I was in New York City this week this week and had the opportunity to attend a couple of sessions at SES New York, which is one of the most popular conferences dedicated to search engine marketing. I didn’t take any fun pictures, so I had to whack their logo up onto this post instead (I know, lame!).
I work for NVI, Canada’s frontrunning online interactive marketing shops, and this was my first chance to attend one of these events in person. I attended two sessions and while I certainly didn’t learn any great new strategies or ideas to bring back to Montreal, I did learn something perhaps equally as valuable.
Working in an office is a relatively insular experience, even with regular phone calls and visits to client offices in the “outside world”. I – and just about everyone in online business I’m quite sure - spend all work day every work day staring at a computer monitor looking at web pages. In large part we base our strategies on what we see on web pages, and the numbers that flow into Analytics accounts and such.
It’s easy to lose perspective on the fact that all the numbers, and all of the websites, search engines, competitors, client competitors and various other providers and companies are people. It seems like common sense when you say (write) it, but I’m sure that anyone in this industry can relate. Even when you read industry blogs and news often, it’s still pretty easy to lose sight of what’s really going on out there in the wider world of business and online marketing. The interpersonal dynamics, deals, and driving factors behind everything that’s going on.
Although I was only able to show up at the pre-conference networking event at the Hilton bar and see a couple of sessions on Monday, I still feel like I was able to get a much better idea of where I – and NVI – fit in within the industry, which to me is the most valuable thing that I can get out of these types of events.
That said, I’m very curious to know what others see as their biggest takeaways from marketing and search engine conferences.
