILM \ Search Engine Strategies Local show.  I’ll be speaking on Thursday on the topic of Best Practices for Using PPC for Local Targeting. Exactly one week later I’ll be back in Chicago (3rd year in a row), where I’ll be speaking on the topic of Dealing With Difficult Clients (not that my company currently has any).

So, with actual work thrown in there it’s a busy time of year.  I will try to be more diligent about getting posts up here though, I don’t want to have this blog taken out of the Big List of Search Marketing Blogs for lack of posting as has happened to the blog of a certain evilgreenmonkey…

…against nudists. From the SMX-London speaker documentation.

Speaking Tips

Dress Code: Please wear clothing…

Nice little throwaway line in the documentation to see if anyone actually reads it. For anyone going to SMX-London, please note that I do intend to hono(u)r that clause and will indeed be wearing clothing.

Just in case you were wondering why I was talking about working on your presenting style the other day, it’s because I’m going to be speaking in London on November 16th at the SMX-London conference on the topic of Reputation and Brand Management Strategies. So if you’re going to be in town for the conference, be sure to come over and say hello, and if you’d like to attend, you can use the discount code SPSMX07 to get 10% off the price of the show.

For those who don’t know, I’m the current VP of PR for my local Toastmasters club in Manassas. As a member of the club I get a monthly magazine called “ToastMaster” (not very imaginative, but it states it’s intended audience quite well). In the edition that I received today there was a reprint of a BusinessWeek story entitled “YouTube Your Way to Better Speaking“, which is a nice article talking about how you can improve your public speaking and presentation skills through watching ‘experts’ speaking on YouTube.

Having recently seen a video of myself speaking a few months ago (no, I’m not dropping a link to it here), I’d also advocate taping and watching yourself. You’ll notice mannerisms and ways of speaking that you can then attempt to correct. For example, I noticed a couple of things about my presentation style. Firstly, I kept looking down and to the left, which was where the presentation was located, not really my fault, as the built-in screen on the lectern wasn’t working, so we had to use a laptop to the side. Secondly, I noticed that during the presentation I was waving my hands around a little too much, but I did think that I used gestures well in most places.

So there you have it, YouTube is not just for McGruff the Crime Dog putting mentos and diet coke into an industrial blender while a Brazilian goalkeeper acts as though hit by a sniper rifle when brushed on his cheek, it’s also good for self improvement.

So, literally 5 days after joining the local gym, I got a phone call from Kaylee over at LookSmart to let me know that I’d won a BowFlex in a drawing at SES. This follows on from the Palm T|X that I won at SES-NY last year. Not bad. It kind of makes the phone calls and emails that I’ve received from the places I didn’t win at, worth it.

Now, when at the iPod and iPhone contest people going to be calling me to ask about shipping my winnings?

Well, it’s been almost a week since the end of the Search Engine Strategies San Jose 2007 conference, and it’s taken me this long to get around to writing my wrap up post. Well, to be honest, after the conference I rented a car, and drove down the pacific coast highway to Los Angeles, where I spent the next few days lounging around, hitting the beach (which explains why my back is a lovely shade of what can only be described as ‘lobster red’). So now, here I am, back in VA, nicely rested and ready to write this post.

First, I’d like to say that the conference was absolutely top notch. The sessions that I attended were, for the most part, worth it. There were a few where there was a decent level of overlap on the material, but they were offset by some of the better sessions, that overran their timeslot due to the wealth of material offered. Personally, I managed to blog on 12 of the 17 sessions I attended, which was roughly 12 more than I’d originally anticipated blogging. Even the lunches were good, with the boxed lunches tossed, and a buffet line set up. I think that was a nice touch, and addressed one of the biggest complaints about SES (now if they can get power strips set up for the bloggers in the front row, they’ll be golden).

As for the networking, it was great to once again see people that I know, either from previous SES conferences, or meetups, such as Li Evans, Debra Mastaler, Kim Krause Berg, Lisa “The Lisa” Barone, Mike Grehan, Bill Slawski, Erica Forrette, Melanie Mitchell, Todd Malicoat, Rhea Drysdale, Chris Boggs, Barry Schwartz, Christine Churchill, Meg Walker, and Rebecca Kelley. Then there were those people that I got to meet face to face for the first time, and had a blast doing so, again in no particular order they were: Matt McGee, Tamar “The Magnet Queen” Weinberg, Jennifer Laycock, Chris Sherman, Rob Key, Vanessa Fox, Rob Kerry, Rebecca Lieb, Matt Bailey, Robert Clough, Jessica Bowman, Loren Baker, Jim Boykin, Chris Winfield & his wife Danielle, Patrick Shaber, Lee Odden, Natasha Robinson, Kevin Newcomb, Melinda Cayetano, Matt Cutts, Adam Lasnik, Dana Larson, Michael Gray, David Dalka, Andy Beal, Carsten Cumbrowski, Ariella Robison, Mike Yanke, Thomas McMahon, Stoney deGeyter, Diana Adams and Nate Eslinger. Thanks to all of you for making it such a great experience.

If I missed you out, let me know and I’ll add you in.

At Search Engine Strategies San Jose 2007, you get the opportunity to meet with many different people, from many different walks of life. I have plenty of pictures that will be uploaded to Flickr when I get a chance, but until then, here are some teasers with pictures of Googlers past and present.

Matt Cutts of Google, and Simon Heseltine

Adam Lasnik of Google, Simon Heseltine, Nate, Kim Krause Berg, Bill Slawski

Vanessa Fox of Zillow (formerly Google)

Yes, as you read this, I’ll be in San Jose for the last Search Engine Strategies programmed by Danny Sullivan and Chris Sherman (I’m writing this a week ago, loving the fact that Wordpress allows me to postdate postings, so they won’t show up until I tell them to). While in San Jose, I hope to catch up with people I know, and meet new people (I have to build up my linkedIn and facebook friends lists somehow). So if you see me there, feel free to say hello, and if you must buy me a drink I’ll begrudgingly accept.

Oh, and if you’d like to read them, I’m attempting to liveblog the sessions that I attend on the rbdrodeo blog.

You can also check out Lee Odden’s post on the 10 secret benefits of attending SEM conferences for a chuckle.

If you’re a woman in SEO, and you’re going to be in San Jose next week, Li Evans has put together a plan to allow up to 40 women to escape from the boxed lunch hell of SES. More details on her Women of SEO luncheon can be found on by following that link. Who knows, she may even interview you for when she restarts her excellent Women of Internet Marketing series in the fall…

Now, how about Rob Kerry and the SEO-blokes sorting out a lunch for the men of seo?