That's particularly true if you are watching the early adopters who attend the WebmasterWorld conference eyeing the innovations introduced at PubCon – because it really is "the leading edge event for sharing real world information about search engine marketing and optimization."

And, upon sober reflection, I can report that I spotted three innovative ideas that "will rock your business" at PubCon last week.Actually, it wasn't too hard to spot these ideas – because they were featured in two of the four expert keynotes and one of the two super sessions at the conference.

The first innovative idea is: Search is our new interface to technology and culture.John Battelle, Chairman of Federated Media Publishing, shared this insight during his "New Age of Web Advertising Keynote" on Wednesday morning.

According to Battelle, the command line interface was how we navigated in the 1970's when the back office was being digitized. The graphical user interface was how we navigated from the mid-1980s to late-1990s when the front office was being digitized. Now, the search box has become the way that we navigate Web 2.0 when the customers are being digitized.

Ironically, the mainstream media didn't cover PubCon.So, the media moguls who are desperately attempting to reinvent their newspaper, magazine, radio and TV empires missed this innovative idea – which will rock their business.

Fortunately, WebProNews and Search Engine Roundtable provided comprehensive coverage of the conference.So, you can read Chris Richardson's news story, entitled "PubCon: Battelle Looks To The Future," as well as the blog post by Rustybrick (aka Barry Schwartz), entitled "New Age of Web Advertising Keynote by John Battelle."

The second innovative idea that I spotted at PubCon is: The intent of search engine users influences their behavior.Gord Hotchkiss, the President of Enquiro Search Solutions, shared his latest eye tracking study into this question during Wednesday afternoon's Super Session, "Search and Research on a Rail."

According to Hotchkiss, the search behaviors of researchers and purchasers are different, which also explains some of the differences in search behaviors between Google users and Yahoo! and MSN users.This has led him to examine what was influencing the behavior and to an innovative concept that he calls "perceived relevancy."

Now, if your intent is to conduct research into what Hotchkiss said at PubCon, you can read Rustybrick's post entitled "Super Session: Search and Research on a Rail."Or, if your intent is to purchase a white paper on his new study, you can skip to the chase and go to "Enquiro Eye Tracking Report II: Google, MSN and Yahoo! Compared."

The third innovative idea that I spotted at PubCon is: Search is getting more vertical and personal.Danny Sullivan, Editor-in-Chief of SearchEngineWatch.com, discussed these trends during his "Special Guest Keynote" on Thursday morning.

According to Sullivan, search is entering its third generation, which will be driven by vertical search and personal or social search.Vertical search is focused on specific topics like news, health, shopping, music, video, or cars.Personal or social search is focused on what you or your network is searching for – aggregated over time.

For more context, you can read David A. Utter's WebProNews story, entitled "PubCon: Danny Sullivan Speaks," as well as Rustybrick's Search Engine Roundtable post, entitled "Special Guest Keynote – Danny Sullivan – Search Engine Land."

These were three of the innovative ideas that I spotted at PubCon last week.

Now, I physically couldn't attend all 43 sessions – because 36 were held concurrently in four tracks – although I did visit most of the 42 booths in the exhibit hall.

And, I typically wouldn't write about "Feeds and Other Alternative Optimization Opportunities" or "Press and Public Relations Campaigns" – because I was a speaker at these sessions – although that's not fair to the other panelists.

And, I probably shouldn't mention ClickTracks or SEMPO – because they are clients – although ClickTracks was providing free click fraud reports on PPC campaigns at their booth and SEMPO's annual State of the Market Survey is now open.

As for the classic PubCon parties, I currently have "no comment" – because I've heard that "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" – although it appears that the people who use Flickr and Digg weren't aware of this quaint notion when they posted photos about PubCon parties and dugg "PubCon Drinking Game – See you in Vegas!"

Nevertheless, I can report – without fear or favor – that I'm already planning to attend Webmasterworld's next PubCon.Why?Because that is where and when early adopters will look at the next generation of innovations – and decide which ones to adopt and which ones to reject.  PubCon is the inflection point where innovative ideas and products either gain critical mass – or fade into obscurity.

And, I'm not the only one has observed this phenomenon.Chris Tolles, the Vice President of Marketing at Topix.net, has noticed it, too.Check out his post entitled, "WebmasterWorld vs. Web 2.0 Summit," on the Topix.net Weblog.Tolles also knows you can observe a lot just by watching the early adopters at WebmasterWorld's PubCon.