I’m here to help your internal debate on attending a LocalU Advanced event to gain local search, SEO, social and other online marketing knowledge. Maybe you have seen the #LocalU hastag on Twitter explode from one of our events or heard others talk about it, but here is a short list of five things to help you make your decision.
1. It’s like a family. And you are part of it.
LocalU Advanced events are a small and intimate setting. With 50 to 75 attendees maximum at each event and 7 to 10 presenters it’s a tight group with a lot of interaction. Our pre-event mixer the night before allows you to easily connect with attendees and LocalU faculty and speakers one on one.
I see it every time we host this mixer, people have the look at their face like “We really are just going to hang out with some food and drink for a few hours and talk about anything?” I’ve made the comparison that it’s more like a tailgating party. The LocalU RV rolls up, out come the coolers and the fun begins!
It’s awesome, it’s real and connections are made.
2. You will learn A LOT.
With six Advanced events in the books and dozens of basic Local University events, we have a lot of feedback. The feedback is overwhelmingly positive, almost epic. It’s not magic, we have caring and talented LocalU faculty that work hard to create, organize and deliver our presentations to make a difference.
Many attendees comment on the USB drive loaded with all the presentations is worth the event fee alone. The presenters bring so much more to the table than the slides offer and the Q&A sessions offer even more insight (more on that later).
Our events feature a great panel of local search and online experts that are highly respected and open. Advanced events also feature a presentation and Q&A session from a Google+ Local team member giving you access that you won’t get at another event.
3. Great beer.
We’re lucky to have our own resident beer snob in David Mihm so our pre-event mixer always has a great beer selection. While we will have a variety of “water beers” you can count on a great selection of great pale ales, local flavors and unique brews.
Our Advanced event in Philadelphia had Susquehanna Hopfive IPA, Roy Pitz Best Blonde Ale, Yuengling Lager, and Clown Shoes White Ale just to name a few. Serious beer.
4. You get local search answers because we are here for local search questions.
As search marketers we know it’s all about the outcome. You will find our faculty and presenters to be available at all times during the event. The pre-event mixer allows a casual format to discuss strategy, tactics, life or what ever you want.
Our event day offers specific Q&A sessions that allow attendees to ask very specific questions to what pains them in local search, SEO, social and more. Built into our format in the afternoon is a mix of roundtables and lab sessions that offer even more interaction and time to address very specific ideas, problems and outcomes.
After the event, we often have another social mixer and that offers even more time to get one-on-one time with experts and other attendees.
The value of discussion and answers is so high it’s why we launched the LocalU Forums, so please join us there.
5. You will want to come back. (That’s our goal!)
Our goal is to make you a repeat offender. It’s always awesome and humbling to see attendees multiple times at various places around the country. Having attendees hit SMX in Seattle to see us, then Baltimore, New York or Philadelphia is so gratifying.
It also speaks to the fact that our content evolves over time as it should. There are many pillars to local search and SEO that change little, but every event offers new ideas, tactics and learning areas.
Give Us One Shot
The LocalU faculty wants to see you at our next Advanced event. Give us the opportunity to bring our passion, knowledge and connections to you and we promise you’ll walk away a better online marketer. We’ll then try to make that happen again and again for you.
