Social Desire

Written on October 12, 2008 – 7:38 pm | by Shana Albert |

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Last October I attended the IM Charity Party the night before SMX East was to begin. I had to go home the very next morning without attending SMX. I was determined after meeting all of those wonderful people last year that I would attend the conference in 2008. However, when the time came I just didn’t have the extra money for the conference itself. With my 12 year old getting braces this year, The Westin costing $350 a night, and with me wanting to attend more conferences this year…. I just couldn’t pull the cost of the entire conference. I instead decided to just pay for the Networking Pass, but was worried that I would get as much from it as I was spending to go to NYC. I’m writing to say, It is totally worth every penny!!!

Things I Learned from getting the SMX Networking Pass

• Amazing breed of people, almost super hero like, that have this never ending energy and stomachs for endless drinking…. yet they are some of the most professional people I have ever met.
  
  
• What a supportive Industry!! If one of the members of this wonderful industry falls down they are there to help pick them up. And, even give them a big freakin vase of water if needed.
  
  

  Shana Albert, Brent D. Payne and Brandy Wood

  
  
• No competition (unless you are talking about drinking, taxi rides or the way you smell)- Even though there might be competition between the members of the marketing community for jobs or whatever…. you don’t sense that here.
  
  
• Unbelievable Humor - These people are not only professional, but some of the funniest people I have ever met in my life. I laughed constantly through my entire time in New York City.
  
  
• Intimate face-to-face chats. These people are beautiful…. seriously, they are beautiful inside and out. I know, very cliche. But, so true. I had some nice face-to-face chats with amazing people that I probably never would have had online. I’m a total online chick, but close face-to-face talks rock!!
  
  
• There are prizes to be had. I won a door prize at the IM Charity Party. And, its a good one…. I won a One Year Membership to SEOmoz. I am totally stoked about that. And, even more important than that is the fact that they raised a bunch of money for an awesome cause….. The Ronald McDonald House. I feel awesome about that!!
  
  
• Being able to hang out at night with some of the smartest in Marketing and purchase awesome pizza for a $1.00 in a Pizzeria / Convenient store. Seriously, this is what this place was. They made the pizza right out in the open next to where they sell tampons, deodorant and washer fluid…. only in New York City.
  
  

  Shana Albert, Martin Bowling, Eric Lander and Brandy Wood

  
  
• Men in Search really are very handsome….. and smell good too!!
  
  
• Picked up some pretty cool swag at Javits Conference Center…. Enough to make my kids very happy when I returned home. Which is really cool because I promised them I would buy them stuff in New York City, but I was way too busy being selfish networking to buy them cool stuff. I did find a really strange kiosk in the Port Authority on my way home for some odd “I heart New York” goodies.
  
  
• Within 24 hours of arriving home I had my first new client. This totally has everything to do with me Networking at SMX East. Now, my Networking Pass is completely paid for and I could totally afford to attend the next conference…. the entire all-access pass this time.

I’m not saying that the SMX East Networking Pass replaced purchasing the entire SMX East All-Access Pass…. it doesn’t. As a matter of fact, there are so many sessions that I would have loved to attend. So much I could have learned if I was able to attend the sessions. But, at this time it just wasn’t possible for me. But, the networking portion of SMX was a total success.