It’s hard to believe this is only the third Think Visibility conference – it feels like it’s been going for ages just because it’s so well-organised (wonder if Dom has ever been called well-organised before?!). Having been to all three and spoken at the last one I’m pretty well-placed to judge the standard, so here’s my review…
The Conference
Alea casino is actually a really good venue – it’s easy to find if you’re driving and there’s a huge car park next door with free parking for (up to 50) attendees. This year the speaker slots were only 45 minutes with a 15-minute break in between – plenty of time to grab a cup of tea, go to the loo or find someone you really wanted to have a chat with. Last time felt rushed in between talks so this was a definite improvement and made the day a lot more comfortable for attendees. Likewise, lunch was really well-organised this year and I think everyone felt looked-after.
The Speakers
The September Think Vis was always going to be hard to live up to as far as big-name speakers went, but as always what I really liked about the conference were the afternoon slots when you get to see people who haven’t spoken before. Although Think Visibility is an SEO conference, it’s great that these smaller slots can be given to a wider range of subjects than ‘pure’ SEO. Doing SEO day in and day out, I find these more interesting and like to hear about things outside of my own skillset.
My favourite talk of the day was by Kenny Goodman, on buying, selling and ‘flipping’ domains. Although I own quite a lot of domains, building them up to sell them is something I knew nothing about so it really taught me a lot. He also covered the domain-buying process (e.g. if you’re buying an established domain and not just registering a new one) so it’s no longer a complete mystery! I liked how Kenny included practical tips as well, like a list of places you can find domain auctions, and the best sites to use to make a quick sale or get the most money for your domain.
My other highlight of the day was watching past and future colleague Paul Carpenter give his first ever conference talk on how to use online news to get links and traffic. I know how spine-chillingly terrifying it is to give your first talk but Paul looked like he’d done it before and gave a really good presentation. Interestingly, it seems like any old crap can get into Google News. Not to abuse sites that sell really boring products, but if you can make news relate to your carpet-selling business, your carpet site can get into Google news. Good for you, but imo bad for people actually looking for real news!
As always it was really good to catch up with everyone – I only wish I’d been able to see more of the afternoon presentations but with three at once you have to choose! I noted that the audience of talks I went to was never above 25 – I’m not sure how many tickets were sold but I wonder which talks drew the big crowds?
For more pictures of the day please see sk8geek’s Flickr set. There was another photographer there so when those pictures are online I’ll add some more 
Update: Links to other reviews!
From the other side of the hangover – Paul Carpenter
My review of Think Visibility – Patrick Moogan <--Really would have liked to see Patrick talk!
Top 7 Things I Learnt at Think Visibility - Dan Harrison
Five reasons why Think Visibility rocked – Carla Marshall
Website Templates
Paul Carpenter’s presentation was brilliant, I got a real shock when he told me that it was his first. Also had a great laugh being mischievious with him afterwards
Great writeup Zoe, shame you couldn’t make my presentation but I know Kenny’s was excellent – I’d loved to have seen that one myself!
My slides are available now but if you want any extra notes or points expanding feel free to let me know
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