You know search is big when search conferences start backing up to each other. And that’s exactly what happened recently with PubCon and SES.
First there was the famous Webmaster World’s Publishers Conference in Orlando which ran from 26 -28 Feb. Planned or not, Webmaster World owner Brett Tabke managed to host his conference at the same hotel where a swinger’s conference was concurrently being hosted. Geeks and swingers make an interesting juxtaposition. I’ve never seen so many bleary eyes peeking up from behind laptops lining the halls and entry ways of the hotel. I know at our table at the bar all the chairs were angled for the best viewing of the latest in swinger attire as the swingers paraded in for their evening activities. Brett, I know you told me you didn’t plan it, but you’ve got to admit, it made for an interesting and memorable PubCon.
The Orlando PubCon was the biggest so far with over 700 in attendance and for the first time offered multiple session tracks that covered the spectrum from European marketing and affiliate marketing to aggressive link building.
The larger Search Engine Strategies Conference in NYC had a more upscale feel and the sessions were focused higher on the marketing food chain. According to Greg Jarboe’s informal poll, about 20% of SES attendees wore suits compared to only 2% at PubCon.
Since the two conferences were held back to back and there was an overlap in attendees, we decided to have a little fun and ask duel attendees their thoughts on the conferences. Particularly we wanted to know who would benefit from attending one conference or the other and their general impression of the two conferences.
Here’s a few of the comments.
Garrett French http://www.webpronews.com
“PubCon is a must for any affiliate marketers and small business owners – it’s an event that’s fertile for striking business deals and learning more about current search products and services. I found the WebMasterWorld crowd to be a welcoming and experienced group of ebusiness professionals and search optimizers. If you go, be sure to hit the bars after the sessions – that’s where you’ll learn SEO from the inside.”
“PubCon seemed most attended by small business owners and affiliate marketers, though with sessions on European Search Engines and Big Site SEO that will change.”
“SES, at least the one in New York with its three – and on some days four – tracks, is a must-attend event for keeping current on the search industry. Both Yahoo! and AskJeeves made major announcements, and major companies launched new search products, especially in the local search vertical [market]. Both black hat and white hat search engine optimizers attend, along with marketers from the biggest names online. SES is a big event and has a corporate feel. If your competitors attend and you don’t, you lose.”
Greg Boser http://www.webguerrilla.com
“It’s like black versus white. There are more women at SES I like that. And I like the dark demonic guys who hang out in Webmaster World – they’re fun. It’s a good blend.”
Georgian Tweedie http://www.scientology.net
“PubCon [is] more for a slightly different public, in terms of its people are more involved in WMW, more into the technical side…”
“The SES is huge… very big and sprawling. Not quite as cozy as the earlier ones. It’s been very good for the new people; it gives them basics and helps new people get into the industry.”
David Warmuz http://www.trellian.com
“PubCon was for the organic marketers, the people that are after the rankings, the optimization, for people who want the tricks and hints, this is what is done, this is how it’s done and this is what I can get away with as well. This is probably the biggest part of PubCon.”
“The Webmasters aren’t really into PFI [pay for inclusion] programs, don’t really do the Pay Per Cick, they just find out how to get traffic to their sites without paying for it. If you’re an optimiser and want to market your site without paying, PubCon is the show you want to go to.”
“It’s also far more open. You actually got a chance to ask a question you wanted answered, and yes, you got it answered. That’s a partial difference between the shows. You can ask questions at SES, but you’ll get a more roundabout answer full of NDAs and caveats.”
“For SES, it’s more for the advertising industry, the in- house SEO, people who want to know what the paid inclusion options are, people who want to know what the organic options are, and then they want to know how much to budget for and market for and what’s it actually going to cost.”
“Another benefit is they [companies looking for SEO] come here to appoint SEO companies, where as at PubCon they aren’t going to appoint us because they are already doing it themselves. For us as a company [Trellian] we actually get a lot of business networking here and as being appointed as a technology provider.”
Joseph Morin http://www.boostranking.com
“Between the two conferences I would say the WMW was a little more analytical, geared for those who are drilling down on the deep issues, while SES was more of a corporate networking event… but there are always a couple of gold nuggets to be gleamed from both areas.”
Anne Kennedy http://www.beyondink.com
“Webmaster World PubCon is where you get to hear from the people who are actually doing the work on the front lines. It’s very tactical, it’s very good information. SES is more strategic, more sales oriented, a little bit higher level. There are a lot of sales people here, more CEOs here, that is not necessarily true of WebMaster World. I think they both have tremendous value and I’m glad I went.”
Kevin Lee http://www.did-it.com
“I think that the Webmaster World Conference was more focused on the people down in the trenches – getting their hands extremely dirty in the code – particularly at the technical level. And while they did cover strategic and tactical things at a higher level as well, their primary focus was hands on down and dirty in the code. So the people who should attend that conference are the people doing the code.”
“Whereas SES I think they split it into tracks in an attempt to reach a broader audience, in particular they are trying to hit more and more of the upper level management from VP of Marketing and Director of Marketing on down. So there are going to be sessions for both, some tactical sessions and strategic sessions.”
Greg Jarboe http://www.seo-pr.com
“In some respects this year’s WMW was very reminiscent of where SES was two years ago. It was about the same size – there were about 600 people this year at WMW, there were about 600 people in SES in Boston two years ago.”
“There are differences. I would say WMW is far more focused on what I’ll call the “technical issues”. Two years ago SES was more focused on “technical issues.” It will be interesting to see how they evolve.”
“In terms of which audience should go to one, my guess is it depends on what it is you are trying to learn. If you need to learn the basics and a lot of the basics are technical, WMW is the right place to go. If you’re interested in what I’ll call the marketing – both the advanced and intermediate lessons then you want to go to SES. Frankly what that means is for a lot of people that means you’ve got to go to both.”
Conclusion:
Well, there you have it: if your time schedule (and your budget) permit, attend both conferences. If, on the other hand, you must choose, base your decision on the following: PubCon concentrates on hands-on, practical advice for the SEO professional who is doing it themselves. SES is more focused on corporate advertising and marketing. PubCon specializes in web site traffic from organic SEO to affiliate marketing for the cost-conscious webmaster. SES expands into other marketing areas including paid inclusion, PPC, and even promoting your company to Venture Capitalists and potential acquirers.
Both venues are key if you want to hear the latest scoop from the Search Engine insiders. As is true of many conferences, the best information may be found outside of the actual sessions: either in the halls, in the bars, or over the dinner table. So go to the conferences and wear your schmoozing shoes.
Oh, and there’s a few snapshots of the main proceedings (which mainly occur in the bars!) at:
http://www.keyrelevance.com/articles/pubcon2004.htm
See you next issue!
