SMX West will be held at the Santa Clara California Convention Center from February 26th through February 28th.
Wandering around the SMX website a short time ago, there definitely appears to be a lot of change in the wind.
Danny Sullivan's post to Search Engine Land recently on the latest changes to Google's Universal Search could literally be just the beginning. (This latest change has the potential to change entire industries!)
If you haven't read the article and do any kind of Search Engine Marketing, read it. Period.
Did someone say Search 3.0 and Search 4.0 ? Are we getting a little carried away here?
A look at the tentative agenda now only shows some of the changes taking place in online marketing in general, but the forum titles provide a peek at what may be next in search.
Regardless of what some of 'us' think, there always something new to pick-up and face-to-face still wins the race over 'social networking' and/or video conferencing.
Is there still an audience?
The other day, I walked into a local 'shop' that does a decent amount of online sales. The owner posed the question "What is SEO?". I suppose it's possible I spend too much time in front of a computer, particularly in the winter, but I was a little shocked.
Am I jaded? Yes.
Can SEO (and SEM) still help a lot of companies? YES.
Is there still a huge market? Positively.
Timing? Couldn't be better.
Slowing economies are when you want to be looking at your ROI!
So why the unsolicited (and non-compensated) plug from here? It was one of Sullivan's trade shows a lot of years ago (more than a lot of years? :) that set the tone for what we've now been doing for a long time.
As 'SEO' seems to becoming more and more 'SEM' (for another piece), it's probably more important than ever to stay 'tuned in'.