SES, San Jose part one...

So, time once again for the big show of the year. It's SES, San Jose and this year I flew in from New York a day early to get in before the screaming hoards :-) I actually had a private dinner appointment in San Francisco on the Saturday night before the show started.

It was interesting to note just how many people have started coming in early as I saw a number of regular speakers in the Marriott bar on Saturday night and quite a few at breakfast on Sunday morning.

There's a whole lot of work goes into pulling this show together and it starts months before the event. So the first thing the Incisive team do when they arrive is what's known as "the walk through." This means they check the fruit of their labor ensuring that all of the rooms are set up and ready with all necessary audio-visual kit.

If you were at the show (any SES, for that matter) then you'll recognize the folks in this shot. Without Kevin Ryan, Marilyn Crafts, Jackie Ortez and Stew Quealy there'd be no show. These guys are truly professional event organizers and I love them, each and everyone just like family.

Behind the scenes the show set up is like a military exercise. The stuffing of the bags alone takes an entire team stuffing books and show guides and flyers and pens and freebies.

This year saw the launch of the SES awards. And I'm hugely proud of our analytics team at Acronym as we picked up the award for best use of analytics. Go team!!!

The keynotes and Orion panels take place in the largest room in the convention centre. Here all of the industry superstars get to... Threaten the paparazzi!

Matt McGowan says "get that camera out mah face sucker or yoo gonna find out how hard it is to pick up your teeth with broken fingers..."

Absolutely not! Matt is one of the nicest guys on the entire planet. He couldn't resist geting in front of the camera to practise his moves once he's elected president of America.

Of course, he was immediately followed by his eminence, Kevin Ryan who also needed to know how you look on a movie screen.

Once the walk through was a completed I slipped off to Santana Row with my buddy from Acronym, Brad Neelan. I like to hang with Brad, he's very cool and very laid back.

And a bit of live jazz in the background certainly created a very casual atmosphere.

So Sunday afternoon in the sunshine with a glass or two of shampoo was definitely order of the day. But the Sangria also looked very nice.

Swiftly followed by the shampoo :-)

Yes, monkey see, monkey do :-)

And Newcastle got the season off to a good start with a 1-1 draw with Man U at Old Trafford. What a great day!

SES, San Jose part two in the making!