In a few hours, I’m shutting down the computer, finishing packing, then
grabbing a flight to New York tomorrow for our upcoming Search Engine Strategies NY conference. We’re well set to be even larger than
last year’s monster show. The event is literally stuffed with a ton of sessions
for search marketers of all abilities and needs. I wanted to share some
highlights for those still considering going or for those already on their way.
Barry Diller, chairman and CEO of InterActiveCorp, will be kicking off
the show with a
keynote
conversation with me on the morning
of the first day, February 27. IAC owns Ask
Jeeves along with a variety of vertical search properties. Not lucky
enough to see the keynote in person? Listen to it live at 9am Eastern time
at WebmasterRadio.fm.
Alternatively, about 15 minutes after the keynote ends, we’ll have it up
in downloadable podcast form. Just subscribe to our
Daily
SearchCast podcast, and you’ll receive this special edition of the
show.
The entire show agenda is online, and over 60 different
sessions are offered. We also have a number of cool sessions you won’t
want to miss, such as:
Pundits On Search: What do big voices have to say on search issues?
Come ask them yourself! I’ll be moderating a panel featuring David Vise, author of
The Google Story;
Zia Daniell Wigder, VP and Research Director, JupiterResearch; and three
search blogvangelists, Robert Scoble
from Microsoft; Jeremy Zawodny
from Yahoo and Matt Cutts
from Google.
Search Advertising: Now & Future: What’s the state of search
advertising now and where’s it going, especially as search leaps out of
the browser and into places like our TVs, phones and music players? This
session with search engine executives explores the topic.
Searchonomics: Serious & Fun Stats: Get up to speed with stats on
the growth of search, then enjoy the lighter side of how we search
online.
The Search Landscape: Who’s winning the search engine wars and how?
This session has some of the metrics that help tell the story.
Auditing Paid Listings & Click Fraud Issues: Did you really get that
much traffic from paid listings last month or is something funny going
on? Reviewing your paid traffic is an essential task any serious search
engine marketer should undertake. Tips and issues are covered.
Practical Copyright & Trademark Guidance for Webmasters and SEMs:
Your competitor is bidding on your trademarked name. Some splogger is
profiting off of your copyrighted work via RSS (“really simple
stealing”). What’s a law abiding netizen to do? Come find out from our
panel of experts in this highly interactive session.
Who’s Watching Whom: Search & Privacy: Over the past year, search
engines have rolled out or enhanced personalized search and search
history features. New search behavioral targeting systems are also
developing. Add to that a recent US Department Of Justice request for
search query data, and you’ve got growing search privacy worries. In
this session, a lively discussion of the data search engines collect
when you conduct a search, how such data is/should be handled, whether
the government has any right to subpoena it and other issues.
Ad Agencies & Search: As search continues to get hot, are ad
agencies missing out on one of the most important online advertising
venues going? Some ad agencies are now acquiring SEM firms to enlarge
their portfolio of services. Others continue to outsource. Some may
still not tap into search at all. This session explores what agencies
may need to consider as the search space grows and how to ensure they
aren’t falling behind.
Putting Search In The Ad Mix: Search engine marketing should be
considered as an essential part of any overall marketing campaign,
online and off. In this session, we look at successes from considering
search from the very beginning, failures that result if this is not done
and how other marketing can also help search.
Branding & Search: What impact does search have on branding? This
session look at the role of search in building brand, as well as how
branding can support search.
Lunch With The Google Engineers – Just confirmed and soon to be
posted to the agenda, this will run from Noon through 12:45pm on the
first day of the show, Feb. 27. Grab your lunch, grab a seat, get
updated on Google web search and lob some questions at the assembled
panel of engineers.
Evening Forum With Danny Sullivan: No PowerPoints, no set agenda. I
just guide the audience into a giant group discussion on topics they are
interested, with a lot of fun along the way.
There are many, many sessions beyond those above, in tracks such as:
- Fundamentals
- Stats & Research
- Vertical Search
- Search Advertising
- Search Issues
- News & Blogs
- Organic SEO
- Advanced Organic SEO
- Linking
- Retailer Issues
- Agency & Branding Issues
- In House Issues
- Local Search
- Measuring
- Site Clinics
The
Conference
at a Glance page gives you a fast look at everything, and from there
you can drill down into more detailed information for
Day 1,
Day 2,
Day 3
and Day 4.
Whatever your particular search marketing interest or skill level, there
are sessions designed for you.
Beyond the sessions, there are events. Our
OFFICIAL SES NYC 2006 Party & Events Schedule at the Search Engine
Watch Forums keeps you up to date on those.
Can’t attend the show?
Search
Engine Roundtable To Provide Quadruple Coverage of SES NYC Conference
covers the live blogging coverage that will be happening.
Want to shout out to others going, looking for advice on hotel deals
and so on? See our
SES
New York – Feb/March – who’s going? thread at the SEW Forums.
Want more SES NY 2006 news? Technorati has blog reports here:
sesny2006. See
shared photos on Flickr here:
sesny2006. See bookmarked pages on del.icio.us here:
sesny2006. See saved pages on
Yahoo My Web 2.0 here:
sesny2006. Find live coverage and discussion at the Search Engine Watch
Forums here:
SEM Events.