As the final printer deliveries for Thursday’s International Search Summit trundle through the reception below where I’m sitting, flights are boarded in the US and Europe and final polishing of presentations and content is shaping up, we’re looking forward to probably the most exciting – and innovative – International Search Summit yet.
The International Search Summit began because the major search conferences were not giving lots of time over to specific international search issues – to cover international pay per click and SEO in one session at a major conference is simply not going to give it the airtime it deserves. The reasons the conferences have always taken this view is that their delegates did not seem to be demanding international content. The difficulty with assessing demand for international training and guidance from delegates who bought is that it doesn’t really tell you what those who didn’t buy, thought.
The very first International Search Summit was in May of 2008. Despite the recession, two very successful events were held in 2009 leading to this week’s current ‘innovations’ themed event – the fifth in the London series. An event was also held in Oslo and an event is to take place this year in Berlin alongside www.Localizationworld.com.
Besides covering making an SME brand into a global player, mobile in Europe and video optimisation in multiple languages, this events features a further innovation – Medallion speakers.
Medallion Speakers
The main reason why delegates fly from Paris, New York and Miami to attend the Summit is because of the careful attention which goes into selecting the best speakers for the event. It’s a common complaint of delegates at conferences that they were disappointed with the level or quality of content presented. The summit has won plaudits for its single track, focused subject matter AND the quality of its speakers. But we won’t ever stop looking to drive the quality higher.
At this event for the first time, the evaluation forms from delegates will be collected even before the end of the even. These forms will ask the delegates to choose a ‘Medallion Speaker’ – in other words the speaker who contributed the best value in terms of content for the attendees. At the close of the event, this speaker will be presented with a small award but given the huge thanks of the team for helping to make the event the success it is.
New Speakers
Each International Search Summit features new – but usually highly-experienced speakers – and this event is no exception. The new speakers this time are:-
- Steve Capone – working now at Nokia but hugely experienced in search terms.
- Mark Neal – presents a true Cinderella story of growing a small UK business into a world leader – namely Armagard
- Gillian Muessig – New to ISS – but definitely not new to search – Gillian is co-founder of SEOMOZ.org with son Rand Fishkin. For ISS, she’ll be focusing on India.
Bruce Daisley – hails from the world’s second largest search engine and it moves – youtube.com. - Greg Jarboe – probably the most entertaining speaker on the search scene and yet the entertainment is full of insight. Here Greg follows up his recent book on video optimisation.
- Jon Myers – has been around in search as long as… well as long as really. Has worked for several different agencies and speaks at conferences around the world.
Of course, a number of speakers are not new as they have delivered great content in the past and so we’re having them back again! I can’t wait – it’s just so thrilling to get to this point.
Limited Seat Availability
If you’re thinking of booking – note that seat availability is now limited – but at the time of writing there are still seats left. You can book here.
Andy Atkins-Kruger
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