Last week I had the pleasure of speaking at the Elite Retreat.  It was an amazing event.  One where I felt I learned just as much from the attendees as the speakers (who were awesome!).  Shoemoney did a nice recap of the conference here and so did Scott Hendison.  Shoe isn’t sure if he’s going to do it next year but if he does – I would highly recommend attending.

A bunch of people have asked me where I am going to speaking in the upcoming days, so I figured it would be easiest to give a rundown of the conferences I am going to be at and the panels I will be on.

Pubcon South (March 11th – 13th * Austin, TX)

For the first time in it’s storied history, Pubcon will be held in Austin, TX.  The Pubcon conferences are always great events and this one will be no different (how can you go wrong with keynotes by Matt Cutts & Guy Kawasaki?).  I’ll be speaking on two panels at Pubcon (both on Wednesday – March 11th):

* Intersection of Search and Social Media @ 1:20pm

Is the intersection of search and social media a train wreck waiting to happen or is it the “not search” based traffic we have long been seeking?  This session will explore that intersection from the webmaster, site owner and publisher points of view.

* Twitter Landscape – A Indepth View of the Twitter Ecosystem @ 2:45pm

Twitter – the hottest commodity to hit the web in years. The lighting growth curve and new nature of Twitter has left more than a few businesses wondering what it was all about. This panel will look at the Twitterverse and how to effectively use it.

Find out more at the official site (I think there are still tickets available).

Search Engine Strategies NY (March 23rd – 27th * New York, NY)

SES NY is one of the biggest search shows of the year and an awesome place to learn new things and make some great relationships.  I’ll be speaking on one panel there on Day 3 (March 26th):

* An Update on Social Media Optimization @ 10:30am
Community-built web sites, Facebook, YouTube, Microsoft Tagspace, Wikipedia and new sites allowing content to be shared through “tagging” can be a great way to tap into links and search-driven traffic. This session looks at some social media services and strategies and demonstrates how to tap into them in an appropriate manner. Hear how-tos and tips from search marketers who have discovered what they have learned from their experiences in optimizing social media.

But I’ll be there all week.  One of the highlights of this conference will be on the night before the conference starts (March 23rd) when we will be throwing our now famous IM Charity Party.  These events are super fun and also do so much good (all money raised goes directly to charity).  Here’s the details:

Who: All Internet Marketers are invited
What: $50 Charity Donation For Open Bar Party
Where: Heartland Brewery in Union Square, New York, NY
When: Monday March 23, 2009 from 8pm-12am
Why: Because this is the hottest networking party for internet marketers. It is being held at Heartland Brewery, NYC’s very own microbrewey which has won many awards for their craft beers. Most of the conference speakers and top internet marketers will be there. Did we mention that all raised money is going to charity! Go ahead make business connections, have fun and help save the life of someone with cancer.
Suggested Donation: $50/person

You can buy tickets online and know that you will have fun (& do good).  Even if you can’t make it – think about making a donation.

IM Spring Break (April 2nd – 4th * Deerfield Beach, FL)

Based on the success of their “non-con” Scary SEO last year – the boys at IM Broadcast are back with IM Spring Break.   As of right now tickets for this amazing event are only $500 and the speaker lineup is amazing.

I will be kicking off the conference with my keynote speech on Social Media Marketing which starts at 9:30am on Wednesday (April 2nd).

Then right after me, 10e20′s Greg Finn will be on a panel called Creating Content for Social Media – How to create the content and make it stick (at 11:15am).  Greg is the best content guy I know so his presentation alone will be worth the price of admission.

*Added*
I am also going to be attending SMX Search Analytics in Toronto Ontario on March 31st.  I won’t be speaking but will be there to learn (because you can never have enough info about analytics).  Check it out here.

I hope to see you at one (or ALL) of these events.  If you’re going to be there, please let me know so we can meet up!

Follow me on Twitter here.

Creating Content for Social Media – How to create the content and make it stick