Last week I spoke at Hostingcon in Vegas on "What it takes to rank high in Google". I was pretty happy that I had a 45 minute slot to speak….at most conferences you get between 9 and 12 minutes to give your chat, which isn’t much time to get past your topic overview and 101 info, so I was excited about getting a full 45 minutes here.
I arrived the night before I was speaking, and walked around the strip some….and ya know, Vegas just doesn’t appeal to me….throwing money into machines where you know you’ll loose just doesn’t excite me. In fact….I hate Vegas. I’m actually a hippy nature lover and would rather they held conferences in National Parks as opposed to places like Vegas…but oh well.
I was scheduled for the last spot on the last day and I ended up giving this presentation (here’s a pdf version). When I finished I realized I had gone an hour and apologized and asked if anyone had questions…to my suprise almost everyone raised their hand, so we went another hour and 15 minutes answering questions…so my 45 minute slot turned into 2 hours and 15 minutes. (luckily this was the last sesson of the day so no one was waiting for the room!)
I thought it was really cool to be solo (esp since I didn’t have to "compete" with other speakers in answering questions). The people were great, the questions were great, and I had a great time.
I actually wasn’t trying to pick up any clients, but it looks like I’ve got 2 new clients from the chat.
So after my chat I rented a mustang convertible and headed to see my aunt in Arizona…now driving in a mustang convertible with the top down accross the desert and exploring places I’ve never seen before is my idea of a good time – and a great time I had.
Here’s some pics if you’re interested.
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Speaking of Conferences….San Jose SES is coming up soon. I won’t be speaking….my usual speaking panel isn’t scheduled for San Jose (SEM Tools Panel). Not sure why…and it’s too bad I’m not speaking, but I guess that just means that all my days are free now. I’ll be touring during the days and partying….opps, I mean networking, at night.
I’ll be sure to be at the Google Plex Dance Party, and the Webmasterradio.fm bash….I’m hoping Yahoo will step up and offer a party as well….
Past SES San Jose trips I’ve done these extra curricular driving excursions including:
2 trips to Yosomite National Park, 1 trip to Sequoia National Park, 1 trip to Kings Canyon National Park, 1 trip Lake Tahoe (worked there in 97), 1 real long drive to Death Valley National Park (worked there 95 and 97), and a RT 1 trip down to Big Sur. Last year Todd (stuntdubl), Bill Hartzer and I also did a helecoptor ride over San Fran….oh yea, and 3-4 trips into San Fran.
I love California – this is my favorite trip as California is one of my favorite states and there’s so much to do (if you don’t mind driving). This is the one trip that I actually consider my vacation for the year.
Are you going to San Jose 2006 SES?
Anyone out there interested in a SEO Pow Wow at the Grand Canyon next year?
24 Responses
Jim… Thanks for sharing your pictures and presentation!
Hi Jim,
Thanks for sharing PDF and Pics. Nice Pics.
But I am not able to open the pdf. It is giving me some error.
Same here, PDF gives an error. Nice pics, and I will be at SES San Jose – my first time in California so I’m looking forward to it 🙂
Hmm, I was able to pull up the PDF on my work machine… different version of Acrobat – version 5 at work, and version 7 at home (the one that didn’t work)…
Yes, thanks for the pics. Presentation works well, btw.
Here’s the powerpoint presentation if the pdf doesn’t work for you.
http://www.jimboykin.com/vegas-lib/boykin-hostingcon-google.ppt
Anyone out there interested in a SEO Pow Wow at the Grand Canyon next year?
Count me in! That is only an hour’s drive north of where I live.
Jim, will I see you at the PubCon in Vegas this November?
Great pics, Jim!
I’ll be at SES-SJ… hope to run into you!
Igor “Jim, will I see you at the PubCon in Vegas this November?”
Nope – I’ve got a baby due that week so I’ll be a bit busy that week 😉
That was a great, straightforward presentation Jim. I’m sure your audience was very appreciative and better informed afterwards. Also, thanks for posting those photos – I’d never seen a century plant before.
That was a good presentation of SEO strategy that you gave at Hostingcon last week. I freely drew from it and commented at Webmetricsguru.com
Looks like you and I have similar views about stuff… I love the pics and I’ll try to talk the boss into a Grand Canyon trek 🙂
Jim – looking forward to meeting you again in San Jose – I’ll arrive there on Sunday after doing 4 days San Francisco sightseeing – the greatest city of the USA – so european 🙂
what’s on your monday night party schedule?
cheers,christoph
I’ll be there & I’m glad you will be too.
I would love a Pow Wow at the Grand Canyon/Lake Mead.
If I was single and had no kids, I’d be there for sure.
Hawaii SEO – I’ll be looking for the guy in the Hawaiin shirt at the bars!
Simon, Looking forward to drinking a beer together!
Kid Disco, Looking forward to having a beer with you too!
Christoph, I’ll be following the beer so I’m sure we’ll meet up too.
Thinking I’ll rent a mustang convertible…unless a bunch of you want to go on a site seeing trip then I could rent a van or something….
Shotgun! :^)
Looking forward to seeing you in San Jose Jim. Make sure you bring some apples 🙂
Simon, Looking forward to drinking a beer together!
Unfortunately we’re undergoing a major corporate strategy shift, so I had to cancel my trip 🙁 Maybe next time, or heck, we have an office in Albany, maybe I’ll stop by and take a gander at your offices the next time I’m up there.
I’ll be at SES SJ. Soaking up some SEO knowledge.
Cool Jim!
I really admire you. Well hope to see those places.
Take care!
Greg I will bring a freaking sack full of apples!
Great post, thanks for the pictures. I always collect so many business cards when I go to shows and then have to do all that data entry work. Need one of those scanners, or a virtual administrative assistant.
Jim,
Again it’s way too less time here in San Francisco – love it… next year’s time I’ll need even more than 4 days sightseeing…
with just some talking I managed to spend the whole day on top of San Francisco for FREE yesterday… checkout my tutorial and some of my 475 pics at my travel blog http://www.traveller.in/109/spending-a-day-on-top-of-san-francisco-for-free
CHEERS and see you on Monday!
Christoph
PS: just got notice they dont do pre-registrations on Sunday any more… and I cannot print the express ticket – lacking a printer here in the hotel
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