SESNY : What’s The Big Deal?

The 2010 Search Engine Strategies conference is underway in New York City and sadly, I am not there. But don’t you worry about me because I’ve got plenty to be happy about. I  have a great Twitter list of SEM Oracles to follow, many of which are at #SESNY and dutifully reporting back the latest-and-greatest insights into the Internet Marketing and related industries. I won’t fall short on the amount of information I’ll come away with, without actually going anywhere. So that’s good. Unfortunately I won’t be there, because being there is about a trillion times better than getting it Twitter-hand.

I had the pleasure of making the trip to New York City for the conference in ’07 and ’08 and still haven’t found a replacement that I can deem worthy. Yeah I follow the right people on Twitter who can keep me informed during these big conferences, and yeah I read all of the blogs, and watch all of the interviews. They’re great. But looking at a PPT of How to Become a Link Magnet is a lot different than sitting in one of those chairs with your badge around your neck, ready to listen as Rand stands up to speak! This the difference between going to the conference and watching it from the sidelines.

In-The-Flesh Insight

Like I said up there, being there is different, even better than if you were to stay at home and collect the information from those who got it first hand. When I made my first trip up to SESNY in ’07, I was very new to the industry. I learned what I could from the written word and tutorials, and understood pretty well what I needed to do in order to succeed. Even so, my level of understanding grew immensely by sitting in those sessions, watching the speaker get into their presentations and participating with the droves of just-like-me internet marketers.

Flesh Out Your SEO Bookmarks

I had a shoddy collection of links that I managed to find on my own as I very slowly “broke” into the industry, but by the end of SESNY I had a notebook full of websites to consider. Blogs, chat rooms, podcasts, everything. To this day, my most trusted resources are the one’s I got from the various sessions I attended.

Social Networking, Anyone?

I’ll admit I was a little SEM-struck when I met Kevin Ryan outside the Hyatt on a smoke break. It was cold, he was sick and I was happy to have his ear for the three minutes it took to get upstairs from the cold. I’m sure he doesn’t remember that, but so what? It was a great incentive to learn more and I haven’t stopped since. While I had a lot of luck networking with my peers out with the smokers, that’s certainly not the only way. Everywhere you turn there’s an opportunity to get to know someone else in the industry. You just have to turn around.

If you do get your opportunity to go to your first SESNY, do me a favor and don’t waste it. I  wanna see your notes.