SES Conference - Chicago, Illinois

[ihelpyou]

Where to start? The SES Conference in Chicago was this week. I got home last night. Fantastic conference!

I met many good people that I've known online for years. Here's a shout out to some of them. I'll start with the group mostly responsible for the conference. Stewart Quealy , Matt McGowan, Kevin Ryan, and Marilyn Crafts. All very nice and friendly and made me feel welcome. Thank you.

I was on the whitehat/blackhat panel that was assumed ahead of time to be a boxing match. It wasn't at all. These people made up that panel:

Richard Zwicky; Great guy and moderator of the panel discussion. He's a whitehat.
Eric Enge; Super friendly guy. He's a whitehat.
Todd Friesen; This dude rocks. He tries his best to maintain the blackhat image, but trust me; after having quite a few talks with him, he's nothing but pure BS and totally whitehat. That's right; whitehat. You've been outed Todd. I think he understands my definition of cloaking now as well.
David Naylor; Very sharp, smart, and stick in other words in here as well. I wish he would shut the hell up and breathe occasionally though. It was very hard to get in a word edge-wise on the same panel as this chatterbox. Dave is really nothing but a teddybear. He's a blackhat, but I think I can sway him to the other side eventually. Oh, and it didn't help that I had to share a mic. If there's a next time; I want my own mic like Naylor had. lol

Here are others I met;

Chris Boggs; A super guy and very friendly. I hope to discuss a standards organization in more detail with Chris. He and SEMPO are finally starting to discuss this huge problem.

Daron Babin and Jim Hedger; They held the webmaster radio party and were on the air for 3 1/2 hours one night. A very good time. Both are great guys and I hope to discuss things further with them. Matt Bailey; A powerful speaker who commands attention. Thanks for introducing yourself Matt. I hope to spend more time with you.

All the rest, and all I hope to talk with more in the future; Cindy Krum, Shari Thurow, Elisabeth Osmelosk, Brian Ussery, Jeff Quipp, Mark Jackson, Greg Jarboe, Tim Ash, Jeff Pruitt, Bill Hunt, Chris Keating, Jennifer Lay****, Rebecca Lieb, Liana Evans, PJ Fusco, Bruce Clay; thanks for the few minutes Bruce. Kate Morris; a great gal. David Snyder; a very nice guy. Kimberly Krause Berg; very sweet. Not enough time with Kim. Also; guys from the Aim Clear blog, and two very sharp gals from Austria.

I know I missed some people. Please post if I did. Post anyway. Any of the people mentioned above can call me anytime they wish; 740 244 9313. I would be happy to hear from you.

I have to say the conference was a success. At least that's my take on things. I hope members in here will at least think about attending the SES New York conference coming up in March. You will be happy you attended. There is also SES London coming up in February. I hope I contributed and added to the Chicago conference in a small way, but a positive way. I totally enjoyed it and met many people I hope to meet up with again.

Very sincerely,
Doug Heil