Optimizing Powerpoint Presentations

I give a lot of presentations, and I optimize things for a living, so it was just a matter of time for nature to take it's course and for me to start wondering what the hell I was doing.

See, there are a lot of different types of presentations (I'm talking about ones that use slides or PowerPoint here). There are presentations intended to inspire, presentations intended to sell, presentations intended to convince, and presentations intended to teach. Each type of presentation will require it's own format and style.

I do mostly the teaching type, and I love doing them. Like anything else worth doing, if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right. For years I've been a frustrated victim of PowerPoint and so-called "advice" on how to make a great presentation. Enough is enough. It's simply not fair to the audience for someone in a technical field like SEO to try to teach them using the wrong presentation style.

Bad Advice

It's not so much bad advice, as it is the wrong advice. If you go looking, as I have, on how to make a great PowerPoint presentation, you'll find that most of the advice boils down to: "Make a presentation like Steve Jobs". All pictures, little or no text.

What was the point of this again?

Maybe that's great advice for Steve Jobs, who is trying to sell you overpriced, proprietary hardware and software by making it seem really, really cool, but for someone just trying to teach people how to get better rankings or convert visitors into customers, cute graphics and drop shadows simply don't cut it.

People at search marketing conferences don't want to be inspired (they already are, that's why they have a site they want to promote), they want to get their money's worth by learning tactics and strategies they can actually take back and use. It's about being practical and effective, not about getting excited over the latest color available for the iPod.

You simply can't use a Steve Jobs / Seth Godin type of presentation to do anything other than inspire. There is nothing wrong with inspiration (I love Seths work), but inspiration won't fix that 302 redirect issue you have, or give you a checklist for finding good links.

The worst part is when you need to take notes. As an audience member, you probably can't write fast enough, (or perhaps were at the session next door) and may want to download and review the presentation later instead. Fat lot of good that picture of the monkey with a banana with no text will do then!

Presenters at technical conference learn this very quickly (assuming they even get invited back) and change their presentations to include examples, data and text so that the presentation will be more useful - basically helping the audience take notes, so they can spend the time listening to you rather than scribbling madly.

That's the point, really - avoiding too much note-taking or boredom. Inspirational presentations do this with big picture statements and great graphics, technical/teaching presentations do this by providing the notes so you don't have to write them yourself. Both accomplish the same goals, just in different ways.

Over-Correction

This brings me to the next annoyance with technical/teaching presentations - information overload. These presentations are the opposite of inspirational ones - they are basically a speech or lecture in slide form. I've even seen people do the entire presentation simply by reading every line of every slide - horrors!

An old presentation of mine from 2006. Ouch.

I think these presentations are even worse than the inspirational ones, in that although it solves the problem of note-taking, there really isn't a reason to attend the conference anymore, is there? These presentations are boring - which is one of the worst insults you can give to a presentation, in my opinion.

The font size keeps getting smaller as more and more information is packed in, the number of slides increase dramatically, and many presenters find themselves fast forwarding or skipping slides due to time constraints. This is very, very annoying.

Showing me a smaller amount of information than you know is one thing, but skipping by slides of potentially juicy information because you ran out of time is unprofessional and frustrating.

Making the Ideal SEO/SEM Conference Presentation

So, what to do? How do you inspire people enough to make them interested in what you have to say, but at the same time, give them enough information that it's worth it for them to get inspired in the first place?

Well, let's break it down. What do you need to accomplish? You need to:

• Make the presentation interesting and even entertaining to a live audience.
  
  
• Free people from the necessity of writing a lot of notes. It's great for them to make "AhHa" notes to themselves as they listen, but they should not be trying to scribble down every word you say for fear of missing something. If your audience is doing this, you should have stuck with blogging.
  
  
• Provide answers and resources, which you can use during the Q&A, as well as helping people who download your presentation. Although some people don't like to allow their presentations to be downloaded, they are missing the point (among other things).
  
  If your presentation is about your branding, then you are giving a commercial rather than a presentation and you should do everyone a favor and get the hell off the stage (unless the audience knew they were going to see a commercial in the first place). If you are trying to teach people, put a copyright notice on it, ask for a link and attribution, and let them download your notes.
  
  
• Identify yourself. This is not only great from a branding and marketing standpoint, but it's also helpful to your audience, should they wish to contact you. How will they remember? You've let them download the presentation! It's now like a giveaway pen with your logo on it, except it's a lot more useful, more likely to be saved, and contains much better contact information. Virtual swag, and costs you nothing to reproduce!
  

The Perfect* Presentation

*A good presentation should be like a website - always being tested and improved. Perfection is a goal, not a state of being, especially for anything using computers.

Section 1 - Splash Page. This should introduce your presentation and yourself in a simple and easy to understand format - no marketing hype. Also the perfect place to point out where you can download the presentation, since the audience looks at this while you are being introduced, and it's really the only time they can/should take notes. They usually also look at this slide the longest, since it's a placeholder during the introduction. Never underestimate the value of a splash page. A splash page/slide has a job to do, and they are only useless if you forget that. Use it wisely and well, or don't use it at all.

Section 2 - TOC. As my old drill instructor said, "Tell 'em what you're gonna tell 'em, tell 'em, then tell em what you told 'em". Resist the urge to put in every slide - just the main topics and sections. This is the perfect opportunity to point out you have additional information at the end of the presentation that won't be shown (I'll get to this in a moment).

Section 3 - Visual Presentation. The main event! This is where you keep the graphics clean, the text light, large and punchy, and the entertainment value high. Don't go into excruciating detail. Provide an overview and enough information so that people will be introduced to what they don't know and what kind of questions they should be asking you and themselves.

Remember many members of your audience will only be interested in certain sections, and just want an overview on how it all fits together. But don't over correct and be too shallow. A good way to accomplish this is to do an overview on a topic or sub-topic and then give some specific, practical tips related to that topic or sub-topic.

Section 4 - FAQ. If you have one or two questions that always come up that are not easily addressed in section 3 - put them in here. This is an audience favorite, and establishes you as helpful and available, rather than just a lecturer. This section is optional, but recommended. It does 3 jobs - it answers questions, it signifies the end of the official presentation, and it provides a time cushion where you can easily skip this part or go into greater detail, depending on how much time you have, without making the audience feel they have been ripped off.

Section 5 - Resources. This is where you put all that juicy info that you can't put in the visual presentation because you'd need to use small fonts and crowded screens. Charts, data, links, a bibliography and so on can all be placed in here. This is a great incentive for the audience to download your presentation if they want, but if they only wanted an overview, they don't feel they are forced to. You can also put in the kind of information you may want handy during the Q&A part of the session, but didn't want to get into during the main presentation.

Section 6 - Contact information. This is more than just your name and email. You can include a company overview, services you offer and even things like special offers and discount codes. This is your reward and incentive for making the presentation useful and available for download. It's low-key and not pushy, but highly effective at getting your marketing message out without ruining the on-stage presentation.

Wrap Up

I hope this has been helpful to you (and your audience). If you decide to use this format, feel free to leave a link in my comments area to the presentation for others to see and be inspired by.

Ian

SMX Advanced Notes, Part 1

One of the problems with having been doing this (SEO and SEM) for a while and with having a head for search trivia like me is that I have found myself increasingly disinterested in most search conference sessions.

If I have to sit through one more "Links are important" session I'll scream. At this point, my interest in the conferences is meeting up with old and new friends, networking, and learning little nuggets of info after hours over a beer.

But SMX Advanced is different. For the first time in more than 3 years, I've actually attended sessions because I felt they were interesting and I could learn something. It's a wonderful feeling. I'm a natural student by nature, and I love learning new things.

Some interesting things I learned today:

• I've been doing PPC on the content network wrong. HUGE kudos to David Szetela of Clix Marketing for giving me a "lightbulb moment" that I can't believe I'd missed. Insight: The keywords for the content network need to be different from the keywords in a search campaign. You need to choose keywords that would appear on the types of pages that you want the ad to show up on, not the search terms people looking for your products would type in. If you sell trucks, on the search network, you would target "trucks" and related terms, but for the content network you are targeting the buyer in a more general sense (ie an outdoorsy guy, for example), so you would on things like "hunting", "offroading", etc. Totally makes sense, and I totally missed it.
• Part of the Quality score is the CTR. One interesting strategy is to bid high (even on the content network) in order to get a high CTR. Then when you get a high resulting QS, you can lower your bids and still keep the same position. Think of it as a QS jumpstart. Cool.
• The term "dotscale" (.scale), referring to sites/technologies that naturally get better as they get bigger and used more. Social media like Facebook is a good example of this. It's useless unless your friends are all on it, too.
• MS is beta testing a new offline tool for PPC (like the Adwords Editor). Nice.
• Google now recommends the "First Click Free" approach to membership content.
• A cool idea that I can use for one of my clients: use javascript to append tracking on URLs (if you really must do this), which will leave them clean for bots.

Ian

What I Learned in China Last Week

Here is a mostly unsorted list of what I learned in China last week - the lessons will also tell the story...

FYI: what was supposed to happen was that I leave Canada on May 12, stay 3 days in Shanghai (and see the famous water town - China's Venice), then take a train to Nanjing to speak at a conference, then fly to Xi'an to see the terracotta warriors, then fly home.

Lessons Learned:

1. Even if you are an experienced, old-china-hand, been-there-done-that kind of person, you can still do something really stupid like show up in time to board a flight to Beijing with everything ready and in hand EXCEPT A STUPID ENTRY VISA. It's OK to feel like a moron - you are. Slap self silly and run down to the Consulate to see if you can get an emergency Visa in time for tomorrows flight.

2. Earthquakes have a way of messing up travel plans, especially if you have already started off on the wrong foot. Finding out about them while standing in line to go to that country can cause you to doubt your sanity. It also makes your friends and family doubt your sanity (if there was any doubt before, there no longer is)

3. You can get a Visa in the Chinese consulate in less than 2 hours if: a) you've been to China several times before without misbehaving, b) are staying at pre-booked hotels, c) have return tickets already purchased, and d) are willing to pay extra for same-day service.

4. Upgrade certificates to First Class are cool. Air Canada's new "Star Trek" seats are a gadget junkies dream. There are more options to recline and the seat than I thought could exist. I can't justify a business case for first class for my normal travel, but with upgrade certificates, I wouldn't miss it.

5. Beijing's new airport is BIG. No, you don't understand - it makes Heathrow look malnourished and you could combine LAX, Denver and LaGuardia together and they would still fit inside it. Pay attention to where you are going, because if you get lost you'll need a GPS unit, a good map, and a Sherpa guide to find your way out. As long as you don't get lost, it's actually pretty nice. They actually check your baggage tags, so don't lose it.

6. China Spree, my travel agent, booked a really nice hotel in Shanghai that just opened up (the Shanghai Skyway Landis). I liked it a lot. Note to self - choose this hotel for CSMT.

7. My friend Susan Li took me to the watertown (Zhujiajiao) and it was very cool. But the best part was just sitting in a nice tea house talking with an old friend for a few hours. The biggest mistake travellers make is to not allow time for things like this.

The Water Town (Zhujiajiao)

Chinese Soldiers Practicing Search and Rescue
(I assume before deployment to the earthquake zone)

8. Next Lesson: Train stations are designed for pedestrians, not international travellers with heavy suitcases. Lots of stairs, no elevators, ramps or anything useful for moving with luggage. Note to self: never, ever, ever take the train from Shanghai to Nanjing again. Ever.

9. Reading newspaper reports about the earthquake survivor stories can make you cry. Try not to do it in public.

10. The rule of thumb for a presentation is one slide per minute. 20 minute presentation, 20 slides, plus or minus. Forgetting that if an interpreter is translating everything because you are the only English speaker at the conference, it will effectively double the length of your presentation, is just dumb. Racking up a lot of points on the ol' "Ian is losing it" side of the score board here...

11. Lightning CAN strike twice, as long as someone up there is either holding a grudge or the recipient brings it upon themself. Although no one will every believe you, it's possible for you to look at a line that says your plane is taking off at 8:30 AM and somehow manage to read the line above it, that says that a plane is taking off at 10:50AM, thus causing you to miss the flight and the girl at the counter to giggle at you as you are banging your head on the wall.

12. When you have no one to blame but yourself, it's best to just shut up, deal with the new situation and pay the price.

13. My guide, Neil, in Xi'an is a very understanding fellow, especially since he had to wait at the airport all day for me. The Xi'an Shangri-La is a very nice hotel, and the Business Development Manager is very good at straightening out minor luggage issues. This is also the only place in China I've ever stayed in that actually served good coffee (with the exception of Starbucks). A miracle!

14. China has an interesting view on religion. In general, they consider religions to be interesting and colorful, if somewhat outdated. However, if said religion does anything political (like hold a rally, protest, etc) then it will be treated like an organized political opponent and dealt with accordingly. I'm a firm believer in separating religion and politics, but the Chinese take it to an extreme.

15. Xi'an has a very cool Muslim temple dating back at least a thousand years. Tourists can go most places, but only male Muslims can work there or enter into the prayer areas.

You can see the prayer rugs facing Mecca.

16. People care.

All flags flew at half mast for 3 days

Every Hotel I was in Collected Donations
(Naturally I gave - who wouldn't?)

During the 3 minutes of Rememberance at 2:28PM

This guard had tears in his eyes at the end of the 3 minutes

17. The terracotta warriors are cool and should be seen. Apparently, almost none are intact and have to be rebuilt. Between looting, fires, flooding and earthquakes, they have taken a beating. Wait... did you say "earthquake"?

18. Apparently, Xi'An is just north on the same fault-line as Sichuan. Lovely. That night, everyone in China with a cell phone (which is almost everyone) received a text message from the government warning about another potential very large earthquake. This caused some concern. In the old days, the government would not have sent this warning for fear of unrest due to panic - things are changing. And there was no unrest, just a bunch of people who decided that it was safer to stay outside of their apartments for the night. Tons of them. Lesson for the Chinese government: the Chinese people can handle being told bad news. Lesson for the Chinese people: the government is beginning to act like it trusts you. This is a good trend on both sides.

People sleeping outside in Xi'an after second earthquake warning.

19. Blogger is still blocker from inside China. {sigh}

20. It's good to be home.

Ian

Canada e-Connect Show

I just got back from speaking at the Canada e-Connect show, which was actually several events (and several firsts) all rolled into one. First, there was the inauguaral meeting of the Canada e-Tourism Council. Then there was the show itself, and then there was the Canadian e-Tourism Awards.

I'm not a member of the e-Tourism Council, and it was a closed session, so I can't report much on what happened there, other than everyone apparently was concerned about content - it's quality, availability and use.

The Canada e-Connect show was great. It was backed heavily by Yahoo! Canada and other sponsors, and was very informative. I was pretty humbled because one of the articles written by the Vancouver Sun about the conference mentioned me. I get mentioned a lot around the web, but when a newsreporter only quotes 3 people, including me, and the other two are Flight Centre vice-president Sean Sutherland and Expedia Canada managing director Sean Shannon, that's pretty lofty company.

As an aside, planning and organization for the event was almost flawless, not only was it the best inaugural conference on any topic I've ever been to, it was probably the best organized conference I've ever been to, period.

Jens Thraenhart, the mastermind behind all 3 events and Canada's rockstar of e-Tourism, did an amazing job putting it all together.




The e-Tourism Awards were incredible. They took place in Vancouvers Omnimax Theatre.

If you don't know what Omnimax is, it makes IMAX look small and malnourished. You are seated inside a large globe and the movie covers almost all of our field of vision.

It must be seen to be believed, and they played several clips that were absolutely breathtaking, including a small clip from an upcoming destination film starring a steam locomotive going through Canada's Rocky Mountains.


Speaking of breathtaking, both Miss Canada International 2008 Alesia Fieldberg and Miss Canada International 2003 Lorenza Sammarelli were on hand to help hand out the awards, and to help plug Teddy Bears of Hope.

During the after-event party at the Coast, I just *had* to get my picture taken sitting in Yahoo's purple Chair of Innovation.

Ian

Search China 2008 *Correction*

ADDED NOTE:

I mistakenly assumed that the Xiamen Conference was the same as last years without checking further, so I have a correction to make. The SES China conference (run as a partnership between TimeV and Incisive) is different from the China Search Engine Marketing Conference & Expo, Xiamen 2008, and has not been announced this year yet, and may not be. I'll find out and get back to you.

The Conference below is put on by TimeV alone and is the China Search Engine Marketing Conference & Expo, Xiamen 2008, NOT SES China. They have also done Search Marketing Conferences in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

**************

I just got an email from Inway Ni, and the location and dates for SES China China Search Engine Marketing Conference & Expo 2008 (Xiamen) have been announced:

Day 1: Friday, April 18, 2008 at 9:00am
Day 2: Saturday, April 19, 2008 at 5:00pm
Location: Xiamen International Conference & Exhibition Center [Link]

This means that the dates, times and details of the China Search Marketing Tour 2008 will be announced shortly. Nicole and I will be working on this ASAP and will update everyone as soon as we've firmed up the details.

Visiting China during the Olympic Year. It doesn't get much cooler than this. You get to take advantage of all the preparations and hospitality, but don't have to deal with the crowds.

This is your last chance see China before it changes forever. Don't miss out!

Ian

Eyesight Update - China Cancelled

Well, I just got back from the optometrist and she informs me my eye is getting worse, not better. What happened is the same thing that happened in Miami this year, but a lot worse. On Monday morning during Miami SES, I woke up blind - I could see light, but it was basically a bright white sheet of pain, rather than images.


The hotel doctor had me rushed by ambulance to the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, which fortunately is one of the best in the world. (Good thing I have travel insurance and credit cards. This insistence on American doctors for payment up front even when you are moaning in pain in front of them is annoying to us Canadians. But I digress...)


The Intercontinental hotel kindly lent me on of their staff to take me by the arm and walk me where I needed to go, and I was able to speak the next day, though giving presentations while unable to see was interesting. I had to wear what I called my Ray Charles glasses to keep out the light. It took about 3 weeks for me to get back to normal.




This time, apparently it's a lot worse. I guess I have dry eyes, coupled with tighter than normal eyelids, which is why I wear glasses instead of contacts (well, that and I'm probably the worlds worst eye patient. I can't handle anything getting near my eyes.) What happened is that sometime during the night the inside of my eyelid dried and stuck to the surface of my eyeball. In the morning, I woke up and ripped off a strip of the skin of my eyeball. If that sounds painful, you are right. Ouch!


But this type of thing should heal in a few days - the skin of your eye heals and grows back just like the skin on your arm. What's causing a problem with me right now is that I ripped the underlying layer of skin, too. So now every time I blink, the growing skin cells have nothing to stick to and get pulled off. More Ouch!


But wait, it gets better. Apparently the answer to this is to rub salt in my eyes. Really. I'm putting in salt water every 4 hours to deliberately irritate the eye for give the skin cells something to stick to. Yes, it hurts as much as it sounds like pouring salt into your injured eye sounds like it would hurt. This is why I sound like such a whiner right now, I'm getting practice whimpering every 4 hours...


Anyway. I found out today that apparently the oh-so-pleasant salt treatment isn't working, and I now have an emergency appointment with a specialist tomorrow morning.


I was also told at the same time that there was no way that I was going to be able to go to China next week to speak and moderate at SES Beijing. This was a blow because I really, really wanted to go (sorry Inway!). I just cancelled my hotel and airfare. I'm not having a good day. But when I cancel a trip to do my favorite thing in my favorite country, it's serious. If you know anyone who might be able to fill in for me on such short notice, please let me know.


Anyway, the long and short of all this is that I can see with one eye, but not for very long. This post has taken a couple of hours, off and on. I'll be AFK for the most part for at least a couple of weeks, I expect.


See you later...


Ian

Robots.txt and Sitemaps

Last week at the NYC SES Conference it was announced that all 4 major search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask) now not only support the sitemaps.org sitemap protocol, but also support the new auto-discovery feature for the robots.txt file!

In order to use the auto-discovery feature, you simply add the following line to your robots.txt file:

Sitemap: http://sitemap_location

Example Robots.txt file:

User-agent: *
Disallow:
Sitemap: http://www.mcanerin.com/sitemap.gz

I have updated my free Robots.txt Generator so that it will generate this properly for you.

Ian

Happy Lunar New Year!

Today (Feb 18, 2007) is The Lunar New Year (aka Chinese New Year, Spring Festival, etc)). The Chinese "zodiac", like the western one, has 12 aspects to it, but rather than being monthly, they are associated with years. This year is the Year of the Pig or Boar. More specifically, this year is also associated with Fire, so it's the Year of the Fire Pig.

This is a HUGE deal in China because it's the only major holiday of the year - everyone gets it off, and it's like your birthday, new years eve and xmas all rolled into one. If you were hoping to do any business with the Chinese for the next, oh week or so, or last few days, fuggedaboutit. That's probably why your emails are not being answered ;)

Some facts about Chinese Year Year

Fireworks are traditional because the loud noises and red colors are said to scare away evil. Plus, it's fun!

The Dragon Dance is also common, and in the East dragons are considered good luck. If you look closely at most dragon dances, you will see people throwing cabbage to feed it - yes, that's part of the ceremony - most westerners miss it.

There is more information about Chinese New Year in wikipedia.

Happy New Year - Gung Hei Fat Choi

Many people don't say "Happy New Year" (新年快乐 - Sun nin fai lok), but rather say "Congratulations and be Prosperous" (恭喜发财 - Gung hei fat choi). If you have to remember one, I'd choose "Gung hei fat choi." (A close English pronunciation for US and Canada: "Gung Hay Fat Choy").

I always think of it as the Chinese equivalent of Spock saying "Live long and Prosper", but then I'm a geek...

The Pig or Boar

The Year of the Pig (Boar): the Pig represents Fertility and Virility - it's considered a good year to have a child. The Pig zodiac person is considered to be a honest, straightforward and patient, who tend to avoid the limelight and work behind the scenes. They are quick to offer support to others. They tend to be ethical and trustworthy.

The Pig type is seldom vengeful and usually very tolerant of other people's views and opinions. Like the boar, although they do not seek a fight, they will defend themselves and their friends/family fiercely. They tend to be good students and excellent friends.

Of all the Chinese Zodiac personality types, the Pig or Boar is the most universally admired.

Chinese Zodiac Predictions for 2007 - Year of the Pig

(Keep in mind I'm not an astrologer nor particularly psychic (I actually don't believe in zodiac influences - I just think it's interesting sometimes)- the following is based on traditional methods, rather than any particular skill or insight of my own.

Since this is the year of the Fire Pig, the normally easy-going nature of the Pig takes on some more fiery and passionate aspects. Here are some predictions from around the web for this year:

• This is a great year to work on or complete existing projects - not such a good year for starting new ones. This is a bad year for taking a lot of risks.


• It's an excellent time to start a romance or to take an existing one to a new level.


• A lot of money can be made this year.


• If you are a student or in acedemia, this could be a very good year for you.


• The Pig is a go-with-the-flow type - if you focus on enjoying life's pleasures and heating up your relationships, this will be a very good year for you!

Your Chinese Zodiac Sign

If you were wondering what your Chinese Zodiac sign is, you can look it up here:


Of course, it's a lot more complicated than this for true believers, but this is usually good enough for most westerners.

The Twelve Animals

RAT: People born in the Year of the Rat are noted for their charm and charisma. They are perfectionists and work very hard to achieve their goals. They are very thrifty with money yet like to acquire many possessions. They get angry easily and love to gossip. They have high ambitions and are quite often very successful. They are most compatible with people born in the years of the Dragon, Monkey, and Ox.

OX: People born in the Year of the Ox are patient, quiet yet inspire confidence in others. They are eccentric and temperamental. They speak little but when they do they are quite articulate. Mentally and physically alert, they are generally easy-going but can be very stubborn and they hate to fail or be opposed. They are most compatible with Snake, Rooster, and Rat people.

TIGER: People born the Year of the Tiger are deep thinkers, very sensitive and can have great sympathy for others. They are powerful and courageous. However, they can be extremely short-tempered and don’t respond to authority, especially if it’s from older people. They are sometimes indecisive and have poor judgment. Tigers are most compatible with Horses, Dragons, and Dogs.

RABBIT: People born in the Year of the Rabbit are articulate, talented, and ambitious. They are virtuous, reserved, and have excellent taste. They are admired, trusted, and are often financially lucky. They are fond of gossip but are tactful and generally kind. They are clever at business and often make the correct choices. They are most compatible with those born in the years of the Sheep, Pig, and Dog.

DRAGON: People born in the Year of the Dragon are healthy, energetic, excitable, short-tempered, and stubborn. They are also honest, sensitive, brave, and they inspire confidence and trust in others. They are the most eccentric of any in the eastern zodiac. They never borrow money, are very straight forwarded and tend to be soft hearted which sometimes gives others an advantage over them. They are compatible with Rats, Snakes, Monkeys, and Roosters.

SNAKE: People born in the Year of the Snake are emotionally and spiritually deep. They say little yet possess great wisdom. Snake people are often selfish and vain yet can show tremendous sympathy for others. They tend to rely on themselves because they have serious doubts about other people’s judgment. They hate to fail and are determined in whatever they do. Appearing calm on the surface, they are intense and passionate creatures. Usually very good-looking in appearance, they sometimes have relationship problems because of it. They are most compatible with the Ox and Rooster.

HORSE: People born in the Year of the Horse are very popular. They like to be entertained and like being around large crowds. They are wise, talented, and very good with their hands. They are cheerful, skillful with money, and perceptive, although they sometimes talk way too much for their own good. They are very independent and don’t listen to others advice. They are most compatible with Tigers, Dogs, and Sheep.

GOAT/SHEEP: People born in the Year of Goat are elegant and highly accomplished in the arts. They are wise, gentle, and compassionate On the surface they appear better off than those born in the zodiac's other years but are often shy, pessimistic and often puzzled about life. They are very spiritual yet timid. They are sometimes not well spoken but are always passionate about what they do and what they believe in. Their abilities will always make them prosperous so they are able to enjoy all the comforts of a good life. They are compatible with Rabbits, Pigs, and Horses.

MONKEY: People born in the Year of the Monkey are the erratic geniuses of the zodiac. Clever, skillful, and flexible, they are remarkably inventive, original in thinking, and can solve the most difficult problem with ease. They are sometimes impatient and must do things immediately and if they cannot, they become discouraged and give up easily. Although good at making decisions, they tend to look down on others. Having strong common sense, they have excellent memories and a deep desire for knowledge. They are very strong willed yet do not stay angry long. They are most compatible with the Dragon and Rat.

ROOSTER: People born in the Year of the Rooster are deep thinkers, very capable and naturally talented. They are very devoted and like to keep busy but are deeply disappointed with personal failure. They can be eccentric resulting in troubled relationships with others. They always think they are right and usually are. Being loners, they sometimes give the outward impression of being adventurous but are actually timid. They can be selfish and too outspoken, but are always interesting and can be extremely brave. They are most compatible with Ox, Snake, and Dragon.

DOG: People born in the Year of the Dog possess the best traits of human nature. They are great leaders, have a deep sense of loyalty, and are honest. They are very trustworthy because they can keep secrets. They can be very selfish and stubborn at times and can be emotionally cold and sometimes distant. They always have money but care very little for wealth. They are easy to criticize other and are noted for their sharp tongues. They are compatible with those born in the Years of the Horse, Tiger, and Rabbit.

PIG/BOAR: People born in the Year of the Pig are gallant and always give their best effort. They have tremendous fortitude, great honesty, and are very optimistic. They have few friends but the relationships they do have are lifelong. They are extremely loyal so their friendship is very prized by others and they are very kind to love ones. They have a great thirst for knowledge and study a great deal so they are well informed. They are quick tempered yet hate to argue. They are most compatible with Rabbits and Sheep.

Chinese Culture

Chinese culture is a hobby of mine, and a fascinating subject (sinology). One of the best ways to learn about it, of course, is to actually visit China. If you are a search marketer, I'd like ot remind you that time is running out to sign up for the China Search Marketing Tour. As a matter of fact, if you sign up before MARCH 5, you can get a $500 DISCOUNT!

The tour price now includes an SES Platinum Pass at no charge! I hope to see you there.

Ian

Swag, Conventions and Google

I admit it - I'm a swag slut (err... in a non-gender specific or sexual meaning of the phrase, anyway). For those of you who are new to all this, swag is those nifty little trinkets (usually with logos on them) that companies give out to people to attract business and to help with branding, usually at conventions or as gifts to clients.

At most conventions, you can find me at one point or another walking around the booths with a bag out, like it was Halloween for search geeks:

Me: trick or treat! I mean... so , what services does your company offer?
Them: Well, we proactively leverage our proprietary solutions across a wide range of cooperative technologies [Code for "we are not sure, but we are really excited to be here]
Me: uh huh. Is that a pen? [holds swag bag out]
Them: oh - here you go. Now as I was saying, we....
Me: Can I have your card? I'll give it to the guy in my company that might be interested in this [code for - stop talking, I'm bored now].
Them: Sure, here you go - we'll be here all day.

Now, there are two things to take away from all of this. First, my reason for visiting the booth had nothing to do with an intense interest in the vendors service, but rather in their swag.

Second, After taking the swag, I feel a little guilty and and willing to trade a little of my time to hear their pitch. Generally, the length of time is roughly equivalent to how cool the swag is.

Swag at a convention is no good unless you have a pitch ready that can capture my attention in a very short period of time (roughly the amount of time it would take me to decide I'd rather be getting a pen from the next booth than to listen to you).

Most vendors drop the ball at this point, which is a shame, since you did not go to the convention to pass out gifts, you went there to attract business, right? Get your pitch down, and make sure you have a hook and message that is clear within 5 seconds or so. Confuse me or bore me, and I'm gone. Imply that it will take 20 minutes for you to explain what you do, and I'm gone. Keep it short, clear and interesting.

Also - make the swag interesting - I already have 300 pens, thanks. It doesn't have to be expensive, just cool. If it is a pen, make sure it's one that actually works!

There is another type of swag - the swag that you get from vendors outside of conventions. One of my clients, Find Law, gives me the best swag right after I speak at one of their conventions - it's always high quality and much appreciated.

Google is famous for having interesting swag. I was just at their new stealth second office in Seattle on behalf of a new UK based client (under construction right now)and the Canadian Tourism Commission, and they had some cool swag there. Which of course I grabbed ;)






I particularly liked the candle. It's wax, but is electric (with a flickering bulb) so it looks, smells and acts like a candle, but never melts or gets used up - very cool!:

The other bit of swag I liked was the Google Talk headphones - once again, very high quality, and in this case served the purpose of telling me about a service they have that I didn't even know about:

There was also a Google Frisbee. Do you have any pics of cool swag from Google or other vendors? Feel free to leave links to them in the comments - I'd love to see them!

And that's the whole point, isn't it? I'm writing a blog post about Google swag and here is their branding and links all over the place - and I don't care - happy to do it.

Would I be writing about a pen, fridge magnet or mouse pad? I think not...

Ian

ADDED: I totally forgot: if you are unlucky enough to not be able to go to conventions as often as you'd like, you can still pick up Google Swag from the Google Store.

Press Release - China Search Tour

For the record, I feel uncomfortable writing press releases about myself, so David Temple put this one together for the China Search Marketing Tour.

I think he should have given himself a lot more credit, and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank him (and Helen Yue at China Custom Tours, our tour expert) for all the hard work they have done so far. Thanks David and Helen!

-----------

McAnerin Networks, Inc. To Host China Search Marketing Tour – May 2007

The China Search Marketing Tour will visit Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen and Hong Kong and attend the China Search Engine Strategies Conference and Expo

Calgary, Alberta (PRWEB) January 11, 2007 -- McAnerin Networks, Inc, an international website promotion company, announced today they will host the second China Search Marketing Tour May 19 -- May 28, 2007. The tour will visit Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen and Hong Kong. In Xiamen participants will attend the Search Engine Strategies Conference and Expo May 25th and 26th.

According to Analysys International the China search engine market will see a compound annual growth of more than 30% from 2006 to 2010 based on its recently released report "China Search Engine Market Forecast 2006 --- 2010″. Revenue for China's search engine providers is expected to reach 4.521 billion (RMB) approximately 528 million (USD) in 2010. The search engine landscape in China is changing rapidly as competitors scramble to take the lead in the world's second largest Internet market.

"This is definitely a first mover opportunity" said Ian McAnerin, Chairman and CEO of McAnerin Networks, Inc. and host of the China Search Marketing Tour. McAnerin added, "Anyone in the search marketing industry that plans on doing business with China shouldn't miss this tour. Chinese companies are also looking to the west to achieve global exposure for their web sites".

The China Search Marketing Tour will meet with members of China's search marketing industry in each of the cities they visit. Tour participants include leading experts in search marketing including Bill Hunt, Rand Fishkin, Matt Bailey, Nick Wilsdon, Neil Patel, Cameron Olthuis, Kalena Jordan, Abhilash Patel, Troy Ireland and Jarrod Hunt among others. The tour is being promoted around the world by country sponsors.

About McAnerin Networks, Inc.

McAnerin Networks Inc. (MNI) is an international website promotion company with it's key focus being on outstanding, individualized customer service. They have been in the internet business since 1994 and have worked with some of the largest and most respected companies in the world. With offices in Las Vegas, Nevada and Calgary, Alberta, MNI has a special interest in websites that target international, multinational and cross-national areas.

Ian McAnerin, founder of MNI, is one of the best known search engine optimizers (SEO) in the world, and speaks frequently at conferences and seminars. He now works almost exclusively with other SEOs and internet marketers on a consulting basis for difficult projects, as well as governments and larger organizations.

For more information visit China Search Marketing Tour or to join us call Helen Yue, China Custom Tours at +1.800.865.6221.

CSMT Update - Pricing & Hong Kong!

I have exciting news for the China Search Marketing Tour members - we were able to add Hong Kong to the trip, while keeping Shanghai! It's the best of both worlds. We also now have the pricing (just in time for your year end budget projections).

By moving Hong Kong to the end of the tour, we were able to avoid the administrative issues of a double entry visa, as well as allowing people on tight schedules to skip HK and head back home. If we had added it earlier while keeping Shanghai, then it would have been a huge rush to see everything and not nearly as much fun.

China Search Marketing Tour Itinerary - you will note that it's pretty close to all-inclusive. We take care of the hotels, transportation (including airfare between all the cities), guides, translators, most meals, attractions, you name it!

We have also figured out the cost of the tour: $2750 USD

This includes everything except airfare to China and your shopping. We can arrange for airfare, but too many people prefer to fly on points, or like/don't like certain carriers, or are flying in from Europe, etc for us to give a price for this.

The other thing that is not covered is the cost of the tickets for SES. We are working on getting you discounts on these tickets, though. The reason for this is quite simply that there are many types and levels of tickets, and some people will be getting free tickets because they are speakers, and others are going on the tour with a significant other but not interested in SES themselves, etc. It didn't seem fair to build in the cost of a ticket when you may not use it or want it.

We also are offering discounts! if you are a member of any chapter of the SMA or SEMPO, you get a $250 discount. Since you can join the SMA-NA for as little as $50, that's a pretty good deal (if you are a member of both, you can't double up the discount, sorry - nice try though ;) )

You also get a $250 discount if you are a speaker at SES! So if you happen to be a speaker AND a member of the SMA (or SEMPO) you can get up to a $500 discount!

You need to send a $300 deposit BEFORE January 20, 2007 to hold your place (there are only 35 places, and 19 are already gone as of this writing), and pay in total by March 20, 2007, for those of you who are organizing budgets.

I'm looking forward to meeting all of you in China.

Ian

Chinese Business Cards

A short while ago, a friend that I hardly ever get a chance to see nowadays, Rand Fishkin, of the SEOmoz fame, sent me an email. He's going on the China Search Marketing Tour this spring, and being the excellent marketer that he is, wondered about business cards, language and so forth.

Apparently my response was helpful, so (with his permission) I'm reprinting it here:

---------------------
Hi Rand,

You will be in the PRC, so the best type of Chinese characters to use are simplified.

For spoken language, it gets a lot more complicated - In general, they speak Mandarin in the north (Beijing) and Cantonese in the south (Hong Kong and Xiamen).

They are totally different. For example, the simple act of saying "hello":

Written: 你好
Mandarin: ni hao
Cantonese: ho ma

And thank you:

Written: 谢谢
Mandarin: xie xie
Cantonese: dol jare

Of the 2 languages, Mandarin is probably the best to learn. It's the most widely known, the official language of business and government, and it considered to be the more sophisticated of the two in terms of how it sounds. Most business people you meet in the south will be at least conversant in Mandarin (and often English).

Even if you only come with a little bit of the language, they really appreciate you trying, so I do recommend at least knowing a few phrases. I also have a phrase book loaded on my PDA that I found very useful a few times ("where is the bathroom?", for example).

When hiring a tutor, try to get one that is actually from Beijing if available, otherwise you may end up learning a southern accent by accident. It's bad enough you'll have an American accent, don't make it worse by adding a southern Chinese one as well! The northern "Beijing" accent is considered the purest form of Mandarin. Even those from Shanghai tend to have a Shanghaianese accent when speaking Mandarin. People in Beijing can be real snobs about accents at times.

Some guidelines for your business cards:

1. Don't try to take a Chinese name. I know it's common for Chinese to take a name like "Tom" or "Bob" to make it easier on westerners, but unless you are fluent in Chinese and actually live there, having a Chinese name just seems like you are trying too hard.

2. However, it's perfectly OK to have your name spelled in Chinese characters phonetically, so they can pronounce it more easily. I do this myself on my card. Make sure you have a Mandarin speaker choose it for you, since the same characters may sound very different in Cantonese. Also, they will be able to tell if the characters that you use are appropriate. This is important, since when Coca Cola originally translated it's name, it ending up spelling out "bite the wax tadpole". Now, they have characters that sound pretty close, but they mean something like "makes mouth happy". Big difference. Let a native choose the characters - it's not just about the sound - it's also the meaning.

3. Hierarchy is very important to the Chinese. The whole "just call me Rand" thing doesn't go over well, and neither do cards with uncertain titles on them. CEO's talk to CEO's, Marketing Managers talk to marketing managers, etc. If they don't know what your rank is, they won't know who should be talking to you, and may decide to politely not talk to you at all, in some cases. Make sure your title is clear and "normal": Director, CEO, President, etc. Also, education is very important - if you have degrees, add them. If you have more than one company, it's OK to put them on the card (some Chinese have upwards of 10 companies they are directors of listed on their cards - it's normal).

4. The luckiest colors for cards are red, yellow and gold. Try to avoid pure black and white if you can. Mine are blue and white, and that's ok - I kept it for branding purposes. Just so you know, "8" is a very lucky number for business (it sounds like "profit") and "4" is a very unlucky number (sounds similar to "death"). If you have a contact number that has at least one 8 in it, that's a good thing. If you have lots of fours in your phone number, maybe just put down your email address ;)

5. Usually, you put English on one side and Chinese on the other. Remember that if you mix the two (for example, in a logo or something) then the Chinese characters should be more predominant than English for the Chinese side.

6. One good idea is to go down to your local ChinaTown and go see a printer there. That way, they will probably help you set up your card in Chinese for free or cheap, just as part of the print order. Just make sure you specify Simplified text, Mandarin pronunciation. Bring lots of cards to China - at least 50.

If you want to read a book that could help you, I recommend:

One Billion Customers - James McGregor
China Now - N. Mark Lam and John L. Graham

There are tons others, but these two are really good and current.

Cheers,

Ian

China Search Marketing Tour Dates Announced!

Note: there have been some updates regarding the itinerary since this post was made. Please see the official China Search Marketing Tour site for the details.

The official date has been set for SES China – May 25-26, 2007 in the city of Xiamen.

Xiamen used to be called Amoy, and you will still occasionally see references to that name. It’s a very modern city with a strong banking system and is a very popular destination for investment from overseas. It was one of the first Special Economic Zones in China, and has been used as a trading port with the west since the 1500’s.

It’s very common for companies to start out working with China via Hong Kong (since Hong Kong uses the Common Law and English is an official there) and for the next stop into China to be in Xiamen, so this is a really good location for the conference. It’s a very clean city (recently voted the cleanest in China), and the shopping is amazing. It’s right across from Taiwan, physically, and if you follow the latitude line to North America you’d be somewhere between Miami and Key West – so it will be warmer than Beijing (latitude is closer to Chicago)!

Of course, that means that we now have the dates for the China Search Marketing Tour!

It will be from May 20-24. We expect something similar to this (though please note that this may change):

1. Sat May 19 - People fly in from wherever.
2. Sun May 20 - Beijing
3. Monday May 21 - Beijing
4. Tues May 22 - Hong Kong
5. Wed May 23 - Hong Kong
6. Thurs May 24 - Xiamen.
7. Fri-Sat May 25-26 - SES China in Xiamen
8. Sun May 27 - People fly out

We will be able to do sightseeing and shopping, of course! But there will be business-related activities in all the cities, for those of you wondering if this is a business trip or not.

I'm setting up meetings with trade officials in Beijing and Hong Kong already, and we will also be announcing other activities (and possibly tours) as we can verify them.

Having said that, we will also be organizing things so that for those of you who bring friends, family (David is bringing his wife) and significant others, we won't be boring them with a tour of some advanced search research facility - they will be able to check out the sights and do some shopping in the meantime.

Tour guides and interpreters will be provided every step of the way, and the fee (TBA) will cover all travel, accomodations, sites and most meals within China. You just have to worry about getting there, and our travel agent can help with that, as well.

We are not including the airfare in the price because people are flying in from everywhere, and some people will want to use points, and others have preferred airlines, etc. But we can help you arrange everything.

The tour will be limited to 50 people maximum, so that it's stays fun and informative, so sign up early!

Here are the blog posts from the trip last year:

Arrive In Beijing
Beijing: Hutong,Tea House, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and the Silk Factory
Beijing: Shopping, BeiHai Park and Belly Dancing
Beijing: Great Wall, Jade Factory, Traditional Village, Dinner Show
Shanghai: Fly in, Nanjing Road Shopping, Acrobats, Night Lights
Shanghai: Confucius Temple, Luggage Shopping, Business and Negotiations
Nanjing: Sun Yat Sen Memorial
Nanjing: SES Day 1, GoogleDance
Nanjing: SES Day 2, VIP Dinner
Posts from other Bloggers about the event.

And the Flickr Set for the tour:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcanerin/sets/72057594087067697/

Ian

Johnny Chou Leaves Google China

Johnny Chou has announced that he is leaving his post as Google China President shortly. That's too bad, since he's a great guy.

I certainly wish all the best. I met him at SES China in Nanjing last year and was impressed with both his professionalism while speaking and the fact that he's a nice guy in person.

Me, Johnny and Mike Grehan in SES China Nanjing 2006.

SES Latino 2006 - Miami

So, to get to the point of my talking about SES Latino, I'll talk about Miami first (it's only fair after the previous post).

Miami, as I think of it, is actually the Greater Miami Area (or South Florida metropolitan area if you are political), which is basically several cities/areas all in one fairly easy to drive, contiguous area. The 3 main areas I was in were Miami, South Beach (SoBe) and Bal Harbour (where one of my clients, Gray & Sons, is).

The conference was at the Miami Intercontinental, which was right on the beach, and had a cool lobby. It is also walking distance to the famous Bayside Market, where the shopping is very nice (if you like that sort of thing - and I admit I do...)

I arrived early, so I had some sightseeing time. I wanted to do a tour of the everglades, but that's pretty much a day trip, and I wanted to be fair and give Miami another chance. So I went to SoBe.

Now, I try to pride myself on being an experienced enough traveller that I always check the weather first, but I screwed myself up this trip. I duly checked the weather and noticed that it was going to be overcast with thunderstorms pretty much everyday during the conference, so i packed appropriately without doing the mental calculation of Fahrenheit to Celsius like I normally do. BIG MISTAKE.

See, in Canada, "overcast and thunderstorms" usually means cold, or at least, coolish. In Miami, it means "your sweat doesn't evaporate, the rain is hot, and you need to shower after about 20 minutes outside if you are wearing any clothing of significance."

I took a cab to Ocean Drive (the road that runs along South Beach) and stopped by the News Cafe for lunch and some people watching. People watching is a major sport in SoBe, due to the (lack of) clothing worn, the celebrities that hang out there, and the party/club atmosphere.

The meal was good, but I realized that I was way overdressed for the area and time. Not to mention I was soaked in sweat. Fortunately, there is shopping nearby on Washington Ave, and I was able to buy a pair of shorts, a lighter shirt, and thong sandals. After that, I was ready to actually see the darn beach.

The beach is really nice, with white sand and lots of people. It's an odd mixture of beach volleyball and joggers, thong bikini wearing sunbathers, and families with kids. It all blends in a natural manner.

Frankly, it was so hot that I didn't even notice that the picture I took of the crowd on the beach included several topless sunbathers until I was uploading it later. Honest. I know you don't believe me after the belly dancers in China and CanCan Dancers in the Yukon, but it's absolutely true. Really.

Anyway, after that I figured I'd go take a couple of pictures of alligators, which was a challenge since I didn't have time to do the everglades tour. So I went to the nearby (to the hotel) Parrot Jungle Island. Yup, they had them, including "Crocosaurus", a HUGE saltwater croc (born in Thailand, not natural to Florida) that is the largest in the world.

After this, I met up with my friends Christine Churchill and Mike Grehan, who introduced me to Frank Watson (aka AussieWebmaster), Jeffrey Eisenberg of Future Now (an excellent source of information on post-click conversion behaviour and methods - thanks Jeff!) and Erica Schmidt of iProspect.

I was then introduced to a wonderful Cuban drink, the mojito. Warning! This is a very, very dangerous drink! It's tasty, very refreshing and loaded with alcohol. You can find yourself drinking a lot of them if you are not careful.

We decided to go for dinner, with Mike (as usual) leading the way. He took us to Lincoln Road, an amazing pedestrian road lined with restaurants. This is definitely a great place to find food. Since Italy had just won the FIFA World Cup hours earlier, we decided to have Italian food in their honor.

The next day (Monday) SES Latino began.

The first thing I noticed was that this was very smooth and organized for a first time event/venue. I've been to a lot, and this one went very well. About 500 people attended.

I usually don't go to a lot of sessions, preferring to network with people in between, but the information presented here was simply not available easily anywhere else, and I found myself in a lot of the "Landscape and Tactics" tracks, which focused on Latin America, Spanish and Portuguese language and issues, and so forth. Fascinating and highly informative, even to a jaded conference goer.

That evening, I decided to go on a harbour tour with my friend Huiping Iler, the president of wintranslation.com. Huiping is the person I trust for many of my clients translations, and this is the first time we've met in person. She's also written a very nice white paper called Maximizing Visibility for Multilingual Web Sites that I recommend.

Anyway, I dragged her to a charter boat in the shape of a pirate ship (hey, we are in the Caribbean...) for a short tour of the harbour, including Millionaire Row, a bunch of homes of the rich and famous.

Shortly after leaving the dock, the sky started to get cloudy. A couple of minutes later, we were in a pretty intense storm. It was so bad I started humming the Gilligans Island theme song and wondering how far I could swim. the captain finally pulled into a nearby dock and we waited a while for the worst to pass.

After that, we finally got the tour. There were a lot of very nice homes, owned by people like Sharon Stone, Gloria Estevan, Sylvestor Stalone, Shaquille O'Neal, and Jackie Chan. For only 5 million, I could live there too...

After this, we went back to the hotel. The next day both of us had presentations to give, and neither of had completely finished ours. I always do mine at the last minute, since I try to customize it to the attendees at the conference.

The next morning, I had 2 major technical issues right in a row. First, I discovered that, in my second packing blunder of the trip, I had left both my USB drive and blank CD's at home, making it very difficult to get my (now finished) presentation onto the presentation computer!

Fortunately, although it's not obvious, the hotel is very close to a Walgreens and I was able to run (literally) over there and buy a new USB drive. Shaking from the heat and sudden exercise (yes, I'm out of shape - I'm working on it...), I walked into the bathroom to freshen up.

Then my cell phone rang. While grabbing at it, it slipped out of my (still shaking) hands and directly into the toilet! My scream of despair was still echoing in the room while I fished it out of the (fortunately unused) toilet bowl and over to a nearby hairdryer.

You have to realize that this is no ordinary phone. It's also my main business number, my mp3 player, backup camera, e-book reader and *gasp* day-timer. I had just managed to finally retire my old, heavy leatherbound paper-based day-timer only a few weeks before. Literally, it's my (business) life. Not a good development. BTW, water damage isn't covered by the warranty (imagine that!).

Anyway, distractions aside, I still needed to do my presentations which were immediately before and after lunch. Fortunately, they went well. You can see them (along with other presentations I've done) at private.mcanerin.com.

After this, I was exhausted and pretty much just went to sleep, since I had to be up at 4AM the next morning to catch my flight.

All in all, it was a very good trip, and I no longer hate Miami... As a matter of fact, I think I'll be back next year. Good job, Nacho!

Ian

Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada

Well, I just got back from Whitehorse - it was great! Whitehorse is the capital city of the Yukon Territory of Canada, and the most north I've ever been.

For those of you more familiar with US geography, the Yukon is the Canadian Territory that is right beside Alaska. As a matter of fact, the Klondike (of the famous Klondike Goldrush fame) is roughly the area that is the border between the two. Goldrush history pretty much defines the area.

Since it's pretty far north, my general concept of the place before visiting was freezing snow in the winter, and mosquitoes in the summer. Well, I can vouch for the mosquitoes, at least. But there is more, of course.

The city is surprisingly small - you can walk from end to end in less than an hour. It's very much a government and tourist town. I was there giving a seminar on Web 2.0 for the government, but also took some time to act as a tourist.

Some Highlights and Observations:

North of 60 is also known as "The Land of the Midnight Sun" - and it's true. This is a pic of my watch (and the town) a few seconds after midnight, and below is a picture of me around roughly midnight. I was able to walk around town and take photos in the natural sunlight until I went to bed at around 2AM!

Food: I always try to eat locally whever I travel, so I made sure I tried some local stuff - I had Muskox and Halibut at the Klondike Rib and Salmon BBQ, Caribou at the Westmark, and Bannock (Indian bread) at the Talisman, a Native-owned eatery. But for the life of me, I could not find sourdough pancakes anywhere! Weird.

Housing: During the building of the Alaska Highway, they ran out of space for all the workers, and the Log Cabin Skyscraper was born. There is one of these in Whitehorse, and it's a very strange sight indeed. Another interesting site was the use of sod on many of the log buildings - yup, that's grass growing on that roof!

Entertainment: Well, although the most popular pastimes in the area appear to be hiking, fishing and partying until the sun goes down (about 6 months from now), I was tired, so I just took in a show - The Frantic Follies, as vaudeville review (including CanCan Dancers) based in the Westmark Hotel. One of my favorite parts was the rendition of the "Cremation of Sam McGee" by Robert Service (a famous writer of the Canadian north), and the very, very funny skits involving audience members.

You know, between the belly dancers in China and the CanCan dancers in the Klondike, I'm starting to notice a pattern in my travel entertainment. I sure hope my wife doesn't...

Shopping: I like to buy local souvenirs, of course. I got the kids some cool prospecting pans with real gold dust and my wife a necklace made from genuine mammoth ivory. For myself, I bought a soapstone card holder with an inukshuk on it, an ulu (traditional Inuit knife) and a nice shirt from The Main Man.

One thing that stood out clearly while shopping that that all the shop personnel were genuinely friendly and helpful, not only for their own wares, but in directing me to other shops when they didn't have what I was looking for. The salesgirl at the Main Man even phoned all over town on my behalf in order to help me in my (ultimately failed) quest of sourdough pancakes. She really went above and beyond, and it's appreciated.

History and Culture: Well, it's a small town, and fairly recent by global standards, so there isn't a huge history, but what there is, is wild and fascinating (kind of like a colder Las Vegas). The goldrush, cabin fever, ruthless criminal gangs, fearless NWMP (Canadian Mounties), etc.

They do have the orginal cabin the Sam McGee lived in - that's cool.

The poetry of Robert Service ("The Bard of the Yukon"), is a very interesting series of stories that tell about life back then. Read them - they are worth it. My favorites:

The Cremation of Sam McGee (funny)
The Law of the Yukon (tough)
The Men That Don't Fit In (my favorite - sad, though)
The Ballad of The Black Fox Skin (traditional myth)
My Friends (really good - another huge favorite)

Actually, I like almost everything he wrote (19 books of verse), but that's a good sampler. The actual book I bought was "The Best Of Robert Service".

Trivia: in the local parlance, if you are not native, you are either a "Sourdough"(tough and experienced local/prospector type) or a "Cheechako" (technically a foreigner, but generally just a spoiled, lily-livered, city-folk tourist type...).

Ian

Canada Online Revealed

I speak and moderate at a fair number of conferences, so an engagment is nothing I normally blog about. However, I'm rather excited to facilitate at the Canada Online Revealed conference.

The Canadian Tourism Commission has invited the Canadian Federal Provinces for a CTC E-Marketing Summit to discuss how we can all work together to market Canada to the world by leveraging the Internet. This is by-invite only event.

Attendees may choose two from six topical tracks, which are a combination of short presentations and "speed-dating" interactions with the presenters.

It sounds like fun. I'll be a facilitator for a star studded panel:

Exploring the difference between Search Marketing and Online Advertising in Canada & USA

What is the difference between Search in Canada & the US and how can you effectively market your hotel or travel company on search verticals?

Facilitator: Ian McAnerin - President, Search Marketing Association of North America

Vince Chirico - Google
John Manning - Genie Knows
Jennifer Koo - West Jet
David Doucette - Fairmont Hotels & Resorts
Bryan Mavrow - Intrawest

Ian

CSMT Day 8, SES Nanjing Day 2

SES Day 2 - I actually have stuff to do today. :)

First thing in the morning, I'm moderating a panel on Successful Site Architecture with Stephen Noton, Bill Li and David Temple, then later on (last panel of the day) I'm speaking about Global Search Marketing Case Studies with Bill Hunt, Koichiro Fukasawa and Jungmin Ricky Kwon.

In the middle, I spend a fair amount of time catching up with various people, including Mike Grehan, who has recovered quite well from last nights St Patricks Day celebrations and is actually quite lucid, entertaining, and incredibly informative (as usual, I must say).

For most of the day, the conference rooms are freezing, but then (just in time for MY speaking turn) the heat finally gets turned on - so high that most of the audience either fell asleep or attempted to escape out into the hall.

The good news (?) is that since the speakers ahead of us went waayy over time, we had the shortest session of all of them - I cut my slides from 30 to 12. Fortunately, I post my original slides up so the audience can download them afterward.

After the sessions, a bunch of us followed Mike on his quest for a steak in China. While this is usually a fruitless exercise, he actually managed to find a restaurant that served western fare, and off we went.

Since it was a pretty big gathering of some of the best known faces of the conference, I gave my camera to our hostess, who had enormous fun snapping away.

After the dinner, I was exhausted, so I went to check out the spa in the hotel. It was an interesting experience, to be sure (I'm hairy, and the spas are naked, and I was apparently an endless source of amusement for the staff) but relaxing. The only problem was that the sauna apparently didn't use filtered water, so not only did it smell bad, but the next day I had a nasty cough that turned into a full blown illness by the time I landed.

Oh, the joys of travel. Oh, by the way, at some point today Brooke actually managed to find some luggage. I've no idea how, and am actually afraid to ask...

Ian

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CSMT Day 7, SES Nanjing Day 1

Yay! SES Nanjing begins!

This morning, the members of the CSMT tour are met at the door by Inway Ni, the China-side organizer of the conference from TimeV/ISAS (Internet Society of China). He's a really great guy.

After signing in, I went to the keynote session featuring Jack Mah (Alibaba/Yahoo) and Johnny Chou (Google). I don't think anything else made the differences between China and America more clear than these two speeches. Johnny was the consummate Google professional, and Jack was the upstart "local boy does good". It was also pretty clear that although Johnny had more to say of substance, Jack was the darling of the Chinese press, and really knew how to speak to the local audience. This translates well into how each of their representative internet properties is seen in China, as well.

Jack VS Johnny - this should be an interesting battle...

Several people asked why Baidu wasn't at the conference. Were they boycotting it? I asked too, and the answer I got was that (in typical Chinese fashion) the Baidu team asked to show up as keynote at the last minute - far too late. So they were there, but not as visibly as Google and the others. That will change next year, I''m sure.

The turnout to the event was very respectable for the first SES in the country (a lot more than the first SES in the US) and was pretty well organized. The only thing marring the event was that the heat was off (or the air conditioning was stuck - I'm sure it was colder inside than it was outside) It was freezing during most of the sessions.

Some interesting facts and figures:

• Yahoo China is different from Yahoo. You can get listed in both (and should)
• Mobile search is likely to be really big in China soon
• Executives tend to use Google, Students tend to use Baidu
• Internet users in China are younger than elsewhere - averaging under 22 years old.
• Google considers China to be the most competitive search market in the world.
• The trend of search engine usage showed that the less sophisticated cities (ie Guangzhou) tended to use Baidu, and the more sophisticated cites (ie Shanghai) tended to use Google.
• Jack Mah: The very concept of search engine usage is US-centric - "asking", and is not necessarily the way Chinese want to find things "looking/browsing".

After the sessions were over, we went to the Google Dance, which was very well done, though mostly (and obviously) a recruiting drive. I got a nice picture of me with Johnny Chou and then a bunch of us (with Mike Grehan, the ringleader) left to see if we could teach some of our new Chinese friends how to celebrate St. Patricks day. With 3 people of Irish decent in the group (including myself and Mike), there was no way we were going to skip this tradition!

After many bottles of wine, many bottles of a local dark beer that almost passed for Guiness if you had drank enough wine beforehand, and some Irish Coffee chasers, it was time to call it a night.

I'm proud to say that there are now several Chinese SEM's that now understand St. Patricks day almost as well as an Irishman. Of course "It's an excuse to get drunk" didn't take long to convey, but it's the cultural communication that's the important part here... ;)

Ian

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