The conference is over, it was long but good. I'll probably write a recap. To be honest, its getting more tiring. Not because of the sessions, but between the sessions.
For some reason, the public relations people at the search companies feel that bloggers are important. I tell them we are not, but they don't care.
Due to this, the breaks between sessions for me are a bit like this:
(1) I leave the session right before the Q & A (I used to write on the Q&A portions as well). (2) I run to the official press room (used to be a speaker/press room, which I named the blog room, in chicago). (3) I pray that the Internet is working and then post my notes. (4) Then go to a scheduled or unscheduled meet with someone from Overture, Ask Jeeves, Google and Yahoo! (5) Run from the meet to a session. (6) Takes notes (7) Start over again from step 1.
But I got to spend some quality time with people like Jim Lanzone from Ask Jeeves, Matt Cutts from Google, some Overture people, of course Yahoo!'s Tim Mayer and (I am a huge fan of) Aaron Ferstman (the Yahoo PR guy for this area).
Today at lunch, I sat with Danny Sullivan, Chris Sherman and Matt Cutts. Matt told us how to get out of the sandbox, of course I am kidding. I had coffee with Jim from Ask. Overture took Ben and I out for lunch. But Tim and I could not connect for more then 5 minutes, but I spoke with Aaron a bunch.
Some of the forum folks there included: Danny, Elisabeth, Webby, Phoenix, Egol, Randfish, Nacho, Orion, Mike Grehan, Joseph Morin, Jill Whalen, Scottie, Christine Churchill, Kim Krause (cre8pc), Bill S. (bragadocchio), bradbyrd, Mikkel, Andrew Goodman, Dan Thies, Detlev, I am sure I left some people out - sorry if it was you. Feel free to comment.
Of course, I saw some of my favorite 'spammers' (not all spammers but they are in that clique) as well: Greg Boser (WG), Todd (Oilman), Daron (SEGuru), Jake (BakedJake), and I am sure I left some spammer's names out.
Oh, there were plenty of white hatters like Shari Thurow, Heather Lloyd-Martin, Jill Whalen, etc.
Others, Amanda Watlington, Bill Hunt, Bryan & Jeff Eisenberg, Brett Crosby (Urchin, best analytics), Bruce Clay (wait I didn't see him this time), Andy Beal (respect a ton), and others...
Again, sorry if I left anyone out. As Nacho says, he considers SES events like going to Disneyland.
I'll write an official article on this event some time in the future, I hope.
