Last year at MozCon, we tried something new: community speakers. The feedback we receieved from those of you who attended was phenomal, and our four speakers were spectacular.
So this year, we're opening up four community speaking slots again, and we can't wait to hear from you. I know some of you have been preparing your ideas since last MozCon. Which means this year, I expect even more amazing submissions, harder choices, and to get over 150 submissions (which is what we got in 2012).
We're looking for four people to deliver incredibly actionable tips in SEO, social media, content, marketing analytics, conversion rate optimization, and any other great inbound subject. You'll join an already killer line-up of speakers and lots of fun.
Fabio was one of our amazing community speakers last year.
MozCon 2013 takes place July 8th-10th at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. If this past weekend was any indication of how our summer's going to be, bring your sunglasses and flip-flops for the sunshine. We're expecting around ~1200 people, and tickets are already 50% sold out. We'll have all the usual goodies like Roger photos and incredible speakers and a few surprises up our sleeves.
The details about the community speaker submission process:
- Your pitch must be submitted by Tuesday, May 14th at 5pm PDT.
- Please submit only one pitch. We're looking for the best of the best.
- Topics can range the inbound marketing spectrum, so submit something you're passionate about.
- If you've never spoke before or have spoken hundreds of times, we want to hear from you.
- Presentations will be 15 minutes long with an added ~5 minutes for questions.
- These sessions will be from 2:00-3:20pm on Wednesday, July 10th.
- Widescreen-format slide decks will be due one week before MozCon.
- If you already have a MozCon ticket, we will refund your ticket; and if you don't have one, we'll comp you one! Unfortunately, you will have to book your own hotel, flight, and transportation.
- You will be invited to attend our speakers' dinner on Sunday, July 7th. And pre-dinner, there will be time to walk on our stage.
- You must be at MozCon in person. Sorry, no Skype, Google Hangout, or other video conferencing.
- Our community speaker selections are final. Everyone who tossed their hat in the ring will be notified via email if they were selected or not.
Thank you to everyone who submitted their community speaker ideas for MozCon 2013. We'll be in touch very soon!
I can't wait to see all the awesome submissions for all potential community speakers.
If you haven't snagged your MozCon ticket yet, do it! Also check out the full line-up, minus community speakers, of MozCon speakers. It's going to be out-of-this-world.
Hey Erica,
That is awesome news!
I absolutely loved the Community Speakers presentations last year and it was great to see some of those folks we don't see on the big stage get a chance to present.
Looking forward to seeing some new faces brought to light in July.
Only 62 Days to go!! :-)
Sha
We're really excited to give the opportunity again. :)
See you in July.
This is certainly a great opportunity or a platform provided by Seomoz in the form of mozcon for a new leader to emerge in the world of inbound marketing. Kudos Seomoz! Mozcon is a dream event for the SEOs to take part in or be part of.
Oh. My. Gawd. Applying again this year and I'm brining my A game. Regardless of whether I get accepted or not, MozCon is going to be amaaaaazing!
Best of luck! :) And we'll see you at MozCon either way.
Shewwwweeee Erica and Jen...
The last time you threw out a challenge like this, we ended up having quite a bit of fun, a very long way from home :)
To submit, or not to submit.... Eeek :|
Do it!
I don't think "fun" really describes how freaking awesome visiting you all in South Africa was. :)
Bang. There. I've submitted. Double Eeek.
It would be great to add some kind of live coverage for a fee, for people not in the US those dates or for those who can't attend.
This! It's 2013 - if we pay for the videos, can you just stream the whole thing so we can enjoy and follow the live tweets and all the goodness that goes with it? Streaming. 2013. Win. :)
No streaming this year. Since we're in a new venue, we're testing out a few things and we'll see how the internet connection holds up. Cross your fingers!
C'mon! It's not that hard. A simple camera, with a 4G modem will do the trick. You can upload to a paid streaming service, like vimeo, ustream, livestream, etc.
It would be unfair for people if they paid and it was an unreliable service. We'd hate to promise something that we couldn't deliver or it broke down halfway.
Actually, we plan on offering professionally-edited videos of the sessions after the conference. You'll be able to download them at your leisure, instead of needing to be available at the exact time of the conference.
Oh, I know... and you guys both know I love me some Moz. But we can't play along with the live tweets, we don't know half of what our entire Twitter list is talking about the whole week of the con, and it's just depressing not to be able to make it. :-\
I'll be getting the vids as soon as they come out this year. I actually signed up so I could get them last year but then I realized how many more resources there were on this site so I spent months enveloped in those. Now I feel like I want the "new stuff" asap. I wish we could play along online though.
(I understand there are still technical limitations on streaming at a conference when a TON of people are using the net but it still sucks that for a week, a limited number of all our best friends & colleagues are off doing something that we'd love to be part of but for whatever reasons, can't.)
I've previously looked into and tested live streaming stuff for the Distilled SearchLove and LinkLove conferences and believe me - It's not as easy as it sounds.
While it may sound ok to just put up a camera, mic and with a dongle stream the whole thing - you often find that a single camera won't do the job as the audience won't get a clear picture of the slides, or a good close up of the speakers. While in principle it sounds good to be able to pay and join in, it really wont be worth it unless you can get a proper multi-camera feed with live switching. To do this requires quite a bit of hardware and some skilled operators - as well as a connection that's going to hold up.
Conference Wifi in a new venue is almost certainly not going to provide the consistent symmetrical 4/5 mb/s you need to deliver a clear picture and 4G, while in principle an attractive option, also can suffer reliability issues.
So..... give team Moz a bit of slack here, as it's really quite a challenge to do properly and when they do do it, everyone will want it to be absolutely top notch (which it will be).
Phil, Thanks for such a nice information about live streaming, now I can understand the things... :)
Thanks Again
Pankaj Giri
Can I host the "Roast of Rand Fishkin"? :)
Hrm... I don't think Roasts are very TAGFEE.
Submitted!
I'm sure there are a ton of great ideas coming in, I get tired just thinking about whoever has the job of sifting through them all. Best of luck!
That would be me. =D
It would be great if we knew what the existing speaker lineup was going to cover, so we could avoid duplicating anything,especially since we can only pitch once :)
Unfortunately, we don't have a full schedule ready for public view. However, you can see some of the topics in our teaser on G+.
Psst...schedule is now on our EventBrite page.
Oh wow I didn't realize this opportunity existed! Very cool of you SEOmoz. I will definitely be making a pitch! Thanks for annoucing on the blog like this.
Good luck!
Hmmm.... probably too late for me THIS year ... but the fact you did it again makes me think about prepping for next. :)
Phew!
Just made it before the wifi went out!
Thanks for reading guys :-)
Sha
Pitched submitted. No matter who is selected, it sounds like you will have another excellent crop of presentations this year! As an attendee last year, I can attest to the quality of the presentations!
Great event. I am wondering how many attendees were there last year?
Last year we had 850 attendees, and this year we're planning on 1,500. :)
Wauw, that is alot! What a buzz that will generate!
Well I believe, I might just have to make it our there this year, anyone want to shoot some client leads my way to pay for business expenses ? :)
Is it ok if I submit a pitch this year?
Hrmmm... This is something I hadn't thought about. I'm inclined to say yes; however, if it was a choice between yourself and someone who hadn't spoken before -- in the context that you are both super awesome -- I'd probably be inclined to pick the person who hadn't been given the chance yet.
I was considering it as well, but then I heard that Greg Gifford pitched. If you're looking for some local content from the community speakers, I know Greg will kill it. Smart AND entertaining. He'll also have the most awesome deck of all the MozCon speakers.
God I love TAGFEE!
+1 Darren :-)
Sha
would so like to join and participate. would be really interesting and gain fruitful insights if i could share my master project on SEO, but residing in Germany and a poor student, it is hard to fly there :( good luck every one! looks like a very very good opportunity!