SMX Social Media To Provide Actual Networking

Browsing the web tonight I checked in at Search Engine Land to read Danny Sullivan’s preview of the upcoming Wikipedia Clinic he’s leading at SMX Social Media in New York City. I’m attending the conference and am anxious to learn. It’s one of those agenda’s web geeks like me get jittery just thinking of all the cool stuff we’ll be able to absorb, discuss and blog about. (Click here to register your own self.)

What’s almost more exciting is finally getting to put faces with names … er, better put, blogs. Not only will I get to meet Sullivan, a pioneer in the field of what we do, but others I’ve found that are scheduled to present include Rand Fishkin and Neil Patel, who will present the opener, a seminar entitled, “Social Media Marketing Essentials.”

Then I’ll get the Linkbait treatment from Sullivan with panelists Brent Csutoras, Rebecca Kelly and Cameron Olthuis.

After lunch there’s Sullivan moderating Patel, Chris Winfield and Rusty Brick’s Tamar Weinberg on a Social News Sites panel. The late afternoon session on the Marketer’s Guide to Social Bookmarking and Tagging will feature Patel and Michael Gray of Atlas Web Service, then we’ll bow down and worship Garret Camp and Joshua Schachter, founders of StumbleUpon and del.icio.us, respectively.

And that’s day one.

Day two in a nutshell? I’ll get to absorb knowledge from the likes of Cindy Krum, Dave McClure, Helen Overland, Sarah Hofstetter, Rob Key, Adam Sherk, Liana Evans, Lise Broer, Jonathan Hochman, Matt McGee, Stephan Spencer and Don Steele of Comedy Central, among others. The last six and Patel will make up the Wikipedia Clinic Sullvan blogs about.

Needless to say, I’m pretty excited about going. The opportunity to learn and share is enough. The fact I’ll actually put down my laptop (and Blackberry) and do some real, live networking is icing on the cake.

If you haven’t registered, you should. If you’re going, drop me a line. Let’s meet up and compare notes.

And while we’re at it, what the most fun you’ve had in the Big Apple? I lived there for two years but haven’t returned since I left in 1998. Tell me what I should take in during my return visit, besides the obligatory tribute-paying at Ground Zero (that’s a given since my Jersey City-to-PATH-to-subway route took me through the WTC each day).

Where should I go?