The conference series started with SMX Advanced in Seattle and it was a hit. Compared to most conferences, people actually came away learning new information as well as actually being happy with conference food for the first time (no more boxed lunches).

This year, they are planning on expanding the conference series with a few new additions such as SMX West and East. If you haven’t attended any SMX events before, I highly recommend doing so for the following reasons:

• More knowledge – you’ll actually learn something new. Even old people like me that have been doing this stuff for years, still learn new things from SMX.
• Networking opportunities – One of the main perks about going to conferences is that they provide networking opportunities. The only problem with many of these networking opportunities is that they take place at parties, which are usually invite only. At SMX all the parties are open for anyone to attend.
• Intimate setting – when you attend large conferences with 5000 plus attendees, it can be overwhelming and in many cases you don’t get much out of the conference due to the size. With SMX, the atmosphere is very intimate which means you will get to know others on a personal level and hopefully gain some business out of it.
• No sales pitches – compare to most conferences the speakers at SMX are willing to help you for free. When you have questions they don’t mind answering them and more importantly they don’t care for your money, but instead just want to help you.
• Great food – the food at SMX is great. I know I mentioned this earlier, but I can’t emphasize this enough because when you are hungry you usually don’t think straight. But at SMX they have gourmet lunches and snacks throughout all the sessions.

I hope to see you at future SMX events such as West and Social. If you have any questions about SMX feel free and leave a comment.

Comments

Lanzone ranged across several topics this morning in his keynote discussion with Sherman. The Ask CEO tried to keep a promise of not saying 3D all the time, a reference to the recent update of Ask to its current Ask3D configuration.

“We hit on this three-panel interface that maps to the three stages of search,” he said of the new Ask. Options for narrowing or expanding the search appear on the left, content in the center, and options for the discovery of deeper content on the right.

It’s an approach that gets visitors the right answer in the right place, at the right time, said Lanzone. They want to focus more on providing better results than worrying about beating Google in search.

In discussing the search behemoth, Lanzone noted how Ask has been a Google partner. “It’s got to be almost a love-hate relationship with them,” he said of the prospect of anyone partnering with Google.

More of Lanzone’s 40 minute chat may be heard at WebmasterRadio.fm.