Interactive Session Formats

1) Discussion Rounds: BEST ADVICE EVER

You are surrounded by fellow search experts, and there is no better place to discuss and share our common problems. Off the record, and in a small group. These are your people – they understand your situation. Often rated the best part of the event, sharing your problems with like-minded professionals is your path to answers, a little empathy, and a stronger professional network. Come prepared with an issue you are facing, a problem you are solving, or a question that needs answering. And then, be ready and willing to help others to overcome their challenges.

How to register: The discussion rounds are taking place during the (extra long) lunch break on the first conference day and last 30 minutes each. We recommend you register (no additional costs) before the conference for the round you would like to secure a place for. If more people apply than we have spaces, we will raffle off the places in the respective discussion round. Preregistration is possible until March 6. We will inform all attendees by March 10, 2025 which discussion rounds they are registered for. If you missed preregistration or didn’t get confirmation for your choice, feel free to stop by. If a place becomes available, we will of course accommodate you.

Topics

Focus PPC (March 18, 12:25 – 12:55 pm) – Saal 3

1) Breaking Down PMAX: Strategies for Better Control and Transparency

2) AI-Powered PPC: Automating Challenges

3) Maximizing Performance in Limited-Budget Campaigns

4) The Future of Search Ads in a Cookieless World

5) PPC Best Practices

Focus SEO (March 18, 1:00 – 1:30 pm)  – Saal 3

1) Technical SEO Challenges

2) SEO Reporting That Gets Buy-In From Leadership

3) Gen AI for SEO

4) SEO B2B Challenges and Solution

5) Guiding your team (and yourself) through stressful time.

2) Immersive Deep Dives

Immersive Deep Dives are extended, hands-on, 2 hour sessions to collaboratively tackle real-world challenges. Rather than following predefined steps, you’ll uncover solutions through dynamic group interaction. Each session is centred around real-life case studies, with a facilitator to ensure guidance, focus, and structure.

Move beyond traditional sessions and workshops to a deeper level of engagement. You’re not passively learning, but actively applying knowledge in a mutual, outcome-driven setting. The focus is on practical application, offering a safe space to experiment with new strategies and approaches.

How to register: The Immersive Deep Dives are open to all SMX attendees at no extra cost, but spots are limited (12 per session). If more people apply than available spaces, spots will be allocated via a raffle.

To ensure fair participation, we kindly ask you to apply only if the topic aligns with your expertise. We recommend registering in advance (at no additional cost) before the conference. Preregistration is open until March 6, and all applicants will be informed by March 10, 2025, whether they have secured a spot.

If you miss preregistration or do not receive confirmation, feel free to stop by on the day. Should a spot become available, we will do our best to accommodate you.

Immersive Deep Dive: When Your PPC Campaign Goes off the Rails (March 19, 11.10 am – 12:45 pm) – Saal 21 (2nd floor)

Who can apply: PPC Professionals
Maximum participants: 10
Your guide: Jyll Saskin Gale

Imagine this: A Brand Search campaign you’d been running for years at a consistent 4-5x ROAS suddenly drops and becomes unprofitable. What would you do?

This Immersive Deep Dive puts you on a team of 10 PPC professionals to solve this case, a real case, a tricky case.

So let’s get to work:
What happened with this client?
What’s your hypotheses?
How would you go about testing?
Can you find out what ultimately happened to this client?
How can you fix it?

You need to bring your best problem-solving skills and your laptop. You have just under three hours to work out, together, what’s going on and what to do.

Guiding you through this Immersive Deep Dive is Jyll Saskin Gale. Jyll worked at Google for 6 years, has an MBA from Harvard Business School, and currently teaches at Google for Startups, Camp Tech, Jelly Academy, boutique agencies, Fortune 100 companies and her own “Inside Google Ads” and “Google Ads for Beginners” courses. She also hosts the Inside Google Ads podcast.

After this Immersive Deep Dive you will have not only learned new approaches for fixing common account issues, but you will also have solved a very difficult case. This will help you to establish yourself as the ultimate PPC Problem Solver at your company. And you also will have made some valuable contacts.