To help keep the balance, I’ll shine some light on some of my favorite things about search conferences:
- Presenting – It’s exciting to be on stage, sharing ideas and being a thought leader. There’s an undeniable allure to it, and while I take it as a serious responsibility, I admit that I have a real passion for it, too.
- Meeting New People – Very smart, talented, entrepreneurial and well-connected folks show up at search conferences – thousands of them.
- Seeing Old Friends – Since there’s at least a half dozen conferences I’m at each year, they’re very practically a place to see friends from all over the world that I’d never have the opporuntity to know were it not for the group environment.
- Expensing Travel – It’s a beautiful thing.
- Expensing Meals – mmm… free food (kind of).
- Learning New Techniques – Every conference I go to, I come away with tactics I’d never heard of before.
- Hearing About New Companies – Competitors expose themselves, new potential partners reveal themselves and new ideas you’d never think could work come out at conferences.
- Search Engine Announcements – I can virtually guarantee that 2 of the 3 major search engines (and probably all 3) will announce big news next week.
- After-Hours Parties – You’d have a hard time beating the search industry for after-hours get togethers, both public and private.
- Wearing Yellow Shoes – I never put them on at home.
- Losing Weight – I almost never eat more than 6-700 calories a day at conferences, so Mystery Guest always loves it when I come back after a week and I’ve lost those extraneous 5 pounds.
- Blogging on the Road – it’s so much more dynamic and engaging when you get instant feedback and direct access to people.
- Hotel Mints – That and having your room cleaned for you.
- Seeing a New City – OK, so downtown San Jose is a bit boring, but I’ve been to London, China, Munich, Toronto, New York and many more
- Free Stuff – SWAG may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I always try to bring back something for my coworkers who couldn’t attend.
- Drama – WHen it’s on stage, it’s terrific to see two sides attack and defend – I think that’s when the most specific and relevant tips are exposed.
- Nametags – Since I suck at remembering names, I love seeing nametags around people’s necks.
- Black Hats – They rarely come out online (at least in the places where I hang out), but they’re all over the conference world.
- Burying the Hatchet – If you’ve had an online disagreement, chances are that 5 minutes in person will smooth it over.
- New Research – Someone always comes out with some new research showing click fraud is X% or Google is susceptible to this kind of spam or Yahoo! local contains 80% businesses started by ex-Microsoftees, etc.
- An Official Party Coordinator – Oh, wait…
- Drinking – Responsibly, of course.
- Wrestling – With which parties to attend, I mean. Not this kind.
- Comics – from Boowrecka, yeah 🙂
- New Tools – from SEOmoz (oh wait, was I supposed to keep that secret?)
OK – Your job is to fill up the other 25 in the comments…
