Rename SMX: The Danny, Rand and Matt Show
I have heard disturbing rumors that Danny Sullivan is trying to get Google to change the Google Dance from SES San Jose to an SMX event, guess an alternative one for SMX is not on the agenda and the conference battle is down to who has the best parties.
Danny recruited me to the SEW forums when they first started and the community was less of a battlefield. And through a series of attritions - or should I say SMX acquisitions - I became the editor. Elisabeth Osmeloski was the first and by far the best person to have the role.
Our industry used to be a friendly and open space where industry leaders gladly shared information with everyone. Now it seems these people are being limited to what conference they can speak at.
I would like to know Danny if you have told people they can only speak at one or the other of the events. Never seemed to be the case but have heard that this is now being told to speakers.
SEOMoz who I have always considered friends have become partners of sorts with SMX - I noted the whole family spoke at one recent event - father, mother, brother, Rand and other Mozzers. Guess the late night champagne drinking after the SES conference sessions are over.
And Matt Cutts... if you spent more time at SMX events you would be hard pressed getting anything done at Google. I definitely thought SES New York was going to have your cat speak at the search engine for pets sessions but maybe you were told it was not allowed.
Add the addition of Vanessa Fox to the SEL/SMX team and I guess you could call the California offices 'Little Google'.
Hopefully I am wrong about all this and the speakers that once were free to speak at any and all events will be back at other events soon.
As a newly started online marketing agency I know the need to attend the major conferences to get yourself out there and to build contacts with the various vendors - but have been told am 'persona non grata' at SMX... now what could I possibly have done to merit that decision?
Danny recruited me to the SEW forums when they first started and the community was less of a battlefield. And through a series of attritions - or should I say SMX acquisitions - I became the editor. Elisabeth Osmeloski was the first and by far the best person to have the role.
Our industry used to be a friendly and open space where industry leaders gladly shared information with everyone. Now it seems these people are being limited to what conference they can speak at.
I would like to know Danny if you have told people they can only speak at one or the other of the events. Never seemed to be the case but have heard that this is now being told to speakers.
SEOMoz who I have always considered friends have become partners of sorts with SMX - I noted the whole family spoke at one recent event - father, mother, brother, Rand and other Mozzers. Guess the late night champagne drinking after the SES conference sessions are over.
And Matt Cutts... if you spent more time at SMX events you would be hard pressed getting anything done at Google. I definitely thought SES New York was going to have your cat speak at the search engine for pets sessions but maybe you were told it was not allowed.
Add the addition of Vanessa Fox to the SEL/SMX team and I guess you could call the California offices 'Little Google'.
Hopefully I am wrong about all this and the speakers that once were free to speak at any and all events will be back at other events soon.
As a newly started online marketing agency I know the need to attend the major conferences to get yourself out there and to build contacts with the various vendors - but have been told am 'persona non grata' at SMX... now what could I possibly have done to merit that decision?
posted by AussieWebmaster at 12:25 PM
4 Comments:
Google held the Google Groove at SMX West, and I was thrilled for that support. My understanding is that there will be a Google Dance at SES San Jose, but you'd know better than I since you actually work for Incisive, which produces that event. I have never asked Google not to hold the Google Dance in association with SES. Never. I did ask if they would hold an event in association with ours in addition to other things they do. They did. Hope that satisfies you.
In terms of limiting speakers, I have never done that. Never. In contrast, Frank, I continue to hear rumors that Incisive is doing this with speakers for SES -- telling people that if they speak at SMX, they cannot speak at SES. SES makes the usual noises about this being untrue, but I know of at least two people this has happened to. So if you think things are becoming an unfriendly place, I suggest you have a long chat with Incisive.
Incisive, of course, instituted a ban on any of our "commerical" staff from attending SES Chicago 2006, then put it back in place after SES New York. Sales staff from competiting shows routinely attended each others shows until this was done. I lost track of the reasons why it happened. First we were accused of "stealing" Incisive employees (hard to steal people if they're happy where they are working). Then we were undermining their show. Then there were other reasons. Whatever. The bottom line is, some of our people were banned from their events despite say Brett's crew from WMW being welcomed in, despite in turn Brett for whatever reason running directly against SES Chicago 2007. Now you want to talk unfriendly?
Rand can comment on SEOmoz. I talked with him last week, and he said he was never invited to SES. Apparently, you only get to speak at SES these days if you pitch. But then again, apparently you had 2,000 pitches according to Matt, so maybe things were lost. Or maybe 2,000 pitches is a high end estimate. I certainly never say that many. Usually, they'd be on the order of 100 to 300. Guess the show is now that popular, huh? And meanwhile, I know there were speakers who did not pitch yet were on the agenda. So if you want that drinking after hours with SEOmoz, I guess you'd better get Kevin Ryan to perhaps send out a few invites or two.
I can't comment on Matt, but I think he did a blog post where he talked about his main plans for the year: SMX West, SMX Advanced, SES San Jose, PubCon. Doesn't take a genius to figure out that Matt's trying to be fair there, Frank -- he's doing shows that are all near to him, and he's getting out to all of them. At worst, you could complain that SMX is getting him twice. All I can say is that Incisive had a show expressly for advanced search marketers, then maybe he might have done that instead of ours. But Incisive doesn't because, as you know, they didn't really want to cut a deal with me to continue programming such events for them.
I'd also say that if you take the time to go back, you'd see that I believe Matt only did one SES NY show before this year. He pretty much never went to Chicago or NY because of the travel distance.
Vanessa doesn't work for Google any longer, so I certainly don't feel like we're "little Google." But then again, with Kevin Heisler laying claim to anyone who ever spoke at an SES conference, you really want to poke there? I mean Adam Lasnik recently was named as both working for Google and SES London speaker. Wow -- I didn't know that was the best way to characterize him.
As for you, what, Frank -- you don't know where I am to actually ask me if you're persona non grata? You have to write such a low blow post without the courtesy of asking?
No, you're not. Incisive employees are banned in general from our events, which we put in place after the preemptively told our London producer Matt Finley not to even think of attending SES London. My response was if they wanted to act like children, then fine -- we'd no longer lie back and let their staff just waltz in as well. Technically, you'd be an Incisive employee and fall under that. But it's also selected, so no, you wouldn't be persona non grata, even despite your post and lack of courtesy.
Danny I was only asking questions... and thank you for the reply.
Just saw this post as Aaron linked to it, and feel the urge to reply. I've spoken at both SMX and SES in recent months, and neither of them have EVER asked me not to speak at any of the other events. No I might not be the most high profile speaker out there (yet ;) ), so who knows, others might have different experiences.
It's sad to see this kind of discussion going on, it's not helping the industry any further.
Joost you are a well-known speaker mate...
filling conference spots gets tougher as more conferences grow... the speakers themselves have to do other things...
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