PubCon is one of the largest search-focused conferences in terms of attendance and notability. The most attended Pubcon conference is typically held in Las Vegas once a year, but the first-ever PubCon was, fittingly, held in a 600 year-old pub in London with 125 attendees. Though the conference does feature a large amount of drinking and social events, the name PubCon actually stands for “Publishers Conference” and the sessions typically focus on driving search traffic to publisher’s websites.
PubCon Audience
As with other major search conferences, the target audience is search marketers, both organic and paid search. The price is too high and content too advanced for the typical search engine user.Compared to the other search conferences, PubCon tends to attract more SEO & SEM practitioners, probably due to Pubcon spawning from the popular search forum, WebmasterWorld, and due to focus on networking.
PubCon Format
PubCon events can be short one or two day events, but when people mention PubCon, they are usually referring to the larger, four-day conference which consists of three days of sessions (usually three to four tracks) and a half-day of networking.PubCon Parties
Besides the final networking day, PubCon usually includes a couple public parties or gatherings and a few private parties. Both types of parties are usually hosted by search engines or companies with search marketing products or services.How to Get the Most Out of Pubcon:
- Stay in a hotel near the convention center or on the monorail line
- Attend the sessions
- Network in the hallways and during lunch
- Attend the parties
- Talk to search engine engineers
- Buy an expert a drink
- Ask new friends for business cards, then follow up with a LinkedIn request
- Review the PowerPoint CDs when they are mailed to you a month after the conference
