Return From Pukecon

Sometimes things just don’t go according to plan.

As my subscribers know, I flew to Las Vegas last week for Pubcon, a leading conference for the search marketing and SEO industry. I had high hopes and was expecting a good time.

Day 1 went well. Picked up some good tips, took some notes and met up with a few people. That night, I decided to get some work done rather than attend the Pubcon party because they were doing it at a night club. I don’t care how cool people think they are at parties at a night club, I find it counter-intuitive for a conference built around networking. It is so loud you can’t talk to anybody. So screw it.

I decided to hit the Grand Buffet at the MGM Grand for dinner that evening. Yes, I overate. But, damn was it good. I even picked up a ticket to see Cirque Du Solei Ka at the MGM the next evening.

Fast forward to about 3AM the next morning. Nausea. Vomiting. Living over the toilet and holding a lot of unflattering body positions. Not cool. I was sick as a dog. I got no more sleep because I literally had to get up every 20-30 minutes to puke.

The next day, I was clearly too sick to attend day 2 of Pubcon, so I camped out in my hotel room all day. I “enjoyed” some personal time… just me, the bed, and my hotel toilet. That toilet and I got to be friends.

The only time I stepped out of my hotel room during the day was to walk over to the CVS in front of the Monte Carlo to buy some water. I thought going for a walk might be therapeutic. Well, I ended up throwing up on the street. That went well.

That evening, I was feeling a bit better. Nausea was gone, but I still felt a bit weak and my stomach was fragile. Absolutely zero appetite.

Next day, I was pretty much OK. I had very little appetite. The only thing I wanted was soups. But, I felt good enough to attend a few sessions of Day 3 of Pubcon. I wasn’t worried about being contagious because I’m QUITE sure this was nothing but food poisoning.

So, basically, I flew 2,000 miles just to get sick, puke my guts out, attend barely even half of a conference, and fly home. I was so tired of Vegas that I was just GIDDY to get the hell out of that city and come home.

Now, what about Pubcon? Did I like it?

I have to make an effort not to judge the event in light of what I went through in my hotel room, but I will say that Pubcon is a great conference – IF you are really into search marketing and SEO.

I was under the impression beforehand that it was a more mixed crowd. It really wasn’t. It is a very different crowd than that of a conference like BlogWorld, for instance. At the end of the day, and all sickness aside, I really don’t think Pubcon is worth the trip if you are a blogger. It is too focused on SEO. For that reason, I likely will not attend Pubcon again.

Here is what I learned from my experience:

1. I now know what Pubcon is about and have decided that while it is a great conference for it’s target audience, it wasn’t valuable enough to ME to warrant the trip.
2. Stop abusing my body because it WILL catch up to me.

In fact, I’m using the experience to jumpstart a whole new diet for myself. Perhaps more on that later.