One of my Twitter followers, b_young of California, asked me to put together an optimized schedule for both the Search Engine Strategies (SES) San Jose Conference & Expo, which will be held at the McEnery Convention Center August 10-14, 2009, as well as the Social Media & Video Strategies forum, which will be held next door at the San Jose Marriott on August 11.
My first optimization tip is to get a Segway Personal Transporter (“Segway PT”) in order to ride back and forth between the two co-located events. If that’s not possible, then look closely at the agendas for the two events because it’s going to be hard to schedule every session that you will want to attend.
It’s also important to understand that an optimized schedule for you may differ significantly than an optimized schedule for b_young. The SES Advisory Board and Search Engine Watch, which organized SES San Jose, as well as ClickZ, Google and YouTube, which organized Social Media & Video Strategies, have tailored different tracks for people with different levels of experience and different search or social media specialties.
So, which sessions would I recommend for b-young, who is interested in advanced-level search engine optimization (SEO)?
On Monday, Aug. 10, I’d recommend checking out a couple of the Partnered Training Workshops. One is a full-day Search Engine Optimization Training workshop taught by Bruce Clay of Bruce Clay, Inc. In addition, I’d recommend the two half-day DMA Certification Training workshops taught by Matt Bailey of SiteLogic and Lee Odden of TopRank Online Marketing.
On Tuesday, Aug. 11, I’d recommend “Search: Where to Next?” at 10:30 a.m. (SES San Jose); “In the Now: Conversational & Real Time Marketing” at 11:45 a.m. (Social Media & Video Strategies); “How to Turn Your Web Analytics into a Money Making Machine” at 1:45 p.m. (SES San Jose); “Meaningful SEO Metrics: Going Beyond the Numbers” at 3:00 p.m. (SES San Jose); and “Launching a Global Website” at 4:30 p.m. (SES San Jose).
On Wednesday, Aug. 12, I’d recommend “Duplicate Content & Multiple Site Issues” at 9:00 a.m.; visit the Expo Hall and take in the added bonus of an Express Site Clinic at 10:45 a.m.; “Google Analytics and Website Optimizer, Secrets Revealed!” at 2:30 p.m.; and “The BuyerSphere Project: Understanding B2B Buyer Patterns” at 4:00 p.m.
On Thursday, Aug. 13, I’d recommend “SEO Through Blogs & Feeds” at 10:30 a.m.; “News Search SEO” at 12:45 p.m.; “Advanced SEO Roundtable: What is it Really? And Where is it Going?” at 2:15 p.m.; and “In-House SEO: Structuring the Organization for Success” at 3:45 p.m.
Finally, on Friday, Aug. 14, I’d recommend two SEM/SEO training workshops. One in the morning is the “Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Workshop” taught by Shari Thurow of Omni Marketing Interactive, and the other in the afternoon is “Managing Complex Search Programs” taught by Bill Hunt, formerly with Global Strategies International.
The conference sessions and workshops should provide the advanced SEO best practices and techniques that b_young needs to remain a top performer in the field.
Remember, your mileage may vary. So, look at the SES San Jose agenda and the Social Media & Video Strategies agenda very closely.