Danny Sullivan's long-awaited and much anticipated Search Marketing Expo conference kicks off next week with SMX Advanced in Seattle. Matt, Scott, Jeff, and Gillian all have Expo Passes, while Jane and I will be covering the conference for our blog and Rand will be speaking on the "SEO, Meet SMM" panel with Cindy Krum, Todd Malicoat, and Neil Patel (the session is on Day 1, from 1:15 pm to 2:45 pm).
You'll most likely spot the SEOmoz Squad at the Microsoft-sponsored SMX Bash Networking Reception Sunday evening, and probably at the Yahoo! Search Marketing Network Reception and the SMX After Dark Google Dance Monday night. We're all really excited to see what this conference series has to offer, and we're thrilled about meeting new faces (especially all of our Premium Members and blog readers who will be in attendance!).
After the conference wraps up, our French Canadian chum Guillaume Bouchard will be hanging out at the SEOmoz headquarters for a couple days to share SEO strategies, so maybe we can wrangle him into a Whiteboard Friday video or something. :)
But WAIT, there's more! Rand and I will be attending SES Toronto, which is June 12-13. Both Rand and Guillaume will be speaking on the "Linkbaiting and Widgets: Viral Bag o' Tricks" panel on Day 1 (4:30-5:45) along with Greg Jarbo, and Rand will also speak on the "Get Dugg! Social Media and WOM Targeting Tips" panel on Day 2 (4:30-5:45) with Helen M. Overland, Neil Patel, and Tamera Kremer.
This time, I won't be attending the conference as Rand's entourage--I actually got a speaking spot! (I know, I know, it's shocking to think that I actually do work and act professionally from time to time, but I can fake it pretty well.) I originally pitched to be on the Keyword Research panel, but after I didn't get selected I decided to stalk Andrew Goodman and pester him via email until he relented and told me to pitch for the "What's Your Purple Cow Quotient? Differentiation and Positioning Workshop" session on Day 2 (10:15-11:45). I got excited, mailed him a video of my overly elaborate pitch (it involved puppets, a fog machine, and some basic CG), and waited with bated breath. Andrew must have been getting tired of receiving 86 annoying phone calls from me per day, so he relented and gave me a spot on the panel. Hooray!
Anyway, I'll be speaking with Rebecca Lieb and Ian McAnerin to the crowd about branding and how to stand out from the crowd. No presentation is required, so I guess I'll just chat with attendees and try to help them out in any way that I can. I'm very excited, nervous, and thrilled to be speaking at an SES show. Hopefully I can get good at this whole speaking thing and advance my SEO knowledge to elite status, especially since Rand is getting burned out on traveling so often (once again, "Rebecca Kelley: When Rand's Not Available, She'll Have to Do!").
Anyway, we're all looking forward to seeing you at SMX and at SES Toronto this month! If you spot us, be sure to head over and say hello!
UPDATE: Rand and I are switching sessions, so now he's tackling "What's Your Purple Cow Quotient" while I get to talk about Linkbaiting and Widgets.
By: Rebecca Kelley
SMX Seattle and then SES Toronto
Events
The author's views are entirely his or her own (excluding the unlikely event of hypnosis) and may not always reflect the views of Moz.
Susan & Lisa vs. Jane & Rebecca in Snarky Liveblogging Death Match! Are you ready for it?
Or we could all gang up on Susan...
Lisa & Rebecca & Jane vs. Susan in See How Long It Takes To Make Her Cry.
Huzzah!
So Rebecca, now that you and Rand have switched panels (these SEOmoz kids are magic, watch 'em), I have to inform you that you'll be missing out on a gem of a panelist I was lucky enough to track down. I asked Mitch Joel if he knew anyone in Canada who was a real live branding expert who would do well coaching and cajoling attendees to re-examine their USP's and that Purple Cow stuff. He recommended Peter "the mose" Mosely. Well after demanding a huge fee due to his "stomach problem -- I gotta eat," the mose talked my ear off and I get the feeling the audience for this Purple Cow workshop is going to have to wear asbestos suits... it's hard for me to put a finger on, but in the interests of the full disclosure style of this thread, let me just say the mose has a delivery style that is peculiarly "boomerish". He will yell at you if you think you can succeed without long hours. He will tell executives to get an f---in clue, frequently. (He has actually licensed the Cluetrain brand and speaks on the Cluetrain concept around the world.) Sorry Peter but that's all true! Honestly, I felt lucky to have found Peter. He's not going to let these people off easily. :)
Oh yes - Rand, you are now moderating this session, aren't you? :)
I can still sit in on it as an audience member. It sounds like a can't-miss session. :)
More pics for the cartoon..... I will be absent from this one :(
Oh goody... I can't wait :)
Good luck w/ the conference. Too busy to go this year. Maybe next time.
Hi Rebecca!
I'm looking forward to meeting with and speaking with you in TO. I guess I should actually start putting together a presentation now... ;)
Ian
Looking forward to meeting the SEOmoz team in Toronto. Our small and humble gang of search marketers read your blog all the time and it will be nice to meet the people behind the postings.
Safe travels.
I saw you both in TO... but you were always so busy, I never got to say hi... next time. ;)
Rand is shorter in real life. ;)
Rebecca if you're preparing for a speaking gig who's going to go off to visit exotic cities and gather pictures and put out a comic of the event?
I'm sure the speaking will go well and something tells me you'll still find the time to gather those pictures.
See you guys in Seattle. It's shaping up to be a good conference.
Hmmmmm....puppets and a fog machine --- sounds like a great party! Can't wait to hear all about the conference - good luck!
aye, of all the conferences out there I'd like to be going to SMX - it's really tiring sitting through the basic presentations that make up most seo conferences these days, but alas, I've got work to do. Others from our company will be present, you'll probably notice the 'i hate doing this shit.' t-shirts from our booth.
anywho - we'll all be at SES Toronto (we're Montreal boys and girls) - so hopefully we'll see your inaugural presentation, and maybe we can let you know where all the good places to hang out in Toronto are (that is, about six hours drive east, in Montreal)
Actually, my "inaugural" presentation was at SEMpdx in Portland in February. This will be my first SES speaking gig, though!
I wish I could head down to Detroit to see my family after the conference, but I'm flying out early evening on Day 2 (in fact, I'll end up missing Rand participate on the "Get Dugg" panel).
"SEMpdx in Portland"
doh, missed that one. not surprising really, I only end up at conferences these days to man the booth for the software side of our company. usually don't even follow at the presentations.
I'll try to make up for your absence (ack, i misspelled that absense, I have an adsense problem methinks) on day two by shouting sarcastic drivl at Rand during his presentation.
This sucks... I am doing SES Latin the following week and have too many new interns to train otherwise I would have flown in just to see you speak...
Hope this becomes regular... maybe do one in SJ and Chicago.... there has to be a bunch of openings now Pubcon is going head to head in Dec.
Congrats on the speaking gig Rebecca, see you at SMX Advanced.
I won't get to see it in person, so please blog about how it went for you or provide some commentary so we can all see how it goes.
Ah, now I know why today felt all wrong. I just realized there was no Whiteboard Friday...I feel withdrawal symptoms coming on.
It's on its way - I filmed it this morning and Scott's working to get it up. Sorry for the delay - we had "Lunch 2.0" here in Seattle and had to leave early to attend it.
Lunch 2.0 - is that user-generated lunch? =)
That's exactly what I thought when I heard about it: "So is that, like, a potluck or something?"
Tomorrow, when I generate lunch for my kids, I'll tell them, "Kids, this is Lunch 2.0!"
No, no, Jill. You have to have your HighRankings community members each mail you one piece of food for their lunches in order for it to truly be Lunch 2.0 :) And you have to draw tagclouds on the sides of the bags.
Tagclouds on lunchbags...sounds like a great craft idea. Can we make them into handpuppets when we're done eating?
I'm confused.....are Jill and Lorisa the same person?
I think Rand was just looking at the tiny picture too quickly.
oops... my bad - sorry Lorisa!
Not to nitpick on a Friday, but I'm thinking that session title is "Viral Bag o' Tricks". Of course, you also could've meant "Feral Bag o' Tricks", although I'm not sure how that would relate to SEO (unless you were raised by wolves).
I like "Feral Bag o' Tricks" better.
Thanks for catching that. :)
See you there! I'll be the one drunk at the lobby bar by 2:30, ranting on about how Hotbot, Lycos and Infoseek are still viable search engines. Google is just a fad!