First of all, let me start by saying that I have always felt a little uneasy when it comes to SMX using an adjective as subjective as the word "Advanced" to describe this conference. My reasoning is quite simple. The word "advanced" insinuates a level of complexity that is without a doubt going to vary, in some cases drastically, from every search marketer that attends. It is these very simple inconsistencies that bother me most. When I talk to the marketer seated to the left of me, his or her goals for attending as well as their knowledge of our industry will almost always differ from mine as well as the person seated on my right. Therefore, where SMX Advanced might be advanced to some, it poses the potential problem of not being advanced for all.

With that said and now out of the way, was SMX Advanced advanced? In my personal opinion (mind you, it is the only one that matters on this blog) yes... yes it was. I for one very much enjoyed the conference. The conversations, as well as the speaker presentations were at a distinctively higher level than those search conferences I've attended in the past. SMX Advanced provided an atmosphere where veteran search marketers could learn, share ideas, and even interact with others as proficient in the industry as they are. I was very pleased with how the conference was scheduled (location, time of year, times of sessions and breaks, etc.), and I very much enjoyed the smaller, close-knit atmosphere that was instilled upon us.

Additional Positive Feedback:

• Offered Great Networking Opportunities
• A Great Location within Seattle
• A Growing Expo Hall
• Hot Plate Lunches
• New and Faster Q&A Abilities

The only negative feedback that I have to offer regarding the 2008 SMX Advanced conference is that I felt that too many speakers relied heavily on reading their PowerPoint presentations to deliver their content, instead of their public speaking skills. Granted, some material does in fact have to be visual, but certainly not all of it. And the fact that these presentations (essentially the meat and potatoes of this entire conference) will now be made available online and for free completely cheapens the whole thing. Attendees should be asking themselves; aside from the networking opportunities why in the hell did I even bother attending? To have someone read the PowerPoints to me? We could have all stayed home, saved our company a few C notes, and downloaded the presentations free of charge. We would have learned a majority of the information and at the same time saved both time and money.

My suggestion to the SMX crew is to find another way to provide attendees with the same value that you were with offering "slideshow" information online, but without making potential attendees question whether or not to attend or simply borrow the login details from someone who did. The value of your conference lies within your speaker's presentations... and essentially you're giving them out for free. Where's the value in that.

And that's all I've got to say about SMX Advanced 2008. For even more SMX Advanced conference coverage, be sure to check out my earlier conference posts:

• SMX Conference: After Dark Party
• #1 Reason Why SMX is Better Than SES
• SMX Conference: Keynote w/ Kevin Johnson
• SMX Seattle: Microsoft Live Party
• SMX Pre-Conference Weekend 2
• SMX Pre-Conference Weekend
• Attending SMX Advanced in June

Also, I've finally gotten around to publishing all of my SMX Advanced conference photos. You can view them here on my website:

http://www.karlribas.com/pictures-smx-08.htm

Or here on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/karlribas/

Thanks for reading. Please let me know of any thoughts you may have regarding the SMX conference or of my reviews.