Search Conference Trends

April 15, 2009
 

The Internet Marketing Spring Break conference was held in Florida at the beginning of April. Susan and Christopher both attended the show, with Chris giving a presentation about crafting a successful digital business initiative during the third and final day of the conference. Susan and Chris tell listeners what benefits a small niche conference like IM Spring Break offers and illustrate the kind of learning environment a show like that provides.

Danny Sullivan

Then Virginia talks to Danny Sullivan, Partner and Chief Content Officer of Third Door Media, the company behind the Search Marketing Expo conference series. Virginia and Danny talk about trends in search conference attendance and the increasing demand. Search industry conferences have seen a variety of manifestations. Danny demonstrates the utility of partnerships, like that between the broad interactive digital conference, ad:tech, and a more focused search marketing conference, SMX — which come together for the SMX @ ad:tech track being offered in San Francisco this month.

Scott, Susan and Virginia wrap up the show with a general examination of trends in search industry education. Based on a small informal poll on the Bruce Clay blog earlier this month, it appears that conference attendance may be on the chopping block during this period of spending cutbacks. However, Scott notes that in his experience he continues to see conference attendance rise as awareness of industries increase. Virtual conferences and smaller regional conferences are gaining momentum, but the conference giants of online marketing also remain strong.