My SEOktoberfest Experience
There’s an old Bill Hicks joke about what happens to US Presidents after their election.
As Hicks had it, the President Elect was taken into a small, smokey room. A projecter screen comes down, and a big man with a cigar goes, “Roll the film.” And, with that, the twelve men who really run the world explain exactly how things work.
SEOktoberfest felt a little like that for internet entrepreneurs: meet the men and women who really run the internet.
SEOktoberfest was the opposite of most webmaster conferences: no BS, no fakers, no newbies, no self-promotion. Just 25 or so serious internet entrepreneurs from the four corners of the world.
I’ve never been to any webmaster conference where people speak so frankly: how they make money online, which traffic tricks work now, which strategies will pay off longer term.
I met people driving more traffic in a day than some of my sites get in a year. I met the man whose site took 5% of Google.de’s traffic at one point. I saw huge deals signed on a BlackBerry screen at 5am.
The experts included Joost de Valk, Bob Rains, Brian Clark, Brent Csutoras, Greg Boser, Barbara Boser, Frank Watson, Martin Sinner and Johannes Beus, plus of course organisers Marcus Tandler and Quadszilla.
The parties each night were the most fun I’ve had since my last trip to Vegas. Oktoberfest itself feels like the world’s biggest, booziest village fete.
Think tents the size of superclubs, litre steins (Maßkrug) of 6% beer, plenty of meaty Bavarian food and non-stop live music. Bizarrely, John Denver songs are massively popular for drinking to in Germany…
Thanks to Marcus, Quadszilla and Philip for organising an amazing experience. Eins, zwei, drei, g’suffa!
PS. I forgot to mention the Lederhosen and Dirndl, the traditional Bavarian outfits. Maybe I should wear mine when I speak at SMX London in November…
September 28th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
this is the german party remix:
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=rTbu9OUddE4
played at the oktoberfest 30 times a day
September 29th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
[...] Thanks again to everybody, who was a part of the 1st SEOktoberfest - every single one of you made it what it was -> the most incredible event I ever attended! Still don´t believe me? Read what another attendee - Richard - thought of the SEOktoberfest experience… [...]
September 29th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Hi Richard
Yesssssss, this event was just great. SEO-Fun and SEO-Science.
cheers, Markus
September 29th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
@Markus - Good to meet you there!
More field reports from: Markus, Uwe, Astrid, Johannes (in German) and Marcus.
September 29th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
[...] Quality Nonsense SEOktoberfest was the opposite of most webmaster conferences: no BS, no fakers, no newbies, no self-promotion. Just 25 or so serious internet entrepreneurs from the four corners of the world. [...]
September 30th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
[...] Richard [...]
September 30th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Richard, here ^^ ist the english translation of my posting.
September 30th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
@Johannes, thanks, I’m most impressed that you have the energy to blog each article in German *and* English!
October 1st, 2008 at 9:46 am
[...] Richard [...]
October 1st, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Richard, to be honest I got someone to translate my postings from german to english
October 13th, 2008 at 8:49 am
[...] place in the Oktoberfest festival in Germany, and it combined both business and fun. Here is what one of the participants said about it: SEOktoberfest was the opposite of most webmaster conferences: no BS, no fakers, no [...]
November 7th, 2008 at 8:14 am
hey - I haven’t seen you wearing the lederhosen at the SMX in London!
Next time I get to see you, you will have to wear it.
greets from austria,
hans-peter