SES vs. SMX: Whats Your Take?
I was flipping through the latest Search Marketing Standard magazine (the Spring 2007 edition for those of you keeping track at home) and came across back-to-back advertisements for this April's Search Engine Strategies (SES) conference in New York City and for June's Search Marketing Expo (SMX) in Seattle. Seeing them both together like that really got me thinking... can our industry really support yet another major search marketing conference, or is one ultimately doomed to fail?
I guess only time will tell, but I'm interested in knowing what you all think.
My thoughts are simple and rather straight forward on the subject. Honestly... my perception of Search Engine Watch and of the Search Engine Strategies conference has changed slightly now that Danny isn't going to be chairing future events. I'm not sure why... it just is. I think as his SMX brand continues to gain top-notch sponsorships and attract our industry's elite speakers that eventually industry folks will need to make a choice... and that choice will be Search Marketing Expo.
Why will the industry need to make a choice? Well, for now I think sponsors and speakers are ok with shelling out the money and time in order to support both conferences, not to mention other industry conferences such as WebmasterWorld's PubCon or Ad:Tech. However, there will come a time when SMX will end up doing 5 - 7 shows a year and pulling in 1,500 - 2,000 attendees per show. It will begin to run in a similar rotation as the SES conference. With that, I think traveling back and forth to all these shows and spending all that money in either sponsorship fees or conference passes will catch up to most individuals and companies... and thus they'll need to make a choice.
Why will the industry choose Search Marketing Expo? Two words... Danny Sullivan! He is no doubt the Dali Llama of the Search Engine Marketing industry, and as Greg Boser once said, "where the Dali Llama goes... the industry will follow". I certainly believe that.
Anyway... that's just my 2 cents. What are your thoughts?
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posted by Karl Ribas Monday, March 12, 2007 Read Comments (3) | Post a Comment | Subscribe  
 
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3 Comments:
It's going to be interesting to watch. I believe there was a post last week where SEW said that their readership had increased since Danny left which, if it's correct, would tend to go against the idea that everyone follows Danny.
By
Simon Heseltine, at March 12, 2007 12:14 PM
Hey Simon -
I tried searching for the post on SEW, but was unable to find it. Oh well. If SEW readership did increase since Danny's leaving, and if it was in fact attributed to Danny leaving, than yes it would go against the idea of everyone supporting him.
However, I'm going to out on limb (and mind you that I haven't read article) and say that the increase in readership is probably attributed to the growth of the industry. That or it's tailing off the success of their recent Search Engine Strategies conferences.
In any case, thanks for the comment.
By
Karl Ribas, at March 12, 2007 2:19 PM
I think they'll be room for both because of the industry growth. They will appeal to different audiences and SMX will generally get the more advanced seo and SES will draw more newcomers.
The market will be more fragmented with a lot of people choosing seminars, workshops and training over more expensive conference costr. Only time will tell. I'd like to go to all of them myself.
By
David, at March 15, 2007 1:26 AM
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