Sunday I’ll be taking off to San Jose for a week at Search Engine Strategies. Earlier this year I spoke at SES New York, but in San Jose I’ll be going as press. Which means I get a free pass and I’m expected to write about my experience. That’s a decent trade-off!
Four weeks after that I’ll be headed to Ohio for the much smaller, but far more intimate Small Business Marketing Unleashed. Here I will be speaking in two sessions, the first on website architecture and the second will be an SEO workshop.
With that in mind, I wanted to pose a few questions: What value do you get out of going to these big conferences? Are they any better or worse than smaller, more intimate conferences? Which do you prefer, and what do you come home with of value (other than quality schwag)?
Please opine.
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Stoney deGeyter leads an exceptional crew of web marketers who work overtime to make him look good. He's a prolific writer on all things web marketing and has published a few ebooks, tutorials and tools that help make online marketing (look) easier. He's also a very friendly guy who loves to help others velocitize their web marketing. In his free time Stoney gets involved in community services and ministries, enjoys his friends and loves on his kids. Read Stoney's full bio.
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See ya in the press room next week :.)
Todd, Do I actually have to go to the press room? I prefer dark corners with few other living creatures.
Thanks for the post! See you next week… now, in answer to your q’s:
What value do you get out of going to these big conferences?
1. Networking, Networking, Networking, did I say Networking?
2. Breath of learning opportunities – 70+ sessions on Search? Where else can you find that?
Are they any better or worse than smaller, more intimate conferences?
I don’t think so – size is not really all that important (conference size that is)
Which do you prefer, and what do you come home with of value (other than quality schwag)?
I have found value in both small and large shows… again its not the size its the relevancy of the topics covered (to you and your business) and quality of the speakers and delegates.
Disclaimer: I run marketing for SES, SEW and ClickZ
hmm.. i feel conferences are waste. three possible advantages or reasons to go:
1. u might end up making some new friends who also hav a blog or hav a website. in future u might ask them to link to u or they might contact u to link to them..
2. You might meet up another website owner.. who might be willing to pay u to write articles for him.. or giv u a job..
3. If you are conducting the conference.. if u hav gud publicity and marketing.. u can earn gud amount of money in no time.. i bet!
Well if u are nt that interested in any of the above.. u can sit back relax and watch ur favourite show at home with heineken.. lol