Chris and I are at Jeremy Schoemaker’s Elite Retreat in New York City, and we’re halfway through Day 1. I’ve heard a wealth of information and my head’s swimming with awesome tips and Internet marketing ideas, but I wanted to take a quick moment to update you guys on 10e20’s conference happenings for the month of October (I can’t believe we’re already diving into fall–seems like Thanksgiving’s just around the corner!). Below is a quick outline of where you can find some of us (well, mostly Chris) this month. If you happen to be attending any of these events, definitely say hello, introduce yourself, shake hands, exchange business cards, all that good stuff. We want to meet and get to know you, so don’t be afraid to come up to any of us and and network your ass off.

Elite Retreat (October 1-2, NYC)

The Elite Retreat is going on right now and it’s pretty awesomesauce. I think it very well might be the best conference I’ve attended, but who knows, maybe Day 2 will be chock full of Facts of Life reruns and I’ll have to eat my words. Neil Patel, Chris and Brian Norgard gave terrific presentations, and after lunch we’re continuing with Aaron Wall and a keynote from Seth Godin. Tomorrow is likely where attendees will derive the most value: it’s nothing but 1 on 1 workshops between the attendees and the experts, so everyone will receive personalized and individual attention. I’m pret-ty, pret-ty excited.

SMX East, (October 5-7, NYC)

After the Elite Retreat concludes, Chris and I are sticking around for SMX East, which takes place October 5-7 in NYC. SMX is going to be a great Internet marketing show that will focus on loads of different tactics (organic, paid, social, business development, etc), so you’re guaranteed to learn a lot about various aspects of Internet marketing. Chris will be presenting about Twitter marketing tactics while I’ll be covering Facebook marketing tactics. Our Director of Internet Marketing, Greg Finn, will also be attending and he and I will provide blog coverage of the event next week. Keep your eye out for Jake, our VP of Being Awesome, who might also be around.

If you’re attending SMX East, definitely hit up our sessions and bug us with any and all questions you have. We also highly recommend attending the IM Charity Party on Monday at the Town Tavern. It costs $50 to attend, but not only will you be networking with some great names and faces from our industry, you’ll also be contributing to Multiple Myeloma and Blood Cancer research. The party is supporting a great cause and it’ll be loads of fun, drinking and getting to know people, so that’s a win/win for sure.

If you don’t have tickets to SMX East and would like to attend, you can still get 15% off the registration price by entering this code: smx15speakers (case sensitive). So act now and hopefully we’ll see you soon!

WebCAM (October 15-16, Bend, OR)

Chris continues his one man show of “Where in the World is Chris Winfield-iago” by flying to Bend, Oregon, and keynoting at WebCAM, a web + creative and marketing conference that will cover web marketing, search marketing, social media, SEO, brand management and marketing communications. There will be a load of great speakers (Laura Lippay, Rhea Drysdale, Todd Friesen, Dave Snyder, David Mihm, Marshall Simmonds…the list goes on), so if you live in the area I recommend checking it out.

That’s about it for October. Stay tuned for our fall/winter conference schedule, coming to a feed reader near you! If you’ll be attending any of the shows we’re at, hit us up on Twitter and we’ll definitely chat.

A few weeks back, I spoke at a small conference in Las Vegas for the Forex market called the Forex Affiliate Conference, which is run by the guys from the Casino Affiliate Conference. It was the smallest conference I ever spoke at (about 20 people) but it ended up being one of the most productive. I made some really great connections and was able to target my presentation to what information would be most useful for the attendees. From speaking there, I came up with some conference tips that are appropriate for any upcoming event you may be attending.

Lucky 7 Conference Tips

1. Reserve judgment for the end. Just because a conference has 5,000 attendees doesn’t mean that you will get anything out of it.  A conference is about who you meet and what you learn and if it is too crowded and overwhelming for you to meet anyone or learn anything, than it was probably a waste of money. On the other hand, just because there are only 20 people there, doesn’t that these aren’t the right 20 people and best leads you can find.

2. Network regardless of your mood. Just because the conference isn’t exactly what you expected is not an excuse to sit in your hotel room or bail on your presentation. Talk to other attendees or presenters, don’t be shy just strike up a conversation over a beer.

3. If nothing is planned, plan it yourself. If there are not parties, dinners or events planned for that night, get everyone together and plan and time and meeting location yourself. DK planned the Pubcon Poker Tournament, the least you can do is plan dinner.

4. If you are presenting, gear your presentation to your audience. A smaller conference gives you the benefit of meeting everyone and asking them what they want to learn. It also leads to more audience participation. If you are in the audience, ask questions and participate.

5. There is always something you can learn, so sit in on a couple of sessions. No one knows everything, so sitting in on a couple of sessions can be really beneficial.  I don’t do a lot of affiliate marketing, so the nuggets of information that I gathered will definitely be helpful for my own sites.

6. Don’t tell people overly specific information. Just because someone asks you a direct question face to face about one of your clients site doesn’t mean you have to tell them your clients best keyword/conversion tactic/seo tactic etc.

7. Don’t stick to just hanging out with people you know. I am sure your coworkers are great people, but this is your chance to broaden your horizons and meet new people.  Go up to someone you don’t know and just start a conversation. The vast majority of the time, people at your conference will be very friendly and responsive.

Originally Published on SEO Chicks

33 reasons why you should stay up late and go to the IM Charity Party at SES San Jose:

1. Networking happens AFTER the sessions are over. The best place to meet your future client/SEO/agency is at the hotel bar or at one of the conference parties
2. You might meet fookin’ dave naylor and buy him a beer
3. You may be able to witness Greg and Barbara Boser in the midst of a twitter hoax
4. You may find out Jennifer Slegg’s favorite Disney characters.
5. You can wind up Michael Gray like a jack in the box by telling him that Google does no evil, then make peace by discussing how hot the women of Battlestar Gallactica are
6. You could attempt to beat Frank the Tank to paying for the dinner check
7. Drinking for charity is a tax write-off
8. You may witness Stuntdubl spin 90s hip hop
9. You can win some awesome prizes, like a LIFETIME subscription to Shoemoney tools
10. Your boss thinks you are a good person for donating your dinner stipend to charity while off at a conference. How very responsible of you
11. You can smash Neil Patels beer before he has the chance to do it to yours
12. It’s always fun to meet new people over breakfast
13. The internet marketing ninjas will be lurking around and rumor is if you catch one, they have to divulge their secrets or swallow a shot of tequila
14. Avinash will tell you the latest analytics secrets while posing for pictures with a life size Danny Sullivan cut out
15. You can say you were there when Dax breaks into the next piece of musical equipment or gets kicked out of a hotel
16. BOTW always throws a great party
17. Find out what Lawrence Coburn’s favorite widget is
18. 4 hours of open bar for $40 is a lot less money than most of you would have spent at the hotel bar
19. Chris Winfield may drop life changing secrets about either SEO, social media, or how he has such great hair
20. Ask Andy Beal how you can become radically transparent
21. Debate the ethics of white hat SEO in honor of Jill Whalen
22. Ask Jim Boykin what his favorite national park is
23. Have Lee Odden tell you about some of the thousands of lakes in Minnesota
24. You can get tips from Jon Kelly and Lauren Vaccarello about planning a party
25. Ask Laura Lippay how the food at Yahoo compares to Google
26. Try to get quoted in Jessica Bowman’s new book
27. Have Brent Csutoras him tell you the finer points of Reddit while he’s digging on his iphone
28. Have Shoemoney perform a rear naked choke or at the very least kick your butt in thumb wrestling
29. Ask Oilman his favorite uses for duct tape
30. Find out why Captain Kirk is a master of web analytics from Matt Bailey
31. Get the scoop on Search Engine Journal’s Journal from Loren Baker
32. Being at the same party as your SEO idol is a great ice breaker, so start talking
33. Don’t be a douchebag. Why do you hate childen? Come to the party

IM Charity Party Event Details:
$40 donation will get you 4 hours of open bar with some of your favorite SES attendees
When: Monday August 18, 2008 8pm-12am
Where: Agenda Lounge – 399 S 1st street, San Jose ( 1 block from the conference)

Register early at – http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/nikesf08/imcharityparty by donating at least $40. Make sure to leave your name so we can put you on the list the night of the event or you can pay at the door, but keep in mind that space is limited.

For more details, go to www.imcharityparty.com

Originally Published on Search Engine Journal

Since I am incredibly lazy – here are the details from the auction for the last SEOktoberfest golden ticket copy and pasted. I do agree with Greg’s assessment of why Rebecca should attend, and will add that I’m expecting it to be a lot like Bavarian Festival in Frankenmuth, Michigan, except 10,000% larger and more rowdy…which may remind Rebecca of home if she was from Frankenmuth (but she’s not), though she IS from Michigan, and I will need some representation from another Michigander to remind me where to get booze when there are no “party stores” around. That is all for the mindless blathering on this post – just go to the damn auction so you can join us. I’m sure the event will be epic.

The original ticket price is 5.000 euros, and the 15 tickets were sold out after only 20 minutes!

15 International Online-Marketing Experts, 15 Attendees, and 10 former Playmates – one conference – one big Party!

Here´s what´s happening at SEOktoberfest:

Tuesday, 22nd of September:
10 a.m – 4 p.m. – SEOktoberfest Conference
4 p.m. – 10 p.m. – Oktoberfest at famous Käfer Wiesn-Schnänke
open end – After Party at P1 Club

Wednesday, 23rd of September:
11 a.m. – 8 p.m. – We got a whole luxurious Spa completly rented out for everybody. 6 massage therapists etc. will get you fit again!
8 p.m. – open end – Friends & Family Dinner at Munich´s No.1 Wine-Restaurant Die blaue Donau

Thursday, 24th of September
10 a.m. – 4 p.m. – SEOktoberfest Conference
4. p.m. – 10 p.m. – Oktoberfest at Schützen-Festhalle
open end – After Party at a secret location

What´s included in the price?
Everything!
Every Attendee gets a whole Oktoberfest Outfit – Shoes, Lederhosen, Shirt etc., and everything you eat and / or drink, as well as all the transfers etc. – everything´s included!

Who are the Online Marketing Experts?

* Todd Malicoat
* Chris Winfield
* Bob Rains
* Johannes Beus
* Brent Csutoras
* Sickness
* RSnake
* Greg Boser
* Barbara Boser
* Todd Friesen
* Marcus Tandler
* Quadszilla
* Frank Watson

The proceeds from this charity auction go to the AMAZONICA Foundation!