It all began with a judgmental cabbie and a striptease. To be fair, I'm not really from Kansas like I told that cabbie. [I was born there, I live and work about 3 minutes from the state line, but really, it was just easier to tell people I was from Kansas because most people don't know that most of Kansas City is in Missouri. Plus, I was trying to emphasize the flatness--Kansas is way flatter than Missouri.]

Digression aside, SMX Advanced in Seattle was my first conference. I was scared. Not just scared, but terrified.

While the sessions reinforced to me that I do know a thing or two about search marketing, the networking left me feeling frazzled and frightened. It seemed like everyone knew at least one person, while I was on my own--seeking solace in my laptop and its connection to home. Indeed, I skipped not just the MSN party, but the Yahoo! and Google shindigs (I very nearly skipped the SEOmoz party but knew I’d regret that more than anything else.) I only visited 2 booths in the expo hall –-one of which I’m infinitely glad I did because I really love playing with that colorful little Bruce Clay toy. I wonder though, am I the only person who felt awkward about attending alone, without even an online friend to meet?

I’m known for being bubbly, vivacious, and affable. I showed none of that last week in Seattle. That, I truly regret.

While the reviews have been mainly positive based on Q & A’s, food, and *shock* networking, as someone who only really partook of two, I still say the first SMX show was a success. (They had me at cranberry scones.)

I sincerely hope that things will be very different at my next conference, hence the motivation of even writing this. I don’t want to be the wallflower “from Kansas.” I feel like I missed out on something huge and I was right there in the middle of it the entire time.