I had originally planned on being in Vegas from December 2 (Sunday) through December 8 (the following Saturday); however, my plans were “modified” due to a “situation” and as a result, I will be in Chicago until December 5 (Wednesday) and miss the first two days of PubCon. While this sort of sucks, because I like Vegas and I was looking forward to having a full week of vacation, the upshot of “the situation” is that I can now hang out with the SES Chicago attendees after sessions (since I’ll be at the office during the day and can’t actually attend the conference proper). So, that’s sort of yay. I would much prefer being able to go to the conference since I can’t be in Vegas, but I’ll take what I can get.
My flight lands at LAS on Wednesday at 8:30p-ish….which should put me on the Strip just in time to be fashionably late for the SEOMoz party at the conference center. I’m seriously considering doing the whole change clothes/put make-up on/get ready thing in the limo after leaving the airport to minimize the amount of time it takes me to dump my luggage in the room and jet over to the conference center. If I could easily fly in my boots, I could just get dressed in Chicago and freshen up in Vegas, but it’s a pain in the butt to get my boots on and off when I go through airport security… much easier in slip-on flats. Less cute, but oh well. Anyway, I digress…
So here’s my schedule as it stands right this second…
- Saturday, December 1: Attending Toys for Tots 2007 party in Chicago
- Sunday, December 2: Pre-SES Chicago “networking” at Kitty O’Shea’s at the Hilton (on Congress)
- Monday, December 3: Remembering to call my dad to wish him a happy birthday; Working at the office; Playing it by ear in the evening… if there are any parties, let me know!
- Tuesday, December 4: Working at the office; No plans for the evening yet. May cry myself to sleep because I’m missing the fun in Vegas.
- Wednesday, December 5: At the office until 4:30p; Land in Vegas about 8:30p; Heading to SEOMoz party; Then ??
- Thursday, December 6: I’m covering the following sessions for Search Engine Roundtable:
- 10:15-11:30AM Brand Management
- 11:35AM-12:50PM Responsible Web Design
- 1:30-2:45PM Ecommerce and Shopping Cart Optimization
- 2:45-4:00PM Competitive Intelligence
- 4:00-5:30PM Organic Keyword Research and Selection
And then, after marathon liveblogging all day (and probably whilst hungover), I’m going to play in the Purpose, Inc. SEO Poker Tournament at the Venetian with a bunch of SEO high rollers (including, but not limited to: the spousal unit of one Rhea Drysdale, Brent Csutoras, Pat Sexton, Frank Watson, David Mihm, Marcus Tandler [Hallo meinem deutschen Freund!] and the adorable BOTW boys) any one of whom could no doubt clean my clock in no time flat because I completely suck at poker… I’m practicing, but I doubt it will help much.
- Friday, December 7: PubCon! Then I have no clue… playing it by ear.
- Saturday, December 8: Flying home; Office xmas party in the evening.
And of course, because I’m a twitter-addict, I’ll be updating via twitter a bunch so please feel free to follow me. Also, I’m thinking there isn’t going to be a live SEO 101 on Thursday because Neo and I will be at PubCon, I’ll be live blogging sessions (I’m not sure what Neo’s plans are) and poor Brian is stuck in Omaha because… well… I’m sure you’ve heard us complain about that on the past few episodes.
Anyway, feel free to text message me or call — especially if you’ve got a line on a good party — if you’ve got one of my business cards, you’ve got my cell and I always have it with me. I finally remembered to upgrade to unlimited text messaging and free incoming, so it’s all good. See everybody next week!
Carolyn, since you are a blogger, you can get a press pass to attend SES Chicago.
As for Monday evening, if you’re playing it by ear, check out the round-robin discussion and cocktail reception hosted by SEMPO with the search engines.
It will be held Monday, December 3 from 6:00 – 7:30 pm in Stevens 5 at the Chicago Hilton.
Join SEMPO for an evening of dialogue with Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft. SEMPO President Jeffrey Pruitt will kick off the meeting with a general update and welcome. Attendees will then be divided into three groups – agency search marketers, in-house search marketers, and other marketers – and will spend roughly 15 minutes with each engine to discuss recent initiatives and other hot topics.
The round-robin discussion will be followed by a cocktail reception starting at 7:00 pm. This meeting is open to all SES attendees so please feel free to drop by.
Okay, so maybe it won’t be as fun as the SEOmoz party in Vegas, but all play and no work is … actually, it doesn’t sound too bad at all.
I’d love to attend SES, Greg, unfortunately I have to be in the office (in Oak Brook) during the day (which is why I’m not flying out to Vegas on the 2nd as originally planned) 🙁
I will definitely try to make it to the SEMPO event, though getting downtown by 6 might be tough… I’m sure I can make it by 7 though for the reception.
Thanks for the info!
I am super excited that you are going to be in the tournament.
If you need to change in the back, make sure to keep the privacy glass rolled up!
Also, if any of your fellow readers tried to register for the Poker Tournament and were unable due to it being sold out, I was just able to release more seats. No guarantee how long these will last.
dk