This past Monday I had the privilege to attend the first ever SEOmoz Training Seminar and Presentation by Rand Fishkin. A client, biz partner and friend of mine, Slingshot, flew in from Indiana on Sunday to attend the event with me. Personally I had a blast and loved the small attendee format, which gave everyone a chance to mingle with Rand, other Mozzers and each other without feeling like you had to “wait in line.”

On Sunday, after picking up Slingshot from the airport, we headed down to the Metropolitan Cafe’ to take advantage of Carlos’ Pre-Funk invite. There weren’t many that attended the pre-funk, but it was still great to get some time to know him a little more and pick his brain (he’s a really brilliant landing page optimizer who got second in the SEOmoz landing page design contest).

After a few drinks on Sunday, we woke up the following day and headed down to UW for the Training Seminar (started at 9am). The event itself was held in a lecture hall on University of Washington’s campus that had the capacity for about 100+ attendees. Literally every seat was filled, but I got there early enough to grab one on the plush couches that lined the walls of the hall, lucky me! There was coffee and donuts for all the attendees, thanks Mozzers.

Once all the seats were filled and everyone had their fill of coffee/donuts, Rand kicked off the show with An Introduction to Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Algorithms. Much of this portion of the presentation was review for me, but there was great insight and information for any search marketer, whether beginner or advanced. I can always find a few gems of knowledge, even for topics I have researched to death.

After the quick Intro to SEM and Algos, Rand discussed Best Practices for Search Engine Friendly Design, How-to properly conduct Keyword Research, How-to properly Target Keywords and wrapped up with Content Creation Strategies and ideas. I was impressed by how much Rand shared on these topics. A lot of it he has been talking about on the blog for years, but much of the presentation was updated to include newer strategies, ideas, insights and valuable knowledge geared towards helping site owners, webmasters and marketers improve in important areas.

The second half of the day was dedicated to Social Media, Blogging and finally a discussion on Analytics. After each session, Rand opened up the floor for QandA, giving all attendees the chance to ask specific questions about specific topics or their own sites. Not only did Rand open up the floor for questions, but he also encouraged the audience to ask questions during the presentation, which I have found to be a hard thing to do in past presentations I have done. Rand did an excellent job managing all his content, keeping track of time on each subject and giving enough time for attendees to get their questions in. At the very end, he opened up the floor yet again for anyone to ask questions about any topic of search marketing.

My favorite part of the event was, of course, the AFTERPARTY. SEOmoz held the afterparty at Jillians, a fun bar, game room and restaurant. They offered drinks, unlimited video games and great food, including a burger bar, nachos, wings and all the trimmings. My girlfriend even got to go, thanks Scott!

Recap of Events in Pro & Con Format:

The Pros:

• Great breakfast (coffee/donuts)
• Awesome Lunch (pizza)
• Great presentation
• Awesome content
• Began and Ended on time
• Little Self-promotion
• THE AFTERPARTY

The Cons:

• Too much review and beginner discussion
• A few technical difficulties

Overall, I had a really good time and learned a lot at the first ever SEOmoz Training Seminar. I would personally like to thank Rand (who for some reason thinks I look like a Chris), the Mozzers (especially Gillian and Scott) and everyone else who attended the event (Carlos, Nik, Ken, Eric and Jesse). I’ll be sure to fill out the survey and get it back to you with my feedback.

I want to thank Slingshot for visiting Washington and going to the seminar with me, I had fun man! Finally, I want to thank my girlfriend, Amber, for being so patient with me and understanding during the whole weekend and event.

P.S. If you guys ever track down my name tag, send it over will ya? I collect them from every event I go to, and would love to add one from yours.