Highlights from Mix06…
The People: The best part of conferences for me is meeting folks. Notable people I bumped into in Vegas include Jennifer Slegg (JenSense/Jenstar), Ron belanger (Yahoo! Search Marketing), Robert Scoble (Microsoft), anil Dash (Six apart), Rob Howard (Telligent), Jeremy Zawodny (Yahoo) and David Jakobowski (MSN). I was able to have lunch at the same table as Jenn Slegg on the last day of the conference. We both chatted with attendees about search marketing…and were treated to some challenging ideas.
The Event: This was absolutely the best conference I've ever been to when it comes to associated amenities. Microsoft not only took care of us with amazing food and XbOX/Media Center lounges, but the entire conference, ENTIRE conference was blanketed in WIFI. This MaDE the conference for me. I was able to attend all the sessions I wanted to and be productive for The agency and our clients.
The Parties: TaO was a beautiful setting for the Mix 06 Party, The MySpace.com party in the V bar was hip and swingin'…and…oh yeah, it's Vegas! blue Man Group and Cirque…
The Lodging: The Venetian is a beautiful hotel. a++ One of the best I've ever stayed in.
The Technologies: Windows Media Center was a front and center of several of the demos I attended. I was surprised how much time it got on the stage. To be sure, it is an amazing platform and its sales show that the consumer agrees. Microsoft announced at the conference that Media Center Edition has outsold XP since December 2005 and they expect that trend to continue.
The big Surprise…what to watch: Yahoo!/advertising. While Steve ballmer was shouting "Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers!" a few years ago, Microsoft was shouting "advertising, advertising, advertising, advertising!" at Mix06. also, I was very surprised at how much time Yahoo! was afforded at the conference…especially with the absence of Google. Is there something in the works? Rumors were ripe for the picking until I was informed by a source at Yahoo! that Google was invited and declined the invitation by Microsoft. This was almost immediately confirmed by MSN. While Google declined to take any time on stage to present at mix, there was no shortage of goobers from Google in attendance who had NO sense of humor.
The Scandal: During one presentation, the MSN and Yahoo! reps were passing back and forth good-natured jabs at each other about being careful about what they said and trap doors installed on stage. One of the panelists made a quip about the lack of Google representation at the conference and how a blow dart was responsible. It was a joke. People laughed. Everyone was having fun. Everyone but one person…
after the session, an idiot, yes i-d-i-o-t engineer from Google approached the panel and introduced himself as being from Google. He then asked the Yahoo rep "What's up with the blow dart comment?"
He was totally and completely serious.
We were all kinda stunned. For a second there I couldn't figure out if he was serious or not. Then it became very clear that he was. The Yahoo rep did the professional thing and apologized and explained to the thick-headed goon that it was a joke. I don't think the Googler understood.
My personal thought on the incident: This kind if incident is exactly why folks in the industry think Googlers are stiff, stuck up a-holes. This was an example fo very bad behavior indeed. Googler – you know who you are and you should be ashamed and embarrassed. I am personally embarrassed for all the Googlers I know personally who are cool, laid back and have a sense of humor. There are a lot of decent, good people at Google and it's a-holes like this who tarnish the reputations of the rest.
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