SES San Jose and the 90/10 rule

Ask the average attendee, and they’ll tell you that the best part of SES San Jose – or any industry conference for that matter – is all of the free swag that they receive from vendors and sponsors. Others relish the myriad of schmoozing/networking opportunities that present themselves on the expo floor, conference rooms, and hotel bar (scenario 3 seems to be most prevalent). A certain contingent insists that conferences like SES are diluted by not-so-subtle marketing efforts disguised as information, rendering even the intermediate and expert level sessions useless.

However, as my colleague Michael McVeigh has asserted, there is often a 90/10 rule with regards to deriving value and insight from individual conference sessions. In other words, you have to sift through 90% of noise to uncover that 10% of truly valuable marketing insight.

A perfect example of this concept was Monday’s afternoon session on Video SEO. After sitting through what appeared to be two infomercials on rival video search platforms – less than groundbreaking marketing material from my point of view – Gregory Markel stepped up to the podium. The founder and president of Infuse Creative fired off one of the most impressive presentations I’ve seen in some time, covering the basics of video SEO (VSEO) and also touching on some valuable guerilla tactics and observations. My favorite tidbit was when he revealed that anyone can quickly access info on clandestine video promotion techniques by simply typing in certain keywords in YouTube’s search box (email me if you want the specifics).

Note: For those of you that attended and have the login, his presentation can be found here http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/presentations/2008/sanjose/sessanjose08_vseo_gmarkel.pdf
It quickly became apparent that Mr. Markel was speaking from experience and not simply throwing out abstract concepts that he’s heard somewhere or are part of some lofty sales presentation. His data was verifiable, his techniques sound, and the overall impression was that Gregory is a guy that really understands how to drive traffic for online videos.

Markel’s presentation is a good example of the 90/10 rule, although it can be argued that he took up more than 10 percent of the overall session. Moreover, Greg Jarboe, a renowned presence in press release SEO circles, also offered up a very solid observation – namely, that with video, it’s more about promotion and interaction then it is about technical optimization - making this session more of a 70/30 mix in terms of the noise to value ratio.

Still, my colleague’s point held true even if the ratio fluctuated a bit. Even if the grand majority of conference presentations offer stale insights, little data and sales-laden propaganda there is almost always a subtle sliver of golden information somewhere within.

It’s your job as a marketer to sift through and find it. And if you work for an interactive agency, rest assured that your ability to do so will often make the difference between winning and losing business.