As mentioned previously, Connectpoint are in attendance of day 2 of the SES London Expo in the Business Design centre in London. The start of a busy busy days saw a Keynote speech featuring a number of prominent members within the Search fraternity including

• Kevin Ryan - Moderator
• Mike Grehan - CEO SearchVisible
• Paul Doleman - CTO iCrossing
• Erica Schmidt - Head of Search Isobar
• Steve Kauffman - Digitas
• Bryan Eisenberg - Future Now

A special presentation was made by Nick Carr tackling in large the proposed (or not proposed) takeover of Yahoo by Microsoft. In particular he mentioned a number of the reasons organisations (such as Microsoft) may want to take over Yahoo, in particular the acquisition of IP and technology in order to compete against Google (although this was later disputed to a certain extent by the panel. Nick also highlighted the shift in mindset from a decentralised model to a centralised model - much in keeping with utility based organisations, and the transition of software as another media industry. To a certain degree this may be one of the factors behind Microsofts pursuit of Yahoo.

Nick also went on to discuss the greater efficiencies of online highlighting organisations such as Skype (200 employees - with more customers than BT), and CraigsList (an organisation of 20 people - which has been taking revenue and custom away from the traditional advertising streams. This he highlighted could result in a greater disparity between the have and have nots.

The role of the SEO/Search Marketer was the final topic addressed by Nick during his speech, highlighting the potential impact of increased visibility on personal privacy. He went on to add that we (as Search Engine Marketing specialists) have an important part to play in protecting this information. The panel was then opened up to the floor.

With it being our first trip to the SES conference series, we weren’t to sure what to expect, however it has been a very encouraging start to the conference and special mention should be made to Mike Grehan (SearchVisible & SES London), Kevin Ryan and the various speakers at the event.