SES NYC: You Get to Ask Jason Calacanis the Questions

By Li Evans

Remember back in January when I asked the question Why Jason Calacanis for a Third Time at SES?  Well it seems that the kind folks at Search Engine Strategies were listening to us Search Marketers.  How is that you wonder?  Well let me explain.

While in London, I had a conversation with some of the people responsible for programming SES.  Kevin Ryan had read that post and asked "What If Search Marketers Could Ask the Questions for Calacanis at SES NYC?"  What a great idea, I thought!

So, Search Marketing Gurus will be the vehicle that will drive most of the questions during the Calacanis keynote.  We will collect the questions here until 8 p.m. EST - 5 p.m. PST on Thursday March 13th.

There is a few stipulations with submitting questions, so please 'follow the rules':

1. You cannot ask "Jason why are you such an jerk?" or any other type of questions along those lines.  That means, no "why are you a "*insert any other derogatory comment here*?" type questions, and also no "why do you think SEO is bullshit" questions.
   
   I know, I know - where's the fun in that, right?  Well folks, we all know why he is what he is, and why he thinks what he does - he's said it 3 times before.  That being said, lets get creative with this and really ask some tough questions that might make him show his "true" depth of knowledge of this industry!
   
   *Why do you think SEO is Bullshit - why do I say, don't ask that question?  Well that will be asked, we just don't want 50 questions all coming in asking that same thing!
2. Don't post your questions in the comments.  Email them to searchmarketinggurus -a-t- gmail DOT com and put in the subject"Calacanis Keynote Question".
   
   Why?  Well, we don't want J.C. to be prepared, plain and simple we want this to be a unique experience for both him and the audience.
   
   
   
3. When you email, let us know if you want us to state whom the question is from.
   
   We want to give credit where credit is due, but of course if you'd rather ask anonymously, we will still consider the question for the keynote.

If Jason Calacanis is going to park his butt on that stage again at another Search Engine Strategies, why should his hour there be cakewalk like it was the past two times, and not to mention the additional hour a week ago at affiliate summit?  Isn't it time, we as an industry ask this guy some serious questions, instead of letting him slide by with calling our industry "bullshit" and push Mahalo?

* ok, Danny's got a point - it wasn't a total cakewalk when Danny had him on stage (but I don't think Danny expected the F bomb to be dropped nor SEO to be called bullshit).  My point is, is if they want Calacanis on stage, and they are giving us the opportunity, why not hold this man's feet to the fire a little more?  I know there's some great questions out there - I've heard them in conversations!

Come on, send in your question!  I know there's quite a few out there, send the on in! 

Remember send the questions into searchmarketinggurus -a-t- gmail DOT com, put in the subject "Calacanis Keynote Question".

Comments

[Danny Sullivan]

Didn't feel I cake walked him the first time, Li :)

I know some people wanted me to open a can of whoop-ass on Jason when he first keynoted SES Chicago 2006 because of his anti-SEO remarks then. I kept the whoop-ass contained, but I did raise the questions.

Agreed you shouldn't ask derogatory things. But seriously, no one gets to ask why he might think SEO is bullshit? C'mon -- you don't know if his views on that have changed (in some ways, I suspect, you'll find they have).

Understand what you're trying to do in limiting the questions, but if you're going to open it up, open it up. It would be interesting if you posted all the questions you receive, then let people vote on what they want asked.

[Li Evans]

Good call Danny. I've edited the post, and pointed out that you have a point. :)

Reason why I put up the NO "Why do you think SEO is bullshit" question, is because we'll get 50 of those Danny! LOL That's an EASY one, and one that will be asked, we just want people to think about good, decent questions to be asked.

As for the voting, good idea! I guess it's weighing whether we want JC to be totally prepared, or we want more "gut reaction" answers. That one I'll have to go back to Kevin & crew about.

[Catfish]

Danny let me say that I have a lot of respect for you. But I was there and I felt you gave him a free pass. This guy is not only a pompous jerk who is in love with himself, but he has no idea what SEO is, the challenges that many companies face in implementing even the easiest of SEO recommendations, or the potential ROI that companies can achieve by just following these best practices. I could go on and on for days about how much I dislike this guy, but I was really disappointed that I paid as much as I did to have to endure his ridiculous speech. Although, admittedly I walked out near the end because I just couldn't stomach hearing this idiot speak anymore. But please Danny, no more jerks at SES. We pay too much money to hear people who don't know what they are talking about promote their own lame products, which was all his appearance was designed to do. It certainly didn't inspire me as a good keynote speaker should.

[Danny Sullivan]

Catfish, just to be clear, I don't have anything to do with SES anymore. I'm completely disconnected from that series. I work on my own SMX conference series now.