Are you the conference-going type? Are you thinking of attending another marketing or search-related conference? Rebecca Kelley, a seasoned SEO person, and ex conference goer tells why she now prefers to stay home.
As she says,
I’ve been to tons of SEO and search conferences since I started doing Internet marketing in 2006, and at first they were really awesome and exciting. You can’t beat traveling on the company dime and staying up until 6 am making friends and knocking back drinks. It took a while for the luster to wear off, but when it does, you’ll discover that there are any number of things you’d rather do than climb aboard a plane, pull a lanyard over your head, and pretend that the same crap you’ve heard at the last 15 conferences is new and exciting.
Her reasons basically boil down to the fact that conferences are repetitive, appeal to newbies or groupies, have mediocre speakers, and have no significant business value. For all the time, energy and money spent attending a conference you get very little (if anything) in return.
Of course she admits that attending a conference can be “really awesome and exciting” the first couple of times. But after that it’s the same old thing over and over again.
I must admit I haven’t been thinking much about attending a bunch of conferences this year (I’m not the conference type – more the hermit type.) Now I have a few good reasons why I think they are a waste of time.
Read the very good article by Rebecca here: Why I’m Kind of Over Search Conferences
