My last two posts were a bit critical, with some readers commenting that I must have really hated SES San Jose to have pooped on it as much as I did. Not the case — while I found some sessions and speakers to be disappointing and the food to be abysmal, I do acknowledge that the large-scale SES SJ show is more catered to beginner marketers and I heard very positive feedback from them. I also enjoyed a lot about the conference and thought I’d highlight my favorite parts in this post so you guys don’t think all I do is sip on Haterade. So, with that said, here are what I felt were the highlights of SES San Jose this year.

1. The “Search: Where To Next?” Panel

This panel was the first one I attended, and I was surprised at how jam-packed it was. The session was standing room only, so I resorted to sitting on the floor at the back of the room. Despite the crammed conditions, I heard a lively, engaging discussion between the panelists about how search will be impacted in the next year or two, what factors shouldn’t be counted out yet, and why SEO is more important than ever. Anne Kennedy always shines as a moderator, and she kept the conversation flowing nicely among the engaging and thoughtful speakers (Stephan Spencer, Pavan Lee from Microsoft, Heather Dougherty, Chris Boggs, Eli Goodman and Carla Borsoi from Ask.com). I think this is always an important session to have at a search conference — our industry is so dynamic and constantly shifting that it’s essential to take a critical look at where we’re at now and where we seem to be headed.

2. Meeting with Clients (when they’re happy )

Greg and I took a few timeouts throughout the week to meet with some clients who were also attending SES. It’s always nice to sit down with a client on a more laid-back level and just get lunch or coffee and chat pleasantries. Oftentimes you don’t get to know a client on a personal level when you’re going back and forth about deadlines and deliverables, so I really enjoyed getting to know some of these folks and not “talking shop” too much. We checked in with them to ensure that they were happy with our work thus far (they were!), chatted about some upcoming work, talked about the conference, laughed about my ridiculously unappetizing salad, and just had a nice time. In this industry you often work with people who are thousands of miles away, so it’s nice to be able to converge together and meet and have a face-to-face chat.

A mountain of pre-masticated and regurgitated greens

3. Catching Up with Colleagues and Friends

Similar to #2 is how you can go to a conference and run into all of your industry friends and colleagues who work in different cities and time zones. It was great catching up with folks who I always love running into at events. Additionally, I got to meet my coworker Greg for the first time. We’d been working together for a month and hadn’t met other than at a huge dinner we attended together about a year ago (it was like the scene from Batman where Michael Keaton and Kim Basinger are sitting at ridiculously far ends of the table). He amused me to no end with his fondness for trees, his sidelong glances when we’d hear someone say something a bit questionable, and his drilldown of his ever-shifting hobbies. I can’t wait to meet my other coworkers (the downside of working remotely).

Greg kicking ass and taking names during his social media presentation

4. Networking with New Attendees

When thousands of people attend a search conference, you really have no excuse not to meet someone new. SES is great for networking. I met people while sitting in the audience at sessions, eating lunch, working in the lobby, attending mixers, in elevators — there are countless opportunities to shake someone’s hand and exchange business cards. You might meet a new friend, a business contact, a future client, a prospective employer — I’ve done all of these at previous conferences and hope to continue to grow my lists of contacts (except the “prospective employer” part — love you, Chris!).

Chris Boggs and Lisa Williams chatting at the aimClear Tequila Networking Mixer

5. Watching Attendees Soak Up Information

When I first began my career as a search professional, I attended a lot of SES shows and learned a lot about various aspects of search by watching tons of presentations about SEO, PPC, social media, vertical search, you name it. Though now I find some sessions to be a bit basic and introductory, I always enjoy watching the new wave of beginners and attendees come in and furiously jot down notes, ask questions, have that “light bulb” moment, bum rush the stage to ask more questions, and basically soak up as much information as they can. Yeah, I’m critical about some sessions and speakers, but that’s because I think the audience (especially one full of novices or beginners) has a right to receive information that is as accurate and applicable as possible.

Rushing the stage like there’s no tomorrow

6. The “Search on a Dime” Panel

Easily one of my favorite sessions of the conference, Search on a Dime showcased clear, simple, and straightforward pieces of advice for SEO, local search and PPC. Stoney deGeyter gave a nice and basic but straightforward presentation about the most essential on-page SEO factors to focus on. David Mihm knocked it out of the park by explaining why local search is vital to your business’s online success and how you can optimize your website for local search. Matt Van Wagner was charming and amusing and provided a good overview of low hanging PPC opportunities. A note to SES programmers: try to duplicate sessions like this one for future shows.

Nobody beats David Mihm! He’s the Wiz! Hesthewiz.

7. The Advanced SEO Roundtable

This panel was a thing of beauty. You have the two Todds (Friesen and Malicoat, my Michigan brutha from another mutha), Bruce Clay, Matt Bailey and Mike Grehan all fielding questions about SEO with snark, charm, humor and an otherworldly level of expertise. Richard Zwicky was a perfect moderator, reading off questions via tweet, text, and calling on folks in the audience to voice their inquiries. I loved the honesty, the high caliber of knowledge, the bluntness and the charisma of these panelists. It was an entertaining, crowd pleasing session without compromising quality and actual usefulness.

8. The IM Charity Party and WebmasterRadio’s Search Bash

No conference is complete without a little bit of play time. Although Google canceled their “prom” this year, we still had the IM charity event and the sensory overload known as Search Bash. IM was the casual and relaxed yin to Search Bash’s psychedelic yang — I’ve embedded some videos below that showcase how much of a nut Daron Babin is in his constant quest to outdo his previous bash.

Entering the Search Bash Rabbit Hole from 10e20 LLC on Vimeo.

The White Rabbit Kicks Off Search Bash from 10e20 LLC on Vimeo.

So, despite my grumblings, I did enjoy many aspects of SES San Jose and do recommend it to beginners who are looking to learn more about SEO and Internet marketing and to marketers who want to network and hopefully pick up some new clients, make new friends, or see Daron Babin dressed as a white rabbit. If you missed SES San Jose, never fear, for SES Chicago is happening this December 7-10 in the Windy City. Go and learn about SEO, network with marketers, freeze your ass off and get some delicious Mexican food at Frontera Grill, restaurant of the newly crowned Top Chef Master Rick Bayless (I’m so stoked he won — any other foodies out there?).

Tune in to the blog next week when I showcase some brief video interviews with Michael Gray, Matt Cutts and more folks, plus a fun game I forced many of my colleagues to play.   In the meantime, don’t forget to follow 10e20 on Twitter and subscribe to our RSS feed!