About a year ago, we started talking about how we wanted to find a way to meet more people from the community in person. Sure we all get to know each other online through the blog, on Twitter or maybe in Q&A, but it's nothing like getting to meet people face-to-face. There becomes a bond or friendship once you actually know each other that helps to build a community.
The idea we came up with was MozCation. We asked our community to create some sort of unique content and tell us why we should have an SEOmoz Meetup (aka MozCation) in their city. The plan was to pick one city based on the uniqueness of the submission, number of people involved (tweeting, promoting, commenting, etc.) and the actual location. Well we were in for quite the treat after we introduced the idea of MozCation, and people all over the world began nominating their cities.
As many of you know, we had a really tough time choosing just one... and chose four instead. :) But this meant organizing four events including venue, speakers, food, drinks, and about a million other tasks that goes along with a meetup like this. What we weren't quite prepared for was that three out of the four cities were international, which meant we also had to figure out shipping and visas and all that fun stuff.
We've just wrapped up our last one and I wanted to give a quick overview of each and link to each of the speaker presentations. We had an amazing lineup of speakers from Salt Lake City to Barcelona and we'd love to share that knowledge with all of you. Take a peak below at the awesomeness that was MozCation 2011.
Salt Lake City - June 29, 2011
Our first stop on the MozCation tour was Salt Lake City, Utah. We also only had about 3 weeks to get everything organized as we had already set the date. Yikes! Thanks to Elisabeth Osmeloski we found a great venue and were able to get it all done in the nick of time. Being our first one, we also learned quite a few valuable lessons that we changed for the next events. We were amazed by the turnout and it was a seriously packed house. The energy in the room was full of excitement and the speakers really brought their A-game.
At each event we had food, drinks and networking before and after the presentations. Not only did we want to meet the community but we wanted the local communities to get to know each other as well. It was great to see the way the Salt Lake City group began talking about getting together more often. Community rules!
Mozzers arrive for the first MozCation! Airport pics FTW
A packed house in Salt Lake City
Speaker Presentations
Chris Bennett -SLC MozCation From the Trenches, Real Life Examples of Stuff That Works
Vince Blackham - Igniting Organic SEO Efforts with Viral Marketing
Rand Fishkin - How to Use Your Social Network for Higher Search Rankings
Vince Blackham speaking - Some "panda" talk
Get all of the photos from MozCation Salt Lake City.
Sao Paulo, Brazil - July 23, 2011
Whee! This was the second stop on the MozCation tour and what better place than to head to our first of two trips to South America. This meetup corresponded with the Brazilian conference Expon, so not only did we have lots of people from the local community there, but we had some great international speakers around as well. Also a huge shout out to Fabio Ricotta and his team for helping us to get everything organized.
MozCation means everyone works. Especially Rand :)
Mozzers taking cheesy photos *grin*
Speaker Presentations
Fabio Ricotta - Google +1 e Analise Social
Tom Critchlow - Why I Do What I Do
Rand Fishkin - Leveraging Social Media for SEO
Q&A time with the speakers in Sao Paulo
See all the photos from MozCation Sao Paulo.
Lima, Peru - September 23, 2011
Hola Peru! Our third stop took us back to South America, but this time to Lima, Peru. One of the most exciting parts of this trip was that we had people from all over Latin America join us. When Lima was first nominated, we were seeing tweets from Argentina, Mexico, Costa Rica, and many other countries pledging their backing of Lima. It gave me chills of excitement to see how the community had rallied together in that way.
One thing we did differently in Peru is that we were able to have a live stream of the event. This made it possible for many people to tune in and enjoy the presentations even though they weren't there (I was one of those people). This was a huge success and we decided that we'd try to make that happen from then on.
This is now known around the office as the "MozCation Face"
Another packed house in Peru
The Lima event wouldn't have happened with out the special help from Daniel Falcon who not only helped us to organize the event but also was our translator during the presentations.
Speaker Presentations
Carlos Chacon (SEOCharlie) - 5 ½ Consejos para un Keyword Research en Español
Tom Critchlow - Enterprise SEO
Rodrigo Stockebrand - La Auditoria SEO: 7 puntos claves para un buen análisis
Rand Fishkin - Evolution of SEO - MozCation Lima
Roger was everywhere! Hanging out with speakers Tom Critchlow & Carlos Chacon
Yay! All the Mozzers got hats from Peru :)
Check out all the photos from MozCation Lima.
Barcelona, Spain - October 28, 2011
Although Barcelona was the last MozCation for the year, it certainly wasn't the least. In amazing Spanish style, the final event was a hit. Since we learned a bit more with each event we planned, Barcelona had it all. As with all of the MozCations, the speakers were top of the line. We were also lucky to have Miguel Pascual as the MC and he helped us to plan the event. Plus I have to give a shout out to Gianluca Fiorelli who quickly responded to my 500 emails about such little things as how we should organize the t-shirts. :)
Let the registration begin! All the attendees got a nametag, MozCation T-shirt and Roger sticker. Beep!
Speaker Presentations
Aleyda Solis - Consejos para Facilitar un Proceso SEO Local - MozCation Barcelona
Joanna Lord - Leveraging the Power of Retargeting for SEO
Gianluca Fiorelli - Contenido y SEO
Rand Fishkin - New Opportunities in SEO: Barcelona
"MozCation Face" :) A huge group of Spanish Mozzers
See more of the photos from MozCation Barcelona. (More photos to come)
Thanks - Gracias - Obrigado
We owe a huge huge huge debt of gratitude to all of our speakers and everyone who attended these events. We were overwhelmed by the response and attendance, and are simply giddy about the community all over again. Plus we want to thank you all for the hospitality and generosity shown in every city we visited.
I also want to thank everyone at SEOmoz who helped make each of these possible during one of the craziest times of the year for us. Thank you, gracias and obrigado!
Please, if you have photos or blog posts or anything MozCation related, post it in the comments! Thanks :)
MozCation 2012
Don't worry, you'll get your chance to nominate your city next year. :) Just watch this space and we'll let you know when nominations are up again!
Over these four events, we had a combined audience of over 1,000 professional marketers from 4 different countries. It's been an honor and a privilege to be able to go on all of these trips with team members and to meet so many amazing people (and see some amazing places, too). I feel like we made at least a small dent in helping to bring some knowlege and awareness to the web marketing field in these areas, and that's a great feeling.
Can't wait for next year's Mozcations!
Thank you Jen and SEOmoz for Mozcation! It certainly was an amazing opportunity to interact with the SEOmoz community all around the world and a great way for SEOs to meet and share. I expect next year many more cities and countries will participate :)
I hope your Rite Aleyda ...... !!!
What a great write-up, Jen. Makes me a bit sad I couldn't go to any of them.
I really appreciate how SEOmoz gives back to the community by arranging great, valuable community events for free.
A shot out to my friend Daniel Falcon in Peru who is another Magento Web Developer! You guys should come out to wine country. I honestly think I will paln my next "business trip" around a Mozcation and write everything off. Also, I strongly believe that anyone building websites and using SEOmoz is way ahead of the curb, especially in 3rd world countries. Mozcations help marketers worldwode because many people don't have the luxury I had which was going to Mozcon.
First of all, thank you @SEOmoz team to bring this great opportunity to Latin America!
I´ve been attending SEO events since 2003 but most of them based on the USA. So, when the MozCation idea comes up, I was really excited to see one of these events in Spanish and for the Latino people!
MozCation Peru was great! Special thanks to Daniel and his team who gives us an excellent welcome and tons of delicious Peruvian food! Also, I´ve read some great reviews about the event in Barcelona too!
I still believing Latin America is without a doubt a fast growing market who needs some education on the SEO field. So, I really appreciate SEOmoz comes and take care of us –I suggest Costa Rica for the next MozCation ;)
Gracias Jennita, Rand, Tom, Casey, and all the new friends who make this happen!
-Check some pics of the MozCation Peru https://goo.gl/elLB6
Just during the beginning of MozCation in Barcelona I discovered via Twitter that there is a live stream of the event - what made me very happy!
I wasn't aware that there have been one in Lima, too. That's a really great way for all mozzers to participate at the events!
you guys are so lucky that you enjoyed and became the part of the mozcon... I always have wish to be in places like this... :( I wish there would be any future events like this in my nation.
If you want to have an event like MozCation you have to make it happen. Nothing useful you will obtain with just sighing while seeing others obtaining what you'd like too.
Think to the Lima guys... they were perseverant and where able to move not just one nation, but almost a continent... the #mozcation hashtag on twitter was almost dominated by them.
Think to South Lake City, which SEO community got unite to convince Moz to visit them and not the other USA competing cities.
Think to Brasil, and all they did.
Or to Spain, which creativity was the key in making the MozCon in Barcelona happen.
So, when next year will come a new nomination time, look at what we did and do it better. If you want Moz to come to India, do something great and don't just complain. I know you will be able to succeed :D
MozCation was a wonderful idea! And I am so glad to have had the instinct to propose Spain and the lucky to have a great Seo community answering to the Moz call. If you doubted, if you missed the occasion, next time you have to compete and try to have your city/country be one of the MozCation events: you won't regret it. Yes, MozCation is another new way for Roger to know in real life it's community, but it is especially a networking occasion for your local Seo community, and networking is essential in our profession.
I was not in the lucky people who attend the Moz Citation but by looking at the full packed halls and excitement on the faces, this seems very clear that SEOmoz did a great job at Moz citation. Obviously, for the year 2012 I am all ready to participate and call my community to participate and make my city one of those where SEOmoz is visiting in 2012 J.
Thank you SEOmoz for creating and maintaining such an amazing community.
One of the good things of the desire is to know the people around the world.
Looks like so much fun! Would love to have made the trip to one of these
I appreciate this wonderful idea of meeting people. I thing people of many corners of the World will take the opportunity of the seomoz. No doubt that it's a great fun of meeting people. I am excited. Thanks to the idea creator and all who are participants.
In the future, seomoz will be famous like facebook or google and many marketers are going to recruit SEO experts because during these past years, seomoz had raised awareness around seo topics. Congratulations to all the team
How I wish I was there to witness this big event. Great group of people and I believe a lot of learnings from SEO professionals. All the Best!
Robert Benwell
This is really great, nice work SEOmoz great to see a community reaching out to its memebers and going all over the world.
Must be lucky to work at SEO moz traveling around the world all the time hehe =)
Hope mozcation makes it to Australia in 2012, I know you wanna come down under ;)
I'm in that SLC mozcation photo... somewhere...
Mozcation was great, I must say. It was a wonderful time! Great to meet fellow SEO-ers and finally see the Moz team in person!
It's also worth noting that the first announcement of SLCSEM.org was made at the SLC Mozcation; for the Utah SEMs out there, it's a great development.
At any rate, thanks so much for doing this! It was a great time (and also served as my informal bachelor party! Yay married life)
This is one of the reasons I dislike Tampa :(. There's no chance at Mozcation taking place here!
But congratulations on MozCation,
Loving your community - you're doing it right.
" but it's nothing like getting to meet people face-to-face. There becomes a bond or friendship once you actually know each other that helps to build a community."
You guys have to be the friendliest team in the space! I've met, hung out with, remembered, and counted more mozzers as friends than any other SEO company out there! Rebecca Kelly, Jane Copeland, Scott Willoughby, Joanna Lord, Rand, and of course you J Lo ;) - In this online racket that we're in... it's great to get together and have some fun, build memories and what not... #cheesyIknow
MozcationSLC was a great time had by all. I'm glad we were selected by your team. SLC has an awesome SEO community and I think we really proved it that night. Thank Moz.