Highly Anticipated Sessions at SES Toronto
Jun 11, 2008 SES Tour
Since Search Engine Strategies in Toronto is often a smaller show than others on the SES Tour. That makes Toronto an interesting venue because sessions at the show have to be direct, crisp, and relevant. Much of the extra fluff is cut out, making choosing sessions particularly difficult.
Choosing sessions is further complicated by top industry insiders talking in parallel sessions, so if you have a few people going to the show with you, divide and conquer. Unfortunately, I’m solo this year, so I have my own “can’t miss” favorites for the show: some are obvious winners, but some may surprise.
SES Toronto, Day 1 Choices
If you’re a frequent reader of this blog and find most of what I discuss here easy reading, you may want to skip Intro to SEM offered up in the first session slot, although both Greg Jarboe and Kevin Ryan are very seasoned presenters who know their stuff. My choice for the first session is definitely Search Around the World, mainly because global marketing campaigns are probably the hardest to tackle without “feet on the street” expertise.
The second “visitor’s choice” session at SES Toronto is split between “State of Search Marketing in Canada”, “Getting Found in Maps & Local Search”, and “Paid Search: Advanced Issues in PPC”. The obvious choice for me would be advanced PPC, but part of me yearns to compare my own experience with the large and diverse panel discussing Search Marketing in Canada.
The last session of the day makes me wonder if I can’t jump between the Site Clinic and Twitter presentation. The Site Clinic is headed up by David Szetela and Jill Whalen, both extremely talented and qualified individuals in the search marketing industry, going head to head against what should be an interesting panel discussion on Twitter involving Lee Odden. Oh the humanity!
SES Toronto, Day 2 Choices
More tough choices round out the start of day 2 at SES Toronto. Marketing B2B is always challenging, especially with the speed at which factors within select industries and verticals change, but I think I’m going to give the nod to “Search User Behavior” (even though it should be spelled “Behaviour” north of the border).
A good mix of topics are shared in the next “people’s choice” session slot, with my favorite being “SEM Toolkit: Marketers Share” just slightly edging out “Social Media Success”. I vaguely remember attending the keyword research session last year, so I thought I would try something different.
The third session of the day abandons SEM entirely, and focuses strictly on SEO, link building, usability, and programming technology. “Accessibility and Usability” are always important factors in both landing page optimization and conversion optimization, but my focus for this session will probably be on how “Web 2.0″ (or whatever) affects SEO.
The final session of the day is really a mish-mash of pretty interesting topics, with an interesting mix of speakers. “Giving credit where it’s due” isn’t really a problem for me, and I don’t necessarily want to sit through another Site Clinic, so I’m probably going to sit in on the open forum with Jill Whalen, Lyndsay Walker from WestJet (my favorite airline), and Amanda Watlington entitled “SEO Don’ts, Myths, and Scams”.
Those round out my favorites in the list of sessions. I’m also going to be lurking around the SEMPO booth and talking to everyone I can at the networking sessions, so keep an eye out for me and feel free to say hello.
Leave a Reply