Search Marketing Expo

As co-chairs of SMX West 2008, Chris Sherman and I oversee the agenda of over 50 editorial sessions. Pulling together the session ideas, formats and speakers is no easy challenge, especially when you have high quality standards that are backed by a guarantee. Fortunately, we have an excellent team of people working with us on the show that I’d like to introduce and pay credit to.

Each individual session has a “panel coordinator” who is in charge of selecting speakers and establishing the session format (who will talk for how long, on what topics and so on). The coordinators ensure that attendees get a session that is well orchestrated. Rather than speakers overlapping each other on topics (or being off-topic for the session), SMX panel coordinators ensure that everyone is set to deliver a complementary performance.

For SMX West 2008, our panel coordinators are:

• Jessica Bowman
• Chris Elwell
• Vanessa Fox
• Gord Hotchkiss
• Detlev Johnson
• Rob Kerry
• Misty Locke
• Chris Sherman
• Stephan Spencer
• Greg Sterling
• Danny Sullivan
• Jeffrey Rohrs
• Matt Van Wagner

In most cases, panel coordinators will also serve as moderator of the session that they put together. However, we have a few cases where a different person may serve as the session moderator, such as when a panel coordinator might assemble two sessions running at the same time.

Moderation is an important part of programming. Moderators are there to crack the whip if the speakers don’t stick to their times, plus they help elicit further responses to questions posed by the audience. Moderators themselves are also often great sources of knowledge and can help provide a further perspective on panels. Below are the SMX session moderators to date, in addition to the panel coordinators who are already also serving as moderators:

• Jessica Bowman
• Chris Elwell
• Vanessa Fox
• Gord Hotchkiss
• Detlev Johnson
• Rob Kerry
• Misty Locke
• Gillian Muessig
• Jeffrey Rohrs
• Chris Sherman
• Stephan Spencer
• Greg Sterling
• Danny Sullivan
• Dana Todd
• Matt Van Wagner

SMX also has a second type of moderator that we’re debuting at SMX West. This is the Q&A Moderator. SMX devotes a huge amount of time for Q&A and discussion, as we feel it’s an essential part of a successful and valuable session. However, just picking hands from the audience is a fairly random and unrepresentative way to decide on what to put to the panel.

Our solution is the Q&A Moderator. During most SMX sessions, attendees will be able to send questions to the Q&A Moderator. We’ll describe the exact process in the future — but it will be easy and accessible to everyone in the audience. The Q&A Moderator — who is an expert themselves on the session topic — will group similar questions together. Then they will assemble a top list that gets put to the audience to vote on. This way, the entire audience can influence which questions get asked. As the Q&A period progresses, new questions will be posted and voted on. Here are our Q&A Moderators:

• Brent Csutoras
• Fionn Downhill
• Rob Kerry
• Anton Konikoff
• Cindy Krum
• John Marshall
• Mike McDonald
• Matt McGee
• Gillian Muessig
• Greg Sterling
• Danny Sullivan
• Dana Todd
• Matt Van Wagner

Wondering how you become a panel coordinator, session moderator or Q&A moderator? It’s pretty straight-forward. We work with our own staff from Search Engine Land along with others who have typically distinguished themselves by being outstanding speakers. To learn about speaking at SMX, see this page. Most sessions are now filled for SMX West, but other shows will have openings in the future. Remember, we always announce when new sessions openings are available here on the SMX Blog.

Finally, is there an SMX Advisory Board like some other conferences have? Absolutely — and it’s a pretty inclusive group of people. It’s you. It’s anyone that ever attends one of our shows. Whether you provide feedback to using our formal evaluation forms, send us email or just talk to us at the show, we take all that advice back to constantly reshape and improve our events going forward. So congrats! If you’ve been to one of our shows and provided some feedback, feel free to link to this post and name yourself as an advisory board member!

It’s probably no shock that the keynotes at Search Marketing Expo – SMX West in Santa Clara in February are going to be about the future of search marketing and technologies.

SearchEngineLand’s own Danny Sullivan will kick off SMX West with “Search 3.0, Search 4.0 and Beyond.” He’ll discuss the implications of blended search (Search 3.0), personalized and social search (Search 4.0), and what’s next for search and search marketing technologies.

SMX West attendees will also get some hints about new search technologies in the works at Cuill, a stealth search start-up with former Googlers as founders. Vice president of products Louis Monier will describe efforts at Cuill to set new standards in search, in addition to providing perspective on developments in the field. Monier is a search technology pioneer, having founded Alta Vista in 1995 and later leading teams at both eBay and Google.

“While there are many search start-ups, the veteran brainpower behind Cuill makes anyone take notice. Cuill’s been careful not to hype itself, to the degree few know much about it. SMX West attendees will be among the first to learn more about Cuill’s plans, plus hear Louis’s insights on search,” Sullivan said.

The day-three keynote will be “Generation Next: Search In The Coming Decade”, a panel discussion with luminaries from the major search engines predicting where they see search headed. This session will be moderated by SearchEngineLand’s Chris Sherman and SEMPO Chairperson Gord Hotchkiss.

Register Now, Save Some Money and Secure Your Place

SMX West takes place February 26-28, 2008 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in the heart of Silicon Valley, California. SMX West is programmed for search marketers of all skill levels; the event features more than 50 sessions conducted by search marketing community’s most well known experts and practitioners. Here’s a link to the full SMX West agenda.

Register for SMX West before prices increase and save $400 off the on-site rate.

Want to Learn More? Here are some earlier posts about SMX West:
- SMX West 2008 Agenda Up: 3 Days, More Than 50 Sessions!
- First Networking/Extracurricular Activities Announced For SMX West

SMX West links: Home Agenda
Register
Network
Guarantee
Bonus Offers

A couple weeks back we announced the Search Marketing Expo – SMX West agenda. Today’s topic is the other really valuable and fun stuff — networking.

The networking begins with SMX Bash on February 25. This event is for All Access and Networking Pass attendees (check out what you get with these pass options here) to get together in an informal setting and get to know each other and see old friends.

On the 26th, we’re going to be hosting SMX Search Bowl, where teams from the major search engines will face search marketing teams in a battle of wits. Just who knows the most about search? Find out at the SMX Search Bowl. We’ll all get ready for this test of wills at the SMX Search Bowl Tailgating party just prior to kick off.

We’ll also host an Exhibit Hall Reception, on Wednesday, February 27 from 6-7PM. Come enjoy snacks and cool beverages while getting to know the myriad of search vendors that are showcasing their products and services.

And these are just the networking events that we’ll be putting on at show; we hear others may be planning things as well. Check the SMX West Networking Page frequently for additions.

Register today for Search Marketing Expo – SMX West and save $400 off the on-site price. Our early bird rates expire soon so lock in the savings by acting today!