SEO True or False

Why would people be so upset over being paid and doing it for the benefit of others. if people want to get paid to speak let them. It is their choice to do so. Anf for those who wish not to be paid, more power to them, as long as they have other ways to supplement their income.

@Rae: [I know I’m a little late on this but I was out sick yesterday. Deal with it.]
So your argument is what? That people shouldn’t be comp’d because if they’re worth their salt they should be able to afford their own ticket?
Yeah, I think that’s a bit harsh. I think there are plenty of great search marketers/usability folk who simply can’t pack up and leave the office for three days, whether for professional or personal reasons. If Danny comping their travel expenses helps them get there, then I have no problem with that. Perhaps the free room and board means they can afford to hire a nanny for the week.
And I’m not sure how my situation at BC plays into all this. Wouldn’t a spoiled brat like myself who gets all their shows covered be against speakers getting comp’d? :)
@Nick If you can find the link for me, I’ll update it. I seem to be inept at tracking things down on Sphinn. I, of course, blame the error on Sphinn. :)

Hi Lisa,

You’ve linked to the Sphinn story about SES holding some sponsored sessions. That story wasn’t the one that started the controversy regarding some speakers being given airfare and hotel. That was a different issue completely and unrelated to MG article.

I don’t really want to link to the article that started all that off on Twitter (the anonymous gossip blog), but not sure that other Sphinn story should be linked in this context?

>>>If a conference wants to pay certain speakers for their time or comp their lodging/airfare costs, so be it
Lisa, in all fairness, that is an easy comment to make for someone whose boss pays for every single trip they take and especially if that boss is one of the people having subsidies thrown at him to being down that cost. It is also an easy comment to make for an SEO firm who lives off business drummed up at those conferences so they need to attend them.
Danny even said that some people get airfare/hotel comped when it is the difference between them speaking or not. I’m sure this is going to get me some backlash, but, if you can’t afford to make the trip, are you really a person to be lecturing on how to be successful in SEO?

*** Maybe I got that wrong? ***

No you didn’t get it wrong, but there have been at least two parallel conversations going on for at least the last week or so.

One was that some people thought that some of the sponsored sessions at SES and/or SMX sucked, and were too pitchy for their liking. Some people didn’t like the idea of businesses paying to present presentations to people that had had to pay to hear them. Another sub-topic was that at one point in the day, *all* of the parallel sessions at one conference were to be ‘sponsored’, and several people commented that would be the time they browsed the exhibition hall and/or retired to their hotel room for a short nap.

The other was the ‘revelation’ that some speakers have a large portion of their travel and accomodation paid for in order to get them to the conference to speak, whilst others attended at sometimes considerable personal cost.

These conversations are scattered over a number of popular blogs, forums, and social sites, so you can be forgiven for not joining (or finding!) all of the dots…

Lisa, who knows how close to launch these may be, but Blekko and Cuill are on the horizon; and Hakia ain’t entirely awful.

Google Analytics , is an SEO favorite and I believe it provides the right information ,and is very compatible.

I also find it surprising that people are upset about speakers being paid to attend SEO conferences
It’s normal practice in most conferences I’ve attended for them to pay big shots in their industry to do keynote speeches and chip in for an airfare + accommodation
Otherwise the only speakers you’d get would be locals and those independently wealthy enough to finance their own travel and expenses

I think there is a big difference between paying a speaker to come speak and being paid by a speaker to let them speak. My understanding was that the sponsored talks were the latter and that people were essentially buying their way into the conference. Maybe I got that wrong?