Scott Stratten (@unmarketing) and me, Day 1

PubCon is the biggest, baddest search marketing conference of the year. It means that for a conference rookie like me, it’s also the most intimidating. Since I started doing SEO early last year, I’ve grown familiar with many of the names and faces and blogs of people who frequently speak at PubCon, but it’s a little like reading People magazine before going to the Oscar After-Party. Witnesses will testify that I freaked out a little when I saw people like Brett Tabke stroll by.

The Verdict

PubCon seriously rocked my world! It brought new, awesome people into my world. It got me thinking differently about things. I often wondered how people go from being “locally recognized” to being “national players” in their industries. In the search industry, it seems that half of it is about going to national events. PubCon is just as much a reunion as it is a conference, only this reunion is open enrollment. Not only would I go to PubCon again, but I would pay my own way if my company didn’t send me. Those three days in Vegas were unreal! I feel like a new marketer.

5 Things I Did Right

For someone who had never been to a conference before and really had no idea what to expect or how to “do it,” many of the things I tried worked out well and would apply just as much to other conferences as to PubCon.

• I started being braver in interacting with speakers and attendees on Twitter in the month leading up to the conference. I told some of them I wanted to meet them and they were cool with it.
• I started following the #PubCon hash tag on Twitter about 3 weeks before the conference. It put new attendees on my radar. It helped me win some cool business cards and 2nd row tickets to Blue Man Group. It also helped me hear about schedule changes, events like the Raven Tools Party, and great opportunities like dinner with some of the SEO industry’s best – all things I would have missed otherwise.
• I went through the session schedule a week early and picked out 2-3 of my top session choices at each time slot. As two guys (David and I) representing our agency at PubCon we wanted to maximize our “content exposure,” knowing we’d have to report to the rest of the group when we got back. So if there was a session he wanted to attend, I had alternatives to choose from. Plus, it gave me a backup plan the couple of times I felt like I wasn’t getting what I expected from a session.
• I made specific efforts to find people I wanted to meet. Even though we were all in the same general area, I sent messages to find out which sessions specific people were attending so I could say hello. With so many sessions, there’s a very good chance I would have missed some great introductions and new friends.
• I had fun. I let myself get caught up in the novelty of my first conference. I got excited about small things that would seem really stupid to other people (like eating my first Philly cheesesteak, watching my first live Poker tournament, etc.). It made the time that much more memorable and helped take the edge off the nervousness.

(Extra #6: I stayed at the Hilton. It was SO nice being able to walk to the convention center in the morning, listening to music, versus having to take a shuttle or a cab. It wasn’t a short walk, but it was good exercise. I actually lost a little weight on the trip. Bonus!)

3 Things I Would Do Differently

• I would read more content written by people before meeting them. I’ll admit, I had awkward introductions with a couple of people. People may have recognized me from Twitter, but that’s not enough to hold a conversation together. I could have made things a lot more comfortable if I had been able to talk about posts they had recently written or had done more blog commenting leading up to the show.
• I would bring a spare battery. I now have hand-written notes from a few sessions because I overestimated the availability of power plugs in the rooms and killed my battery prematurely on 2 of the 3 days. Having to digitize those notes is going to be a pain. A few posts I read recommended bringing a power strip. I did, but it was pointless, because sitting on the floor at someone’s feet just so you can use a power cord is more than a little awkward.
• I would take notes differently. I tried to live blog as a way to take notes throughout PubCon, but there are problems with this approach. Speakers often put junk on PowerPoint slides that they don’t actually talk about, but I still caught myself scrambling to copy down useless bullet points without context. Also, scrambling to capture everything for a blog post often means that the best, most actionable stuff gets lost among the weeds. Next time I’d focus more on capturing what was said that I wouldn’t be able to get from looking at the slides later.

(Extra #4: Take more pictures. My PubCon 2010 photos on Flickr are pretty weak.)

Post-PubCon Plans

Several days after PubCon and I’m still in recovery mode. I really want to take advantage of the trip and stay connected to the people I met so I can learn even more and build these friendships, so here’s my game plan:

• I set up a private Twitter list to keep them on my radar within TweetDeck. I also used a handy site called xFruits.com to create an aggregated RSS feed of all these peoples’ individual blogs so I can do a better job reading content and having real exchanges about SEO, social media, etc. (On a side note, a lot fewer PubCon people have current blogs than I expected, and some of them don’t even have RSS feeds.)
• I’m putting together a PPT presentation for the rest of the SEO.com crew with the most important take-aways. I’m also going to make a list of all the clients I manage SEO strategy for. As I go through my PubCon notes, I’ll make line items next to each client as I find something that can be implemented now or ideas for testing later. I’m guessing that I’ll find things to help every client move the needle.

That’s it. If you haven’t been to PubCon, put it at the top of your list next year. Hitchhike. Couch surf. Barter. Blackmail. Whatever it takes, just get there! (And don’t forget to say hello)

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