Short introduction, what can you tell us about yourself?
My interest in Search has developed organically (that’s my search ‘gag’) over the last few years through my active involvement with content creation for major digital marketing industry events. This gave me a uniquely objective view of best practice, innovative approaches and also the challenges the industry faces going forwards, which I love to share and discuss with fellow search experts.
What do you expect from search in 2019 and beyond?
Everything I’ve seen and heard over the last few months suggests that the world of search and performance marketing will undergo quite a change in the next few years. Not only the platforms that people are using to search on but also how people are activating search. For example, my children don’t search by typing search queries. They are increasingly having a conversation with their phone to find what they are looking for. Which gets me thinking what an audio search strategy looks like? I recently heard a talk at Google about the role that image will play in search results the coming year. This again suggests the need to develop a more holistic view of what search entails and how we respond to these shifts that are increasingly driven by the changing expectations and demands of the consumers.
Why Friends of Search?
Most special about this event is that it’s being organized by the industry for the industry. The line up is very impressive because the speakers are all practitioners with a fresh perspective. And I love the fact that speakers are only invited to speak at the event once.
You will hear real specialists talk about their work and vision on the domain. Each speaker is really pushed to provide practical takeaways, ideas and advice for the audience which they can put into practice the next day.
The organisation has done their best to get speakers from all over the world to Amsterdam, giving the event a genuinely international vibe. And finally the venue, this right in the middle of Amsterdam on the waterfront giving you the best view on Amsterdam.
What are you looking forward to this year at Friends of Search?
I’m hoping to get new insights into just how much change thought-leaders in the industry are expecting to see and how they are planning for it. So much of digital advertising starts with search so I see this as a chance to get an idea of where the broader ecosystem may be heading in the not too distant future.
Where should visitors most definitely go to at the event?
FoS has a lot of ways to engage with the content and speakers so try and avoid spending all your time in a single space. The one bit of advice I’d give is to keep an eye on the smaller sessions and workshops which take place at the same time as the main stage content and make sure you don’t miss out on content that is particularly applicable to you.