Visiting Google's offices in London, UK
On the 15th June 2010 I was one of the 60 or so Adsense publishers lucky enough to be invited up to the Google offices in London for an Adsense optimisation event called "Growing your business with Adsense". Yep, I was the one wandering around the Google that day sporting my lovely name badge with "KENNETH BRUNTON - www.weeklygripe.co.uk". I seriously doubt if anyone will remember me or my website though! We're just not that important. For me it was a bit of a dream come true, I mean let's face it we've all heard the stories about the Google offices and to actually get to go and see them for myself was quite unbelievable.
I started my day at around 4.00am, which was necessary as I had booked a return bus ticket to London and the only one that could get me into London for 9.00am left Coventry at 5.30am. As if this wasn't bad enough I still had to get to Coventry bus station, and with no public transport that early the only option was to get on my bike and cycle the 5 miles or so from Bedworth. Still, I got to witness a beautiful dawn and the roads were nice and quiet. The bus, when I boarded it was pretty full with very few spare seats and I couldn't help but wonder if any of these people were going to the same event as me.
Arriving in London at just after 8.00am. The Google offices are in Belgrave House, just off Buckingham Palace Road and as it happens just around the corner from the coach station so I had plenty of time to spare. I decided to stomp around Victoria a bit and kill some time posting on Google Buzz and marvelling at all the busy commuters and tourists. I must say that I was very surprised that there were so few (hardly any at all) Buzz posts around the Google offices. One would have thought that someone there would be using their own social software.
Did I look as nervous and as in awe as I felt?
I stayed away until about ten to nine at which point I thought I'd better get in there just in case it was really busy. For some reason or other I was expecting hundreds of people but there appeared to only be a few dozen people inside the high ceilinged airy reception area. Off to the right I could see a Google Adsense temporary desks where a number of young ladies were taking details and handing out what appeared to be name cards. I duly told them who I was, was ticked off a list and given a name card with my website address on it. After a few more minutes a large group of us were escorted to the elevators and taken up a few floors, but don't ask me to which one, because by then I was already experiencing sensory overload trying to take everything in. I had to keep checking out the other publishers who were part of the group. Was I dressed to casually for the occasion? Did I look as nervous and as in awe as I felt? I had opted for jeans, bebops and my news demon t-short. Perhaps not the most thought out dress code but we seemed to be a diverse bunch ranging from suits, shirts, trousers down to my level, the jeans and t-shirt brigade. I decided to dismiss any further worries about how I was dressed and just enjoy the day.
We were led from the elevators through to what appeared to be some sort of recreation area. I vaguely remember seeing bean bags and some sort of football thing with goal posts before we passed through a cafeteria area. This in itself was quite awesome, so many sights and smells along with the Googlers milling about carrying trays of food. We were led to a partitioned off area set aside for the Adsense event. There were plenty of fresh coffee juices, danish pastries, cold salad and croissants to dig into whilst we waited for things to get going. Coffee was something my body craved more than air by this time and a couple of sweet pastries went down well too. The welcome breakfast was a pretty unstructured affair with lots of people milling around introducing themselves, a camera crew were on hand and members of the Adsense team were gradually working through the group introducing themselves.
A quick summary of the actual content of the day. I won't go into detail here because it's relevant mainly to people who use Adsense and the point of this article is to convey what it felt like to visit the Google offices for the day. The main point of the event was to help Adsense publishers grow their business. The format was a series of slides covering the new Adsense interface, top optimisation tips, Analytics and DFP small business. There was also a breakout section tailored to the specific needs of Adsense Publishers (our group was printed on our name tags). In my case I stayed behind for the Adsense for Search session. Towards the end there was also a talk from a chap called Nigel Powel who had become very successful thanks to the Adsense Programme. Just after lunch I had a brief opportunity to speak with him and it turns out he started out only a few months before me and could recall a similar feeling when his website first started earning.
I'm going to stop dead in my tracks at this point and mention something that's really important. I'm absolutely lousy with names and faces. In fact I'm so bad that if I didn't see myself in the mirror every morning I'd probably forget what I look like and fail to recognise myself in photos. Luckily my name is embossed on the back of my pyjamas so I'm covered on that one. The many Google employees I met that day were both charming and knowledgeable, but for the life of my I can only just about remember a few first names so please forgive me if I can't give you a run down on who's who. I had to refer to the slides to remember Nigel's surname. The event was a week ago so I am writing this from memory and I can tell you this much, when you hit forty things tend to slip away quite quickly, probably not helped by the fact there was so much to take in anyway.
One name did stick in my mind though and that was one Eve Andersson. She did a presentation on Google Analytics, something I was already very familiar with, but it was nice to see someone else's website under the spotlite. Eve's floor time captivated my attention not least because she portrayed the human qualities that many publishers possibly don't associate with Google or the Adsense team. Google to many can be a bit of a faceless organisation, particularly if you are experiencing problems with a product and need help. The Analytics session would have perhaps dispelled that image as Eve somewhat nervously took us on a tour the reports for her blog and showed us how the tool could be used to gain an insight into our visitors and where they come from.
I mentioned earlier on that there were cameras around and yes, I did manage to get my coupon (Scottish expression) in front of the lens with the big furry microphone nearby. They probably won't use that though because I was really terrible. Two questions were all I had to answer but under those lights it's a completely different thing all together. "What has Adsense enabled me to do?" Well work for myself of course and quit my old day job. That was easy. "What does my Adsense space mean to me" Errr... what does that question mean? I think it was around then that I started to waffle and look shifty. Never mind. I'll get more practice at this stuff as time goes on. Did I mention that I was on BBC Radio Newcastle talking about The Weekly Gripe one morning? Nope? Well there it is. I probably should not mention I was also lying in bed at the time when I did the interview. I was relaxed for that one all right, but this time round the hammock at Google was occupied so I had to do my piece standing up.
Lunch at Google was every bit as spectacular as the welcome breakfast. Their chef had gone to town and prepared a buffet of various types off finger food, from little roast beef sandwiches, seafood, salad to an assortment of cakes and sweets. Some of this stuff I couldn't even identify so I decided to stick to what I know and hit the aforementioned sandwiches and cakes. I can only imagine how difficult it must be for Google employees to keep the pounds off. I vaguely remember reading something that said Googlers should never be more than 100 yards from a snack. All I can say is. Wow!
Enjoying a few nibbles and mingling was yet another opportunity to chat to like minded people that earn a living the same way I do. For me this was as much a part of the visit as the slide-show and the talks. At one point I found myself in a deep conversation about Android with a young chap who was currently a student, but using Adsense on his tech blog to supplement his lifestyle. This got me thinking later. Wouldn't it be great if there was some sort of Adsense publisher's convention? It's a good opportunity to do some networking and share experiences. Who knows, perhaps we could learn something from each other and earn more money or ourselves and Google?