The Search Congress in Barcelona has been a truly interesting experience. Organized by my good friend Ouali Benmeziane, the Search Congress not only has been the first Spanish search marketing event in Barcelona (all events tend to concentrate in Madrid), but also the first event in a roadshow series that is already aiming at hitting Valencia later on this year with Search Congress Valencia – and I already signed up for it, of course!

The location and the fluid organization were not the only reasons for which the Search Congress Barcelona has been a refreshing experience to me, after being a conference speakers across three continents. The format has been interesting, too – with keynotes, round tables, speaking panels, workshop area, game corners, and of course night parties like only the Spaniards…. pardon, the Catalans, can throw. Nice.

And, even for an hard core conference animal like me, it has been though to go through an entire day of conference moderation (day two), but it has been definitely worthy to get to know the real online issues of the audience.

The top vote on the Search Congress definitely goes to the people – kudos to the organization team and of course to all the fellow speakers and moderators, but top kudos to the audience! Very attentive, very reactive and, also thanks to my new (perhaps a little aggressive but definitely engaging) moderation style, very participative. Well done, chicos y chicas! You all made the Search Congress a step ahead in what I consider the top value in industry events, the knowledge sharing side!

Final kudos of course to my good friends Guillermo Vilarroig and Fernando Maciá, both Co-Chairs of SEMPO Spain, for bringing the Spanish SEMPO Working Group in force and with a formal presence to the Search Congress Barcelona – and of course also for having a good time together! For this I also have to thank Ismael el Qudsi, one of the top leaders of the Spanish search industry and also a good friend (hi Ismael!). If you are curious to discover the people at Search Congress Barcelona, go check the photo album on Flickr.com!

Yes, my moderation style is probably aggressive – but my keynote presentation couldn’t be less… =)

I aimed at positively provoke a change in attitude, asking the marketers in the house to drop their online and offline marketing stereotypes, to open their eyes to realize what the new social web is, while motivating them to acquire a new mindset, and a new strategic approach not only to search and social media marketing, but to the foundation of the new marketing as a whole.

Enough said, here is my presentation, straight out the Search Congress Barcelona – enjoy and please feel free to comment, either here or on Slideshare, where the presentation is obviously shared.

To all my Spanish (and Catalan) friends – see you soon, maybe SMX Madrid this summer?

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