Chris and Ponzi Pirillo’s conference for bloggers, podcasters, and über-geeky technologists starts in earnest today. This year’s lineup of presenters includes Ben Huh of iCanHasCheezburger, journalist Sarah Lacy, the best of Ignite Seattle, artists, security researchers, and much more.

One of the coolest things about Gnomedex is hanging out with a dynamic group of overtly friendly and sociable geeks. The sessions are thought-provoking and the hallway conversations are engrossing. However, If you can’t make it, don’t worry. With all the new-media alpha-types in the audience, it will likely be one of the most photographed, blogged, and twittered conferences of the year.

(Disclaimer: I volunteer for the conference.)

If you hang out at any of the local geek events: Mind Camp, Saturday House, Ignite, Startup Weekend, etc., you can’t help but notice that Seattle is brimming with geeks that have the Next Big WebApp. And with the prevalence of frameworks like Rails and Django, it’s getting easier and eaiser to get those ideas implemented and out into the world. But what about the next step? What happens if you want to turn your idea into a legitimate business – what paperwork do you need to fill out, how do you pitch to investors, etc. These are common and yet complex questions.

Rob Eickmann is putting together the Six Hour Startup Conference that promises to deal with all these issues and more. Speakers include Andy Sack, of Judy’s Book and Founder’s Co-op, Tony Wright from Rescue Time and Carolynn Duncan from FundingUniverse.com. You can also sign up at the event itself for an opportunity to pitch your idea, and get real feedback from the whole community.

The total cost for the event is $99, and if you register before Wednesday (the 21st), you’ll get a free copy of Randy Komisar’s classic business book The Monk and the Riddle.

Web developers who build search-friendly code and infrastructure can thank us now. Registration for the Developer Day at Search Marketing Expo is the cheapest it’ll ever be from now until Friday, May 2. Procrastinators will pay $100 more for waiting until May 3rd to register, and the extremely disorganized (or rashly impulsive) will take an almost $200 hit for waiting until the day of the Expo to sign up.

Developer Day @ SMX Advanced is an in-depth exploration of strategies, best practices, and techniques for building search-friendly architecture. SEO expert Vanessa Fox is assembling a program that includes discussions on search-friendly development and platform considerations for the Microsoft stack and LAMP stack. There will even be an opportunity for expert technical review of your website. You can read more at Vanessa’s blog. And, for heaven’s sake, save some cash and sign up now!

I have a soft spot in my heart for Gnomedex. Two years ago I walked in to the Thursday night pre-conference party and immediately felt like I was among friends. This year, I volunteered to help conference organizers Chris and Ponzi Pirillo with registrations and some of the other myriad details that go into planning one of the premiere geek events in the country. From the little bit of insider’s insight I’ve gleaned, Gnomedex 7 is shaping up to be another humdinger of a geek gathering.

Billing itself as “the crossroads between producers and observers, between users and developers,” Chris and Ponzi really know how to set the stage for great conversations and discovery. Gnomedex is a single-track conference, so everyone experiences the talks together. Session leaders are encouraged to interact with and engage the audience, so boring PowerPoint presentations are few and far between. There are no separate rooms or VIP lounges, so there’s a real sense of a level playing field among attendees.

This year’s “session leaders” include former Apple evangelist Guy Kawasaki, Justin.tv’s Justin Kan, SEO guru Vanessa Fox, and a dozen other fascinating individuals. As I write this, there are fewer than 20 tickets left in the overflow room, so if you think you can possibly make the time, go register now!