WebConnoisseur

Last year, I gave out some SMX attendee tips which still apply to the 2nd installment this year.

Outside of those tips, this year I recommend using the SMX Connect service by Crowdvine to learn about and pre-set up the people you want to meet. Unfortunately, not everyone is using it, so I also recommend doing what I did last year and am doing with this post: write about SMX Advanced & link to others who are writing about attending as well. I meet some great people last time who I am still closely connected with after doing so.

Other’s excited about attending SMX Advanced whom I don’t believe I’ve met yet:

• Justin Davy
• Sean McMahon
• Dana Larson
• Eric Lander

I finally made my first visit to Google Kirkland a couple days ago for a study. I’ve been to Google’s HQ several times, but had never visited the local campus. Well, I suppose it isn’t really a campus – I’d call it a shared office building with lots of cool Google logo art and not much else.

I didn’t get to tour the entire building, but spent some time in the lobby & in the R&D areas. In the lobby, they were playing what I assumed to be the rolling search ticker I’ve seen at their parties on the wall, but the projector was much too weak to discern the text, so I it seemed like a waste. I imagine the janitors enjoy it when the lights are off. Overall, the space was unimpressive for Google, but I’m sure the new Google Kirkland campus will rock.

The one unintentional piece of humor I discovered was when I was getting my badge. They have you sit down and type in your info, then choose between visitor types:

• Normal
• Government

I joked that I didn’t realize they were mutually exclusive.

Photo credit: PRWeaver Blog