eMetrics Summit 2006

One of the conferences I look forward to the most on my annual schedule is eMetrics Summit. Chair of the conference is my one of my closest friends, Jim Sterne. Jim is also President of the Web Analytics Association.

The conference attracts, literally, the royalty of UK and European brands. And the same for US brands at the Santa Barbara version of the conference. It's popularity is growing rapidly with new shows for Germany later this month and Washington DC in October.

Not only is Jim Sterne one of the greatest public speakers you'll ever hear, he's also one of the most knowledgeable consultants in online marketing you'll ever meet.

The conference is small and exclusive which means that networking is easy and over the period of three days you can make many new contacts. I've personally generated more quality leads for big brand companies from this conference, than any other.

And I also try to attend as many of the sessions as I can squeeze in. These are presentations from those working on the front line of online business. So they take analytics and metrics very seriously. Many have huge web sites with millions of pages and visitors to track and monitor. End user behaviour and click stream data is something that I'm becoming increasingly immersed in. So here, I also get the opportunity to talk to the leading solutions providers who have many a tale to tell about their own clients.

Plus, as Jim Sterne is known for providing the best surroundings and catering for his conferences (he has much style and taste) you can expect to put on an extra few pounds with the sumptuous lunches and dinners.

You can see the great man himself, in the distance, getting proceedings under way here.

And as it's a little more intimate than the conference Goliath that is ad:tech, I can get some quality time with industry buddies such as my pal Bryan Eisenberg of Future Now Inc.

Bryan and I connect in a lot of areas when it comes to search marketing. He really does get the big picture, for certain. I've just finished my review copy of the new book he and brother Jeffrey have written, and it's pure gold. "Waiting for your cat to bark" is a guaranteed New York Times/Wall Street Journal/ International best seller. No doubt about it.

From pre-click (search) to post-click (persuasion) Bryan and Jeffrey are masters. And because they have such strong marketing backgrounds (like Jim Sterne also) we have some very interesting conversations about search marketing and what really works to increase query streams and follow up with persuasion architecture developed to induce the highest rates of conversion. I do sincerely mean this, buy "Waiting for your cat to bark" as soon as it's a available (June with complementary CD and Yahoo! Search Marketing token).

Oh no - it's another eMetrics dinner! Wonder who the empty seat belongs too?

I had an opportunity to catch up with my new business partner, Jim Banks. And one of the UK's most respected industry commentators, Ashley Friedlein of the e commerce resource behemoth that is e-consultancy.

And who could the two people in this photo be? They are, in fact, Jackie and Andy from Reality PR who handle PR for this conference, as well as SES in London. Not only that, Jackie used to handle Danny Sullivan's PR and from time-to-time handles mine, when I'm in the UK. They're also great friends and I love to have a night out with them. They're both completely nuts!