Went to SMX East today – just got an Expo pass as I didn’t even decide to go until the night before the conference started (Sunday October 3rd).  So sort of a last minute thing.  At any rate, this was my first time at an SMX conference and it was pretty good!  With the Expo pass, you’re entitled to walking the expo hall (duh) and talking to the exhibiors there, but they also have these mini (20 minute) presentations you’re also entitled to.  SMX calls those “theater presentations”.  Honestly some of them were quite basic (yes, I know it’s important to write a good subject line when crafting a piece of mail to my opt-in list), but of course there are always good nuggets to be picked up if you’re paying attention.  In light of that, it was great to hear about what PRWeb has been up to these days and how effective press releases can still be (seems like those guys have been around forever).  The speaker cited a few examples of some their clients who have had great success using images and embedded videos to really increase engagement rate…good stuff. 

As always, the folks over at Compete.com also provided a lot of good information.  If you’re looking for a competitive intelligence solution that covers both sides of search (organic and paid), take a look at these guys.  Next time I think I’ll grab a Networking Pass, as this would have enabled me to gain access to many of the other closed door sessions.  For instance, I would have loved to hear what David Szetela had to say about the current state of paid search.  At any rate, it was a good way to spend the day and worth my while for sure.

Anyone else attend?  If so, what did you learn or enjoy?