Really, videos like this prove to me precisely how important it is to go to conferences and represent your skill set and organization accordingly.

Ironically ADP gets a good plug here – as they did throughout the conference materials. Too bad they didn’t see the trip as being important enough to cover. I paid my way and was forced to also use my vacation time.

Oh, and hat tip to Oilman for posting this on his blog ages ago. Since he and I are a lot alike (postings once per millennium) you should thank him. Not me. :)

I made my debut speaking for Search Marketing Expo in February of 2008 when I covered Local Search and Blended Results at SMX West in Santa Clara.That conference was a defining moment for me in a number of ways… And while it felt good to be on a panel that Vanessa Fox put together and moderated – I was nervous as nervous could be.

And I’m sure it showed.

I followed up that appearance with more SMX panel at SMX East while covering SMX Advanced as a press member for Search Engine Journal. I spoke at a couple local meetups and finally Affiliate Summit West in January, 2009…

But it’s time to head back to Santa Clara and do it all up again.

So I’m doing what anyone would logically do. I’m hopping on a panel with Jessican Bowman and Laura Lippay. While I mean no disrespect to Anthony Long – I somehow feel like he and I are bout to get pwned by two of the most awesome women in the search biz.

So stoked for that. And I’ve loved talking with Laura and Anthony on the phone recently. I think we’re going to hav a great, great panel.

So here’s the thing… Jessica has worked with Third Door Media to put together an entire day of In House SEO topics and it’ll be capping off the SMX West show and running all day on February 12th… Here’s the current lineup:

Session 1 — I’m responsible for SEO. Now what? (This is the session I’m in on…)
Once the company decides to start SEO in-house, what’s next? In this session you’ll learn what you’ll need to start up a successful in-house SEO program that runs smoothly and reels in profits. Even if you’ve been doing SEO for a while, implementing these tactics now will increase the productivity and reduce the frustrations you face on a regular basis.

Session 2 — Training the Company on SEO
In-house SEO isn’t easy, and often short staffed. In this session, you’ll learn how to bring in an SEO novice and work with the entire development team to help you execute SEO campaigns.

Session 3 — Get SEO Into All The Right Places Of The Development Life Cycle
SEO doesn’t work well unless it’s addressed in every aspect of the development life cycle. This session will show you what typically happens and what needs to happen as you build a new website and manage ongoing maintenance. You’ll walk away with a clear understanding of what you need to do to get SEO weaved into the right places of the development life cycle at your company.

Session 4 — Reporting & Scorecarding for Management
Management loves numbers. They build your business case and help get SEO high in the priority list. You’ll learn how to give a number on potential lift when management insists, which reports to deliver on a consistent basis to management, and how to use reports to help your cause when traffic growth isn’t going as expected.

Stay tuned… But if you haven’t gotten yourself registered yet for SMX West, you best do so now.

More info to come… :)

Just got back in from Las Vegas and Affiliate Summit 2009, and wanted to express many thanks to Shawn Collins, Missy Ward and the entire ASWO9 crew. The conference was excellent and the conversations better than ever.

And… Our organic SEO site review panel was fantastic.

A word of thanks to Scott Polk (@scottpolk) for assembling our panel with David Snyder (@davesnyder), Carolyn Shelby (@cshel) and adding in Todd Friesen (@oilman) to handle the mic and field questions from the audience.

To those of you who were there in attendance – thank you too for providing us with a diverse group of sites and questions to answer. Excellent, excellent times.