WebmasterWorld's 2008 PubCon Conference Shines Brightly In Las Vegas

Over the past several years PubCon has gained mainstream recognition and popularity after many years of under-the-radar success among the technically-savvy programmers and in-the-know search engine experts who have for years enthusiastically savored the old-school style discussion forums of founder and chief executive Brett Tabke's WebmasterWorld.com online community, a massive collection of technical wisdom contained within millions of articles chronicling all areas of the Web from its very earliest beginnings through today.

The PubCon conference always seems to spawn both industry-sponsored and private networking parties, led by the huge informal gathering held in a pub setting that has been the event's trademark, giving attendees the chance to rub elbows with a wide array of the inevitable industry rock stars from tech titans such as Google, Yahoo, Ask.com, Facebook, Adobe, Microsoft, and increasingly Hollywood celebrities such as "CSI: Miami" star David Caruso and late-night NBC host Carson Daly as well. In nearly every aspect PubCon 2008 was the conference's biggest and brightest success yet.

Day One: Bigger, Better, Brighter

One of PubCon's largest-ever group of conference-goers had the thrill of kicking off the week on Tuesday morning with an exciting keynote speech given by Cirque du Soleil's masterful director of marketing Shawn Rorick, during which he gave attendees an impressive amount of insightful information on the merging of traditional and new media, emerging media tactics, and the growing importance of mobile and social media search marketing strategies.

Having increased the number of speaker session tracks from five to six, PubCon 2008's first day saw both choices and opportunities abound for all in attendance, with tracks dedicated to pure search engine optimization and organic search, search engine marketing, video and multimedia, the affiliate marketing landscape, social media marketing, and a day-long series of live interactive Web site review panels, a format that has proven to be so helpful to attendees that PubCon offered a new slate of the site review sessions each day of the conference.

After 30 sessions and Shawn Rorick's kickoff keynote address, Tuesday's PubCon agenda continued with a lively cocktail reception sponsored by Bruce Clay Inc. and Apogee Search, and the sounds of networking attendees continued well into the night at the vast Las Vegas Convention Center.

Later that night and throughout the week a number of large and impressive parties were held at various hot spots around the Las Vegas strip and drawing many PubCon attendees, either hosted by PubCon sponsors or other search industry companies who got the word out more than ever this year through the use of Twitter. Some regular PubCon attendees even organized special events including a "FightClub" ultimate fighting-style training session, a charity poker tournament held at The Venetian, and numerous breakfast and dinner gatherings for conference-goers. WebmasterWorld evangelist Joe Morin also did a brilliant job arranging an impressive number of special discounts at leading Las Vegas attractions for conference attendees during PubCon 2008.

Day Two: "Will it Blend?", Twitter Success and Special Events

Brett Tabke gave a packed PubCon day two audience exactly what it had been looking forward to on Wednesday morning when he introduced keynote speaker George Wright, the vice president of marketing and sales at high-end blender manufacturer Blendtec, the man responsible for the wildly popular “Will it Blend?” online video series that has been among the most watched on YouTube. His tips for viral marketing, utilizing video channel subscribers and understanding new online marketing tools were among the most talked-about throughout the conference, as was his live demonstration during which he decided to blend a giant garden rake with a wooden handle that ended up in tiny bits, much like the Apple iPhones he has blended in his online video series, to the visible delight of the packed PubCon audience.

PubCon's large exhibit hall opened after Wright's keynote speech, and featured leading search engine companies such as Google and Microsoft, along with dozens of other industry firms including PRWeb, Matchpoint and Moniker, and for the first time PubCon offered a full array of charity gambling tables available in a comfortable lounge environment, much to the delight of many attendees who were able to get in their poker fix without having to leave the PubCon grounds while at the same time supporting the LiveStrong Lance Armstrong Foundation.

Another huge slate of session options made day two at PubCon a busy and productive one, with content tracks ranging from Web hosting, brand reputation management, and so-called "King Content" to a slew of more interactive site review panels and even more SEO and SEM sessions featuring many of today's leading innovators such as Brett Crosby of Google, Shailesh Bhat of Yahoo and Robin Liss of Camcorderinfo.com.

Microblogging service Twitter was on the minds of many PubCon attendees this year, and on the screens of their smartphones as discussion about PubCon became Twitter's most popular subject for a period during the conference, and conference-goers enjoyed Twittering questions to speakers and fellow audience members during many sessions at this year's Las Vegas PubCon.

Continuing on long into the night after the busy daytime agenda was an SEOmoz-sponsored "werewolf" gaming tournament held at the Las Vegas Convention Center, played with custom decks of cards featuring the likenesses of a variety of top search industry professionals, including many who were in attendance at PubCon and some who were there enjoying the games themselves.

Day Three: Microsoft Announces Major Initiatives At PubCon

During the morning of PubCon's third day Microsoft senior vice president of search, MSN portal and advertising platform group Satya Nadella launched the broad new Microsoft "Silk Road" project for Live Search, during an informative and exciting keynote address.

A successful and well-attended day three slate of PubCon sessions included among its six tracks dozens of excellent speakers delving into subjects as diverse as duplicate content issues, building the best online community forums, and in-house pay-per-click campaigns. A star-studded "Search Engine Smackdown" session featuring representatives from the major search engine companies drew such a huge audience, with speakers such as Google engineer and Webspam leader Matt Cutts, that it had to be moved into the biggest available PubCon venue.

An late-night search bash sponsored by WebmasterRadio.FM and Microsoft Live Search amazed many PubCon attendees with its spectacular entertainment and great networking environment at the trendy Rain nightclub in the Palms Casino Resort.

Day Four: PubCon Networking Event Kicks It Bavarian-Style At Hofbrauhaus

PubCon treated its dedicated attendees to one of the best networking events it has held since it first starting organizing them in London in 2000, with a Bavarian-style search celebration that rocked the Las Vegas Hofbrauhaus and its huge German beer hall as hundreds of PubCon ticket holders mingled and took advantage of this final official opportunity to meet new people and conduct business in a relaxed and informal setting.

Even before the first day of PubCon's week in Las Vegas was over the complements praising this year's conference as the best ever began to pour in, and it wasn't long before the 2008 event had claimed the top spot among attendee all-time favorites. Those fortunate enough to be in Las Vegas during November 11 through 14, 2008 were treated to WebmasterWorld putting on it's biggest and most successful PubCon yet.

Related Links:

• SearchEngineWorld's Vanessa Zamora PubCon 2008 Las Vegas video interviews
• SearchEngineWorld 2008 PubCon Las Vegas coverage link roundup
• PubCon conference Web site