This week, anyone who is anyone in search engine marketing is attending the WebmasterWorld Pubcon conference and expo in Las Vegas.

One of the main reasons that we attend conferences (aside from the opportunity to learn) is, of course, to network. With the new emphasis on social networking as an effective SEO tactic, becoming familiar with industry leaders is more important than ever.

Here is a list of the Top 10 people not to miss at WebmasterWorld Pubcon 2006.

• Danny Sullivan – Editor-In-Chief of SearchEngineWatch.com
  Sullivan is widely known as the “search engine guru” and a popular icon in the SEO industry. Sullivan will be delivering a keynote presentation at Pubcon on November 16 at 9 am.
• John Battelle – Chairman of Federated Media Publishing & Blogger
  Battelle is an entrepreneur, journalist and author who has founded several businesses, magazines and websites. Battelle will be delivering a keynote presentation at Pubcon on November 15 at 9 am.
• Matt Cutts – Software Engineer, Google
  Cutts talks about webmaster related issues in his blog.
• Lee Odden – President of TopRank Online Marketing
  Read Lee’s Online Marketing Blog.
• Brett Tabke – CEO of WebmasterWorld
• Jake Baillie – President of TrueLocal.com
• Andy Beal – Internet Marketing Consultant, Marketing Pilgrim LLC
• Rand Fishkin – CEO of SEOMoz
• Barry Schwartz -President of RustyBrick
• Greg Jarboe -President & Co-Founder of SEO-PR