The weeks ahead are full of activity for online advertising conference-goers. If you plan on attending any of the upcoming shows, we've compiled a list of the conferences where Google will be in attendance. Hope to see you there!

ad:tech New York
November 3-6, 2008
New York Hilton, New York, NY

Webmaster World PubCon
November 11-14, 2008
Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV

Search Engine Strategies Chicago
December 8-12, 2008
Chicago Hilton, Chicago, IL

Posted by Christina Hill, Events Team

Our AdWords API team has recently announced the release of version 13, which brings a host of changes to the API. Among the added functionalities are new reports, new geotargeting options, and the ability to retrieve Quality Scores and first page bid estimates for your keywords. For full details, please take a look at the release notes to stay up to date.

And as you update your campaigns for the holiday season, you'll now receive 20% more API units until January 15th, 2009. While you may be increasing your API usage to keep up with the busy time of year, don't forget that you can make the extra quota work even more efficiently by following these suggestions for "cutting API calories from your app" and avoiding the API holiday weight!

The holiday shopping season can be a boon to retailers, but during strained economic times it's particularly important to understand how to measure the effectiveness of online campaigns. We partnered with Compete, Inc. to study the role that search plays in the retail buying process, and recently held a recorded webinar to present the findings. In the webinar, now available here, we explore the following questions:

• What role does search marketing play in driving online and in-store sales?
• How do shoppers use branded and non-branded keywords in advance of purchase?
• How can marketers measure the effectiveness of paid search and the value of non-converting clicks?

We hope you find the information valuable when planning your clients' holiday campaigns this year.

Posted by Laura Hood, Creative Team

We've just launched the beta version of the Display Ad Builder tool, which will allow you to create and customize image, animated, and Flash ads for the Google content network from within your client's account. If you've ever struggled with design resources for creating display ads or needed to whip something up for a client at a moment's notice, the Display Ad Builder may come in handy next time those situations arise. For more details on the Display Ad Builder and how to use it, see our Display Ads 101 site or watch this video tutorial.

Due to technical issues, we've rescheduled our Education Industry webinar that was originally planned for Wednesday, October 8. The webinar will now take place on Wednesday, October 15 at 10am PST/1pm EST, and you'll find full registration details below. We apologize for the delay and any inconvenience, and we hope you'll join us next week.

Date: Wednesday, October 15
Time: 10am PST/1pm EST
Register here

Posted by Katie Wasilenko, Agency Team

As you may have heard, we just released version 6.5 of AdWords Editor, our free online account management tool. If you're already using AdWords Editor, you will be prompted to upgrade automatically. If you're new to AdWords Editor, you can download the latest version here.

To keep you up to date, we've compiled a sneak peek into some of the new features you can expect with version 6.5:

• Horizontal scrolling in the data view and auto-sizing columns.
  
  
• Calendar picker for performance statistics and campaign end dates.
  
  
• New Keyword Opportunities tool to help you find new, relevant keywords for your campaigns. Use the expansion feature to generate keyword ideas from words or phrases, or the multiplier feature to combine lists of terms to create new keywords.

For full details of these and other new features, please see the release notes. And if you have questions about the benefits or functionality of AdWords Editor, have a look at our frequently asked questions and our Help Center.

Posted by Kerrie Lenhart, Product Specialist

We know that January is going to be a big month for advertisers in the education space and we'd like to help as you prepare to discuss budgets, new campaigns and existing strategies with your education clients. Register here

Posted by Katie Wasilenko, Agency Team