Adam Jewell - Search & Affiliate Marketing

Remember waaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in the day, when SES - Search Engine Strategies shows had just gotten started? The conferences were of a manageable size, you had a sit down lunch instead of a lunch it looked like someone sat on crammed into a little box. They had speaker receptions. If you were a speaker you could sometimes get an extra pass so someone else in your company could attend.

Well, SMX feels like a throwback to the good old days. They had a nice little welcome reception for everyone (not just speakers) with a couple free drinks and some appetizers (crab cakes & some kind of skewers with meat & veggies). I ran into Danny right off the bat, he seemed jazzed about the whole thing. The SWAG (Shit We All Get) bag was actually a backpack this time instead of one of the usualy conference things that is more like a reusable grocery shopping bag that is a aukward to carry around a conference all day.

Being out in Santa Clara California makes it nice as well. Feels like its about 50 degrees outside with a nice cool breeze. The sights are great. There are lots of familiar faces out here and many new ones. The convention center where the sessions are held is a nice short walk from the hotel rooms which isn’t so common anymore.

The hotel is nice. The HYATT has a flat-screen TV, the beds are comfortable and there is a nice view out the window. There is a gym on the 3rd floor so I’ll actually be able to work out. Since there are only two elliptical machines, I had to settle for a treadmill for 30 minutes until an elliptical freed up. On the road or anytime, it always feels great to be able to get in a workout.

The presentation is tomorrow, there are some more networking events and there will probably be more people coming in as the week goes on. It should be a great show. Look for updates here as the week goes on!