No longer speaking at events

During my closing keynote at Affiliate Summit I announced that it would be my last time speaking. This marks the 50th time I have spoken in the SEO/Affiliate industry and it's time to hang it up. This led to a barrage of questions on Twitter, Facebook, and emails. So I thought I would address the main ones here.

Are you going to continue to attend events where you used to speak?

Yes I will always attend Affiliate Summit and AdTechs for sure. These are must attend events for anyone in the space. I also like to attend the TechCrunch and Demo events. If you have not been to one of these events I highly recommend it.

Why are you not speaking anymore at events?

Here is the deal. When I speak I like to put a lot into it. I am not a professional speaker. Well I shouldn't say that cause I have been paid and comped to speak... so if that qualifies me as a professional then so be it. Anyway I see a lot of people who give the same presentation and several events year after year. I have never done that... ever... In fact I never even look at previous talks when I make a new one. So reason number one is a time issue. My kids are 3 and 5 now and I just can't spend the day working on projects then come how and bust it out on my talk and stuff. The biggest reason is that I REALLY love to meet people in the expo hall. Don't get me wrong there is a lot of value in seeing speakers but most of the speakers at this point for me I know pretty well and could call/email them if I wanted to talk to them. When I do a talk I spend a LOT of time in my room practicing. After evolving from a panelist to a solo to a keynote speaker each level requires a lot more investment of time and preparation. For 7 years I have maintained a pretty good photo gallery on my site. One that people really enjoy using. But if you look at the last 5 or 6 events there are no photos. This is because I just have not had time. But I really want to do that again. That was one of the reasons I started this blog was to chronicle my experiences. So to directly answer the question the main reason is so that I can spend more time meeting new people and networking in the expo hall.

Does this mean you wont do private speaking anymore where you go into companies and talk?

No I still do that. Is there any circumstances where you would speak again at an event. Well never say never. But I doubt it. I would probably do it if someone was to make a sizable donation to charity or something (10k+).