I have long been an advocate of attending conferences and networking events. I have attended many in my time in Affiliate Land, but somehow I’ve never made it any of the four Think Visibilities. The latest one, held on the Saturday just gone was no exception as it clashed with my niece’s 16th Birthday. Even Argyle managed to get their home match with Brighton postponed (under the ruse of having players good enough to represent their country.. I kid you not!), but I wasn’t going to get a pass from the family this time.

Luckily my fellow BIM Director and drinking buddy Jason was allowed to go to the ball, so we sent him along, and here’s what he had to say:

Thinkvisibility was held last Saturday in Leeds, and if you want the short version, it was Awesome (word taken from Ben my 7 year old). Why you might add, well for the first time in a while, I have attended sessions and walked away with copius notes from each session I sat in on.

I’m not going to go into depth about each session, as there are many posts which cover this, some of these are listed below. Instead, I will give you some reasons to make Thinkvisibility 5 in March.

Thinkvisibility is billed as an a series of conferences on “the things that usually get left behind in the web design process”, this definitely sums it up. Each session delivered a different aspect of the promotion of your web site, from affiliates, SEO, Agencies to social marketing, PR and Link building.

First up is relevancy, all of the sessions on offer were relevant to me, as a website owner, as an affiliate tool developer and as a mentor to our Easy Content Units members. Each session was delivered using real life examples which enabled the audience to relate to the content. Many of the speakers were first time presenters, so the content was refreshingly honest, and delivered in an unpolished way, which gave meaning and character. All of which were approachable over a beer or two at Drinkvis (the preparty/postparty drinks events) to ask questions or continue discussions.

The thread-like structure of the day, and speakers. Although I didn’t attend that session, there was a site clinic, which reviewed and improved submitted sites, the following speakers then took those examples, and built them into their sessions. Not only did that add value to the submitted sites, but gave the audience a real life example to relate to. This in my opinion was fantastic.

Networking opportunities were abundant. There was of course the pre-conference ‘party’, drinks in a pub with a pool tournament – oh and NO LOUD MUSIC! So conversations were easy and readily flowing throughout the evening. The idea of a pool tournament was great, it meant that we all managed to speak to someone (or winners more) that we hadn’t met before. Onto the actual conference itself, the sessions were not wall-to-wall, there were plenty of breaks throughout the day, that said I still managed seven sessions too! The post conference party too was conducive to networking, with a charity poker competition, bringing together 10 players on each table, who may not have met before for an evening of fun (raising £260 for NSPCC). Again there was no LOUD MUSIC, plus some free play roulette and blackjack to be had along with a couple of free beers.

Affordability, whilst not done on a shoestring, this conference realises that it doesn’t need to unnecessarily waste money either. Therefore, costs are kept to a minimum both in terms of for the conference, and for it’s attendees. Sponsorship too is reasonable and good value for money. The cost of the conference ticket is only £119, and the recommended hotel (the 4 star City Inn) was only £65 a night. There was even discounts secured for dinner between the conference and the after drinks.

Slides from the day:

Keyword Domains and Mini-sites – Gary Taylor’s Slides
Using Social media for SEO – Lisa Myers slides
Link Building in Real Life – Jaamit Durrani slides
The PR’s Guide to World Domination – Karyn Fleeting slides

Further reading, where slides are not available here are some liveblogging and thorough sessions reviews:

Liveblogging by Dave Chaffey
Liveblogging by Kieron Hughes

I would particularly to thanks Dom Hodgson (organiser) for his hospitality, not only did he (and friends) collect me from the Airport, put me up in his office for the day, and return me to the airport, he made me, and each delegate very welcome to his home town too.

In summary, if anyone is still unsure about attending Thinkvisibility, then you just have to do it. You’ll have so much to learn, I mean, if I having spent nearly 10 years in the industry can still learn new techniques for making our web sites (and our member’s websites) to succeed, then you know you’ll be in for a real treat. If you’re still not sure here’s a presentation on the 10 reasons why Thinkvisibility 4 rocked by Illiya Vjestica

10 REASONS Why Think Visibility Rocked!

View more presentations from Smartdog digital .

Thanks for that Jason – Looks like I missed yet another cracking ThinkVis. Dom & co have really hit the affiliate nail on the head with the ThinkVis conferences, ensuring that the event is well priced, networking opportunities aren’t drowned out by loud music, and the sessions are either inspirational, educational or both!

All of which make me even more determined to make ThinkVis 5, which according to the website is on Sunday March 6th. As luck would have it, Argyle are due to play Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough on the Saturday, so two birds.. one stone!

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