Home from SES San Jose
August 11th, 2006
As expected, the SES conference in San Jose passed with much fanfare - check out all of my pics here. There was much networking to be done, many people to speak with at the booth, a handful of drinks to knock back, and some great dinners. It was awesome to see my boys from BOTW, as well as hang out with some of the familiar faces. I was also able to meet a lot of new people - in particular, the impromptu hang-session with Loren Baker.
I feel really fortunate to be in an industry where the people I work with have become friends. As I have aged, I have noticed that I don’t have nearly as many friends as I once did, and I find myself appreciating the friends that I do have even more. Guys like Adam Sussman, Jeremy Schoemaker, Jim Boykin, Darron Babin, Roger Monti. People that I have grown to respect as associates, and value as friends.
I wasn’t able to attend any of the sessions, so I don’t have any feedback to provide on that front, but below I present a list of 10 things I took away from San Jose:
- People shouldn’t start a conversation by saying, “Do you remember my name?”. It’s not a good idea to put the other person on the spot.
- I am not going to mix any alcohol on the first night - no beer and wine, or wine and vodka. And definitely not beer, wine, and vodka.
- There are a lot of people in this industry that are a lot smarter, and/or younger, than I am.
- Rubber band propelled foam rockets fly approximately 100 ft given the proper trajectory.
- I am unable to throw a ball and dunk the guy in the booth when I have a handful of beers in me, though it doesn’t seem to effect BOTW Dragonslayer, Rob Schmid.
- Girls’ tank tops are the best booth schwag ever.
- Dave Naylor will punch you in the balls. Not mine. Hopefully.
- Shoemoney has officially reached rock star status.
- Blackhats and whitehats can mutually coexist - in the pub at least.
- Companies don’t need any more analytics services.
Less than 24 hours since the show is over, and already I look forward to seeing all of you again in just a few months. Now that the show is over, it’s back to business, and following up on some contacts made at the conference. It’s not all fun and games there you know. We do some business too…
August 11th, 2006 at 4:27 pm
Looks like you guys had a great time. Too bad you did not get to go to the sessions, the topics looked interesting. Of course, being a noob in the SEO set… I guess that may be why!
I guess I will have to go next time and be the session reporter. 
hint…
August 11th, 2006 at 10:00 pm
Greg, excellent hanging out on Wednesday and had a very good conference myself - despite only 16 hours of sleep over the 4 or 5 days; but that’s what conferences are for I reckon.
Anywho, all good times. See you and the BOTW crew down the line.
August 11th, 2006 at 11:01 pm
mmm hmmm, and I’m sure it was totally coincidental that you made us girls squeeze into medium tank tops
August 12th, 2006 at 9:47 am
Great to see you Greg.
August 12th, 2006 at 10:00 am
Loren - it was great meeting you. One of my trip highlights.
Rae - completely coincidental. The plan was to squeeze you all into smalls…
Dave - you too man. Next time, it’s me and you in those sumo suits. Take it easy on me…
August 12th, 2006 at 9:29 pm
I can think of something else you learned: Not all bus drivers are the killjoys you might think they’d be.