SIC is a conference dedicated to SEO, PPC and ASO in iGaming. We spoke with its co-founder about how the idea was born, what sets SIC apart from other events, and the team's plans for the future.

How did the idea to run SIC come about? What industry problem did you want this event to solve?

We wanted to fill the niche of events specialised in the traffic sources every iGaming operator craves — SEO, PPC, ASO. Despite how valuable traffic from these sources is, there are very few targeted events for them in the iGaming vertical, and large conference-level events with an expo simply don't exist. I'd only seen events on SEO traffic, but they were fairly small, local meetups.

Meanwhile there's a lot of money in this traffic, and we wanted to make a real conference with a strong line-up of speakers, an expo area, serious networking locations, activities and the other attributes of a big event — because these traffic sources deserve that kind of attention.

If we talk specifically about the industry problem: many advertisers who want to talk about these traffic sources are forced, at ordinary big conferences, to hunt through huge crowds for the people they can actually discuss this with. We wanted to create an event where those people are already around you and you don't have to look for them in the crowd. And not only for market advertisers, but also for services that work with SEO, apps or provide PPC services.

In other words, we created an event for those interested in exactly this topic, where it's easy for everyone to find each other. On top of that, you get genuinely useful information from the speakers.

How is SIC fundamentally different from other iGaming conferences?

First of all, by its focus — clearly defined around three traffic sources: SEO, PPC and ASO.

The second difference is that from the very start our goal was to make a very niche but reasonably large conference. And the first time around we gathered about 1,000 people. Next time we'll gather more. For a "niche within a niche" (search in iGaming), those are very decent numbers.

So it's no longer the smallest conference. Yet at the same time it's very cosy, warm and comfortable, right by the sea. If we run it in a different location, it might not be by the sea, but there will always be beautiful nature and a comfortable atmosphere for networking.

That's exactly the kind of product we want to bring to the market. On one hand — specialisation, a niche within a niche, separate traffic sources in iGaming. On the other — a conference that feels cosy and enjoyable, where people are comfortable talking to each other.

Another important point is the high professional level of the audience — so that we have few random people who can't keep up a conversation on the stated topic.

How did you put together the programme and the speakers? What criteria did you use to choose experts?

My partner Sasha Flint handled that. The main criterion was that it mattered to us to deliver very strong content. Some conferences in our field pay more attention to speakers' names. And they don't always take seriously whether the talk's content is truly great and valuable. At some conferences there are a lot of openly promotional talks. We wanted to avoid that and provide quality material.

Sasha studied every talk carefully. There were far more people wanting to speak than there were slots, and we had to turn down some very well-known people in the field who often speak at conferences and whom many organisers are happy to put on the poster.

If a person didn't have a strong enough niche topic, expertise or willingness to share something, we politely declined and asked them to come back next time with more suitable material.

So the main criteria were the level of expertise and the willingness to share something genuinely valuable and useful.

What turned out to be the hardest part of organising such an event?

Probably everyone involved in the organisation has their own perspective.

Personally, as the person responsible — besides the overall organisation — specifically for the commercial side and sales, my main worry was selling sponsorship packages and booths well, so there were no gaps either in the budget or in the expo area. On one hand, I'm good at this and I enjoy it. On the other, when you run a conference for the first time, it's a very important and tricky task that critically affects the result and the perception of the event, so there was some anxiety from time to time.

Sasha worried about his part — making sure the speaker line-up was truly strong. The people handling PR worried about proper promotion. Those handling on-site organisation worried that everything would be built on time, look the part and go as it should. The person responsible for F&B and catering worried about everyone being well fed and watered. The technical director — about the build, electricity, technical equipment, communications and everything else in their area.

And the list goes on. But overall I was fairly calm. We have a very experienced, strong team, and we were definitely ready to make a new, worthy conference.

Is there anything you'd do differently if you ran SIC again?

If we're talking about the next SIC, we're already doing some things differently. We're strengthening the programme. We want even more strong content. We want to sell more booths. We want to gather more people. We want to pleasantly surprise the market and everyone who comes to us.

If we talk specifically about the first SIC, then probably only one thing comes to mind. I'd take the choice of networking app for communication more seriously. That's the one part that turned out significantly below our expectations and the participants' expectations. Going back in time, we'd have made a more reliable choice.

In everything else, it feels like at all the key forks and in planning overall we made the right decisions. And I'm happy with almost everything.

How long does it take to prepare a conference of this scale?

It took us about six months. Roughly 10 months before the date, Sasha and I already started seriously discussing that we wanted to do this project. From the moment we defined all the key points — where the conference would take place, when it would take place, how it would look conceptually, came up with the name and approved the starting elements — to the day of the first conference, about 6–7 months passed.

Why did you decide to focus specifically on search traffic (SEO, ASO, PPC)?

This traffic is very important for the iGaming market — all three sources. And what unites them is that it's all search traffic. Pretty tasty, right? So that's the focus we chose.

Will there be a next SIC? Are you planning to scale the format?

Yes, there will be. We haven't officially announced it yet, but on my own Telegram and Instagram blog I've already written that we decided to run SIC again in April in Cyprus, at the same location, a year after the first conference. We'll announce the exact dates a bit later, but we've already planned that it will be April 2027.

The conference will again be a one-day event. We considered expanding to two days, but decided to take a slightly different path. We'll have two intensive days of programme, but the conference and expo themselves will stay one-day. On top of that, there will be more strong side events. The first time there were two, from third-party companies, and they were fairly small. Now there will be more — both from third-party companies and from us as the conference organisers.

On our side, we plan to add 1 or 2 events, most likely 1 big side event with serious content, speakers and something else interesting on the business side that we're preparing. It will flow smoothly into a pre-party the day before the main conference. In short, we'll add a lot of our own content on the day before the conference.

Further down the line, we have plans to explore an option where SIC takes place twice a year in different countries. Once — in Cyprus (in spring), and a second time — in another country (in autumn). This decision hasn't been finalised yet. We'll talk to the market and see whether there's enough interest. But preliminarily it seems there's enough.

For now these are preliminary plans, but it's quite possible that after the April SIC in Cyprus in 2027 we'll do another conference in a different country.

It looks like SIC found its audience the first time around. Which means there's even more content, networking and opportunity ahead for those working with SEO, PPC and ASO in iGaming. See you at the next SIC.