Some helpful ways to maximize your SMX experience:

• Join us on Twitter @SMX, as we live tweet news, updates and information from every event. You’ll get information on sessions (time, location, session hashtag), speaker Twitter handles, theater presentations, social networking events, and much more. We also encourage the use of the #SMX hashtag on Twitter during each show so that you can find other show related tweets and share your own. It’s an excellent way to connect with other speakers and attendees before, during, and after the show. And of course, if you have any questions about our shows, just let us know!
• We will also be sharing attendee and speaker live blog posts and photos on our Facebook and Google+ pages if you missed anything. Join us on Facebook and Google+! The #SMX hashtag also works on Google+ in the same manner as Twitter, so tune in and share your posts!
• After the each SMX show wraps up, we collect all speaker presentations and will send out an email with access information to attendees in case you missed a key point or want to refer back to them and compare notes. Please allow us a few short days after each show to gather them.
• A lot of SMX attendees also use Foursquare. Check in with us at each show, leave your own tips and read others while on site. It’s a great way to get tips about the venue, any contests that our exhibitors may be holding at their booths and more!
• We would also recommend planning your agenda ahead of time. See which sessions are of interest to you and if you are coming with a group, it can be useful for each person in your group to attend different sessions so that you can learn more and share with your team after the show. Here’s the agenda for our upcoming SMX West show!
• Scope out the conference social events, it’s a great way to meet other attendees and speakers. It’s also an excellent way to build connections. Here is the list of networking events at SMX West – including social events like the Meet & Greet reception and SMX After Dark, as well as structured opportunities like Birds-of-a-feather lunch tables.
• We also have a private online group created especially for attendees/speakers so you can discuss and post any questions you have about marketing topics or the show. Once you register for an All Access pass to a SMX show, you will receive an email with information to access the group.
• Bring a laptop/tablet/note pad to take notes on during the sessions. There will be a lot of information shared during each session, but don’t feel overwhelmed. If you miss something, you can either ask someone from that session at a later point, check and see if it was posted on our social channels, reach out to the speaker directly, find it in the conference presentations after the show, or feel free to contact us!
• If you are in the market for a new job opportunity, make sure to have an updated resume on hand (paper/digital) so you are prepared in case the opportunity rises!
• Stay charged! Bring extra batteries and chargers for your phone/laptop/tablet.
• Business cards are also quite handy to have on site!

If you have any additional tips for maximizing your experience at one of our shows, we’d love to hear them! Please feel free to contact us and let us know. We want you to enjoy the sessions, speakers, and events to the max!

We look forward to seeing you soon!

Since I consider myself a fairly social person and I absolutely love the nerdiness of online marketing, I look forward to SMX Advanced Seattle for months prior to the actual event. I have now attended SMX Advanced Seattle two years in a row and fell upon a rather interesting discovery (this one, among many): year 1 = pretty overwhelming, year 2 = pretty awesome.

If you’ve attended a Search Marketing Expo – SMX event before, you may know what I’m talking about: in a few short days you’re slammed with the industry’s best and brightest, and told more information than you could possibly remember in one sitting.

Your first experience at SMX can somewhat resemble your first day at a new school: crowded, fun, exciting, buzzing and everyone is knowledge thirsty (and there are likely groups of people who obviously know each other from past events, and you may feel like the outsider/someone who has no friends…yet). However, as you’ll quickly learn, SMX is one of the best places to make new friends because everyone is there for the exact same reason, they work in the same industry, and, like you, they’re looking to network and learn as well.

As you might have predicted, the second SMX event you attend is likely reminiscent of the second year of school. This go-around you know some familiar faces, you’re excited to reconnect with friends you met at a previous show, and again the event is buzzing with excitement, and everyone can’t wait to find out what’s in store over the next few days.

One of the most valuable takeaways that I got from attending SMX Advanced in Seattle was the amazing connections and networking opportunities. I am lucky in that I live in Seattle and so did a number of other attendees, but I also made valuable connections from all over the world.

Some tips from me, whether this will be your first or fifth SMX event:

• Use the SMX Online Connect
• Find people you want to meet and shoot them a message
• Scope out the pre-conference social events
• Plan your agenda ahead of time, but be prepared for last minute adjustments
• Bring necessary battery chargers
• Don’t forget the business cards!

Maybe I’ll see you at an upcoming SMX event!

If you are interested in learning more or getting in touch with Melissa, follow her @MelissaMK.

This year, the official name for the event is SMX Israel, as opposed to SphinnCon Israel. Yes, we are now officially a Search Marketing Expo – SMX event. Thank you all for making that happen!

SMX Israel will be held at Inbal Hotel in Jerusalem. To sign up and reserve your seat now, go to http://searchmarketingexpo.com/israel and click on the “Ready to Register” link at the top right of the page. Or go to https://www.rustybrick.com/smx/

Sponsors: We want to thank our early sponsors. They include Majestic SEO, Analytics Ninja, Universal McCann Search, Mad Mimi and the Inbal Hotel. Without their early support, this event would not be possible. If you are interested in sponsoring and want the options and pricing, please let us know at smxisrael@rustybrick.com

Speakers: We hope to bring back many of the honored speakers from last year but also add in new speakers and new topics this year. We are in discussions with Google and expect to see at least one or two Google representatives at the show, one from the Google Search Quality team and one from the AdWords team. You can also expect to many world renowned speakers in search and social – agenda coming soon. If you are interested in speaking, please email us at smxisrael@rustybrick.com and we’ll follow up with you on the SMX Israel speaker pitch process.

For more information about the event, see http://searchmarketingexpo.com/israel

Please sign up ASAP to reserve your spot at https://www.rustybrick.com/smx/

Happy and Healthy New Year to All and hope to see you on January 15th!

Thank you,

Barry Schwartz
SMX Israel Chair

To the good people at Covario, we couldn’t have done it without you! Covario paid for the beverages and snacks, so all of the donation money could go to Komen. Thank you Covario!

Finally, thanks to the Third Door Media team for the time and effort you contributed to make the evening a success. I’m always impressed and humbled by your dedication. Thank you!

Chris

P.S: In my haste to get this out, I neglected to include a fourth “thank you” for the good people at etouches, our registration company. They donated their software and call center resources to this effort! Thank you etouches! ]]> http://searchmarketingexpo.com/blog/20110915-052029.php/feed 0 http://searchmarketingexpo.com/blog/20110824-044349.php http://searchmarketingexpo.com/blog/20110824-044349.php#comments Wed, 24 Aug 2011 11:43:49 +0000 Kendra Jaros http://searchmarketingexpo.com/?p=16564 “Search for the Cure” is the theme for SMX After Dark, our after-hours networking event at SMX East. After Dark will be a great time, and with your help, we’ll raise a boat load of money to fight breast cancer!

Here’s how it works. You donate $50 through our online system, and we forward all of the money to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer research foundation. This donation magic is possible because the good people at Covario are sponsoring “Search for the Cure”, and paying for your drinks, snacks and entertainment.

What are you waiting for?! Sign up now!

Thanks to all of you who are already attending. We’ve raised nearly $3000 so far. And we’re just getting started!

Need more convincing? Here are 6 reasons to sign up now:

SMX After Dark is the best bargain in Manhattan nightlife! And, every penny you donate will fund breast cancer research! Please, register now!

Join us Wednesday, September 14 at 9pm at Mars 2112, 1633 Broadway at 51st Street, just a couple blocks from the Sheraton New York.

SMX After Dark is open to SMX East pass holders AND the public. If you still need to register for SMX East, you can sign up for After Dark at the same time.

Thanks again to Russ, Craig, Paul and the entire Covario team for their generous support of SMX After Dark! Thanks too to IM Charity Party and Internet Marketers of New York, who are supporting this effort!

PS: Want to help more? Donate a prize for the SMX After Dark raffle. Contact me if you can help out! chris@thirddoormedia.com

The series, Fundamentals of Search Engine Marketing, has four videos featuring expert instructors:

• Keyword Research & Copywriting with Christine Churchill, president of KeyRelevance
• Link Building Fundamentals with Debra Mastaler, president of Alliance-Link
• Paid Search Fundamentals with Matt Van Wagner, president of Find Me Faster
• Search Engine Friendly Web Design with Shari Thurow, founder and SEO director at Omni Marketing Interactive

All four presentations feature full motion video and integrated slide presentations. They can be purchased as a set or individually. Video samples and more information are available at IMTcourses.com.

IMTcourses.com is opening with this these four videos. The mission of the site is to host internet marketing instructional materials in many formats, covering a wide variety of digital marketing topics from many different providers. Those wishing to sell instructional materials through IMTcourses should contact product manager Chris McDonagh.

Redding, CT and Montreal, QC – August 17, 2011 – Search Marketing Expo conference series producer and Search Engine Land publisher Third Door Media announced today that Acquisio Inc. will be a Premier Sponsor of its next three domestic SMX events. The sponsorships are part of a year-long marketing services agreement between the two companies.

More than 2,800 users and 7,000 brands rely on Acquisio’s platform to buy, optimize and report on performance media placements on search, social media and retargeting advertising networks. Third Door Media’s properties attract more than 1 million marketers each month.

“The SMX brand of conferences gives us the chance to reach out directly to our target audience—agency marketers searching for a better way to manage and report on their clients’ accounts,” said Marc Poirier, co-founder and CMO at Acquisio. “We appreciate that the Third Door Media team works hard to understand our needs and is willing to work with us in developing innovative ways to elevate the Acquisio brand—and we’re delighted to renew and increase what we feel is one of our most important marketing partnerships.”

“We’re delighted that Acquisio has chosen Third Door Media marketing solutions to help continue its rapid growth in the marketplace, and are excited to connect SMX conference attendees with a leading provider of performance media services to agencies,” said Chris Elwell, Third Door Media president. “We look forward to continuing our work with the Acquisio team to acquire customers and build the company’s brand domestically and abroad through advertising, events and demand generation services,” he added.

About Acquisio
The leading performance media platform for agencies, Acquisio helps agency marketers buy, track, manage, optimize, retarget, and report on media across all channels—including search, display, and social media.

Acquisio provides the industry-leading technology for agencies buying ads on any online channel, allowing them to handle all tasks associated with performance advertising, from ad purchase through conversion tracking and beyond, within a single integrated platform. Unlike other solutions, Acquisio hosts its own third-party ad server and employs a single tracking functionality across channels, allowing agency marketers unparalleled conversion and revenue attribution modeling and reporting capabilities.

With more than 2,800 users and 7,000 brands under its management, Acquisio is the multi-channel marketing solution preferred by the world’s leading advertising, marketing, and SEM agencies. Agency clients include large agency holdings such as WPP, Omnicom, IPG and Publicis; as well as some of the world’s most recognized performance media companies such as Amaze, Bertelsmann, Cossette, DAC Group, Guava, iProspect, Isobar, Media Experts, NetBooster, PhD, and Yellow Pages Group.

The company is based in Montreal, Quebec with satellite offices in Seattle and London. For more information, visit www.acquisio.com.

About Third Door Media
Third Door Media’s mission is to empower internet and search marketing professionals by providing trusted content and community services they need to be successful.

The company produces the global Search Marketing Expo conference series. SMX conferences include: SMX West (San Jose, CA), SMX East (New York City), SMX Advanced (Seattle, WA and London), SMX Munich, SMX Toronto, SMX Sydney, SMX Melbourne, SMX Paris, SMX Stockholm and SMX SoLoMo – Social, Local & Mobile Search (Phoenix, AZ).

In addition, Third Door Media publishes Search Engine Land, the leading search marketing news and analysis site, and Sphinn.com, a social news site that allows search and internet marketers to share news stories, participate in subject-specific discussion forums and build their professional networks.

The company also provides a full range of innovated marketing services including lead generation, content creation and licensing via its Search Marketing Now brand.

This year’s SMX After Dark event will benefit the New York City affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the nation’s leading breast cancer research organization.

We’ll have an open bar, food, arcade games, raffle, and the opportunity to meet internet marketers from around the world! SMX After Dark will be held September 14 from 9pm-11pm at Mars 2112, 1633 Broadway at 51st Street, just a couple blocks from the Sheraton New York.

Sponsored by

And, thanks to the good people at Covario who are sponsoring SMX After Dark, all of the money donated by those attending will go to Komen! That’s right, Covario and SMX parent Third Door Media are paying for the party, so every penny donated by you goes to fight breast cancer.

Also, thanks to our friends at etouches for donating their registration services and the IM Charity Party crew, who thought up this whole great idea and will be helping promote it to non-SMX attendees.

Register! Donate!

Just $50 for drinks, snacks, games and fun. Here are your registration options:

• Not registered for SMX yet? Register today and you’ll have the opportunity to sign up for SMX After Dark and make your donation
• Registered for SMX? Just want to come to After Dark? Click this link to sign up and make your donation.

Help support breast cancer research and have a great time! Join us for SMX After Dark “Search for the Cure”. And thanks again to Covario for sponsoring!

]]> http://searchmarketingexpo.com/blog/20110729-091558.php/feed 0 http://searchmarketingexpo.com/blog/20100816-010023.php http://searchmarketingexpo.com/blog/20100816-010023.php#comments Mon, 16 Aug 2010 08:00:23 +0000 Kendra Jaros http://searchmarketingexpo.com/?p=12261 The Search Marketing Expo – SMX conference series is expanding its focus on international search marketing. International Search Summit (ISS) will be offered in conjunction with SMX events worldwide beginning in 2011. ISS is produced by international search agency WebCertain Group LTD,

The first International Search Summit @ SMX will take place at SMX West in San Jose March 8-10, 2011 followed by events in London, Seattle and New York. Additional dates and locations will be announced in the near future.

By co-locating these events, SMX attendees will have the opportunity to dive deep into the complexities of international search marketing.

The International Search Summit started in London in 2007 and has seen been produced in London, Oslo and Berlin.

Speakers at the event regularly include senior executives from major global search engines and social media sites from Russia to the Middle and Far East. The program also includes case studies from organizations with significant experience in operating in multiple languages dealing with all the cultural issues which that entails.

Click here for more information about SMX West and International Search Summit @ SMX.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m a huge fan of Techmeme, Mediagazer’s sister site that compiles tech headlines from across the web. It is my daily online newspaper, which I read each day along with many others (check out this recent New York Times profile of the service). Stories about search and search marketing from our Search Engine Land news site regularly appear over there. Currently, we’re the 18th source on the Techmeme Leaderboard.

But most of search, to me, is a media story. Not a tech story. Technology is involved, sure. But you know, technology is involved in the TV shows you watch and the newspapers you read. That’s media. Search, somehow, gets stuck as tech.

It’s a question that long pestered Google. As the company grew, it would constantly be asked, “Are you a media company?” Heck, it was one of the questions I asked Google cofounder Sergey Brin back in 2004, during a keynote discussion at one of my conferences. “We’re a technology company that applies technology to media,” he replied.

Google’s Eric Schmidt answered similarly in an Los Angeles Times interview in 2006, saying in answer to the same question:

If TV is a medium; if print is a medium; if outdoors is a medium, I wish that more people would finally get that search is a co-equal medium to all of them. It is a broadcast system, but one that works in reverse, where consumers broadcast their desires to marketers and advertisers, as I’ve written:

Search is a media story. If you’re in media, and you’re not doing search or not thinking of search as part of your job, think again. You’re missing out.

To help you, we’ve got a conference heading to New York, our SMX East show that runs from Oct. 4-6. A “boot camp” to get you up to speed. Sessions like:

• It’s Not Multichannel Marketing If You Don’t Include Search
• Search, PR & Reputation Management
• Search Marketing For CMOs (& Those Who Work With Them)
• Search & Diapers – A Tight Fit? Search Marketing & Consumer Packaged Goods