Presenting to the Presenter

Oh we have fun...on every trip it is always fun to get in front of business owners, do a presentation and have fun doing it. Sometimes (not always!) the sessions end in applause - there's no better feeling.

So... This week I went to Search Engine Strategies in NYC. How FUN! What was most interesting was watching other industry types presenting their material. I have to say, since I have been doing so many seminars to thousands of people, I had a perspective that many in attendance probably do not share.

I went into each session thinking, "What can I learn from this guy" and "What presentation techniques can I learn." I learned a lot with this in mind...

First and foremost, it occurred to me what value really means. There were a few presentations that were the very definition of VALUE. For example, Benu Aggarwal, founder and president of Milestone Internet Marketing gave a fantastic 15 minute presentation on local search. She was part of a three person panel. While the others were good, they were theoretical in large part, while Benu went into specifics of what to do to optimize for local - I wished she'd had more time!

I suppose since we all have a different frame of reference, things that seem unimportant to me may be very important to others, but if I hear "content is king" one more time!! Okay, I am guilty of saying it too, but still - these rules don't apply to me.

I went into the "How to Optimize for Social Media" session and I only lasted about 10 minutes. The place was PACKED. I tried to get this on film, but I don't think the photos do it justice. There was not even "lean against the wall" space! Check out the view down the back wall...

And the front view - notice the people sitting on the floor in the aisle! Can anyone say, "fire code violation?!"

One thing was clear - Web 2.0, social networking, whatever you want to call it, was definitely the hot topic. My guess is that this is because video and rich media have really made their way into the mainstream of Web sites and the best mediums to publicize these forms of data is through social networks. But hey, what do I know... All I do know is that people were devouring the info presented.

Great show - see you next week from sunny Miami, Florida!

Search Marketing, John McCain and Life-Saver Machine Guns

The Dallas SEM presentation was just a blast. As seminars go, this one was made interesting by a few reasons...winter weather in the burbs, John McCain visited our hotel, and I got my picture taken in a 1962 British tank. Huh? That's what I first said too...

I left Dulles Airport on Monday morning and the weather report said to expect 70 degrees and sunshine in Virginia. Of course, I land in Dallas and it is cold and rainy. Murphy and his darn laws... Anyway, I got to spend the day at my cousin's house, just outside of town. Jeff is always got a project going on of some kind. Well, I was delighted when I found out that he had a tank in his garage! He picked it up from a re-enactment enthusiast and fixed it all up. The machine gun on top is equipped with a nitrose hook up - it can shoot a life-saver some hundred feet! I couldn't resist, so I mounted up and checked out the radio head gear...

Well, after checking out the military vehicle and a nice visit with my cousins, Aunt and Uncle, it was back to work...

The weather in Dallas was not so much a big deal until 5:45 AM Tuesday morning, when the presenter from Constant Contact dropped me a note that she'd be late arriving because of a road closure outside of town. Time to improvise, I did a four hour session instead of 90 minutes! She arrived later in the day and was able to deliver the e-mail marketing workshop in the afternoon.

The morning session was great - we had such a wonderful mix of people. I was pleased to meet the folks from 1 Stop Pool Supply - they sell all kinds of swimming pool supplies and accessories. In addition to their thousands of products, they have an impressive Google Adwords spend - I could probably learn a thing or two from them!

Did I mention that we found out at the last minute that John McCain was visiting the Fairmont the same day we were there? All day there were news people, secret service and the like running around - there was a definite buzz in the air.

All in all a great experience and I got to meet so many nice people. I got an interesting question about the use of the Meta Refresh, that I explain on the NetSol blog...

Next Week is NYC - the Big Apple!