The South is host to more than just grits, rebel flags, inbred fat couples, dogs tied to chains, and gothic short stories filled with drinking and murder…which is why I am so utterly thrilled to announce that we’ll be having our very own SphinnCon on May 2nd, in Greensboro, North Carolina, hosted by Link Fish Media’s Jay Young and Ayima’s Rob Kerry, also known as the editor of Sphinn AND, in some small small ciricles, known simply as Donkey. Sure, Greensboro is a fairly boring town (although we’ve just turned 200! and we have a nice chocolate shop) but with the arrival of the lovely and charming Evil Green Monkey, this town is going to be turned upside down.

So what can you expect from the Greensboro SphinnCon?

• Informal quick sessions presented on a variety of SEO topics
• A networking session with FREE BEER that goes on until the wee hours of the night
• The chance to have your photo taken with an SEO Chick and maybe meet my bloodhound

Many people have complained about the overcrowded nature of the current major conferences, so this is your chance to come out to a one-day event and actually have meaningful SEO conversations with other professionals. We’ll get started around 10 and keep going until someone gets arrested. Tickets are $150 and that includes free beer and free food (for carnivores and veggies). There’s a special conference hotel (see the SphinnCon link) and we’ll be doing a lovely pub crawl on Friday night. Several people are staying for the weekend so send me a message on Facebook or email if you’ll be around and are interested.

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Here I am again with the London events

Only this time, it’s on MY BIRTHDAY!

There will be three speakers.  I’m leading off speaking on SEO basics so all you Chicks out there wanting to pick up pointers, come on over and grab yourself a ticket!  There will be food and a bit of wine, water and juice courtesy of the sponsors along with FREE WI FI!!

Head over to http://londongirlgeekdinner20.eventbrite.com and enter the password “searchme” and you’ll be able to grab yourself some tickets!  You can donate any amount and all the cash goes to help Girl Geek Dinners.  Everyone is a volunteer and freely gives of their time.

March London Girl Geek Dinner

Date: 25th March 2008 7:30pm - 10:30pm

Sponsors: Latitude

Venue: The Knights Templar 95 Chancery Lane, WC2A 1DT

Organizers: Sarah Blow, Imp & Judith ‘deCabbit’ Lewis

The talks start at 8:15pm on the following topics:

* SEO the core elements – Recently named one of the UK’s most respected SEO bloggers, Judith ‘deCabbit’ Lewis will be speaking about the basics with handouts. Amanda will get the q & a off to a searchy start as she’s just done a site and used automated seo tools… will make for a good conversation…

* Semantic Markup and Organic SEO - Sheila Farrell will be tackling this fascinating topic on combining SEO with semantic web elements - Danielle from Israel to instigate the Q & A based on her experiences in Israel

* Search Vs Find, the mobile search perspective - Sarah McVitte who is deeply involved with finding answers in a mobile environment will tackle this fascinating topic - Vero to instigate the Q & A as she’s great with the mobile search stuff

It’s a fantastic opportunity to get information usually presented at conferences costing £500 or more to attend.

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The 2008 edition of SES London was a refreshing change from the previous year.  Not only did it start better for me with no unwanted groping, the initial session really set the tone for the rest of the conference - fun and different.  This year I also resolved to get over being shy in person and introduce myself to people I have been reading.

I got as far as introducing myself to Liana “Li” Evans and Adam Lasnik and stopped.  Sometimes being a journalist bites as I am always aware people are suddenly careful about what they say around me.  Makes for a difficult time making new friends!

The sessions offered far fewer sales pitches than previous years and far more content.  One colleague who attended with me was very impressed at the amount of information she was able to pick up.  SES London was pitched perfectly at people who were just learning about search optimisation and marketing.

If I were structuring a learning program for someone new to SEO, it would go SES London, SMX London, PubCon then SMX Advanced with if possible SMX West, SES New York and SES San Jose.  I also highly recommend the places I speak :D  Well, I would.  My upcoming speaking sessions can be found in my deCabbit’s London View of Conferences Ahead

At the end of the first day was the anticipated (but not as anticipated as the SEO Chicks take-over of LondonSEO Pissup) networking drinks.  Held on the main floor with the exhibitors, we each had a sacred ticket, sacrifice of which was rewarded by the keepers of the temple of alcohol.  The wine was excellent for cooking and the beer was just the right strength to ensure new growth in your annual flower beds.  Yum.

Heading off for food, those among us intrepid enough to do so headed off to a pub… which had nowhere for us to sit so we headed to Thai Square.  When in the area of Angel/Islington, do visit this Thai restaurant.  Not only did they accommodate all 22 or so of us, on my table where there was a vegetarian and a seafood allergy, they cooked special food for us.  They so rock!  I’d like to apologise to the good folk on the other table I never got to say hi to.  It is the curse of the commuter and her train schedule.

Day 2 was a late start for me (lightweight that I am) but not so late that I missed all the sessions.  I even did my job of interviewing despite the mocking in the press/speakers room.  Sessions were again great with Googlers out in full force.  It was great to see Googlers on panels who were not just sales people.  That was a refreshing change.

Search Term Research and Targeting was an excellent session with fellow SEO Chick LisaD giving an excellent section on researching keywords and her own experience of a client with an Egyptian God for a business name wanting to rank for that name.  Excellent stuff!

The evening of the second day was a washout for me as I had a friend coming over.  It was a lovely evening though and I was re-energised by the and of it and was ready to face another extremely early start and late end.

Day 3 was, of course, the most important day.  Each passing session was a step closer to the SEO Chicks take-over of the LondonSEO Pissup.  Meet the Crawlers had knowledgeable people from each search engine (but Live) talking about some of the stuff us SEOs want to know (like how to get in to Ask or how to get spidered more frequently).  Site clinic was, as always, a good laugh with a few small take-aways and really, all the sessions added great value but evening was approaching.

Having had a lacklustre meal at Med Kitchen (compared to Thai Square especially), we headed over to Camden Head for chocolate, beer, wine and, apparently, a comedy evening!  My chocolate had melted *SHOCK* and when I tried to get more they were sold out *MASSIVE FAIL* but it was great fun nonetheless.  Every time I tried to escape the stairs though, I was inevitable pushed back there.  I think the stairs liked me.  I also got a back massage, chest bumped, bum rubbed and got to set up a friend and another new acquaintance.  Hey, misery loves company

All in all, London SES was a great place to be to learn, meet people, have fun and enjoy being an SEO!

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Finally we can announce our first guest-bloggers. It seems like ages since we first wrote about getting some cool guest bloggers on board. We’ve had a few interested, and we’ve stalked some (ehm Donna).

And since the guest-bloggers are in fact “guest” bloggers we thought it would be cute to call them “SEO Chicklets”. So without further ado, let me introduce you to our first ever guest bloggers!

Jane Copland

Ok if you don’t know who this blonde kiwi bomb shell is, you’ve had your head in the sand for the last year and a half. Jane works as a Search Marketing Consultant at SEOmoz, but is maybe more known as the Moz plex’s Social Butterfly (ehm only with regards to Social Media of course, no pun intended…cough cough). Jane has written two in-depth guides on social media marketing for SEOmoz and has been a speaker at SMX on the same subject. Along with being a pretty smart chick, she is also one of the funnest people to party with and one of the sweetest people I know. We are very excited to have Jane on board to contribute to the SEO Chicks blog, watch this space for some wicked posts.

Happy party chicks, Jane Copland and myself at SMX London

Lauren Vaccarello

Lauren used to work for Forex Trading company as the Search Marketing Director, she then founded lvlogic, an online marketing business specialising in paid search, web analytics and brand and reputation management. I first met Lauren at PubCon in Vegas, where we bonded over a few vodka’, chatting about the Search Industry, conferences and of course women in search. Like Jane, Lauren is one heck of a clever chick and has attitude like only a born and bred New Yorker can have. She rocks!

Lauren with Todd Malicoat at 9 in the morning in Vegas, having eggs and tequila for breakfast.

Welcome to the SEO Chicks Chicklets, you both rock!

oh and lastly a random fact: “Did you know that a goldfish has the memory span of only 3 seconds?” That made me laugh so much today….Ok it’s way past my bedtime, I’ve entered random land.

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Well, 2008 has already started with a bang (but, living in the past as I am, I’m still catching up with 2007…) with lots of conferences shooting ahead out of the starting blocks.  I’m speaking at three so far (maybe four) and attending many more so for all you London-based marketing folk, here is what’s up and on.

Technology For Marketing & Advertising 2008 – Feb 12 Earls Court Conference Centre London.  It’s free to attend and tends to be all about the stands with free sessions of limited value to those who know what they’re on about.  For those new to the industry, these sessions are great bite-sized free talks at a free industry event.

SES London – Feb 19 Business Design Center.  Be there or miss out completely on one of the best times.  Felt left out of all the fun at PubCon?  Why not get involved in SES London and create some networking magic!  SEO Chick Lisa D will be speaking there so you know you *have* to go.

Web 2.0 and Beyond: Applying Social and Collaborative Tools to Business Problems - 5-6 March 2008.  This conference has a great atmosphere with networking not just encouraged - it is enforced!  Practical advice, with the ability to implement immediately means anyone going to this will find something about it for back at the office.

Future of Web Design - London 17-18 April  Kensington Town Hall.  This is a fantastic conference really aimed at folk who already know what they are doing and want to push it further as well as seeing what’s coming up.  I highly recommend this event.

Social media for Business – Apr 24 Hotel Hesperia London Victoria.  I’m speaking at this event on “The Dark Side of Social Media” or how not to bugg3r it all up by learning from the mistakes of the past.  This was a fun conference last time so I highly recommend it.  But I would – I’m speaking at it!

Internet World - Apr 29 Earl’s Court.  This is another large, free event that is apparently bigger and better than last year.  Again more of a trade show event, it also has free seminars (like my online reputation management one) but is mainly aimed at those looking to source suppliers.  I’m speaking at this event too!

Search Engine Marketing Advanced Conference – June 12 Hotel Hesperia London Victoria.  I’m speaking at this on something (don’t know yet) so it should be a great time.  And lunch is always nummy and we all know a conference is rated by its lunch.

Online Marketing Show – Jun 24 Business Design Centre, Islington.  More of a trade show event, this is free to get in and has some great workshops though the main draw is the number of suppliers under one roof.  There is a fantastic Thai restaurant across the street – dinner anyone?  I’m probably speaking at this event too!

That’s the first half of the year so far.  I know that we have SMX London sometime between June and November and also ad:tech Sept 24-25 Future of Web Apps, London 1-3 October at ExCeL, Future of Mobile in London November 2008 (exact dates TBC), Virtual Worlds Congress and Expo in November 2008, Online Information is Dec 2-4 at Kensington Olympia plus more Social Media and Search Marketing conferences.

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Search Engine Strategies – Feb 2008
Wohoo I’m a speaker at Search Engine Strategies London this year , pretty cool, especially considering my first ever conference was SES London this time last year. SES London is on from 19th – 21st February at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London.

I’m on the panel “Search Term Research & Targeting” with amongst other Christine Churchill and Maxim Grandchamp

If you are going to SES London, make sure you come and see me speak on Wednesday 20th Feb, 11:45-12:45, I’m going to be nervous as hell, so any support will be very much appreciated No heckling please, unless it’s “Lisa you rock”…

LondonSEO party Thursday 21st Feb
As usual the search engines are rubbish at organizing ANY parties during search conferences in the UK, so LondonSEO are again organizing a big piss up for the last day of SES London.

This time I have high jacked the LondonSEO site and I’m organizing the party. It took some convincing Rob and Mike to let me do it. But I’m not one for giving up =)

The party is being held at the Camden Head in Islington, only 2 min from the Business Design Centre. We are estimating around 100 thirsty search marketers coming to the party, the lovely Dave Davis from RedFly Marketing and Ciaran Norris from Altogether Digital are sponsoring the party. Thanks guys!

It should be a good laugh, for more info about the party visit LondonSEO I have also started a LondonSEO Facebook Group for anyone that wants to join (you have to be logged into facebook to follow the link!)

See you there?!!

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The English Speaking Union was the location of the “B2B Marketing Debate” (watch the video!) between SEO and PPC. SEO experts Lisa Ditlefsen, head of search at Base One and Andrew Girdwood, head of search at Big Mouth Media debated with PPC defenders Stuart Small from Google and Simon Norris from Periscopix.

With over £700 million being spent annually on paid advertising within search engines, pay per click (PPC) advertising is often seen as the easy way in to the top spot on search result pages. Easy to change, start, stop and completely transparent, Stuart asserted that PPC was a better, more targeted way to gain leads.

Stuart Small from Google mooted that with 85% of all B2B purchases starting in a search engine, paid search ads were vital to any business. Google sees 80% of searchers clicking on organic results, with 20% of all searches clicking on a search ad.

With SEO perceived as a “black art” taking time, expert knowledge and effort, both Lisa Ditlefsen and Andrew Girdwood tackled the issue expertly, mooting that organic results were often perceived as more directly relevant, with a lower overall cost.

With three times the interest in SEO, paid search ads just don’t generate as much interest. PPC is a “money eating machine” according to Andrew. “People don’t want to put more money in. For B2B campaigns SEO has a definite advantage over PPC.”

Lisa Ditlefsen spoke about how SEO is like buying a house and PPC is like renting. While initial costs may seem larger, SEO is by far the cheaper investment. A well optimised site lasts in the SERPs, while a poor site with PPC lasts only as long as the money.

Simon Norris mooted that organic results were manipulated by devious SEO methods. To counter, Andrew Girdwood argued that Google was excellent at filtering spam out of the index “Google does an excellent job at this. ‘Gaming’ the search engine is just no longer possible the way it used to be.”

Simon also claimed that Google is trying to increase the number of ads clicked on by searchers and that personalisation changes the ads shown based on user intention. “That is not true” said Stuart Small from Google. “Google is very careful about privacy and we do not change ads based on people being logged on to Google. That is completely wrong.”

At the end of the debate, search engine optimisation won. No contest really, considering who was fighting the SEO side

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When the SEO Chicks were sent the questionnaire by our lovely Julie about the last 6 months, and we were asked how it had changed our lives, at that point I hadn’t really noticed a difference.

Enter PubCon and suddenly we had a fan (HI NATASHA!) asking us to sign her t-shirt (which we failed to do – SORRY!).  Others wiggled out of the woodwork and suddenly I realised that not only were more than 6 people reading the blog, they actually recognised the other chicks and me!  SEO Chicks changed my life (and not in a National Enquirer way) forever!

So, on I move to the past weekend and the BBC Backstage Christmas Bash.  BBC Backstage is a grouping of techie sorts who hack and code and generally enjoy coding.  According to the BBC Backstage website “backstage.bbc.co.uk is the BBC’s developer network to encourage innovation and support new talent. Content feeds are available for people to build with on a non-commercial basis.”

Admitting to just how much of a geek I am in public now, I went to this techie Christmas drinks event which I have been attending since its inception.  Always a great evening with geeks, I met up with Suw Charman, Improbulus (who had to leave early to sing Messiah), Ian Forrester, Ryan A, and others.  I also made new friends in Trisha (who is an SEO Chick fan – HI TRISHA!), plus Marko and Martin – Yahoo and Google respectively.  They were drinking together, enjoying the company (me and Trisha and Cotta and someone whose name I forget) and talking about stuff they couldn’t talk about.  So you can gather the conversation was scintillating.

What did I learn?  Those two Dutch guys were great fun and I wished I could have chatted with them more.  Regrettably being a filthy spammer SEO meant my time with them was limited by my profession.  Sad but true – apparently I went black hat after a glass of mulled wine (white hats – watch that stuff!).

I did find out about knols and Google’s wiki-killer project.  No, I don’t believe it’ll kill wikipedia nor am I totally sure it’ll take off.  I do understand why they are doing it but it will be ad-driven and so never seen as completely neutral.  Not that Wikipedia is neutral, it just seems less evil.

Quote of the night?  “We’re just more subtly evil” by Google guy who said it in response to a conversation about Google, market dominance and the statement “don’t be evil”.  Really does just sum it up, doesn’t it?

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Ok so Julie and Judith have written roundups of PubCon already, but hey I thought I would do a “social” roundup, since I didn’t attend a single session This was my first pubcon and boy did it live up to the reputation. Gambling, drink and SEO - it can’t get any better!!

Going through my Vegas photos on facebook I realised that a lot of people has untagged themselves in my photos, mwaaaaaa, you can’t untag this father mockers =) This will be the uncensored gallery of the piss-up that was Vegas PubCon (obviously with the exception of all the minging photos of me, ha!)

Me and my Rob Kerry (evilgreenmonkey) arrived in Vegas on Tuesday 4th Dec. Not having slept at all on the plane I think it’s an understatement saying we were cream crackered (cockney for knackered). We got to the hotel, unpacked, eh, no threw the suitcases in the room, and went straight to the bar. In the bar we met the lovely Matt Inman who was going for dinner with Rhea Drysdale, so me and Rob tagged along (gate crashed) for some much needed alcohol and dinner. Thanks so much for paying Matt =) Will buy you dinner at the Ritz when you come to London………ehm or McDonald’s

Jet-lagged as hell - LisaD and Evilgreenmonkey

After having dinner I was so tired I thought I was going to hit the deck, we found the perfect solution - an oxygen bar! Hook me up! I know, it’s a “hot” look isn’t it having plastic tubes up my nose??? As Rob didn’t want to try it out the chick running the oxygen bar hooked him up to this “massage” thing that sends electric pulses through these gel pads. Endless fun I’m telling ya! I kept on turning up the power and Rob was suddenly Pinocchio - hilarious!

Getting some oxygen =)

Back at the bar in the Wynn we met up with Ciaran, Stephen “always pulling a face” Pavlovich and Chris Cotton. All showing us how to drink beer English style, or??

Also hanging out was Jane “my twin” Copland, the lovely Lisa Barone and Rhea Drysdale. (I’m really sorry but can’t remember what the name of the dude in the photo (was it JT?)

The first night was relatively civilised and I think we actually went to bed like 1 in the morning, I was very proud of myself, and actually thought that would be the case every night. I would network, stay relatively sober where people could still understand me etc etc YEAH RIGHT!!

Day 2, went to the Expo Hall at Webmasterworld for about 1 o’clock, oopsy. Did the rounds and bought a feckin large coffee and sat in the sun. Crazy 20 degrees, December? Really?? Met up with fellow SEO Chick Judith, who looked disgustingly awake and bright =)

Got back to the hotel, had a much needed snooze and met up with the funniest woman ever (SEO Chick Julie), her husband Jay “feckin womans knickers” Young and the Ayima Crew We went to see the Penn & Teller Show for Jay’s birthday, and it was really fucking good. Although I must admit not seeing much as desperately tried to hide so they wouldn’t drag me up on the stage…

As it was Jay’s birthday I bought him a very appropriate birthday gift - yup “feckin womans knickers”. Obviously gave it to him to open in-front of loads of people =)

“Me Julie” and myself looking strangely close! Anything for “Me Julie” - aiiiii!!

Back at The Wynn hotel (who by the way has the worst Flash website ever!!) we finally got back on track with the drinking.

Ciaran “smokin inside aii” Norris, Jane “might as well be English” Copland, Stephen Pavlovich (oh this is the only “normal” photo every taken of him!!” and Lisa “need a drink” Ditlefsen

The beer, wine and Cosmos (in Jane’s case) was finally flowing, after a few hours drinking I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely Kevin Gleeson. A seriously nice guy that knows his shit about Search Marketing. Had one of those drunken but very on topic conversation about everything search. Thoroughly enjoyed the conversion Kev, you’re a top bloke!

Also hung out with Patrick Sexton aka “feedthebot”, who is such a cutie, I just want to wrap him up and put him in my pocket...ehm you know what I mean…Always a pleasure to meet him as he is always so happy to see just in general a genuine and happy guy (plus he always gives the chicks compliments, which is always nice!).

I met Jim Boykin briefly at SMX Seattle but finally got to have a chat with him in Vegas, he is such a fucking nice bloke! I love this industry, it’s full of genuinely nice people, that are happy to share their experiences (ok there are one or two pooh beans but all in all it’s mainly nice people).

Also met CK Chung aka Kid Disco who can drink more than any human I’ve ever met, in fact I’m doubting he is human, think he might be a sideborg =) If you want to party in Vegas, I suggest you do it with CK, he is an awesome dude! Here CK with giggling Jane and Lisa =)

The Wynn bar didn’t know what had hit them when Dave Davis arrived at the bar. Dave is one “crazy” Irish dude, with a heart of gold! He is also one very clever businessman, and not that age matters, but at only 24 running his own company, I think it’s safe to say expect BIG things from this Irish wonder.

Here’s the lovely Rob, hunky Matt Inman and Dave the “Irish bomb”.

Dave is also one heck of a gambler, and had me hooked on Craps after a few hours =) Boy that was fun (as long as you win that is….and not throw those fucking SEVENS!)

After drinking, gambling and drinking some more, we were all knackered and went to bed, HECK WE DID! Myself, South African Steve, Jessie Beaudion and CK “sideborg” Chung went to the cafe for some breakfast and tequila, yep that’s right, 8 o’clock in the morning Tequila shots and Eggs Benedict. Seriously crazy but funny as hell!

Empty tequila glasses - oh dear god!

Day 3, feeling like I’ve been dragged through the gutter, chewed and spat out, then put in the tumble drier, I got up at 1 o’clock after some much needed sleep. I haven’t got many photos from day 3 funnily enough, probably as I was too hungover to work the camera =) But to cut a long story short, we did it all over again!

Mingling at the Wynn bar, I met Lauren Vacarello, who’s a totally awesome chick, and she can drink like a Viking =) I had met my match =)

Pat Sexton and the very cool Todd Malicoat were also hanging out in the bar. Todd is such a nice guy, although looking slightly scary with red eyes =) I on the other hand HAVE to stop posing! Ugh! I’m lucky no one asked me “how much?”.

So obvioulsy this led to ehm…yep yet another Tequila breakfast. This time a slightly bigger group. From left Stephen Pavlovich, a drunken LisaD, Dave “let’s drink more” Davis, CK, Lauren and Todd Malicoat.

To end this epic of a social roundup, I thought I post a photo of my favourite “blackhat” Steve aka Esrun. He’s 21 but kept on getting asked for I.D every second whilst in the Casinos. So, he got this t-shirt printed for the last day of gambling, I thought it was pretty feckin hilarious. Didn’t stop them asking for I.D though, even when Steve went “really you want to kill a poor little rabbit”

All in all, Vegas was totally awesome (shit I sound American), the networking was great and I learnt loads, although next time…..I think I will be kinder to my liver……as if.

Edit: if you read the comments on this post you see Jane commenting on a really bad photo of her….did you mean this one Jane? Mowhahahahha…..sorry couldn’t resist it…although I think Ciaran looks worse than you. Sorry Ciaran

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Arriving as the only chick attending the PubCon sessions, I knew my task would be a daunting one.  With FIVE streams covering three days with a possible over 70 SESSIONS, there was no way I could be in more than one place at one time.

Starting out with registration, I arrived early – as did hundreds of other people.  Lining up for over 40 minutes in order to get my badge, I almost missed the keynote with Craig Newmark.  Grabbing some pastries and a coffee, I dashed to the front of the lunch room only to realise the acoustics were so bad I couldn’t hear him anyway.

I wandered off to Social Media Marketing 101 which I was thankful was more of the 201 level.  Rand Fishkin started us off with a vote and only 4 or so people wanted real basics.  So we launched in to some fun info with him and the other speakers which has all become much of a blur as I got low on caffeine and water.  I love the way Rand goes “don’t blog this” and people do anyway.  Swift. *snark*

In House SEO was a bit of an eye-opener for me as I had never realised what trouble others faced.  I feel like I’m on the cusp of something much worse here at work so always good to indulge.  Caffeine levels were returning to normal so I remember much of this session including some great organisational charts from Fox.  Jessica Bowman covered some great tips for winning the battle of education in house and Bill Macaitis stepped us all through strategies, information, tips and suggestions.  Really though, Jessica Bowman rocks

Lunch I sort-of remember but mostly I remember it came in a box with a tiny bottle of water and I was parched.

Universal search was interesting but I thought it was a really long-winded way of saying ‘hey – SERPs changed and we’re still waiting for news from the lab’.  Eye tracking to talk about user behaviour and colourful slides and I’m sleepy.  I wake back up for Bill’s talk on his experiences and his points – of which there are always three.  We finish with Greg and how he (and I) think(s) that Ask has the better UI and that if you take the search for something like “lions” and plug it in to Google then Ask, Ask does a better job.

At this point I go back to my hotel room as I’m supposed to be going to KA - Cirque de Soliel and not KA the car - and I’d had no news about tickets or information and my constant searching turned up nothing.  Leaving then meant I totally missed the cocktail reception and special event but I got a sneaky peek in to one of the tower suites at the Wynn.  WOW – now that is just something else!  We had to pick up or tickets there but it’s so late and I don’t have anyone’s contact details so I grab chaperone and run down to the MGM to see KA.  What a spectacular show!  What interests me more is the use of bloggers as journalists to develop a buzz around the shows in Vegas to create a buzz and in the case of KA, encourage teenagers to commit to something.  Apparently teens don’t say anything more than “whatever”.  I have no recollection of being so sociable as to actually deign to respond to a question so they must have some chatty teens :)
 
So, after KA sleep was needed and I passed out.  No alcohol consumed on day one or day two and now we were fast approaching day three.

Day two at PubCon was a write off.  The main content was loaded on day one so I overslept.  I don’t remember a single session from that day and doubt I attended one.  The auction was just a non-event for me.  I’m sorry but $10,000 estimated for SEO News?  Please!  I was checking the freebies in the expo hall including squishee balls from somewhere, Google yo-yos, best of the web t-shirts, squishee men from Yahoo, other stuff I forget but I didn’t win a single iPod nano.  Seriously – no decent goodies from Yahoo or Google and no iPod nano won.  I mean, where were the bar fridges?  Where were the umbrellas?  Where were the stuffed animals? WHERE WERE THE LAVA LAMPS?!?!?  People – you are with the geeks who can sway the marketing folk – DO SOMETHING SPECIAL.  Sheesh.  No one loves the geeks.  At least at something like TFM&A or Online Marketing Show or Internet World or the like Google University gives a bag of swag and then you have booths with laptop bags, popcorn (and snarky account managers), stuffed plushie goats, squishee frogs and more.

The Google party was OK but the guy going on and on about how he pwns all domains for lawyers made himself look like he had a micro penis.  Seriously boys – all that bluster makes you seem like you have a small penis.  Get a life and a clue.  I grabbed a Google glowing ball for me and one for office and drank enough to ensure I have all cups before I went off with Nelson to SEOmoz Werewolf.

Werewolf was the highlight of the conference for me.  It was loads of fun and we had M&M’s – what more could anyone ask for.  I got to be Rae two or three times and got to run a couple of games.  We need to run this at SES one night!  It was just a great evening and then later on Shimrit and I wandered over to Joe’s place for nibbles and great conversation.  Loved everyone I met and hope to meet them again!

Day three brought more potential and no news of a new hotel room.  I was in the Planet Hollywood having moved from the Sahara (and their scary security notices on the door) and no news on my Friday night accommodation. 

I went to the Matt Cutts keynote for my breakfast and found it interesting.  I wanted to go to CSS and HTML coding today but knew I’d never get to use it where I am so I did some hanging with the gals of the con and expo lurking.  I think the game invented at the BOTW booth merits some thought as it combines sex and sales. 

I went to the interactive site review and there were still people there from the last session waiting for their site to get a review.  One comes up called ‘adult community’ and I ask if it is porn.  I mean, it looks spammy, has a ranch in the middle of nowhere featured and a gazillion spammy links.  It apparently isn’t adult friend finder for larger groups but senior accommodation for those too snobby to live with people rude enough to have children.  I mean, please. 

Lunch time and I steal a sneaky peek in to the speakers room.  WOW!  OK… I have to make a pitch no matter what work says!  Can they really stop me?  OK… I guess they can… or fire me… or worse… but hey – nice perks!  I saw Gillian (SEOmom) and she helped me meet some new folks before she rushed off for a session and I delay.

I ended up in the Competitive Intelligence session and it was all sensible stuff.  I’ve not (HONEST!) had to use this stuff to spy on my competition.  While I’ve never messed with their minds, it gives me ideas… *rubs hands* yes yes… I’m selling chicken feet now you sorry losers!

I was going to go to Tools of the Trade but Nelson said he’d be on to microslag about the party so I grab a gal pal and get ready earlier than I wanted to.  I hate doing that – disrupting my carefully laid plans – but I’m overly trusting of strangers :P  By this point though I’m actually getting tired and the music is getting to me.  We get there, have trouble but I don’t end up getting it fixed as I just want to get to an isolation tank (but adcenter, never come to me ever again expecting to be included in my ad spend – you’re cut off).  We went for tapas where I discovered why I cannot ever sit down in that dress ever again – ever.  Shawl across my lap, we had great tapas and reluctantly went off to the Venetian for the poker tournament.

The poker tournament was fun but intense so we grabbed our shirts and Shimrit and I went off with Tony Clifton – one of us on each arm – for drinks where he took my virginity… my martini virginity that is! :)  A great evening was had by all and I wandered back to the hotel at some point.  I know Lida D was taking Danny’s role and supplied doughnuts to us but after the third drink it all gets kinda blurry.  OK… you caught me.  I was sleepy and that’s why it is fuzzy.  I’m so not a party animal.  Note to self – stop wearing tight clothing – you are not built correctly for it.

The next day saw me out of Planet Hollywood and in to the Westin where they thoughtfully provided me with a rubber duckie for my bath as well as coffee and everything I could need.  This was luxury!  I had no time to enjoy it as it was an SEO-Chick-apalooza at the Monte Carlo where not only was PubCon on, THE RODEO WAS ON!  I mean, what more could a girl ask for?  Well, maybe people could have eaten the chocolate I brought but those yummy strawberry things were lovely – YUM!  I met some great people, hung with a couple of Brits in the evening and found out Gareth and I were going back on the same MaxJet flight the next afternoon.

So Saturday – my last day – involved shopping in a flurry and I bought something I’ve wanted for awhile, some other fun stuff (including chocolate covered pretzels) and packed to go to the airport.

So all in all a great PubCon – next stop TFM&A then SES London!

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