Yesterday we held SphinnCon Israel. It was our largest event to date. We had more than double the number of people attending compared to the past events. I believe we had about 430 people come and partake.
To me, this means that Israel is a proud representation of what the search marketing industry has to offer. To see hundreds of people come together to learn, network and speak at these industry gatherings really means a lot to me.
I have so many people to thank. So many people.
Sponsors:
- Answers.com - www.answers.com
- MajesticSEO - www.majesticseo.com
- Analytics Ninja - www.analytics-ninja.com
- GO Internet Marketing - www.gim.co.il
- Trusted Proxies - www.trustedproxies.com
- Universal McCann Search - www.usearch.co.il
Other Sponsors:
- SEOmoz (Pen Sponsor) - www.seomoz.org
- RustyBrick (Lanyard Sponsor) - www.rustybrick.com
- Inbal Hotel (WiFi Sponsor) - www.inbalhotel.com
The sponsors were critical in making this event financially feasible. I should also thank the Inbal for having outstanding food and keeping things organized. Yes, the WiFi had issues but when you feed people well, sometimes, even SEMs, forget about the WiFi issues. The Inbal helped to put together our best show yet, I've never in my life heard such complements on the food at an SEM event. Yes, SMX is known for great food, but this was beyond great.
Advisors:
- Olivier Amar, CEO, PointUp Media www.pointupmedia.com
- Michael Barnett, VP Marketing, RankAbove www.rankabove.com
- Ophir Cohen, CEO, Universal Mccann Search www.usearch.co.il
- Roi Hildesheimer, CEO, TENS Technology www.tenswebmarketing.com
- Mayer Reich, CEO/Founder, RankAbove www.rankabove.com
- Gilad Sasson, CEO, nekuda www.nekuda.com
- Branko Rihtman, Senior SEO Analyst, Whiteweb www.whiteweb.com
Speakers
- Oren Shatz, Chairman, SEO Israel Technologies Ltd.
- Ziv Dascalu, Founder, WiseImpact
- Miriam Schwab, CEO, illuminea
- Gil Reich, Answers.com
- Uri Breitman, TBWA\DIGITAL
- Thomas Bindl, Founder and CEO of Refined Labs
- Ophir Cohen, CEO, Universal Mccann Search
- Charlie Kalech, Director, J-Town Productions
- Dan Perach, Co-Founder, PPCPROZ
- Asaf Paz, Google Seminar Leader, WEBSEM
- Oren Shatz, Chairman, SEO Israel Technologies Ltd.
- Adir Regev, CEO of GO Internet Markting
- Gilad Sasson, Search Marketing Analyst at nekuda.co.il
- Olivier Amar, Independent Marketing Consultant, PointUp Media
- Sam Michaelson, Five Blocks
- Shira Abel, Abel Communications
- Dan Gerstenfeld, Lecturer at JCT & CEO of Interteam
- Menachem Rosenbaum, TENS-Technology
- Gab Goldenberg, SEO ROI
- Ofer Dascalu, CEO & Founder, WiseImpact
- Gilad Sasson, Search Marketing Analyst at nekuda.co.il
- Dixon Jones, Managing Director of Majestic SEO
- Yehoshua Coren, Founder and Principal of Analytics Ninja
- Daniel Waisberg, Founder of Conversion Journey
- Ophir Cohen, CEO, Universal Mccann Search
- Yam Regev, CEO at Compass Internet Solutions
- Barry Schwartz, CEO of RustyBrick
- Eli Feldblum, CTO & Founder, RankAbove
- Kelli Brown, Owner of Pixel/Point Press
- Oren Todoros, CEO of OrenTodoros.com
- Kevin Gibbons, founder and Director of Search at SEOptimise
- Miriam Schwab, CEO, illuminea
- Tal Siach, Founder of Walyou.com & Social Media Strategist
- Kaspar Szymanski, Google Search Quality Strategist from Google Dublin Office
I should thank specific speakers for coming out from overseas to make it to Israel. They include Google's Kaspar Szymanski, SEOptimise's Kevin Gibbons, RankAbove's Eli Feldblum, Majestic SEO's Dixon Jones and Refined Labs' Thomas Bindl. Thank you so much!
Attendees:
It was seriously overwhelming to see 430 or so people in the Israel region come to this event. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, except for the Internet (I apologize) and I am so thankful that you all made it out.
I hope to help bring this event back next year, so please email me or leave both negative and positive feedback in the comments below.
Finally, I must thank my brother for allowing me to have RustyBrick financially lay out the money for this before having any sponsors. It was a big risk but in the end, we made a profit.
Most importantly, I have to thank my wife and kid for putting up with me the months prior to the event. Sleepless nights and extra hours in the office to organize the event. And to let me take a ton of time during our family vacation to run this event, well - all I have to say is my wife is the best. She is the real reason this event happened and was so successful. Thank you!
Here are some pictures, I promise to add more when people send them to me.
Thank you all!
Update: Here are some links to 3rd party coverage of the event. They include:
- Sphinconn 2011 Jerusalem Israel - Great Success by Sam Michelson
- Best of SphinnCon 2011 by Gil Reich
- 10 Tips to Improve Your Social Graph for Google by Kevin Gibbons
- Facebook and SEO my presentation from SphinnCon Israel 2011 by Kelli Brown
- Bing, bing Why You Should be Paying Attention by eJewish Philanthropy
- Web Analytics Basics Conversion Tracking & Segmentation | SphinnCon 2011 by Yehoshua Coren
- SphinnCon 2011 from My perspective by Gilad Sasson
- Sphinncon Israel 2011 PPCPROZ Recap by Elan Perach
Videos:
- Sphinncon Israel - Kaspar Szymanski Google Search Strategist Q&A, PPC Proz
- Sphinncon Israel 2011 - Paid Search Tips Panelists Q&A, PPC Proz
- Spinncon 2011 - Mobile & Local Tips - Yam Regev - Google Local Search Evolution, PPC Proz
- Sphinncon 2011 - The Link Builders - Gab Goldenberg - Delegating and Scaling Link Building
- & many more over here
