SES Chicago

[CTU]

Just registered for this and can't wait. My first SES - any advice for a newbie?

Bill

[nujen]

currently i'm under consideration to attend this show, and if do, helpful tips for a newb are greatly appreciated.

bump.

[CTU]

Great - I'll see you there. maybe there shoudl be a newbie corner?!

[OgilvyOne]

I'll also be there (& bringing 3 colleagues from my account team to their first search conference).

Do you recommend staying at the Hilton itself and any indication of who is hosting parties this year?

Sol.

[JEccles]

When is it and where can I find more information?

[CTU]

look on the www.searchenginestrategies.com page and click on link to Chicago.

Bill.

[Mel66]

Originally Posted by OgilvyOne

Do you recommend staying at the Hilton itself and any indication of who is hosting parties this year?

Yes, definitely stay at the Hilton. They have a special rate for SES attendees (although it may be too late to book rooms at that rate), and it's nice to stay at the show hotel. Makes it easy to go to the hotel bar where all the great networking takes place.

The only downside is that the Hilton is way south of downtown, meaning you have to walk a long way (usually in the freezing cold) or cab it for dinner and bar hopping. If there are SES-related parties they often have shuttles to and from the hotel, which is nice.

HTH, I won't be there this year - first SES Chicago I've missed in 4 years. Have a great time all and keep us posted on the forum!

Melissa

[Chris Boggs]

I will be there with about 6 other Brulant folks. Looking forward to it!

Typically, most of the events take place nearby. There is a bar around the corner, as well as Buddy Guys' Blues Club which hopefully someone will book one night for a party.

Usually at least one party is held a cab ride away at a club called B.L.U.E.S. Last year there were two there and that is a great club with excellent musicians - based on the last two years' experience.

Hopefully someone will soon start the Party Thread separately from this.

[AussieWebmaster]

I am working on it Chris... they were going to reach out to you to help get it started too.

[GlobalSEO]

Hi OgilvyOne

Are you from the Chicago team or the NYC team? If you are from "Ogilvy" find me in Truffles "Bill Hunt" and send me a note with your details and we can meet at the event.

Yes, stay at the Hilton since you can go and come from the event as needed.

This is shaping up to be an interesting event!

[AussieWebmaster]

It always is....

[Kevin Heisler]

Chris and Frank checking out parties?

Search Engine Watch readers are hoping Chris will re-launch his column before SES. Maybe advice on going to a conference and making the most of it?

I like the idea of Newbs getting together, too. Let me see what we can come up with at SEW. If we don't have the budget, I'll check with SES.

[AussieWebmaster]

Google is not doing anything as far as a party this year... just heard back. Guess Yahoo and Microsoft and Ask can fill the void...

How about a Getification Party - have the ads running get some input from advanced users....

[eyewriter]

Nice to see the "newbies' are ling up and identifying themselves. Sort of a buddy system, I guess. Not really a newbie in that I attended one of these Chicago session several years ago. But returning this year, at last.

Since I have family in the 'burbs, I will be staying with them - two birds with stone - and Metra-ing in each day.

Since this is a pretty dear conference and I am a lone practitioner, without corporate funding, I have not signed up for the full week. I was most interested in Shari's workshop Friday morning and in the Session that starts with Seth - I think on Tuesday.

Questions: Will participants be able to sign up for additional days/sessions at the last minute, upon arrival at the confrence and considering additional input on subject matter?

Of course, all neds are different but does anyone have a strong recommendation for days/sessions other than Tuesday/Friday (workshop)?

[Kevin Heisler]

Originally Posted by GlobalSEO

Hi OgilvyOne

Are you from the Chicago team or the NYC team? If you are from "Ogilvy" find me in Truffles "Bill Hunt" and send me a note with your details and we can meet at the event.

Yes, stay at the Hilton since you can go and come from the event as needed.

This is shaping up to be an interesting event!

Hi Bill, what's Truffles Bill Hunt? I did a Google search for Bill Hunt truffles (this SEW post is the top result!) but couldn't find a reference. Sounds interesting.

[Chris Boggs]

Originally Posted by Kevin Heisler

Search Engine Watch readers are hoping Chris will re-launch his column before SES. Maybe advice on going to a conference and making the most of it?

I like the idea of Newbs getting together, too. Let me see what we can come up with at SEW. If we don't have the budget, I'll check with SES.

Great idea. Shoot me an email we'll figure it out.

See this thread about last year's SES Chicago parties As you will see, not much was scheduled. We (SEMPO) are still planning the exact theme of our thing this year but as usual you can be sure we'll have drinks and networking.

As Li Evans has collected, there is ample evidence that people have fun at Chicago SES.

As far as the party planning thread goes, I do not have the time to do the legwork, but the usual suspects to contact would be the Y/MSN/Ask crew (which have all only done private or small parties at SES Chicago in the past, from my recollection). Yahoo Publisher Network went on a mini-slew of party-throwing last year so maybe they would do something again?

I see that Webmasterradio.fm is as usual an SES sponsor. They tend to put on some great parties (Search Bash was at Buddy Guys’ 2 years ago and was great). They have typical co-sponsors including Bruce Clay and Devtlev Johnson, along with other more rotating sponsors like NY Times.

If people reading this thread want to sponsor a party, they should speak up or contact Aussie or me via IM (click on our names to get it). I would suggest that the door is open to some good opportunities for branding and networking, if you have the desire to spend some more of that 2007 internal marketing budget.

Again, I’ll write a more detailed SES planning guide prior to the show, but in the meantime there are some great ones from Jim Boykin and Jim Hedger.

[broontoon]

Good pre-show podcast on WebmasterRadio

http://www.webmasterradio.fm/Confere...ne-Strategies/

[AussieWebmaster]

I hear WebMasterRadio is having a bash... will post details when I get them... now where is Brandy's number????

[Chris Boggs]

I heard they are probably not having a bash this go round....

[evilgreenmonkey]

Originally Posted by Kevin Heisler

Hi Bill, what's Truffles Bill Hunt? I did a Google search for Bill Hunt truffles (this SEW post is the top result!) but couldn't find a reference. Sounds interesting.

Truffles is the Ogilvy intranet system, I think I still have some Ogilvy business cards of mine laying around from when I white labeled for them. Always fun logging into the Ogilvy webmail and finding weird requests such as "Does anyone have a 2006 Ford Focus 2.0 that we can borrow tomorrow? (Must be midnight blue)" from the offline team.