SES NY '08 Conference Recap

It is weird writing a conference recap while sitting in my office but that is where I am. Like most New York conferences, I commute back and forth - so no flying for me (thankfully). In any event, the Search Engine Strategies New York show is now over.

It was the first big show that Danny Sullivan did not run, so yes, it did kind of feel like it was missing something, at least from my perspective. There were a lot of different things taking place for the first time, like several keynotes instead of one and these Orion panels. So SES did not feel like an old SES. Not sure yet if that is a good or bad thing.

The Internet Marketers of New York held a charity even Wednesday night for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, sponsored by Best of the Web and Search Engine Land. The event pulled together over $16,000 for the charity! I know many of those reading this now were unable to make it to SES NY. But I strongly recommend you pitch in and represent the SEM community by donating to the charity. I would make a note that you are from the IM-NY event, this way we represent the SEMs!

I would like to thank our volunteer contributors who possibly burned the rubber off their keyboards covering the sessions for all those who were unable to attend. It is amazing how hard they work (I know, since I did several sessions myself) to get this live blog coverage up for you. Here is a list of the volunteers that are due our appreciation and thanks (feel free to comment thanking them). A huge thank you to Tamar Weinberg, Chris Boggs of Brulant, Debra Mastaler of Alliance Link and of Link Spiel Jeff Quipp of Search Engine People, Marshall Sponder of The Analytics Guru, Bill Hartzer and to Avi & Sheara Wilensky of Promedia Corp. Thank you all so much for helping with the coverage.

Here are the sessions we covered: March 17, 2008

• Organic Listings Forum
• Redefining The Customer
• Video Made the SMB Star
• Igniting Viral Campaigns
• How to Build Investment Interest in Your SEO/SEM
• Network Neutrality is for On-Line Marketers too!
• Web Analytics: Measuring Success
• Auditing Paid Listings and Click Fraud Issues
• Orion Panel: Getting Vertical Search Right

• SES NY Conference Welcome and Opening Keynote: Nick Carr
• Introduction to Search Engine Marketing
• Orion Panel: Universal Search
• What's new with Google Analytics and Website Optimizer?
• Domaining & Address Bar-Driven Traffic
• Do You Know the Breakdown of Your Competitors' Paid and Organic Traffic? Hitwise does.
• Earning Money from Contextual Ads
• Search Engine Friendly Design

• Morning Keynote: Search Has Changed Everything... And So Can You
• Widgets and Gadgets are taking over, but what are they?
• Social Media Marketing - What is it and What is it Good For?
• Successful Tactics for Social Media Optimization (SMO)
• Search Advertising 101
• Keynote with Jason Calacanis - Official Launch of My Mahalo
• Social Media Research: Informing Search Strategies
• SEM Small Business Blitz
• Dealing with Affiliates
• Social Search - The Next Step
• The New Face of In-House Search
• CSS, AJAX, Web 2.0 & Search Engines

• Podcast & Audio Search Optimization
• Morning Keynote: Andrew Tomkins
• Staffing Up for Search
• Oldtimers: The Impact of Search on Brand Health Metrics
• Beyond Linkbait: Getting Authoritative Online Mentions