When I had to cancel my plans to speak at ScarySEO, I was bummed. I actually fear speaking to groups. There’s something about the social anxiety and fear of bringing nothing of value to the table that’s simply intimidating.

It doesn’t matter how large or small the group is… It’s simply tough for me to get used to.

I was sitting around a bar Monday night with Eddy, Hunter and Matt before we went over to the Cambridge SEO Meetup Group’s event where I was speaking. Once they convinced me that a stiff Sapphire and Tonic may do me some good, I was good to go.

At the end of the night I was more than happy to have been there. Attendees engaged in conversation and proactively gave one another suggestions and feedback. it was exactly what an SEO meetup is all about. But, I still worried about not having brought enough information, insight or perspective for folks to appreciate.

I just went back to the meetup page though and saw some of these comments…

“ Excellent speaker. Real world experience that relates to what I do on a daily basis. ”
Todd Greenwood

“ I thought the presentation by Eric Lander was informative and certainly worthwhile. I am new to the SEO space so some of the allusions to php coding was a bit above my head, but I actually got most of the content. I also liked the interaction with the audience. I learned a lot from the questions being asked and liked the relaxed and open atmosphere of the meeting. ”
Claude Pelanne

“ The speaker was excellent. He dismissed some old myths about how to do SEO and told us clearly how to modify our web sites to generate more business.
Jerry Shapiro

“ Another excellent meeting and discussion. The speaker was excellent and full of unique insights. The ensuing discussions resulted in some excellent knowledge sharing and fruitful interaction. The networking component was excellent with good exchange of contacts and information. ”
Kiril Stefan Alexandrov

“ It was my first time, and being someone who is just getting to know SEO it was great! I took a ton of notes so that I could read more about the things that I did not know. The open forum was great because real world problems were discussed and advice was given from the guest speaker and the more experienced audience. Overall, I thought it was a great meeting. Well orchestrated. ”
Joshua Brown

Seriously guys? I owe you a tremendous amount of thanks.  Last Monday night was exactly what I needed on so many levels. Anytime you’d like for us Rhode Islanders to join you again, you let us know. :)