Featuring Search Engine Expert: Danny Sullivan

Day 1 - Tuesday, March 20 - Agenda: Promoters Day*
With millions of web surfers turning to search engines each day to find web sites, can you afford not to be found by them? Search engines can generate significant traffic for those who take the time to understand them better. The first day of Search Engine Strategies 2001 is "Promoters Day," designed to teach you the ins-and-outs of search engine marketing from top experts in the field, along with information from the search engines themselves. If you are new to search engine marketing, the Main Track is designed to bring you up to speed. More experienced? The Advanced Track offers roundtable sessions where issues are explored at a higher level. Interested in search features you can add to a web site? The Developers Track has panels for you.
Main Track (other Tracks below)
Lead by Danny Sullivan, editor of SearchEngineWatch.com, the Main Track starts out with the basics of achieving marketing success with search engines. After presentations on key topics by Sullivan and other search engine experts, the day concludes with two panels featuring representatives from major search engines.
8:00am - 9:00am	Registration and Continental Breakfast
9:00am - 9:15am	Opening Remarks
9:15am - 10:45am	Back To Basics An introduction to search engines, including how to get listed, using meta tags, and the issues involved in ranking well. Covers both crawler-based and human-powered search engines Danny Sullivan, Editor, SearchEngineWatch.com
10:45am - 11:15am	Morning Coffee Break
11:15am - 12:00pm	Designing Search Engine Friendly Sites How to build a web site from the ground up that pleases both search engines and your visitors. Discover how "search engine friendly" design can tap into traffic naturally. Shari Thurow, Webmaster/Marketing, GrantasticDesigns.com
12:00pm - 1:30pm	Networking Lunch
1:30pm - 2:30pm	The following 2 sessions run concurrently, please choose one to attend. Link Building Discover how search engines are relying more on link analysis to rank web pages and how to increase traffic to your site by building links. Danny Sullivan, Editor, SearchEngineWatch.com Marshall D. Simmonds , Director of search, About.com --- OR --- Buying Your Way In Learn how you can buy your way into the search engines through paid placement, paid inclusion, paid submission and other programs. Not all guarantee top rankings, but even those that don't can drive traffic to your site. Also, discover how search engine optimization firms operate. With results of the latest I-Search survey on paid placement, inclusion and submission programs. Dana Todd, VP of Marketing, SiteLab International Inc. Catherine Seda, Dir. of Online Promotions, SiteLab International Inc. Tim Cadogan, Director of Search Products, GoTo Detlev Johnson, moderator of the I-Search mailing list and Outrider
2:30pm - 2:45pm	Session Interval
2:45pm - 4:00pm	Meet the Search Engines Representatives from various crawler-based search engines will discuss their services and take questions from attendees. There will be a special emphasis on how crawlers deal with Flash and other non-HTML content, as well as CSS. Panelists: Knut Magne Risvik, Director of Search Technology, FAST Matt Cutts, Software Engineer, Google Vaughn Rhodes, AltaVista Dr. Michael Palmer, CTO, Search Solutions Division, Inktomi
4:00pm - 4:30pm	Afternoon Refreshment Break
4:30pm - 5:30pm	Dealing with Directories Representatives from various human-powered search engines will discuss submission issues and take questions from attendees. Panelists: Ask Jeeves Tony Mamone, VP of Product, LookSmart Bob Keating, Editor-in-Chief, The Open Directory Project, Netscape Communications Corp.
5:30pm - 7:00pm	Networking Cocktail Reception Sponsored by:

Advanced Promoters Track
Already familiar with the basics? Or, looking for more in depth advice on a particular subject? The Advanced Promoters Track offers discussions on a variety of topics. Join search engine promotion experts who offer their advice on specific issues during roundtable sessions. Overseeing the track will be Detlev Johnson, moderator of the I-Search mailing list and Outrider. Can't make a session, because you want to attend something else? Key roundtables are also repeated during the Promoters Track on Day 2.
9:15am - 10:00am	Three different sessions are offered during this time. Please choose one of them: Roundtable: Cloaking & Doorways Have questions on ways to deliver pages targeted specifically to particular search engines and when you might do this? Come learn techniques, plus traps to avoid. NOTE: Session repeats today at 10:00am-10:45am and on Day 2 from 1:30pm-2:30pm. Panelists: John Heard, President, Beyond Engineering & Freelance Writer, Planet Ocean Mikkel Demib Svendsen, VP Product Development, ACSys Roundtable: Tools, Resources & Tracking Have questions about tools that can help with your search engine optimization efforts? Learn about page analyzers, submission assistants, ways to measure success using log file analysis or position checkers, and other tools. NOTE: Session repeats today at 11:15am-12:00pm and on Day 2 from 10:00am-10:45am Panelists: Bruce Clay, President, Bruce Clay, LLC Robin Nobles, Director of Training, Academy of Web Specialists LLC Roundtable: Search Term Research Have questions about developing appropriate keywords and search terms to target your SEO campaigns? Pick up tips and advice on ways to proceed. NOTE: Session repeats today at 11:15am-12:00pm and on Day 2 from 11:00am-11:45am. Panelist: Greg Boser, President, WebGuerrilla, LLC Paul Bruemmer, CEO, Web Ignite Corporation
10:00am - 10:45am	Three different sessions are offered during this time. Please choose one of them: Roundtable: Cloaking & Doorways Have questions on ways to deliver pages targeted specifically to particular search engines and when you might do this? Come learn techniques, plus traps to avoid. NOTE: Session repeats on Day 2 from 1:30pm - 2:30pm. Panelists: John Heard, President, Beyond Engineering & Freelance Writer, Planet Ocean Mikkel Demib Svendsen, VP Product Development, ACSys Roundtable: Page Design Workarounds & Site Architecture How can you make your web site and web pages more accessible to and successful with search engines? Pose specific questions and also hear general advice. Panelists: Greg Boser, President, WebGuerrilla, LLC Derrick Wheeler, Vice President, Intrapromote Roundtable: Meta Tags & Copy Writing What is the best way to write meta tags? Can you craft better copy on existing pages in your site, so they may rank better with crawlers. Q&A; and general discussion on these issues. NOTE: Session repeats today at 11:15am-12:00pm and on Day 2 from 9:15am-10:00am. Panelists: Jill Whalen - Co-Moderator, Rank Write Roundtable, Search Engine Writing and Rankings e-Mail Discussion Heather Lloyd-Martin - Co-Moderator, Rank Write Roundtable, Search Engine Writing and Rankings e-Mail Discussion Marshall D. Simmonds, Director of search, About.com
10:45am - 11:15am	Morning Coffee Break
11:15am - 12:00pm	Three different sessions are offered during this time. Please choose one of them: Roundtable: Search Term Research Have questions about developing appropriate keywords and search terms to target your SEO campaigns? Pick up tips and advice on ways to proceed. NOTE: Session repeats on Day 2 from 11:00am-11:45am. Panelists: Greg Boser, President, WebGuerrilla, LLC Paul Bruemmer, CEO, Web Ignite Corporation Roundtable: Tools, Resources & Tracking Have questions about tools that can help with your search engine optimization efforts? Learn about page analyzers, submission assistants, ways to measure success using log file analysis or position checkers, and other tools. NOTE: Session repeats on Day 2 from 10:00am-10:45am Panelists: Bruce Clay, President, Bruce Clay, LLC Robin Nobles, Director of Training, Academy of Web Specialists LLC Roundtable: Meta Tags & Copy Writing What is the best way to write meta tags? Can you craft better copy on existing pages in your site, so they may rank better with crawlers. Q&A; and general discussion on these issues. NOTE: Session repeats on Day 2 from 9:15am-10:00am. Panelists: Jill Whalen - Co-Moderator, Rank Write Roundtable, Search Engine Writing and Rankings e-Mail Discussion Heather Lloyd-Martin - Co-Moderator, Rank Write Roundtable, Search Engine Writing and Rankings e-Mail Discussion Marshall D. Simmonds, Director of search, About.com
12:00pm - 1:30pm	Networking Lunch
1:30pm - 2:30pm	Roundtable: Leveraging Your Content This session provides Q&A; and additional advice about issues raised in the morning's "Designing Search Engine Friendly Sites" session. Learn more about how good content, thoughtful page design and informational pages can lead to natural traffic from search engines. Also touches on advanced design issues such as Javascript, Flash, Cascading Style Sheets, Server-Side Includes (SSIs) and frames. NOTE: Session repeats on Day 2 from 4:30pm-5:30pm. Speaker: Shari Thurow, Webmaster/Marketing, GrantasticDesigns.com Richard Seltzer, Author, "The AltaVista Search Revolution" and a related tutorial hosted by Altavista
2:30pm - 2:45pm	Session Interval
2:45pm - 3:45pm	Roundtable: Buying Your Way In This session provides Q&A; and additional advice about issues raised in the morning's "Buying Your Way In" session. Learn more about purchasing placement or inclusion with search engines. NOTE: Session repeats on Day 2 from 2:45pm-3:45pm Speakers: Dana Todd, VP of Marketing, SiteLab International Inc. Catherine Seda, Dir. of Online Promotions, SiteLab International Inc. Tim Cadogan, Director of Search Products, GoTo
4:00pm - 4:30pm	Afternoon Refreshment Break
5:30pm - 7:00pm	Networking Cocktail Reception Sponsored by:

Developers Track
If you run a web site, you may want to ensure that visitors can easily search within your own site. Or, adding a "vertical" search engine might be an attractive feature to keep visitors coming back. This track covers these "developer" oriented topics.
9:15am - 10:45am	Site & Vertical Search: Part 1 Visitors coming to your web site may want to search within the site itself or perhaps may be interested in a "vertical" search feature that lets them seek topic-specific information from across the web. This session features an intro to both concepts, then follows with presentations from vendors that offer site search software and remote-hosted solutions. More presentations follow in Part 2 (11:00am-12:00pm) and Part 3 (2:45pm-4pm). Speakers: Steve Arnold, Arnold Information Technology (AIT) Anders Hyldahl, Chief Software Architect, CTO, Mondosoft Stephanie Kaul, Senior Product Manager for Atomz Search, Atomz Tim Mayer, Product Manager, Search Services, Inktomi
10:45am - 11:00am	Morning Coffee Break
11:00am - 12:00pm	Site & Vertical Search: Part 2 Following on issues introduced in Part 1 (9:15am-10:45am), this session features vendors explaining products that allow you to add topic-specific search to your site, as a feature to attract visitors. Moderator: Steve Arnold, Arnold Information Technology (AIT) Speakers: Michael Sabourin, President & CEO, Sandy Bay Networks Scott Potter, President & CEO, Quiver Willie M.Tejada, EoExchange
12:00pm - 1:30pm	Networking Lunch
2:45pm - 4:00pm	Site & Vertical Search: Part 3 More from vendors about adding site or topic-specific search to your web site, with a particular emphasis on enterprise and customer-service solutions. Moderator: Steve Arnold, Arnold Information Technology (AIT) Speakers: Susan M. Stearns, Director of Marketing, Northern Light Technology, Inc. Quimby Mills, AskJeeves David Harris, Easy Ask iPhrase
4:00pm - 4:30pm	Afternoon Refreshment Break
5:30pm - 7:00pm	Networking Cocktail Reception Sponsored by:

* This agenda subject to change

Click here for Day 2 agenda