Just the other day, it occurred to me that there’s only a only a few short months left before Affiliate Summit East is happening and that it’s just about time to start thinking about it again.

Last year was a blast, and my first ever conference in the Affiliate/Internet marketing industries so I was pretty green and didn’t really know what to expect. Now that I’ve been to a few other conferences and know a lot more about the industry, its politics and the people involved I’m sure it will be even better than my experience was last year.

This year I’m hoping to conduct a little more business and sight-seeing than partying. I’ve been to New York several times but never really took the opportunity to travel around the city seeing some of the more popular things so that should be fun and also a little easier on the liver than last year. Not to mention the pocketbook – 40$ for two gin and tonics, WTF?!@?

With parties having guest appearances by people like Biz Markie it’s certainly hard to not get caught up in running around town all night partying with your friends. Alas, one should remember that the primary goal of any conference is to meet people, get new ideas, and discuss business whether it be deals, mergers, or simply ideas for the future whether collaborative or not.

Last year I didn’t spend much time at the conference itself, instead I went through the exhibit floor meeting many of the networks and affiliates. However, I was still hesitant as to what I should have been asking or even talking about because I was still relatively new to the industry. So, instead I kind of sat back and watched as my Internet buddies did the talking and I absorbed the information I needed.

This changes as you hit more conferences and meet more people while of course learning more about the industry. This year I expect it to be even better than the past Affiliate Summit’s I’ve attended because I personally know more about the industry as a whole.

Flatly, this year can only be better because last time was fucking rad and I was newb.

This year I intend to meet more people on the floor and probably visit a few or more sessions if I can to see what trends the more experienced people are talking about, and just to network a little further into the scene. While the forum crowd is a great resource and many friends can be made, I’ve certainly met other people on a whim at a conference that have turned out to be better partners or friends.

Looking forward to seeing you all again, I’m sure I’ll think of more to write sooner to the conference.

And now, back to el’ grind.

Last summer was my first visit to an Affiliate Summit, which I went to in New York City, I thought it was a great time, and a lot of people to meet – however, I was still pretty newb at that point so I really wasn’t sure what kinds of questions I was supposed to be asking, who I should be talking to or even the right lingo to use. So, I mostly sat back and just absorbed like a sponge and used that knowledge to further my business over the next few months.

Affiliate Summit West was completely different, this time around I knew who to talk to, what questions I should be asking, and most important, how to make myself more money and enjoy the entrepreneurial lifestyle of never setting an alarm, and working when, and where I want.

This time around I met a lot more actual business contacts, and discussed things with them. However, I will note that the partying in Las Vegas is a little crazy – if you really want to conduct business I would suggest New York over Vegas – while there may be more people in Vegas, there’s also a lot more opportunity to get yourself into trouble and not pay attention to the real reason we’re there – monies.

Also, I know this has been said before, but the amount of paid women in Vegas is pretty much disgusting. Who cares if you get a shitload of pictures with your arm around some woman that cost 1000 bucks an hour, if you think that’s baller because of that then you need to give your head a shake. Sorry guys. New York has a lot more – REAL – women, that don’t charge by the hour and are more than happy to talk to you about your nerdy business. Trust me.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not putting down Las Vegas, or ASW – it was a great time and I’ll be going next year for sure. I really do feel that more business can be conducted in a little more relaxed environment like New York though.

Contrary to the previous summit I went to – I already knew a bunch of people this time so it was a lot easier to get around and go see the town, and meet more people in the extended circle of internet marketers that I chill with. So that was a definite plus to the whole experience, and the meet market was absolutely huge in comparison to what I remember from New York – not to mention the exhibit space. There were so many exhibitors present, that I had to go back 3 times to pick up all the free shwag (yes, we all are suckers for the free tshirts that fall apart after 3 washes aren’t we? – hint hint – buy better shirts exhibitors!) and to meet all the interesting companies that were showing off the latest and greatest products that we can help them sell.

To me, that was the biggest benefit of Las Vegas and Affiliate Summit – was that the sheer amount of people, exhibitors and speakers surpassed that of New York. Basically what I’m saying here is, go to Las Vegas to find a shitload of offers, and then hit up New York to conduct more business and get those offers sending dollars to your bank account.

But, what if you still don’t know where to get traffic for these wonderful offers?

Enter Ad:Tech. I wasn’t familiar with this conference until early last year – remember, I said I am still considerably newb compared to other folks out there. Anyway, I heard it time and time again, if you’re looking for traffic hit up Ad:Tech.

So, that’s what I’ll be doing this coming April with a few friends. These two conferences put together, from what I’ve heard anyway – are the best stepping stones into really ramping up business in this industry. Affiliate Summit for the products and ideas, and Ad:Tech for the traffic to run to your shiny new offers. It’s really a simple concept, but nobody ever said it to me like that so maybe this will help someone else out too.

I hope to see a bunch of you again at Ad:Tech, and the coming Affiliate Summit East in New York City.

Fun times brah’s.

This year I did it a bit differently than last year, I took a friend of mine down with me because he is thinking about getting his product into the marketing world we live in and away from the traditional outlets he’s currently using. It was cool to have someone to share expenses with too.

We got our trip booked up the day before Christmas for a pretty good rate, I think it was like 580$ Canadian, after tax for Jan 16 – 22^nd. I think we were a little drunk when we ordered the tickets though because we didn’t realize our trip back had 3 stops – oh well, that’s what you get for being cheap. Who needs first class when I had 1500$ left to spend in Vegas instead eh!

This year was funny I probably took more photos of our trips through the airports than I did of most of vegas and the show – I have a couple, but they’re on other peoples real cameras since I only had my mobile with me for picture taking.

Lets start with this monstrosity, it was something my buddy ordered at the Fox Sports Bar at the Detroit Airport. Whats funny is, his beer was nearly double the cost of all this sickening food. And we wonder why both our countries have problems with obesity!

He did manage to eat most of it. I didn’t touch it. I’m against everything Fox especially their food.

There was also this wicked tunnel at the airport. I was saying that it’d be rad to hold a flashmob down there for 3 minutes and then all run to get onto a flight somewhere. Sadly it’s behind security, but check this shit out – the lights and music are all in sync and everything!

After being mesmerized by the tunnel a few times we went to another bar and chilled and then went to another and chilled and then finally it was time for our flight to Las Vegas. 4 Hour flight nothing special. I wasn’t used to American airlines or Continental, they didn’t have TV’s in the seats and they were super oldschool compared to what I’m used to from Air Canada.

We eventually got to Vegas after an uneventful flight and went to our hotel. Then we went to Meet up with BofU, Brentdev, Enigmabomb and Russell P  for an evening of drinking and walking around the strip. Went home to sleep after that. Later that day met up with MattF too, there’s always a soft-spot for other canucks in the scene.

Took these the next day outside the conference, the only sunny day we had!

and the rest of the days looked something like this

But that’s okay cause we got to go to exclusive parties at in the Palms Towers later the next evening to stay out of the rain. Some crazy shit went down there, and I learned a new term “Making It Rain”, very interesting indeed.Thanks again to Gigidawg for getting us in. Also met up with Ian from Opes Media that night for a bit, always great to see old friends. Later on we met up with the Off White Hat for some drunken gambling with his friend Duncan the Architect/Photographer.

This was the view from the party, sorry I was shaky, it was an open bar. Very open.

That big red building is the Rio, where Affiliate Summit West was held. Cool.

Some cool LED Lights

That’s looking up the palms tower where the party was at.

Then we went home to nap for more partying later.

Where Brentdev, Enigmabomb, myself and my buddy chatted up some girls from Ireland. Fun times. Bitches still haven’t friended us on facebook yet, wtf!

I don’t know what that paper is, maybe my phone number? haha.

wtf is this

6 pound burrito? gross. GROSS.

view from Jeff of Equte‘s and Sam of CompeteSEO hotel room. There’s the other Palms tower and the Rio in the day time. I don’t really like heights I couldn’t get closer than a foot to the balcony up here haha.

I was promoting a new venture with stickers around Vegas and we met these crazy fools from New Zealand. This guy climbed a light for me to stick one of the stickers up. Thanks Jeremy!

Taken early morning, drunk stumbling around Vegas. I like the composition.

Cool picture of the Flamingo. I like their marquee, it’s cold chillin oldschool flava.

The infamous AKMG skateboard Fiasco that Brentter, Myself, @phillian and Sam were involved in.Thanks Eleah you guys are pretty cool!

And finally. Let’s not forget the most important rule.

So that’s all the pictures I took that I can show you, but it gives you a different perspective of what these conferences are also about besides the bling bling and showboating lifestyle, it’s also about friends, seeing the sights, networking with associates on a more personal level and just generally having a blast.

Later today I’ll write up an actual informative post about my thoughts on ASW 2010 Las Vegas this year.

]]> http://flintston.es/affiliate-marketing/asw-2010-experiences-in-pictures-a-different-angle/feed/ 4 http://flintston.es/affiliate-marketing/ase-2009-nyc-summary-as-seen-through-a-newbie-canadian-affiliate-marketers-eyes/ http://flintston.es/affiliate-marketing/ase-2009-nyc-summary-as-seen-through-a-newbie-canadian-affiliate-marketers-eyes/#comments Wed, 19 Aug 2009 23:32:00 +0000 Bamm http://flintston.es/?p=82 So, as you can see from my diary entry, a lot was accomplished at Affiliate Summit 2009 in New York City. While it may look like all we did was drink, which is probably pretty true, there was a lot of business conducted at the same time. And not to mention a helluva lot of networking opportunities. I met with a number of people from Wicked Fire, and a bunch of other network owners, affiliates, other people in related industries and a whole tonne of affiliate managers. I think I came home with nearly 200 business cards, some of the best networking I’ve done in years. I only wish I would have brought more cards with me because I ran out on the third day.

Overall I would recommend Affiliate Summit for any affiliate marketer, whether you are just starting out, or are a veteran in the scene there’s nothing better than putting faces to names, and discussing business ideas, opportunities or whatever in person rather than via email or telephone. Sorry to say it kids, but sometimes looking someone in the eye is better than any contract or agreement you can set in place. It’s been done this way for thousands of years and I don’t see it changing very soon.

The summit itself was spectacular, the location was right in the center of town and easily accessible to anyone, plus the name badges they handed out were huge so it was very easy to see who else was attending the conference and go up to say hi to them without fear that you were introducing yourself to someone who wasn’t involved in the show in some form.

The exhibit floors were packed with all sorts of interesting companies and service offerings for people marketing products, services or pretty much anything else they can think of. The networking opportunities seen here are rivaled by pretty much nobody else in the industry. I didn’t attend many of the sessions as I was out mingling with other internet marketing nerds, but I hear most of them were pretty well done as well. Hopefully in Vegas I will have a chance to attend a couple of these and report back on them to you, my readers.

Now, to the parties. Yes, there were parties, drinking, and more partying done at Affiliate Summit and I wouldn’t turn anyone away from these parties. They are crucial to expand your personal network of friends, business partners and other cool things. Plus everyone is a little tipsy so it’s mega easy to get introduced to people regardless of how shy of a computer nerd you are. All done at some of the top clubs in New York, this was great and thanks again to all the networks for throwing these parties.

Overall, besides the heat in New York, this trip was amazing and I would do it again in a heartbeat. See you all in Vegas in January for more fun.

Saturday August 08 – 2009

Woke up and left for the Airport to catch my flight to Toronto. Don’t use checked baggage wherever possible, shit can get lost fool!

Arrived around 1:30 pm then waited around at Pearson for 3 or so hours for the flight to La Guardia in New York.

Got into New York around 5:30PM, went straight to the hotel via cab.

Checked into the Warwick hotel with little hassle even though I used Gift Certificates to pay for the entire stay, I got these through the other company I run and did some beta testing for a large corporate antivirus software. I even had to perform multiple registrations with the gift certificates due to their TOS. Only thing that really sucked was like a $14 (CAD) per day wireless charge at the hotel. Usually the WIFI is free, but this is New York City I guess. I was on the 28^th floor and had a view of 4^th Avenue and the Hilton. Pretty nice for being “FREE”!

After checking in I Walked around a bit and got a coffee from Starbucks. I usually hate Starbucks, but I’m not familiar with “good” coffee shops in New York City.

Went and registered for the conference at the Hilton Hotel.

Walked around some more and got some pizza from Ray’s pizza. This was the first of many visits.

Messaged Medici to meet up outside the London Hotel.  Around 8:30 met up with Sitemap outside the London by chance while waiting for Medici. A few minutes later Medici showed up and then we went inside.

Got into a London Hotel penthouse party with Sybarite Elite (thanks again to Medici and Brandon) and sampled some rum and cokes and vodka red bulls. First time I had those, not bad. Met a bunch of affiliates at the party and mingled for a little while.

Went outside to hit up Ray’s Pizza at like 2am with Sitemap and his buddy.

Stopped at the Donut Shop on the way back to the London at like 2:15am.

Then HustlinGrind, Pacman0r, Medici, IronLogik and I met up with Gigidawg at Bounce Night Club.

After partying for a bit we met up for Rays Pizza in the early AM.

We left and went back to Hilton and London to party a bit more.

Stumbled in around 6 or 7 am.

Sunday August 09 – 2009

Woke up around 11:30, most people were gone on the Copeac bus party and I was hella hung over so I went to get some coffee and then walked around a bit. There was a Caribbean parade going on so I watched that for a while and walked up about 20 blocks. Tourists eh?

Then I went back to the Warwick Hotel and passed out for like 5 hours to recoup on some much needed sleep. After showering and watching like 30 minutes of TV I decided it was time to go out and do something.

I went for a walk like 35 blocks up Times square and down past it. The women in New York are amazing, and much friendlier than one would expect (stereotype?) them to be. Then returned back just in time to meet up with HustlinGrind, Gigidawg, Pacman0r and Medici outside the Hilton to get ready for the nights parties.

Before partying we went for more food from you guessed it — Rays Pizza.

Met up with IronLogik and his buddy from Toronto while getting pizza. Rays was a popular place for ASE 2009 it seems.

Then we went to Scores Gentlemen’s Club for about an hour, got some drinks, met some affiliates and enjoyed the scenery.

Then we left with Gigidawg and a couple other affiliates on our way to go to the rooftop club Plunge-Looftop Bar at Hotel Gansevoort. While there we met up with a bunch of affiliate managers like Geofferson (Thanks again for getting us in if you’re reading!) from Advaliant/Media Trust, and other company owners and more affiliates, not to mention lots of hot new yorker girls. This party was awesome, and the views were even more spectacular (when it wasn’t shielded in the near monsoon like rain storms). The bouncers were kind of dicks to us but it’s possible we deserved it. Drinks were fun, meeting other affiliates was even better though. We stayed here for a number of hours to enjoy the networking and facilitation of alcohol consumption.

Then we left for Scores Gentlemen’s Club again for like 20 minutes, we didn’t know it was closing or that it’d be nearly dead inside.

We then left to head to Touch Night Club. Heard some great tunes, and met a number of affiliates and other people related to the industry here.

Around 5 or 6 we left to head back to our hotels to wind down and go to sleep.

Monday August 10 – 2009

Woke up at like 12:30, showered and was lazy for about 30 minutes trying to recoup from the night before. Took a quick shot of the “Verve” drink that was handed out at the summit, not the best tasting but definitely provided that much needed boost.

Then got up, and went out to have Starbucks Grande mocha with a double espresso shot, probably not the best plan after an energy drink, but definitely helped ready me for the day.

Met up with HustlinGrind outside the Hilton and went inside to tour the Exhibition Floor. Met with various networks and made a bunch of new contacts, and met up with a couple more affiliates too. I always love this part of conferences, the various methods employed by the companies to entice you to visit their booth and discuss their products is always interesting and usually quite creative, especially in this industry. This was no let down; though I’m told the Vegas floor is much larger. Some of the giveaways were very cool too – C2M Billy Mays t-shirts anyone?

Then we met up with Medici and Gigidawg and went back to his room at The London to chill for a bit, take some pictures out of his window because he had a great view, drink some water.

Then headed back to the conference floor meeting up with Pacman0r along the way. Visited some more booths and met with more affiliates, and even got an invite to the Click Booth invite only party that was happening that night.

Left the Summit to go get something to eat – yes, unfortunately more Rays Pizza.

On the way to the party, we were travelling a little bit of a distance from where we were to the club and the car ride was largely silent due to our debauchery the night before, and we were all kind of zoned out just enjoying the ride and sights, when suddenly from the back of the car, HustlinGrind yells out “WOW, LOOK AT THAT BITCH!”. We all burst out laughing, including the cab driver. This has been one of our catch phrases ever since.

Then we left to go to the Media Trust party in the meat packing district at Club Soho in the White Room, and also hit up the wicked cool bar on the roof while we were there, the women up here were amazing and the vibe was great – except for one pushy employee who kept trying to kick us out because we weren’t members, but we had our ways to navigate around his threats. Great party mingled and met some cool affiliates, many of them from Canada. I think once we were all talking and realized that like all 7 of us sitting at the table chilling were from various parts of Canada. Go Canadian Affiliate Marketers Go! We rotated between the Media Trust party, and the rooftop for a few hours and then took off.

Next HustlinGrind, Ed, Medici and I headed over to the Click Booth party at some little pub not too far from Touch Night Club. Here we played beer pong trying to win $1000. Sadly we didn’t win. We also met John Chow here. When he left, we knew it was time to bounce and head to the Biz Markie party at Touch Night Club.

This party was great for networking, even though everybody was drinking. We met a number of people here including TurboLapp and ShoeMoney and a shitton of affiliates and people involved in the industry. I think I picked up over 80 cards that night in a few hours. Biz Markie was a bit of a disappointment though, he was the headline of the evening and only did 1 song, and I heard he was paid $10k or $15k for the gig, that’s pretty good for like 3 minutes if you ask me. I dropped my stupid phone, and it bounced not once, but twice, and then a third time right into HustlinGrind’s drink. Killed my phone, even though I turned it right off and left it off till well into the next day after leaving it on the air conditioner for a long time in the hotel room. I now know I should have put it in a bag of rice.  HustlinGrind was still able to make use of the drink so all was not lost.

Following this we left for Flash Dancers Gentlemen’s Club, I was pretty tired and drunk so I decided to walk back to the hotel and got lost for about an hour, found my way back and some guy named Markus who started walking with me on my way back to the hotel decided he wanted to come in to use my toilet, which he did and then promptly left after telling me about his rap career, weird shit I probably never would have let him come into the hotel had I not had like 40 drinks that day, but whatever. Finally got to go to sleep, around 6:30 am.

Tuesday August 11 – 2009

Woke up today at 1pm to housekeeping coming into my room, and then coming in again telling me it was time to leave. I told them no I’m staying till the next day, and then I suddenly woke up and realized I was actually leaving today. Oh noez! The front desk called and inquired and I informed them I’m a dumbass and they waived the late checkout fee. I quickly showered, packed up and checked out around 2pm.

Went to Starbucks for a Coffee and Sandwich.

Then I met up with Medici outside the London hotel where some kiddies were waiting for Ashton Kutcher or the guy from Blink 182 or Neo, we’re not sure, but apparently they were all staying there. We left to meet up with HustlinGrind and M0rtal in Central Park. Made our way around for a few hours, visiting the main fountain and lake and then walked back to the Hilton.

Chilled outside a bit and then I said bye and caught a cab back to the airport. Waited around for an extra 40 minutes cause of a delayed flight and then headed to Toronto.

Made it to Toronto, walked around a bit, and then did the self check in (love these things!). Found my gate after my ticket being mislabeled for a non-existent gate. Good thing customer service is open 24 hours and can correct these things.

On the way back to Ottawa I caught a crazy cold, which I believe was from some lady coughing up a storm on the plane. I felt my throat get itchy and then I spent the next 3 days in bed recuperating and hoping I didn’t have H1N1 (the symptoms were certainly in line with the websites). I seem to be getting much better now so I’m ready to start layin shit down in terms of ideas and ventures discussed and thought of at Affiliate Summit.

Overall this was a great trip. For the experience, meeting all of the networks, exhibitors and other affiliates and exchanging tips, tricks and business cards was very valuable to me and my business. Thanks to Affiliate Summit for providing me a press pass to visit and report on the show, stay tuned for my next post for a final summary of the trip.

As far as I know, it’s a huge gathering of internet nerds that like to talk about marketing both offline and online. There’s also supposed to be a huge expo floor where all the companies entice you to sell their products using pretty much any method you can. Like I said, I’ve never actually been to one of these meetings before but I have been to conferences.

I’ve heard that some of them have crazy parties, with all sorts of wild girls and abundant debauchery. I am not sure about the New York one, but I know they like to party so it should be fun times. What I am most looking forward to is actually meeting some of the people I’ve been talking with online or over the telephone for almost year now.

I don’t intend to hit too many of the talks, but there are a few that I would be interested in seeing. I always enjoy the floor and meeting all the businesses, and getting the free stuff they pass out, even pens, I love them!

I think there will be some useful knowledge for both newbies, and veterans in the scene. If it’s anything like the previous Affiliate Summit’s I’ve heard about, there will be no shortage of networking opportunities, business ideas and other interesting opportunities.