It’s August 20, 2007 and I am attending my first Search Engine Strategies Convention in San Jose, CA. This conference/expo will go on for 4 days providing a wide variety of seminars, available for anyone attending Search Engine Strategies.
On the first day, people are settling into their hotel rooms and arriving to the city, so seminar room might be a little empty compared to the rest of the days, but that does not mean you will get any less information from the Monday afternoon seminars. Whether you are interested in attending a class regarding an Introduction to Search Marketing (which is a basic level class) or looking to attend an advanced skill seminar regarding universal and blended searches, SES is providing a great start-off day.

On Tuesday, the ball starts to roll when everyone has had a night to relax and sink into their selected vibe. To start the day, Jim Lanzone, from Ask.com will be holding a keynote conversation overview. Seminars began again that day after a short break, but at 12pm to 1:30pm, AOL is providing their AOL Search Lunch. After everyone’s power lunch seminars pick right back up. A couple must-go lectures of the day are towards the final stretch of Tuesday. The three that caught my eye; “Video Search Optimization” (which is an advanced level seminar), “Meet the Video Search Engines” (an advanced level as well), and finally “Writing for Search Engines” (a basic level seminar, but could be very helpful. A good SEO should know how to tear this area up). “Creating Compelling Ads” would also be a great seminar to sit in on as well.

Since the most important factor of this industry is to network, Google acknowledged that and is holding the “Google Dance 2007” from 7pm to 11pm Tuesday night. It will be a place to socialize with your surrounding brethren, a time to let it all go on the dance floor, but watch out, the paparazzi might be on the prowl.

The third day will start out with a Keynote Conversation with Marissa Mayer from Google. The key seminars on this day are; “Local Search Marketing Tactics” (4 Star Rated), “In House Big PPC” (new to San Jose and a great addition), and my third choice for this day would have to be “SEM Pricing Models” (on the advanced level and a newly added seminar as well). What’s in store for that night you might ask? Webmaster radio is throwing their “WebmasterRadio.FM SearchBash.” A great place to network with your search marketing community and rub elbows with nobodies who think they are somebody’s, but hey, we have to think big to be big right?

Finally, the last day of the conference will end with a hand full of lectures that are just as good as Monday’s set list. My top 3 lectures for this day; “Organic Listings Forum” (another 4 Star Rating and set for any skill level), “Meet the Crawlers” (any skill level with an Organic focus), and “Buzz Monitoring” (you have got to know who’s talking about you right?). I also think that “Usability & SEO: Two Wins for the Price of One” sounds like an interesting lecture to sit in on.

By the end of this week, the individuals that have attended this years SES in San Jose, will hopefully leave home with new effective ideas and some more contacts in their address book.

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