I attended SMX Advanced 2010 in Seattle last week, it was my first time at the conference and I wanted to put my cards on the table, highlighting what I liked about the conference and what I thought could be improved.

What I Liked

Birds of a Feather Topic Lunch Tables – The opportunities to network and meet fascinating people in the industry were vast and well organised. In particular, I liked the Birds of a Feather Topic Lunch Tables that were topic based lunch tables for which you had to sign up, that were held in a separate dining area. You had to be quick on the uptake to register for these tables but topics ranged from influencing the C-suite on PPC advertising to meeting a Bing engineer, to name just two. On a side note, C-suite is not a programming language it’s used in the business world to describe the top honchos at the executive level.

Diversified Sessions – There were a wide number of topics from which to choose within each subject matter, with the usual suspects such as ‘Quality Score Optimization for the Pros’ but also some more focused sessions such as Microsoft’s adCenter Desktop Lab and Efficient Frontier’s Demystifying Search Data. Certainly the list was extensive and beyond learnings from the sessions themselves, the questions posed by the audience were often interesting and challenging.

More Presenting, Less Selling – It was refreshing to see most presenters shying away from selling their own product or tool, with only a few sales pitches being thrown out to the audience. Perhaps selling has become more subliminal or presenters have realised, by being told countless times, that attendees are not interested in who you are or what you do unless that information in some way benefits their business in the 1.25 hours they have dedicated to listening to you. If not, there’s always two more concurrent sessions to attend…

The Food – It must be stated that the diversity, quality of and frequency at which refreshments were provided was impressive. With some type of refreshment pitstop after each session it is a marvel we did not roll over and sleep after the delicious lunches.

What I Disliked

Temperamental WiFi Access – It must be said that the Internet connection fell out more frequently than would be desired at a search engine marketing conference. One would expect that the Internet connection would be able to accommodate 1,500 tweeting, blogging, sharing, search engine marketing junkies. Power outlets were also sparse which made things difficult for people like myself with a battery deficient laptop, which bodes the question, either more power outlets should be added or I should investigate upgrading to the iPad? Tough decision…

Encyclopaedic Sessions – Most sessions were of high enough quality to warrant being featured at SMX Advanced but there were some that had an encyclopaedic nature to them in that they skimmed over the topic at surface level rather than diving deep, sharing lessons learnt, case studies or experiment results. Don’t give me the basics of attribution, I know what it is, tell me what your business is doing to tackle the problem, share ideas, brainstorm.

Would Have Liked

Certainly, we cannot all get what we want all the time, but I would have liked to see some REAL answers provided by Bing/Yahoo about the paid search transition planned for the end of Q3 this year. It would have been great to see either search engine equipped with both some answers and a willingness to share. It was the right platform to do it – with some of North America’s leading search marketers in the room, this would have assisted in streamlining the process somewhat, disseminating information effectively and perhaps alleviating the stress search marketers are feeling.

The issue of privacy, though recently a hot topic in the media, particularly with Facebook not playing nice with its privacy settings was not really touched upon. Granted, session topics are proposed months in advance but Europe appears to be more concerned with this issue. Given the number of lawsuits underway relating to privacy, perhaps this is being discussed at conferences held there?

This last point is a prickly one but it would have been fantastic to see an industry leader touch on the point of industry maturity and evolution. The search industry continues to change at an unprecedented rate but maybe it’s time to pick up on that topic of standards, accreditation and training. It would be interesting to see how the industry is divided on the issue today.

Originally posted on AskEnquiro

I think I should say it now, so that no one is surprised later when they do not see me live blogging or Twittering about SMX Advanced… my laptop is more like a desktop, making it cumbersome to carry and use at a search marketing conference. And no, I do not currently own an Apple iPhone (even if I did, Canadian telecommunications providers do not exactly make it viable to own an iPhone given the exuberant costs involved).

Any thoughts I share will be in hindsight rather than in real time, offering the opportunity to ponder and reflect prior to writing about the experiences. I would like to indicate that I am not a conference aficionado and this is in fact my first conference in the US, so anything you read about SMX Advanced will be through the eyes of someone who has been in the industry for a few years, but a newbie to the conferencing world of North America.

Observation 1: Network Your Butt Off
It must be noted that this is the first evening of the conference, registration night, even before any sessions have been held. A ‘meet & greet’ type event was held on this first evening. I have ascertained on night one of this experience that networking is one of the key elements to a successful conference. Though this may sound arbitrarily obvious, it is quite blatantly critical – you will not learn more honestly and candidly from a search marketer than when they are relaxed and comfortable. Sessions are one thing, face to face, one-on-one is a different ball game.

If you are afraid to introduce yourself in a room full of strangers, a conference is not a place to succumb to those fears. You may find yourself alone at one end of the room, holding your “free” drink, anxiously peering at the crowd, hoping someone comes to speak to you, when you should in fact be deciding whom you wish to converse with and making the first move.

Learning from the conferencing experience comes from speaking to people from which you can learn and listening to what they have to say. Sometimes this information comes in between the lines, during a conversation rather than through an orchestrated presentation.

Clay, Hoffman and Weintraub are three names with whom I became personally acquainted tonight. Don’t sound familiar, how about Bruce Clay, Outspoken Media and aimClear.

According to some SMX Advanced conference regulars, this is the conference to attend in North America. They say, if there’s one to check out, it’s this one. The appeal lies in a smaller venue that limits numbers and allows for more intimate networking to higher level topics that excite industry professionals rather than putting them to sleep in 101 type sessions. This conference has a reputation for impressing and creating a buzz, we’ll find out in a week whether it will deliver.

I look forward to hearing what Microsoft has to say about its search alliance with Yahoo in the keynote on Day 2, by Yusuf Mehdi, Senior Vice President, Online Audience Business.

On the flip side, I do ponder whether there is anything truly unique that can be shared about Quality Score. What is Quality Score Optimization For Pros? How many times can we hypothesize about Quality Score before reaching diminishing returns on the time invested in the exercise?

There are a number of exciting sessions that I look forward to attending, but almost more exciting than the sessions themselves, are the people who will be attending. There promises to be an impressive and sophisticated array of search marketing professionals, congregating under one roof from all over the world, multiple industries, agencies and in-house specialists alike. I look forward to meeting you there. Catch you in Seattle!