Forge Corporation is a strategic marketing firm, based in part in Johannesburg, South Africa. The company offers services in professional affiliate marketing, centralized tracking and data aggregation methodology, and a performance marketing network geared specifically to support bloggers. The Forge Corporation team make the inter-continental journey to Las Vegas for PubCon this year, and they sat down for a chat with Mike McDonald of WebProNews to talk about reasons for attending this year’s convention.With a presenter list featuring prominent industry names such as John Battelle, Danny Sullivan, Matt Cutts, Lee Odden and Rand Fishkin, the draw for a conference like PubCon becomes pretty apparent. The sheer volume of knowledge and experience represented by the speakers can give webmasters and search professionals enough information to chew on for several months, conveniently coinciding with the next scheduled convention. The team at Forge Corporation, however, feels that information gathering is only part of the reason that making the trek to PubCon is so important.The team’s presence at PubCon is, in part, to learn about the latest trends and techniques in online marketing, to be sure. However, Forge Corporation tells WebProNews that professional networking is an equally important aspect of the convention scene. In its quest to serve the interests of customers and publishers, the company feels it is vital that it continually try to match the needs of its clients with the talents of professionals that attend conventions like PubCon every year. For Forge Corporation, this is what making the trip from South Africa is all about.