Next week kicks off the very first ever Search Marketing Expo (SMX) show in Seattle, a conference for advanced search marketers, and the Klog and I will be among those in attendance. Actually, it's more like a dozen or so Klogs and I will be in attendance, but who's counting. Yes, I'll be handing them out so please, please feel free to ask for one. :)

Unlike other marketing conferences, SMX is designed for the experienced search marketer as it skips right over the "beginner" sessions and moves the conversation right to an advance setting. Each day is scheduled to feature two tracks of sessions, one focused on organic SEO issues, and the other on paid search advertising.

I for one am very excited about attending this conference. Aside from my girlfriend Jackie, I'll be attending this show solo and look forward to meeting up with a few of my industry buds (Disco, Todd, Lisa, Li, David, Rob, Balestino, Bailey, Joe, David - any of you guys attending?) as well as meeting some new folks, mainly those I've been reading via their blogs (Bill, Barry, McGee, Hooley, Ray, Lee, Chris - Any of you guys attending?).

In addition to the work aspect of this trip, I've never been to Seattle and definitely look forward to the first few days where we've committed ourselves to a bit of sight seeing.

Just a quick overview of my itinerary:

June 1st (Friday) - June 3rd (Sunday)
We'll be flying in early on Friday. Thus far, our plans for the weekend include a Seattle Mariners game on Friday (vs. Texas Rangers), a trip on the space needle and observatory deck on Saturday, and a variety of other sight-seeing destinations such as the Woodland Park Zoo, Pacific Science Center, Seattle Aquarium, Pike Place Market, Argosy Cruises - Seattle Harbor Tour, and The Museum of Flight on Saturday and Sunday.

As of now, I'm also planning on finding my way over to the conference hotel and bar on Sunday night (I'm actually staying a bit down the road) where, if this conference is like any of those I've attended in the past, there is likely to be a pre-conference gathering. However, depending on how tired I become from my sight-seeing extravaganza, this may be cut short or postponed until Monday or Tuesday night.

June 4th (Monday) - June 5th (Tuesday)
These are conference days and as you might have guessed... I'll be attending sessions for most of each day. I'll also be on the look-out for any post-conference parties and events. However, I have yet to hear of anything thus far.

June 6th (Wednesday)
Jackie and I fly back home to Chicago.

All in all... this is shaping up to be a great trip with just the right mixture of work and play. If any of you readers/marketers out there are attending and want to meet up... feel free to drop me a line at: karl [at] karlribas [dot] com. We can set up something then or at least exchange cell numbers. Otherwise, rest assure that I'll be delivering daily coverage and pictures of the conference and it's events as they unfold.