SMX Search Marketing Expo & Conference – Singapore 2009 is coming to Singapore for the second time and it looks to be another great conference. Just look at the speaker’s list. Besides yours truly, who’ll be speaking about Social Media in Asia, there’s the following.
The SEMPO Asia Tour will be coming to Singapore on June 9th and then on to China and India. We’re excited to have them here in Singapore as we grow the SEMPO membership and educate the market on search marketing in general. We’ll be participating in ad:tech Singapore with a booth and then a meeting at 5:40 pm on June 9th to be followed by a network session. If your going to ad:tech then we’d love to see you at our event and meet Bill Hunt, Motoko Hunt, Jeff Pruitt, Paula Hunter and of course me, David Temple.
Mr. Leonard Tan
Search Marketing Director PurpleClick Media Pte Ltd
Tour Provides Opportunity for SEMPO to Learn about the Local Market and Promote
the Search Industry in Asia SINGAPORE–(Business Wire)–
The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO), www.sempo.org,
today announced that it will hold a series of events in connection with ad:tech
Singapore, June 9. Singapore is the first stop on a three-city Asian tour that
SEMPO is undertaking to foster the awareness of search engine marketing and
connect professionals in the region with Western markets. It will also provide a
rare occasion for search industry executives to network with local search engine
company representatives. Other stops include Beijing on June 12 and Mumbai on
June 15.
With the goal of creating a better understanding of search and its role in
marketing, the SEMPO delegation, which consists of Jeffrey Pruitt, SEMPO
Chairperson, Bill Hunt, SEMPO Board of Director. Motoko Hunt, Chairperson of
SEMPO Asia, and Paula Hunter, Director of Operations for SEMPO, will host a
number of evens. For more information about SEMPO’s Asia tour, visit
http://www.sempo.org/public_groups/asia/sempo_asia_tour/
SEMPO events in Singapore, all being held at the Suntec City International
Convention Centre, include:
* Seminar with presentations by representatives of search engine companies,
SEMPO and other organizations involved in the state of search, SEO, SEM and
social media
* Press conference
* ad:tech networking party with SEMPO representatives, delegates and sponsors
“Although SEMPO has had an active Asia Committee for some time, this is our
first official SEMPO Asia tour to spread awareness of SEMPO as a global
organization,” says Jeffrey Pruitt, SEMPO chairperson and the leader of the
SEMPO delegation. “We’re looking forward to networking with Singapore’s SEM and
SEO industry leaders and meeting the local media.”
For details about SEMPO’s Asia tour, visit
http://www.sempo.org/public_groups/asia/sempo_asia_tour/ or send an email to:
Asia-tour@SEMPO.org.
About the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO)
SEMPO is a global non-profit organization serving the search engine marketing
industry and marketing professionals engaged in it. Its purpose is to provide a
foundation for industry growth through building stronger relationships,
fostering awareness, providing education, promoting the industry, generating
research, and creating a better understanding of search and its role in
marketing.
Representing thousands in over 30 countries, SEMPO has more than 850 members. It
represents the common interests of companies and consultants worldwide and
provides them with a voice in the marketplace. SEMPO’s education and outreach
initiatives are funded in part by Microsoft, Yahoo!, Google, Superpages.com, ABC
Search, SMX and Search Engine Strategies. For more information, or to join the
organization, please visit http://www.SEMPO.org.
Well look at you Carolyn Shelby. I remember when you couldn’t even spell SEO (LOL) and now you’re keynoting an online marketing event, the Market Saint Louis “Look at Me” Seminar on Thursday, June 11th. Actually Carolyn has been professionally building websites and helping businesses and not-for-profit organizations integrate their offline and online marketing since early 1995, so she’s no overnight sensation but she certainly is a sensation in the online marketing world.
She is co-host of the SEO 101 podcast, which can be heard weekly on BlogTalkRadio. She is is the Director of Operations at Search and Social (the same people that do IM Broadcast and shows like IM Spring Break).Carolyn also runs a number of websites and blogs, including Lafayette Online, the city guide for Lafayette and West Lafayette, Indiana. And if that’s not enough, she is a Conference Reporter for Search Engine Roundtable and writes for her personal blog, cshel.commach zehnder modulator.You’ve certainly come a long way, speaking at industry events and now keynoting one yourself. And it’s not just because you’re another pretty face. You’ve really proven yourself in this industry and worked hard at sharing your knowledge.
So if you want to hear Carolyn share her knowledge and learn more about online marketing, then sign up now for the ‘Look At Me’ seminar. (Don’t you just love that name?)
Title: Look At Me Seminar – Market Saint Louis
Location: Glendale, Missouri
Link out: Click here
Description: The “Look at Me” seminar will help you understand the power of online marketing, and how it will boost your bottom line significantly. This event is tailored entirely for business owners in the Saint Louis area that want to get in front of online customers, but don’t know how.
Start Time: 9:00
Date: 2009-06-11
End Time: 18:00
Social Media Smarts is an introduction to the social web, tools and strategies put on by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA). The seminar will be held June 4, 2009 at MicroTek New York City. Leading this seminar is led by Lee Odden of Top Rank Online Marketing and blogger extraordinaire at Online Marketing Blog. The cost is $1,399 for DMA members and $1,699 for non members.
Listed below are some of the topics that will be covered at this two- day seminar:
* Introduction to Social Media
* Marketing Socially: Creating and Promoting Blog Content
* Social ROI: Measuring Blogs and the Social Web
* Step Up to Social Networking
* Videos and Podcasts and Images Oh My!
* Social Roundup: Microblogging, Social Bookmarking and wikis
Lee Odden CEO of TopRank Online Marketing (toprankmarketing.com)
Lee Odden is an industry leader in strategic internet marketing consulting, training and implementation services. A veteran internet marketer, Odden is one of 25 online marketing experts featured in the book, “Online Marketing Heroes” published by Wiley and has been cited for his search marketing expertise by The Economist, U.S. News and numerous search marketing industry publications.
Odden’s Online Marketing Blog (toprankblog.com) ranks in the top 40 out of 100 million blogs tracked by Technorati and is listed as one of the top 15 marketing blogs on the web by Advertising Age.
Lee regularly presents at: DMA, PRSA, Search Engine Strategies, WebmasterWorld Pubcon and the Media Relations Summit on topics of expertise including: search engine optimization, social media marketing and online public relations.
If you didn’t get the memo or haven’t seen this online then here are upcoming search marketing or online events that offer a SEMPO discount.
Online Marketing Summit Whistle Stop Tour – Registration Discount of 20%
May 5 – July 2 — Sixteen Different Locations
This educational event is coming to your neighborhood with its 16-city Whistle Stop Tour. Join your marketing peers as they share ideas, hear from expert practitioners, and learn best practices in the areas of: social media, search, Email, analytics, behavioral targeting, and website strategy…
The Internet Marketing Conference – Registration Discount of $100
May 12 — San Francisco, CA
This event will focus on formative trends in internet marketing, covering social advertising, behavioral advertising (including a panel on understanding profiles, retargeting, and remessaging techniques), and the evolving ecosystem of new technologies entering the ad market…
Winning Media Strategies 2009 – Registration Discount of $200
May 20-22 — Washington, DC
A key question facing media companies is how they can best organize and utilize corporate assets to reduce risk, meet often aggressive EBITDA goals and still position themselves for long-term success in a capital-intensive technology-driven business…
SMX Advanced – Registration Discount of 10%
June 2 -3 — Seattle, WA
SMX Advanced is designed for experienced SEMs to exchange ideas, influence the industry, and build their networks. Fast paced, Q&A-packed, frequently controversial, and always informative…
Search Engine Strategies Toronto – Registration Discount of 20%
June 8 – 10 — Toronto
SES Toronto is returning with a program designed to appeal to intermediate and seasoned marketers looking to advance their SEM and SEO skills. This year’s line-up features the new “Geek Track” sessions, which take the conversations to the next level on advanced topics, the year’s biggest trends, and the future of search…
ad:tech Singapore – Registration Discount of 25%
June 9 – 10 — Singapore
Ad:tech brings together brand advertisers, traditional and interactive agencies, portals, on-line publishers, and technology providers. With the continued growth in technology and use of digital media, ad:tech offers an opportunity to discover new practices and technologies, and to learn how many of the great names have utilized the net, built brand recognition, and immersed themselves in digital technologies…
SEMPO Asia Tour will make its stop here and have a session on June 9 at 5:40 pm with cocktail reception to follow.
Luxury Interactive 2009 – Registration Discount of $300
June 17-18, 2009 — Bridgewaters, NY
At this business-to-business conference you can attend specific sessions that speak directly to your needs in today’s economy as a luxury brand. Identify how and why your customers shop, and how to not only save money reaching them, but get them to spend more money, and stay loyal…
eTail Baltimore – Registration Discount of 15%
August 3 – 6 — Baltimore, MD
The event for senior marketing and ecommerce executives delivers immeasurable value and measurable results. Retail executives gather for four days of networking and the opportunity to preview the latest technology solutions…
Search Engine Strategies San Jose – Registration Discount of 20%
August 11 – 14 — San Jose, CA
Book Prior to May 8th and Save $600 Off the Regular Registration Rate
This year’s line-up will feature the new “Geek Track” sessions, which take the conversations to the next level on advanced topics, the year’s biggest trends, and the future of search. SES San Jose will be packed with over 70 sessions…
Congratulations to Motoko Hunt who has received the inaugural Presidents Award from the Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization (SEMPO). She is the chair of SEMPO Asia and has been the co-chair of SEMPO Japan since 2005. Motoko is Founder and President of AJPR, a Japanese search marketing firm. Before establishing AJPR in 1998, she was localizing and creating Japanese websites for US and European companies.
Motoko has her own blog and is an editor at Multilingual-Search.com. She speaks around the globe at industry events such as Search Marketing Expo (SMX), Search Engine Strategies (SES), Internet Conference, Net Marketing Forum and others. She is also a co-chair/co-host of the Search Engine Strategies Tokyo Forum.
Motoko has worked tirelessly to promote SEMPO in Asia and will be part of the SEMPO Asia Tour in June. The SEMPO Asia tour will visit Beijing, Singapore and Mumbai. The purpose of the tour is to “Increase the awareness of the search engine marketing in Asia, and to increase the visibility of SEMPO in the region as a non-profit and worldwide Search Professional organization through the sessions and press conference in each location.”
In her interview with Li Evans of Search Marketing Gurus for the Women of Internet Marketing series she responded to a questions about her accomplishments by saying “Hmmmmm, I haven’t received any awards or anything.” Well now you can add that to all your other accomplishments Motoko. Hats off to a classy, gracious and all around fun person, Motoko Hunt!
It’s really great when a group of people get together to do good. All too often the seo industry is lumped together as snake oil salesmen, scam artists, etc. I personally don’t know anyone in that class and know that we as an industry don’t like anyone that brings attention to us by their unethical behavior. So it did does my heart good to tell you about the IM Charity Parties that are being held at many of the search marketing events. I’ve only been to one and it was a blast!
The first IM Charity Party was held at SES New York 2007 with major support from the Best of the Web gang, a great group of people. The event raised over $5,100 and awareness for the Ronald McDonald House Charities. Since then there have been several other events and they have raised over $100,000 for charities. Here’s what you can do to help.
IM Charity Party at SES NY
Who: All Internet Marketers are invited
What: $50 Charity Donation For Open Bar Party
Where: Heartland Brewery in Union Square, New York, NY
When: Monday March 23, 2009 from 8pm-12am
Why: Because this is the hottest networking party for internet marketers. It is being held at Heartland Brewery, NYC’s very own microbrewey which has won many awards for their craft beers. Most of the conference speakers and top internet marketers will be there. Did we mention that all raised money is going to charity! Go ahead make business connections, have fun and help save the life of someone with cancer.
At the last conference I attended in the US, SES San Jose, I was standing in a group of about seven people and four of them were named Dave. Okay they probably were really Davids but all of us named David are often referred to as Dave. Personally when asked whether I prefer Dave or David, my response is typically ‘David”. In truth I really don’t care that much but since I’ve always said David that’s what comes out.
Anyway I thought since there were so many of us in search I’d list a few here. This is by no means an exhaustive list and if I leave off a Dave, please let me know. So, in no particular order, here are the Dave’s and David’s of SEO.
Dave Snyder – Snydey Sense – Search & Social -IM Broadcast – Ex teacher, bass guitarist and published poet, Dave is one of the friendliest seo’s out there. At first glance he looks like a hard core tattooed biker but once you engage him, you quickly realize he is caring and down to earth. I first met Dave at SES San Jose and not only asked about his tattoos but took pictures of them for a post I did called Who’s Tat is Dat? I recently read on his blog post 7 Things That Make Me a PimpI hate when people ask me about my tattoos or use them as a conversation starter. My pieces are pretty much personal to me, which is why i often wear long sleeves at conferences. Wow, wish I’d have known that then. But like the gentleman he is, Dave didn’t show the slightest bit of annoyance with me.
Dave Davies – Beanstalk, Inc. – If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Dave Davies is also the name of founder and lead guitarist of the Kinks. I wish I had the same name of a famous rocker instead of that of a wife killer (just Google me and you’ll see what I mean). Here’s another nice guy (all Dave’s of SEO are) and someone else I took pictures of their tattoo. Dave is scared of heights and hates to fly but loves to travel (so does he take the train like John Madden?). Dave wrote the updated version of SitePoint’s SEM Kit first written by Dan Thies.
Dave Davis – RedFly Marketing – I used to get this Dave and Dave Davies confused until I realized that both of them are in my social network and I’ve read their blogs or articles around the web. Dave Davis title at RedFly which is based in Dublin, Ireland, is Managing Director – The Overlord, gotta love that.
Dave Barry – Site Search Architect – I’ve never met this Dave but he’s been involved with seo for a long time. He is sometimes referred to as the SEO Dave. He got involved early on with Search Engine Workshops, teaching high logic SEO principles and techniques to business owners and professional SEO’s throughout the US and Canada.
David Wallace - SearchRank – Here’s a Dave of SEO that goes by David as well. I first met him three years ago at SES Chicago where he was with his wife Irma co founders of SearchRank. I realy enjoyed their company and we have been friends since. David is one of those seo’s that is always willing to help out others and shares information with all. He is also a widely published author of many articles in online publications such as Search Engine Guide, Search Engine Watch, WebPro News, SEO Today, and Pandia to name a few.
David Dalka – Online Marketing Management Strategy Innovation – If you haven’t met David, the Chicago MBA, at a search conference then it’s surprising. David is a networking machine and knows more people in the industry than anybody I know. He lives in Chicago, Cleveland and New York (see what I mean). David’s into art, science, history, meteorology and music, a true reneissance man. A real Chicago guy he’s a a fan of the Chicago Bears, Chicago BlackHawks and Chicago Cubs.
David Szetela -Clix Marketing Okay he’s more a ppc guy than an seo but had to add him to the list. He’s everywhere in the search world. Besides speaking at all the industry gigs (even and affiiate marketing one in Macau) he also hosts a weekly radio show called PPC Rockstars and is the PPC Editor of the paper and online publication SEMJ.org.
Dave Naylor -Don’t know how I forgot to add this Dave as he is one of the better known Dave of SEO. I met Dave back in 2005 in windy Chicago and see him at most conferences I attend. David is also known as DaveN and according to his twitter bio he “started working in the SEO industry over 10 years ago with three major corporations releasing their database driven data, creating internal link structures and improving usability”. All around nice and funny guy, Dave rounds out this list of the Dave’s of SEO.
This is my first guest post on this blog. I often have trouble coming up with content and I thought these were great insights from my guest blogger Dr. Matt McDougall, Group CEO & Executive Chairman of SinoTech Group. Matt is an active member of the SEMPO Asia Working Group and speaks at industry conferences around the APAC region.
Defining Value in an Global Economic Downturn
Any meeting I have (either formally or informally) with marketing folks in Beijing and Shanghai these days includes time speculating on the effects the global economic downturn is going to have on our regional ad business. Depending on whom I talk to, predictions range from a “small dip in first quarter revenues” to “it’s the apocalypse! The world is ending!”
Whatever the actual impact of the downturn, it is clear that this is accelerating a move by advertisers to ‘focus on value’. Advertisers are looking for ways to get much more for their RMB in 2009 than they got in 2008. Many commentators in the trade magazines have speculated that we will see a shift away from TV, outdoor, radio and print and a move toward digital to give advertisers more value.
I concur that this is a likely trend, however this is an oversimplification of the dynamics at play in China. To understand why this will happen, you first have to recognize that when it comes to how Chinese advertisers define value, there are essentially four types of advertisers in China:
1. The “value” Advertiser
This profile is underpinned on the notion of ROI. The better the measurable results for the company, its business, and its brand for a given level of spend, the greater the value. This is the kind of advertiser who is going to experiment with new media, who is going to be the most skeptical about traditional media, and whom we all usually think about when we talk about rational marketers.
2. The “relationship” Advertiser
This advertiser places a high degree of trust and value on their relationships with people. They have developed this relationship based on either past results or through their ‘Guanxi‘ network. Relationship Advertisers tend to be more local (Chinese companies) and deal with local Chinese Agencies. Although, I am seeing a number of ‘Foreign Agencies’ starting to identify and leverage this advertiser type.
3. The “price” Advertiser
This kind of advertiser has one focus; “How much does it cost?” “The less money I pay per unit of media, the higher the value I get”. As long as real rates fall or at least remain stable, value improves.
4. The ‘transient’ Advertiser
This kind of Advertisers will churn frequently. Irrespective of how good the campaign or strategy was they tend to want to try a new Agency or even account team within the same Agency. A frustrating client that tends to also change their campaign goals as often as their marketing team.
In the Chinese market, there are examples of all these types but it is the ‘price’ and the ‘relationship’ advertiser that dominate our client rostrum at SinoTech Group and our partner Agencies. Sadly, the recognition from advertisers on using and adopting performance and ROI centric approaches to media strategy, planning and execution is a small group.
So what does that mean for us in marketing this year? This, a year with economic uncertainty and more clients wanting ‘value‘. It means, we will see some of our advertising clients face tough economic times and this means a tendency for them to scale back their marketing spending. It also means your account teams need clear understand their advertiser ‘profile’ so they can align the marketing goals and working style too their clients psyche to ensure that the definition of ‘value’ is a shared notion. Value as defined by us may not actually be the same understanding of value they have.
Regards
Dr Mathew McDougall
Group CEO & Executive Chairman
SinoTech Group
The Online Media Boot Camp is a full-day event held in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania on April 9, 2009. King of Prussia (don’t you love that name?) is north of the city of brotherly love (Philadelphia) in case you didn’t know. It’s also in driving distance of Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, New York and other various locals. Okay, I’m not attending (Singapore’s a bit out of the way) but I loved their logo so I included it. You can register here but hurry I’m sure seats are going fast. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sessions
Social Media Fundamentals
Selling On-Line Media Internally
Corporate Blogging
Public Relations 2.0
Social Networking & Community Building
On-Line Marketing Workshop
Search Marketing Expo – SMX West will be held in Santa Clara, California February 10-12, 2009 at the Santa Clara Convention Center. Register here. Info on the keynote speakers are below as well as a couple of videos of our interviews in Singapore with Vinton Cerf regarding social media.
What Does Social Media Mean To Google?
Google’s Advice On How Brands Can Leverage Social Media
Prestigious Keynotes…
SMX conferences serve up some of the most innovative minds in search as keynote speakers, and SMX West 2009 is no exception. This year we are pleased to announce three keynotes from noted search engine and search marketing experts: Danny Sullivan, Vinton Cerf and John Battelle.
In his opening keynote, Danny Sullivan will review trends in search marketing and the search engine space over the past year, with a look to what the future may hold. Analyzing developments in the industry for more than 10 years, Danny serves as editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land.com, the search engine marketing industry’s publication of record.
On the second day of SMX West, Google’s Vinton Cerf joins Danny for a keynote conversation on the outlook of internet and search technologies. Widely known as a founding Father of the internet, Vint is uniquely qualified to answer questions about “what’s next,” having co-designed the TCP/IP protocols and other basic architecture of the internet. He now serves as Google Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist.
John Battelle is an entrepreneur, publisher and professor. He is also author of “The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture,” an international bestseller published in more than 25 languages. In “The Search,” he coined the oft-repeated description of search engines as “databases of intentions.” During his keynote on February 12th, John will discuss how he sees search developing, the challenges ahead and search’s impact on the internet and society at large.
If you’ve ever been on spring break to Florida, I’m sure you’ll remember it well, I sure do. Well now’s your chance to relive your college days with another spring break. Okay, it won’t be the same wild times but then again it may be. The same group from IMBroadcast.com that brought you Scary SEO, Loren Baker of Search Engine Journal and Dave Snyder and Jordan Kasteler of Search and Social, is putting on what they call a ‘mini conference’ at the Deerfield Beach Hilton. I don’t see anything ‘mini’ about this conference though with admission at only $500 and a speaker lineup including;
Three days of Internet Marketing focused education and networking. IM Spring Break will take place at the Deerfield Beach Hilton from April 2-4. At $500 a ticket, with a limit of 200 seats available, tickets will not last long. We have two main goals with our events. First, to be the best value in Internet Marketing conferences and events. Second, to provide the best education and networking mix available in an Internet Marketing conference. These goals create a culture at IMBroadcast.com where we work relentlessly to provide the best content, speakers, food, and atmosphere at each one of our events. We look to provide the type of events that not only provide information, but also open up new possibilities for attendees. Become a participant at an IMBroadcast.com event, and become a part of our community.
My last post was about how conferences are a great source for search engine marketing training. Judging by the attendance at search engine marketing conferences it seems many professionals attend these conferences to learn the basics, keep up to date with the latest trends and hopefully pick up some actionable information. Oh and if you can’t make it here’s a way to fake it.
It’s impossible to get to all the sessions though or attend all the conferences and that’s where blogs come in handy. If you miss a session or miss a conference for that matter you can read about it from several different bloggers. I can’t begin to tell you how that coverage has helped and I’m truly thankful for those that contribute to the knowledgebase.
One of my favorite blogs I read to get the latest coverage is the Bruce Clay Blog. Formerly written by none other than ‘the lisa’, one of my favorite bloggers of all time hence my “Ode to the lisa”. Now mostly written by the very talented and lovely may I add, Virginia Nussey. If you haven’t read the blog since ‘the lisa’ left then I encourage you to do so. Virginia does a great job after being ‘passed a torch from one of the most esteemed and beloved bloggers in a burgeoning industry’ as she put it.
She even encourages us all to blog. Thanks Virginia but my bloggability doesn’t come near that of you or Lisa. And least I forget the contributions continue from Susan Esparza in conference coverage as well as her famous snarky back seat blogging. This is one of the most entertaining features of any blogs I’ve read.
Anyway back to the purpose of this post. The Bruce Clay Blog started the best of search conferences series last year and is continuing it this year. I really like how they laid this out, just like a regular conference with session times, etc. This is a great look at some of the best sessions of the best search marketing conferences of 2008. Or as Virginia puts it “That’s where we pull together our favorite liveblog coverage of the most kick-butt sessions from conferences we attended throughout the year“.
There are a lot of ways to learn about search engine marketing and I will cover those in posts over the next few weeks. Let’s start with conferences because that’s where many search engine marketers have started their training and where many have learned their craft.
Search Engine Strategies (SES) – this is the “grandaddy” of search engine marketing conferences started by Danny Sullivan and Chris Sherman back in the 20th century. The first SES was held on November, 18 1999 in San Francisco, California.
The conference went international that same year. It is regularly held in Chicago, London, New York, Toronto and San Jose each year. It has made a brief apperance in China as well. The conference has gone from a one day affair with a few hundred participants, to a week long event with more than 6,000 attendees. How many people get their search engine marketing training at these conferences?
Search Marketing Expo – Danny and Chris left Search Engine Strategies and started their own search engine marketing conference, SMX, in June 2007. The first SMX event was the Search Marketing Expo Advanced, a two day event held in Seattle. Today SMX has a variety of conferences including SMX Social Media Marketing, SMX West as well as several international events including SMX Munich, SMX China and SMX Singapore among others.
Webmaster PubCon – This conference actually officially started in London in 2000 when “over 125 WebmasterWorld members showed up at the Cittie of Yorke Pub in London”. The conference was first held in the US in Irvine, California in 2002 and has been hosted in many other cities including, Austin, Boston, Orlando, Las Vegas, and New Orleans. Lately Pubcon has been held in Las Vegas, obviously a crowd pleaser.
Those are the ‘big 3′ in search marketing conferences but there are several smaller conferences that are worth noting. Please add any I may have missed in the comments, thanks.
Think Tank – put on by one the friendliest guys in seo, DK from Purpose Inc. Here’s what he says on his web page. “The think tank will start off by bringing the ThinkTankers together to meet and become friends”. This was last held in Del Mar, a beautiful upscale resort town in northern San Diego county, September 27 – 28, 2008.
Search Fest – SEMpdx is holding this Search Engine Marketing conference in the Pacific Northwest. SearchFest 09, will take place at the Oregon Zoo in Portland, Oregon on March 10, 2009
Elite Retreat – this conference is an exclusive event started in 2007 by Jeremy Schoemaker. Their tagline is ‘Two days that will change your business life!’ You actually have to apply for this event and is more than just search marketing but that seems to be the target audience. Next event to be held February 18th-20th, 2009 in San Francisco, California.
SMX Search Marketing Expo & Conference – Singapore 2009 is coming to Singapore for the second time and it looks to be another great conference. Just look at the speaker’s list. Besides yours truly, who’ll be speaking about Social Media in Asia, there’s the following.
Vivek Bhargava, CEO – Communicate2
Chewy Cheong, Head of Search – Microsoft South East Asia 
Warren Duff, CEO – ineedhits.com
Mona Elesseily, Director of Marketing Strategy – Page Zero Media
Cindy Krum, Founder – Rank-Mobile
