Why SMX is so important to me

Well, packing up.

I have never looked forward to a conference like I have for SMX. There are several reasons:

• SMX is a chance for me to meet people I know. That sounds wierd, but it’s true in today’s social networking, blogospheric, twitter world. Or at least I think it’s that chance. I’m introverted sometimes in large groups, and to be honest, I don’t even know what some folks look like. I enjoyed Stuntdubl’s list of tips, which led me to Jim Boykin’s list of conversation starters. Then Dustin has posted some great tips that really have got me charged up.
• SMX is a chance for me to meet people I don’t know. I find myself constantly discovering great new blogs or comments from people, who, to me, pop out of the woodwork. I’ll bet I’ll met some neat folks.
• I don’t get to hang much with other top talent in this space. I need to know others’ ideas and thoughts more often, but in my part of the country, people are still selling meta-tag stuffing.
• Spending time around smart people leads me to make positive change in my business. The last time I spent a couple of days around truly smart business associates away from my office, I came back and fired three clients that were dragging my firm down. It was a very, very good move.
• Lexington, nice as it is, is taking the enthusiasm out of my game. I need to get out and mix it up with folks more often. I’ve had a very hard time fitting in and finding folks who don’t immediately ask me to do something for their business. At SMX, nobody at all will need my skills. LOL.
• I have lots of new opportunities - but all require some advanced SEM. New equity-based arrangements have emerged. Each of these will require olympic-level SEM skills. I have done well so far, but I feel that there will be things to learn at SMX.
• This has become the first web work that I truly love, and I want to nurture it. I have been very successful at many parts of web business development, and I know they’ll always be a part of my job, but SEM, analytics, and the financial analysis part of website profitability is the wind on which I sail these days.
• Hopefully without sounding whiny. NOBODY knows me personally. I have done a poor job of getting myself noticed in the SEM community at-large. It’s totally my fault. I’ve not attended SES conferences b/c it’s always just been too expensive* and, perhaps a bit too large. I’ve earned the cred and delivered the goods professionally, but just not done a good job on the personal networking front… and that’s definitely important.
• Lastly…I really want people to know I’m not a hillbilly. LOL! No, nobody’s accused me of this. But when mainstream media treats Kentuckians so badly, it’s worth saying it!

* $4k-5k+ from my location.

All of this is in addition to the great content I’m sure will be available in the discussions and roundtables.

So, my remaining seminar/meeting wish-list is….

• A Seth Godin Whiteboard Seminar
• An Elite Retreat

So long… see you at SMX.

Tagged as: Events, smx