Jennifer and I had a great time at SES San Jose. As first time bloggers, we saw this conference in a different light. We were both taken back by the rush we got when we first saw people re-tweeting our tweets. It was an amazing experience to see the amount of side conversations that were happening on Twitter and across the many different blogs. The conference was our focus, but because of the engagement with Twitter, something else started to brew - it was almost like a mini-online conference where you could keep track of other sessions, join in the camaraderie with fellow SES'ers over the hotdogs they served us or the lack of Wi-Fi or the coffee. The Tweets humanized this conference and brought us closer to all the good people that attended. It was AWESOME!

If you been reading our coverage you will notice that there were several unofficial themes this year:

Theme one: The future of search - where is it going and how can we monetize it? Several say it is SEO, others say the future is in mobile's hands. I think it's both. As mobile phones become the "go-to" device for many consumers the focus to optimize web pages, organic results, and paid listings will become key.

Theme two: Content is king. As content developers, we need to ensure that we are providing a value to our customers. Whether its increasing our relevancy for search or providing a good content experience on our community platform, we need to make sure that our information, our content is good and enjoyed.

Theme three: Social Media killed the Search star. Or is it enhancing it? Social Media can give your website a healthy boost of SEO. SEO can help drive users to your content. Thinking about how you want to execute is what it is important. It's not about one vs the other. Again it goes back to content.

Other discussions - semantics, white vs black hat marketing (although this conversation was not as controversial as I had anticipated), and the basics of search advertising for the newbies.

Well, we are now about to board our plane and fly back to Seattle. Goodbye SES San Jose! See you in New York!!