OK, baileyone-ga. Time to get this show on the road.
I?ll get to actual search strategies in a moment. But first, a quick
clarification about the internet (to the extent that *anything* can be
clarified when it comes to the internet).
Your comments mentioned that you want to search Google and also search
the internet. However, Google does exactly that -- searches the
internet. There is no need for separate strategies. There are other
search engines such as AltaVista or Yahoo! Search which also search
the internet. They all do a very good job. I?ll describe search
strategies using Google as an example, but other search engines will
do nicely as well, in case you want to explore other options.
The area where you *should* have separate searches is in searching
websites vs searching news sources. Google handles these
separately...more on that below.
Before rating the answer I?ve provided here, please let me know if
there is anything about it that is unclear, or if you simply need
additional information. Just post a Request for Clarification to let
me know how I can help you further, and I will be happy to do so.
Happy Googling!
pafalafa-ga
==========
Let?s say you?re searching for the following event:
-----
The Current Status and Future Trends in Technobabble
Thursday and Friday, June 24-25, 2004
Omni Carlton Ritzy Schmitzy Hotel
San Francisco, CA
-----
The first thing to do is copy JUST THE TITLE of the meeting:
[ The Current Status and Future Trends in Technobabble ]
and paste it lock, stock and barrel into the Google search box at:
://www.google.com/
Google is very good at recognizing the names of things, and vaulting
matching names to the top of their search results. If there are web
pages containing the exact phrase, or something very close to:
The Current Status and Future Trends in Technobabble
most of the time they will show up in the very first few search results.
Next, conduct the very same search at Google News:
http://news.google.com/
This will search millions of recent news articles and press releases
for the conference of interest.
If you have the exact name of the meeting, most of the time these two
simple searches will do the trick -- either the results will appear at
the top of the search results page, or there isn?t much out there on
the internet about this particular meeting.
It?s pretty easy, actually.
===========
However, there are times when you may want to try a more sophisticated search:
--If a conference with the same name is repeated at different times
and you?re having trouble pinning down the latest one;
--If a conference with the same name is repeated at different places
and you?re having trouble pinning down the one in the city of interest
to you;
--If the name of the meeting is a bit too generic (e.g. ?Information Strategies?);
--If the meeting goes by several names, and is not showing up in search results.
If the conference is one that repeats itself from year to year, it?s a
good idea to add the year of the meeting you?re interested in to the
search box:
The Current Status and Future Trends in Technobabble 2004
If the same conference is held all over the country in 2004, and you
only want information on the San Francisco meeting, then add some
geographical information:
The Current Status and Future Trends in Technobabble (san francisco OR SF)
Note that I used the ?OR? command (always capitalized) to tell Google
to search for the city name OR the common initials. Most of the time
this is enough, but for some cities like New York, you may have to add
a few other common names:
The Current Status and Future Trends in Technobabble (new york OR ny
OR nyc OR manhattan)
(It makes no difference if the city name is upper case or lower case
letters, but the ?OR? must be upper case).
If you want to make the search even a bit tighter, then put quotes
around city names if they have more than one word):
The Current Status and Future Trends in Technobabble (?new york? OR ny
OR nyc OR manhattan)
==========
For meeting names that are too generic, then it will help to include
some other key identifying terms.
Let?s say someone *was* foolish enough to name their conference
?Information Strategies? and it was being held at the same place, same
dates as our Technobabble example. Then a good search would be:
?information strategies? 2004 (san francisco OR sf) (carlton OR ritzy)
Note a few things here:
--conference name is in quotes -- this forces Google to look for the
exact phrase, ?information strategies?, rather than the individual
very generic words
--year and city names we discussed already -- these help to pinpoint
the particular meeting of interest to you.
--some key terms from the hotel name are all that are needed. I
didn?t include the entire hotel name since it might go by a shorthand
name (e.g. ?The Carlton?) and adding the full name could just confuse
things.
--nor did I add the June 24-25 date to the search. Unlike years,
months and days can be quite variable (June 24 vs 7/24), and as a rule
of thumb, it?s better off not working them into a search.
==========
Google has plenty more tricks up its sleeves, but I?m going to stop
here. Give these search strategies a try and see how they work for
you.
I suspect that you?ll find most of what you need with just these
simple searches (assuming, of course, that information about the
meeting exists on the internet -- if it doesn?t, no amount of
sophisticated searching will find anything!!!).
However, if for any reason the results aren?t satisfying your needs,
just let me know. I?ll be glad to continue working with you on this
until you squeeze every last bit of information you can out of the
splendid Google search engine.
All the best,
pafalafa-ga |
