I just read an SES NY Recap article from the SearchInsider and I have to say I witnessed the initial remarks regarding the attendance at SES Chicago this past December. I think there are two main reasons SES attendance appears to be down (I have not seen attendance numbers to verify a drop). First as stated in the article, there are several new media events with many dates over lapping. This year during SES Chicago, PubCon an event that has been drawing many of the industries most respected, occurred at the same time. Aside from a preference of one of the events over the other, where would you rather be in December, Chicago or Las Vegas? The second factor (with parts of the first) affecting SES attendance is the loss of Danny Sullivan and his start of SMX. Many people look to Danny as one of the main leaders in the search industry, and for him to no longer be apart of a search conference series - that he was previously extremely involved with - it is going to impact attendance and this becomes even truer when he creates his new conference series. I have never attended an SMX event and I would take that opportunity over SES any day.

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