Search Engine Strategies 2011 Wrap Up

Well my first official speaking gig wrapped last week at Search Engine Strategies, and I had a blast.  Definitely had some nerves up to and during my session titled “Social Media Solutions On A Budget”, but overall, I think it was a success.  Much of what I covered was pulled from many of the blog posts I’ve written over the years here.  Concepts such as using Linked In Groups to drive blog traffic, tools such as Hootsuite, BrandMentions.com & Sprout Social all were covered in my presentation.  As much as I’d like to post the presentation here, we’re not allowed as it’s content that is only accessible by those who paid to attend the show.

One of the big takeaways for me from the experience is the need to ensure your presentation is “actionable.  A few of the presenters I observed were great speakers and spoke on solid concepts, but never really left the audience with any actionable takeaways.  When creating my presentation, I continuously asked myself whether what I was sharing could actually be used right away.  Luckily for me, I had some great immediate feedback from those who came up after the presentation saying they appreciated this approach.

Of all the shows I attend, I definitely feel that SES is one of the stronger shows that provides real value by offering quality content, and a variety of tracks to choose from.  If you ever are considering a show to attend to learn and network, you can’t go wrong with SES.  Their next show hits Toronto June 13-15th and then San Francisco August 15th-19th (which I hope to be speaking at again).