• by Persia Tatar , May 1, 2013

On Sunday through this morning, search experts descended upon Amelia Island for MediaPost’s bi-annual Search Insider Summit for three days of learning and networking in sunny Florida.

I recall the very first MediaPost search summit fondly. It took place seven years ago, in Keystone Colorado when I was a MediaPost newbie and the art and science of search was still emerging. For three days, attendees talked about search marketing technologies and strategies, tackled adventure sports, shared amazing meals and drank way too much. I loved this group of people. They were the adventurers, blazing the trail for Internet marketing while seeking fun all along the way -- they really were the searchers!

Fifteen (oh my!) summits later, I returned to the Search Insider Summit taking place here, and was excited to see some familiar faces: Frank Lee (DataPop), Aaron Goldman (Kenshoo), Rob Griffin (Havas Media), Gus Haviland (Google), Rob Garner (Rob Garner Consulting), Kevin Lee (Didit), Chris Copeland (GroupM Next), Leslie Sloan (Yahoo!) and Roger Barnette (IgnitionOne).   

I was also excited to meet a new crew of people (new to me, not new to the industry) like Doyal Bryant (UBL Interactive), Joe Davidson (Meredith Corporation), Bill Dinan (Telmetrics), Laura Fell (Caterpillar), Margot Herrmann (Revolve Clothing), Jamie Hill (adMarketplace), Laura Landesman (Williams-Sonoma), Kamilah Patterson (Home Depot) and Evan Rutchik (Yieldbot).

From Yahoo! and Google dinner parties to DataPop and Yieldbot cocktail parties there was plenty of food, drinks and sponsored swag (mini robots, plush beach towels and sturdy tote bags). This group still knows how to have fun!

And let’s not forget the prize of a trip to Hawaii from DataPop for the best Google search ad (the stakes are higher seven years later!). I was thrilled to learn that I could write search copy with the best of ‘em, unfortunately my MediaPost employment status disqualified me from the running (natch). 

Three days really do go by fast when you‘re schmoozing in the sun, hitting up the links, wrestling with hammerhead sharks (none were injured!) and “zipping” around the island on Segways, but all good things must come to an end. Or do they? Surely the connections made during all of this bonding will continue on.

In some ways search is still the new kid on the block as the industry dives into local, mobile, social and top level domains…but now this kid has street smarts.

See the full MediaPost conference schedule here and sign-up for a summit, you won't regret it!