What a place to be.  SO much to learn.  SO many sessions I’d love to see going on simultaneously.  SO many kind, influential, and down to earth people.

Highlights from Day 1:

Emerging with Emerging Media, Panel

This talk definitely woke me back up to looking at the business world with less apprehensive eyes.  I’ve tried in weeks past to look at business in general with the most child-like perspective possible to see opportunity.  This 45 min reminded me that you have to ignore record stores and observe emerging trends to create a product like iTunes.

Opening Remarks, Tony Hsieh

I’m partially reminded and partially reinforced by Tony’s keynote on building a company through culture and making less efficient choices for the greater value of your organization.

Just a few of Zapppos.com Top 10 Drivers:

• Deliver WOW through Service
• Embrace and Drive change
• Create fun and a little weirdness
• Be adventurous creative and open-mindness
• Pursue growth

There were particularly interesting parts of his talk where he described specific instances where he made choices for exceptional customer service that impacted his bottom line.  Choices included operating his distribution center 24/7 to distribute products ‘real time,’ surprise upgrading existing customers with overnight shipping, and not locking down his call center to metrics like, ‘call time’ and ‘customers served,’ to enable them to really serve customers.

Change V2, Dr. Lawrence Lessig

After circulated enough on the conference circuit, it takes quite a bit to really shock you.  There are a lot of polished presenations, great public speakers, and lenghts people will go to for a good impression.  Dr. Lessig presented Change V2.  It was the most impressive thing I’ve seen since a keynote with Guy Kawasaki last August.

Dr. Lessig bleeds credibility and presents a very thoughtful, stimulating slide presentation.  Defying the Kawasaki conventions for presentation, Lessig speaks to a few hundred slides that truly help him deliver his points to his listeners in a most effective fashion.  You see slides with 1-10 words, many of which add to or modify the previous slide.  It was great brain food.

A main takeaway for a guy that works in media:   The existence of advertising breeds mistrust…

Awesome Networking

I’m really not one to name drop, so I won’t.  But Matt Browne is introducing me to internet celebrities that I didn’t even know were celebrities.  A lot of these people deserve their own flavor of stardom…and get it.

A few of the highlights:

10:45-11:30am Thursday – Mastering PPC
As a speaker and a moderator, Terrence Thomas, EVP at Education Dynamics, always brings a lot of perspective and excitement to a group.  This session was no exception.  From including key topics like saturation, multi-variant testing, and account status, to inciting a debate on quality score, the session was valuable for everyone in attendance.

11:30-12:15pm Thursday – Landing Pages that Convert
If you asked, “Luke, who was the happiest person at LeadsCon?” I would have to tell you it was Tim Ash of SiteTuners.com.  This guy just beams.  As a panelist, Tim brought a lot of value to the discussion by not only going through the tactical elements of landing pages, but also weaving those points into the much larger strategic picture.  I don’t have the quote exactly, you will have to read his book to get it, but he described the formula for disaster which most marketers today employ. For every $5 of develoment, spend $95 in advertising….Try balancing the equation for more fruitful results.

Guy Kawasaki, Managing Director, Garage Technology Ventures – Art of Innovation

Doug Lebda, CEO of Tree.com  – What’s Next in Online Lead Generation

Mara Fineschriber, Director of Marketing, Western Governors University – How to Attract and Keep the Right Students

Terrance Thomas, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development, Education Dynamics – Techniques and Strategies for Increasing Enrollment

Craig McGuinn, General Manager, Ward Media, Inc. – Integrate the Phone into Your Online Marketing

I can’t quite say enough about my first trip to the Googleplex. I have a new found amount of geek envy.

From robots that play soccer, to green screens, to twenty foot long candy bars, to enough glow in the dark glasses and flower headbands to make the plex visible from space, they really put on a good show.

It was a great time, and I can only hope to attend the 2009 show.

I was amazed to hear Tim O’Reilly speak – I couldn’t have more respect for someone I just heard speak. During the keynote address, he encouraged the entire audience to caution their own commercial interests, and work toward developing applications that had the power to change the world, not just their pockets. Google was created by two guys who said, “I want to index the world’s information and let it be searched for free.”

He also encouraged the audience to be beacons of real information and to ensure we were talking about web 2.0 the right way. If you are happening to wonder what exactly that means, feel free to read What is Web 2.0.

From Web 2.0 Expo