Since 2006, SEOmoz has offered a summer training event in Seattle, WA. This year, our 6th, that event is becoming something truly unique – the search marketing industry’s first customer conference.
Mozcon tickets are now on sale (though quite a few have already sold to those on the waiting list) for July 27-29 – if you’re in the organic web marketing field, you should pull every string possible to attend. I promise something truly exceptional on every front – content, speakers, facilities, networking, parties, food/accommodations and attention to detail in every aspect of the show.
The Top 10 Reasons you Have to Come to MozCon:
#1: Incredible Speakers
Here’s a list of the folks currently on the agenda over the 3 days of MozCon:
- Adam Audette, CEO, Audette Media
- Alex Schultz, Director of Growth, Facebook
- Avinash Kaushik, Analytics Evangelist at Google + Co-Founder of Market Motive
- Bill Leake, CEO, Apogee Results
- Bob Rains, Partner, Tandler Doerje
- Bryan Zmijewski, Founder + CEO, Zurb
- David Mihm, Cofounder, GetListed
- Eytan Seidman, Cofounder, Oyster Hotels
- Hannah Smith, Search Marketing Consultant, Distilled
- Ian Lurie, CEO, Portent Interactive
- Jamie Steven, VP Marketing, SEOmoz
- Jen Lopez, Community Manager, SEOmoz
- Joanna Lord, Director of Acquisition, SEOmoz
- Kate Morris, Search Marketing Consultant, Distilled
- Martin MacDonald, Head of SEO, Omnicom Media Group
- Matthew Brown, Cofounder, AudienceWise
- Melanie Mitchell, SVP Search Marketing, Digitas
- Merry Morud, Online Marketing Manager, Aimclear
- Rand Fishkin, CEO, SEOmoz
- Richard Baxter, CEO, SEOGadget
- Stefan Weitz, Director, Bing Search
- Stephen Pavlovich, CEO, Conversion Factory
- Tony Wright, Founder, Startup Front End
- Wil Reynolds, CEO, SEER Interactive
- Will Critchlow, Cofounder, Distilled
These aren’t just some of the industry’s best and brightest, but some of the best speakers in the web marketing field around the world. I’ve personally seen everyone above give a presentation (usually many), and I can promise the quality of their presentations will be exceptional.
#2: Actionable, Expert-Level Content
Here’s a portion of the email I recently sent to every speaker for MozCon:
…Every speaking spot at MozCon is a “keynote”-like format. We recruit only the best of the best that we’ve seen deliver exceptional quality presentations in the past – that’s YOU!…
…The audience is tough. Really, really tough. They have high demands, high expectations and in the past 5 years, despite our best efforts, we’ve never had 100% satisfaction on three factors – level of content (they want more advanced), freshness of material (they want tips/info they’ve never heard before) and actionability of recommendations (they want takeaways they can use tomorrow).
This year, we’re going to push even harder. With every slide you craft and every topic you bring up, please ask yourself, “is this this material likely to be new to this audience, useful, actionable and expert-level?” Content that doesn’t fit those four criteria should be excluded. Case studies, specific examples, results of experiments, research data, rarely mentioned tools/resources and detailed processes are great. Broad discussions of a topic (e.g. “you need to engage with your customers!”) or broad recommendations (e.g. “track what your visitors do on your site!”), slides with nothing but bullet points+text and stuff we’ve all heard before… not so much. 🙂
The content quality and takeaways from MozCon will be the most useful, valuable, advanced material you receive from any event this year (yes, really). I attend and speak at dozens of events in the marketing world, and every year, we’ve been able to make the level of MozCon stand out from the crowd. This year, our aim is to exceed that expectation even more dramatically.
#3: Return on Investment
Until May 6th (this Friday), Mozcon is just $799 for SEOmoz PRO members. If you add a roundtrip flight from most US cities and hotel for 3 nights (we are working on a special deal with the Seattle Westin, where the event is hosted, that should be available soon), your total outlay will be ~$2,000, the price of many major marketing conference tickets alone.
Given the actionable advice and remarkable networking opportunities, this event will “pay for itself” by the end of the first day. Nowhere else can you find the level of speakers, content, amenities and
Being fully transparent, the reason why is simple: SEOmoz does not optimize to make a profit on this conference. We, instead, are focused on providing the most exceptional experience possible, through content, speakers, venue and after-hours events (and merely covering costs with ticket sales). Our software business is where our investors/shareholders expect revenue growth. This event is purely to give back to our customers and show our appreciation to our community – you!
#4: Location
Seattle is a drizzly, cloudy town for 9 months out of the year. But in July… It’s magic:
The sun stays out until nearly 10pm, the temperature is in the upper 70s – low 80s. Outdoor cafes, rooftop barbecues, sidewalk stands and lots of pale skin all come out to enjoy the few days a year that make living in the Northwest all worthwhile. As many visitors often remark, “Seattle has the best summer in the country.”
Many thanks to Rudy Lopez for the amazing photos.
#5: After-Hours Events
SEOmoz has long been known for throwing great parties, but in 2011, we’re planning to top them all. Of course, we’ll have our traditional night of drinks, food, bowling, pool and networking at the Garage (a summer tradition for Mozzers since 2007).
This year’s Garage party will take place Thursday night, July 28th
But, this year, we’re also planning some very unique events on the nights of Wednesday the 27th and Friday the 29th, too. Bring your cameras 🙂
#6: Meet & Give Feedback to the Moz Product/Engineering Teams
For the first time this year, there’ll be a table (perhaps a group of tables) in the halls outside the MozCon auditorium with members of our product + engineering teams actively working on new products, features and software.
Stop in, say hi, and give them your feedback on what you want to see, what annoys you, what you love and what direction you’d like to see us take. Our team can’t wait to hear from you (and they might even have a gift to share if you do swing by).
#7: No Sponsors, No Sales Pitches, No Advertising
Unlike other events, MozCon has no paid advertisers, no vendor booths, no salespeople and no sponsored sessions, lanyards, bags, or cocktail parties. Every session is all about the content, and off-stage, our obligation is making sure you’re getting the most from your MozCon experience, not trying to push additional products, services or companies.
You’ll even see plenty of speakers talking about and recommending SEOmoz software competitors like Raven + Majestic. We do not push our speakers to sell any products, including our own, so what you’ll hear and see is absolutely authentic. It’s part of our core values.
#8: No Panels; Every Session is Keynote-Quality
I personally don’t like the panel format, and I know from many conversations around the world that others agree. While they have great benefits – giving new speakers a less pressure-filled spot to start earning their stripes (something I certainly did!), enabling multiple points of view on a single topic, creating more speaking slots – they also have significant drawbacks. Panels frequently mean that it’s impossible for a speaker to “go deep” on their subject, it almost always means several subpar speakers in the group and, IMO, it detracts from the value some of the great speakers on panels could potentially deliver if given the right format.
We don’t accept pitches from speakers, and we only invite those folks who we’ve already seen deliver amazing talks. We pick up flights, hotels + meals for all of our speakers and give them 30-60 minutes of unadultered time in front of our entire audience. This builds a phenomenal incentive for each to bring their A-game while presenting on an advanced topic in an ideal format.
We don’t have a formal “keynote,” but we do have many, many speakers who regularly keynote other shows. They won’t speak in broad generalizations or give 10 minute overviews; their job is giving tips, examples and case studies you can use. And, we use the rating feedback data from our attendees every year and invite back only the top few speakers in subsequent years. You’re going to see great stuff – we promise.
#9: Fantastic Meals, Seating + Amenities
Every seat at MozCon has power, wifi, a desk, water bottles and, this year, something extra-special (an idea we stole from Distilled’s conference series that we love).
We splurge on meals, coffee breaks, ice cream socials, full breakfasts and lunches, drinks and amenities. Your MozCon experience will be the most comfortable and smile-inducing experience you’ll have at a professional event this year, even outside the sessions.
#10: We Have a Huge, Surprise Unveiling on Day 1
MozCon attendees will be the first to see something amazing we’re releasing July 27th and will get early access to… this… amazing thing (sorry, the transparent part of me is dying to tell you what it is, but I promised it would stay secret until MozCon). Trust me when I say you won’t want to miss it!
And don’t ask Jen about it on Twitter, because she’s not telling! 🙂
As of today, approximately 400 seats are available. In the prior 5 years, we’ve sold out ahead of the event EVERY YEAR. I’d highly recommend getting tickets early:
If you absolutely can’t make it to MozCon, come anyway. Barring that, you should come see us at:
Event photos in this post are from our August, 2010 PRO Training event in Seattle.
