Packing my bags

I'm packing my bags tonight to head out to Chicago tomorrow. I'll be speaking on one panel on Thursday. I'm looking forward to seeing some friends, talking shop with someone who understands what I do, and meeting some new people. I tend to get more from the networking than from the sessions now (9 conferences in 3 years can do that), so I'll be watching out for cool people once again.

Someday I'll have to show up with my resume polished up, but for now I'm not actively looking. Yet, every time I go there, someone offers me a job. I guess success breeds interest and options.

I've also got some really cool giveaways this time, ranging from several 37 piece socket sets for my session to a huge contractor's bag full of hand tools and a Lithium-ion cordless driver for a private party on Monday night. This should be fun. Last time sure was as I gave Chris Sherman of SearchEngineWatch a tool belt. Not only was it fun that he won it, but he actually wanted it for some remodeling he was doing back home.

This trip ends up seeing me off with 1 suitcase for my suits and other clothes and one suitcase for the prizes. Sort of funny that I need the larger one for the stuff I'm giving away, but that's good for everyone else.

If you happen to see me there, make sure to say "hi". I'm looking to meet some interesting people each day and hope to hear some interesting ideas for building content. We don't really have much content in my opinion, and I'm looking to build that out here over the next several months, but I'd like to hear any ideas of what actually works in converting visitors. I'd hate to spend a lot of time building stuff that doesn't work.

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