This month, the SEO community gathered in Toronto for SEO IRL 2025 on October 16th and 17th. This was my third time attending, but this year was completely different. This time, I wasn’t just in the audience – I was on stage giving my first-ever conference speech.
I was actually invited to speak at Brighton SEO 2024 in San Diego by Kelvin Newman, but for personal reasons, I had to cancel at the last minute. I was so disappointed to miss that opportunity, which made me even more excited and grateful for the chance to speak at SEO IRL this time.
My First-Time Speaking: A Live Demo on What I Love
To say it was a milestone for me is an understatement. My passion has always been about creating tools and solutions that fill gaps in our industry, things that don’t exist anywhere else. That’s exactly why I chose my talk: “Scalable Keyword Clustering and Content Briefs with Python and AI.”
I wanted to share the exact methodologies and processes I’ve built. Because it was my first time speaking at a conference, the stress was real. To make things even more exciting, I decided to do a live demo of the entire process. It was the kind of presentation where anything could break at any moment, but I’m thrilled to say it all went ahead really well.
One of the most incredible moments for me was right at the start. I asked the crowd, “How many of you are using my extensions?” The number of hands that went up was beyond my wildest expectations. It was a fantastic feeling. The demos also ran smoothly, and I’m happy to share a link to the process I demonstrated right here.
The 10-Step Process I Shared
Here is a photo from my session. It shows me on stage with the slide detailing the 10-step process I shared for creating content clusters and content briefs from a raw list of input keywords and their search volume.
The Incredibly Rewarding Community Response
Beyond the talk itself, the response from the community was truly rewarding. It was amazing to connect with so many people after I stepped off the stage. Many came up to me to say thank you for the extensions and other tools I’ve created for the community. Moments like that are the biggest reward, and it fuels my passion to keep building.
Connecting with the Industry’s Best
One of the best parts of any conference is the people. This year, I had the chance to speak with some of the greatest minds in our industry, people I’ve admired for a long time, like Jean-Christophe Chouinard, Aleyda Solis, Kevin Indig, and many more. It was fantastic to exchange ideas and get their perspectives.
While at the event, I also had the opportunity to sit down with Manick Bhan to record a podcast for Search Atlas. It was another great experience getting to dive deep into SEO topics.
The night after my speech, I had the honor of having dinner with an incredible group. Sitting at the table with Aleyda Solis, Steve Toth, Ross Simonds, and Kevin Indig was a personal highlight. We were chatting about the industry, sharing ideas, and just connecting as peers. Being to able to talk with such great minds in a relaxed setting was fantastic and truly inspiring.
Gratitude and Looking to the Future
I have to give a huge shout-out to Steve Toth. The main reason I was invited to speak was that Steve saw my extensions and felt I had something valuable to share with the community. He gave me this opportunity, and I’m incredibly grateful for it.
I also want to send a special thanks to Karla Zamora. She helped so much with all the communications before and during the event, making sure everything was smooth and looked good. Her support was a huge help.
This whole experience has been amazing. I love sharing my ideas and methodologies with the SEO community, and I truly hope I get the chance to speak at more conferences in the future.
Thank you to everyone who joined my session. I hope you liked it!