SEO Blog

It’s over. The four and a half day marathon of talking, learning, sharing and networking that is Search Engine Strategies San Jose has finally come to a close. Last night and this morning, thousands of attendees hugged their goodbyes in the lobbies and driveways of the various area hotels pledging to stay in touch and see each other next year. For the speakers and media, the time between shows is measured in weeks or, in some cases, days. We hug anyway. I love these people and even though the time between our meetings is often short, I know I am going to miss them terribly.

The close of any major conference is somewhat sad, sort of like losing the city built by the community in a few all too short days. At the same time however the close of a show means a welcome rest from the chaos of choice and the exhaustion of 18 - 20 hour days. This is especially true for the organizers of the show, all of whom have ample reasons to feel tired but also have a good excuse to feel the elation of accomplishment. SES San Jose 2008 was a very, very good show.

“Best to ya mate!”, yells someone from the contingent of Australians flying out of LAX. Across the road an arm is raised in a gesture of goodbye which is met by a dozen raised hands on our side of the street. A smile and a nod later and the Aussies gone. Such things happen by the minute on the last day of a show attended by over 7000 people.

Six hotels surround the San Jose Convention Center and each year, the community tends to make one of the hotel bars into the family living room for the week. This year the living room was located in the recessed lobby of the Fairmont. Walking down those three steps and into the circular room means coming into a series of great conversations.

The thing about search engine marketers is that very few of our friends and even fewer of our immediate families fully understand what we do for a living. Their eyes tend to glaze over two or three sentences into even the most simple explanation of search. The thing about conferences where search engine marketers get together is, nobody has to explain the same concept twice. We all “get it” and that connection is a intellectually luxurious place to be in.

The next major Search Engine Strategies Conference in North America is in Chicago at the beginning of December. The Tokyo show opens at the end of October. At both, search marketers will get to meet, greet and learn from the very best minds in the business.

Ask any attendee of any SES what their greatest take-away was and you’ll find them struggle to figure out which facet was best. There are so many options, so much to learn and so many truly incredible people to meet it’s very difficult to pick the greatest take-away so most fall back on one or more “WOW!” moments when something someone said made everything make sense. Being at SES makes sense. Sort of like visiting a hyper-extended family as often as one can.

Good on ya mates! See you in Chicago.