There are three key reasons why you should go to SES New York 2011, which will be held March 21-25 at the Hilton New York. Attending the leading search and social marketing event will help you and your organization (1) keep up-to-date with industry trends, (2) see new products and services, and (3) maintain and build relationships.
1. Stay Up-To-Date
First, to keep up-to-date with industry trends, attend the opening keynote and as many of the 70 conference sessions, 6 IAB Local Advertising Forum sessions, 11 Online Marketing Summit sessions, 7 express clinics, and 10 OMI and training workshops as you can.
For example, here are a couple of sessions that you shouldn’t miss:
On Tuesday, March 22, at 9:30 a.m.
The Opening Keynote will be given by Duncan Watts, Principal Research Scientist at Yahoo! and the author of Everything Is Obvious: *Once You Know the Answer.
Why did Facebook succeed when other social networking sites failed? How much can CEOs impact the performance of their companies? And does higher pay incentivize people to work hard? If you think the answers to these questions are a matter of common sense, think again.
Drawing on the latest scientific research, along with a wealth of historical and contemporary examples, Watts shows how common sense reasoning and history conspire to mislead us into believing that we understand more about the world of human behavior than we do; and in turn, why attempts to predict, manage, or manipulate social and economic systems so often go awry.
On Wednesday, March 23, at 1 p.m.
Run, don’t walk, to attend Panda: The Aftermath. A Search Engine Watch Round Table Special. Moderated by Mike Grehan, Chair SES Advisory Board as well as Global VP Content of SES, Search Engine Watch, and ClickZ, the speakers for this round table discussion include the senior team from Search Engine Watch: Jonathan Allen, Frank Watson, and Danny Goodwin.
Grehan says, “We had considered calling this session ‘collateral damage’ because that’s been the phrase most frequently associated with the now infamous Google Panda (AKA Farmer) update. Not since Google update Florida has there been such a huge furor around a Google algorithm change. Nobody is crying over the loss of some crappy content in Google’s index. But many are annoyed that they were playing by the rules and still got hit. Do you have any recourse with Google if you suddenly find yourself minus a ton of traffic with revenues plummeting? It begs the question: ‘Should you base the bulk of your potential business revenues around a mathematical equation that you have no control over?'”
On Thursday, March 24, at 10:45 a.m.
Check out the Smart Mobile Marketing session. Moderated by Jack Marshall, Staff Writer and Stats Editor of ClickZ, the speakers include: Paul Cushman, Senior Director of Mobile Sales Strategy at Yahoo!, Angie Schottmuller, Founder of Interactive Artisan, and Kerri Smith, Senior Innovation Lead for Mobile at iProspect.
As Google’s Eric Schmidt pointed out recently, mobile is growing faster than predicted. In addition, Rutgers is launching two new Mini MBA courses on Mobile Marketing starting in April. The Rutgers Mini MBA: Mobile Marketing program is the first such executive education course offered by one of the top universities in the USA. And students registering for either these programs before March 21 will receive a 50 percent discount to SES New York 2011.
2. Discover New Products & Services
Second, to see new products and services, visit the Expo Hall on March 22 and 23. There are more than 75 participating sponsors and exhibitors. This includes leading search engines like Google, Yahoo! Search, and Bing, as well as upstarts like blekko. There will also be 25 presentations in the Expo Hall Theater and they are free to all SES attendees.
3. To Meet New People, Forge New Business Relationships!
Third, to maintain and build relationships, go to some of the special events that are open to all SES New York attendees, including expo-only pass holders.
On Monday, March 21, at 7:00 p.m.
You’ll want to attend SES New York Meet & Greet, which will be held in Bridges, the Hilton Hotel Lobby Bar. Hang out, talk about sessions you’re looking forward to seeing and questions you’re ready to ask. Share your experience and interest in marketing! (Over some drinks of course.) Want to attend? Join the SES New York Meetup Group to RSVP.
On Tuesday, March 22, at 9 p.m., catch a cab to WebmasterRadio.FM’s SearchBash at Hudson Terrance, 621 West 46th Street, New York, NY.
On Wednesday, March 23, at 5 p.m., make your way to The Infamous SES Black Hat White Hat Unconferenced Session. There are no formal presentations — you can discuss black hat or white hat tactics with a glass of your favorite beverage in your hand!
You can get a great sense of the atmosphere of this fun event from the video below – it’s a bit on the long side (6 min), but hopefully you’ll find enough there for you to get the idea.
These are the three key reasons why I think you should attend SES New York 2011 next week. But I should disclose that SES is a client of my agency.
If you want a second opinion, read Lee Odden’s post in his Online Marketing Blog. It’s entitled, “SES New York in 2011 – 5 Great Reasons to Get Search Smart in the Big Apple.”
Either way, this is a must-attend event.