No, this isn’t a session, this is just the registration process!
SES SJ suffers from sever usability issues. Maybe it’s just me. Seth and I entered in the side door (the one that the emailed instructions say to enter on) and immediately we see signs for SES, but no clear indication of where to go for registration. After searching around a bit, we make our way upstairs. Here we find lots of people, but still no clear indication of where we are supposed to go. How about a call to action, folks!
The registration tables were about halfway down and after seeking directions, we finally found our way to get our badges printed. Mine was handed to me, along with a host of other stuff, so off Seth and I want to find a place to sort through it. As I’m putting my badge on I realized, hey, this isn’t mine. Should have thought to look at it BEFORE they handed it to me. So I want back to get another badge printed, this one with MY name on it!
Somebody should have double checked the room names the sessions were in before printing everything. Many of the sessions are in “ballrooms” but the hotel calls these rooms “meeting rooms”. Not to be confused with the ballrooms that the hotel does have. We were not the only ones that were perplexed by this. As Seth and I hunted around for our first sessions, which are supposed to be in the ballrooms, we were sent in the opposite direction. Yes, we found the ballrooms, but unfortunately our sessions were in the “meeting rooms” (The schedule of events clearly state that the sessions were in “ballrooms”.)
Seth says I’m whining, but I’m not. Isn’t this what us SEOs do for websites? Help people make things clear, use calls to actions, set clear paths to the information people are hunting for? I believe there are sessions here on usability alone. No, I’m not whining… just finding the flaws that I’m trained to look for everyday.