By Joe Klein

Just returned from four more days in Sin City, where I attended the 2008 PUBCON conference. Wow. This is my fifth visit to Vegas this year!

I admit that I did feel a bit out of place at this event, as SEO, web design, affiliate marketing and the like are not my areas of expertise or really my thing. (I concentrate on concept, copy, production and voice and  leave these more geeky tasks to our associate BRETT BUMETER, who is far more knowledgeable and experienced in these areas.)

Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts, I didn’t arrive until day two of the event (Wednesday) and missed a couple of sessions and parties that I would have liked to have attended on the first day of the conference (including what I heard was a very cool TWEETUP party Tuesday night hosted by ZAPPOS.COM at the new Wasted Space Club at the Hard Rock Hotel). Darn! I stayed at the Hard Rock and it would have been quite convenient to have made this scene and not having to worry about making my way back to my hotel.

Once I did arrive, I had plenty of time to attend a few sessions of interest and comb through the relatively small exhibit floor on days two and three. I ran into several old friends and colleagues and made some interesting new contacts that could prove to be profitable in the months to come. Our friends at TECHZULU were streaming video live, as they were during the Blogworld and New Media Expo a couple months back.

Thursday’s conference session on podcasting was a must for me and I found it to be somewhat interesting and informative, particularly for those attending who are not very experienced in the genre or its mechanics. My friend, and founder of the NEW MEDIA EXPO, TIM BOURQUIN was one of the speakers, as was GLENN GAUDET from PODCAST.COM

   
      JOE WITH TIM AND EMILE BOURQUIN                         GLENN GAUDET AND JOE

This being a relatively small conference, there weren’t countless parties to make (at least that I knew of). But I did enjoy a few nice after-hours events that were going on during the week. There was a very cool meetup Wednesday night for Pubcon attendees at the high roller’s lounge at the Mirage Hotel. It was hosted by the folks from the PURPOSEINC 2008 SEO POKER TOURNAMENT (which took place the following night at The Venetian). I had a chance to meet the host, Dr. David Klein (no relation) who is a very cool guy and a big time MMA (mixed martial arts) fan. He’s also a huge fan of ultimate fighting superstar RANDY COUTURE and was super excited to be in town for the big UFC 91 event on Saturday just after Pubcon where Couture (“The Natural”) was to fight wrestler BROCK LESNAR in what was billed as one of the biggest fights in UFC history. This great party was filled with lots of happy people (who got happier as the liquor flowed into the wee hours), cool vibes, and great conversation. For whatever reason (probably being a bit out of sync on my first day in Vegas and tired from several busy days before arriving) I forgot to bring my camera to this schmoozfest (and my cell phone takes pretty awful pictures), so I didn’t get any photos of my own to post. However, there is a great set of pictures from the party here.

On Thursday night was the mega SEARCHBASH LAS VEGAS party at the trendy Rain Nightclub inside The Palms Hotel. This bash, organized by WEBMASTERRADIO.FM was blogged as the hottest ticket of the week and, as conference parties go, this one was definitely first rate. With about what I estimated to be nearly a thousand guests, the event was as well-staged as it was attended. A troop of performers from PAUL OAKENFOLD’S PERFECTO LAS VEGAS (who now regularly appear at the club on Saturday nights) were on hand to provide hours of cutting edge sensual entertainment that really made this party one to remember. Here are some pix I shot of the wild, wild night!

Huge kudos to Daron and Brandy (and their terrific lineup of sponsors) for the best bash of the conference and one of the best after-hours events of any geek conference I’ve attended in quite some time!

DARON BABIN OF WEBMASTERRADIO.FM AND JOE

Okay, I’ll agree that this post was not particularly detailed or all that comprehensive in covering all the geekiness that is Pubcon. Again, my apologies but, as I said, all this SEO and web design stuff just isn’t this “old skool dog’s” primary area of expertise. But at least I brought you some of the fun stuff, no?  Worry not. If you crave for more, there’s tons o’coverage and hundreds of Pubcon photos out there. The folks at TopRank did a great job of covering the conference on their ONLINE MARKETING BLOG which includes a really great collection of photos. Search Engine Land really stepped up to the plate with a day by day posting of links to just about everything else out there about the event. There are dozens of links to coverage of each day of Pubcon on their posts for DAY ONE, DAY TWO and DAY THREE. Also WEBPRONEWS offered up extensive video coverage of all three days of the event. So, hopefully, I’m off the hook for not going into any more detail here!

And even our own coverage of Pubcon is not quite over. I’ll return with a few photos of the big Pubcon Networking party on Friday (the day after the conference ended) and some final recaps and thoughts in my next post to follow. Same time, same website….

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