Going to these things is a lot like a crime scene – the usual suspects are always close by and you know somebody is guilty of something. And so Webmaster Access West returned to the L.A. metro, abandoning Santa Monica, last year’s locale, for Universal City’s tourist attractions and easy access to Hollywood.
The events really got underway Tuesday evening when SmashBucks and Local Billing treated early arrivers and locals to dinners, and the evening devolved into debauchery.
However, the show officially started Wednesday night with the Porn Poker Tour and Warm-up Party warming up the festivities.
Thursday featured the usual slate of seminars and the Free Speech Coalition (FSC) meeting. FSC communications director Tom Hymes divulged the most interesting information of the day during the legal seminar, speaking about the lawsuit the organization filed Thursday challenging Utah’s Child Protection Registry Act, warning webmasters that even those who reside in other countries are still required to comply with the act.
He said the FSC would also challenge a similar law in Michigan when it goes on the books.
On a more disturbing note, Hymes says the organization has gotten word from Washington that the proposed Pence Amendment, which would broadly expand 2257 regulations, is slated to be attached to the bill outlining the new Patriot Act.
Of course, Webmaster Access isn’t all news about attacking your freedoms. Thursday also featured a traffic panel and a newbie panel.
The traffic panel was heavy on TGP-related discussion, featuring Sleazydream, Cybercat’s Mark Galione, and Magnus from Gallery Traffic Service. The wildcards were CJ Traffic’s Marc Womack and Kourosh from Local Billing, who threw some nuggets to the crowd.
After all the big-time SEO specialists, who refused to divulge their secrets to CJ, turned down Womack he took matters into his own hands. “I hired three college graduates in Manila for $200 a month and said start learning about SEO. Three months later they started making some good suggestions,” he says.
Kourosh spoke to the importance of billing and traffic working hand in hand, “Gallery traffic is hot, but billing is the key. Make sure you can bill all your surfers. They don’t all have credit cards.”
For the first time, Webmaster Access also featured breakout sessions after the first two panels, allowing webmasters to talk to the panelists one-on-one. The sessions’ popularity no doubt increased due to the presence of a bar in the breakout room.
The crime scene will remain taped off until tomorrow evening. The suspects have not been apprehended. Stay in your homes people.
