1 word - Disappointing!

Morning View from the DLR is much better though.

-Moving the conference from May to February was a BAD idea.
-Letting Danny Sullivan leave Incisive Media and start Search Engine Land was a big mistake by Incisive Media!

I find it very sad that in 2007:
When more than 63% of British population is online (Dec 2005 IABUK).
80% of all internet users in UK have broadband (Dec 2005 IABUK).
SES London 2007 charges GBP 1170 for a full 3 day conference.

AND yet Incisive Media cannot provide a basic wi-fi internet connection as part of the package. The £10 internet connection card I purchased from BTOpenZone did not provide connectivity in all the rooms and hence my inability to blog live directly from the conference.

SES boasts on their blog about attracting “Record Number of Delegates from Major Brands at this Year’s London Event”, yet the reality on the ground is quite different. With only 22 exhibitors, the entry fee of £20 would be too steep. And what’s with several major search players like Yahoo and Ask missing from the exhibition hall ?

More than a couple of speakers did not show up at all!!
eg: Martin Murray, Chief Executive, Interactive Return (SEM Campaign & Project Management)
eg: Bob Ivins, Managing Director, ComScore Europe (Searcher Behavior Research Update)
eg: Todd Friesen, Director of Search Engine Optimization, Range Online Media

Sometimes I feel that the speakers don’t really make an effort to make their presentation. When you come to London, please be prepared with appropriate research statistics related to UK - don’t show us irrelevant US based statistics. Anne Kennedy, Managing Partner of Beyond Ink was surely guilty of this. I know that the speakers use the same slide over and over again, but please give us value for money. I feel like I have been cheated.

Greg Bose, David Naylor & Rand Fishkin saved the day in the end with exceptionally useful discussion in the ‘Organic Listings Forum’. More on this later..

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