This is my first post since returning from China. I have to say that it was good to be home. In the plane flying over British Columbia, I had a new appreciation for the vast amounts of land with nary a human in sight.
So now I'm in Seattle, attending the first SMX, and it's fair to say it's a hit. I'm at the end of day one, the show is a complete sell out and everybody I've talked to seems to be generally pleased with the content and quality. It's always tough programming the first show of it's kind, but there's been a lot more hits than misses. I think it may take a couple of cycles for the level of content and the level of expertise of attendees to completely mesh, but it's a hell of a good start.
I'm particularly enjoying the size of the show. I've got to chat and meet more people here than any show I've attended previously, including many of my favorite people in the industry. There's a great showing from all the engines, and everyone is very accessible. If you choose to work this show (not just in the sessions, but in the networking events) you can walk away with a lot of valuable take aways. One of the problems with many search shows is they outgrow their original appeal and loose a lot of their value in the process. I hope Danny, Chris and the Third Door crew keep the show size about where it is.
The experience of the attendees is also coming through in the Q&A. There's a lot of experience sitting in the room and it's coming across in some very savvy questions. Generally, I find the attendees to be high level practitioners, and as more of a strategy guy, I'm finding the show a little tactical for my taste, but I really believe that's what the audience is looking for. The personalization panel I was on was more of a strategic look at the future, and the number of questions was noticeably less than some of the other more tactical sessions (i.e. dupe content or social media optimization) but it was interesting none the less.
The experience of the Third Door team has come through with a very smooth show there. So far, everything has gone off with almost no hitches (save for a little trouble with internet access earlier today) and no box lunches! A hot meal for lunch..imagine!