SES San Jose and the Google Dance
I’ve been in San Jose, California all week for the annual Search Engine Strategies conference at the convention center. All the industry rock stars and regulars are here, with a lot of people new to the industry. Avi and I have been live blogging the sessions since Monday on behalf of the Search Engine Roundtable so look for our posts there. There were a lot of interesting and informative topics this year, such as shopping search engine tactics, duplicate content issues, and the hidden secrets of SEM. So make sure you read through the sessions on the Roundtable.
The highlight of the show, as is every year, is the Google Dance, which actually took place last night at the Google Campus in Mountain View, California. The theme of the dance was “glow in the dark”. The Google Headquarters were unbelievable. Like a college campus, video arcade, dance club, and bar mitzvah all in one. There was a sand volleyball court on site, a lawn strewn with bean bag chairs and a stage, - complete with spotlights and a fog machine - where groups were lining up to play Rock Band. Buffets of food set up in at least three different places, a decorate-your-own-cupcake-bar, smoothi bar, photo booth, a large glow in the dark dancefloor, and a few bars with kegs. And that was just the outside. On the inside was a nother dance floor with a large overhead screen (think, NYC night club), and video games everywhere. What really impressed me was the charicature booth - not old-fashion artists with charcoal or pencils, but digital artists drawing Avatar charicatures on their computer. Very cool. Thousands of people were there and everyone appeared to be having a great time - how could you not! Can’t wait for next year’s Google Dance already! Will post the pictures as soon as I get my hands on a USB cable, but you can check out Google’s photos of the dance.
Will keep you posted on the remainder of the conference.
