Affiliate Summit West 2011 – Day One – Meet Market

I woke up super early and couldn’t go back to sleep. I decided to get some breakfast before hitting up the Meet Market. I hit up Denny’s and while I was about to order some takeout, I ran into Mike and his team from Firelead, so I decided to sit down and eat with them. Luckily for me, they were next in line for a table. Perfect timing!

As I was making my way down to the Meet Market , I ran into a number of people I have yet to meet face to face, but have talked to a time or two. Face time and networking are the two biggest things for me as an affiliate, especially at Affiliate Summit. After about a 30 minutes trying to get to the Meet Market, I finally made it. The room was jam packed full of people. We were packed in there like Sardines and it should definitely be addressed at the next conference. I did get to talk to Alonzo and Smaxor from Ads4Dough and they got me pretty excited about a couple offers they’re bringing on for me. I spent most of my time hanging out around the C2M guys, had a couple beers and talked to affiliates as they stopped by their booth.

Later that afternoon, Adsimilis had a little gathering in their Suite that included Ben from POF. I thought he was going to give out some tips, but I was mistaken. I was kinda bummed about that as I was looking to help contribute to the cause.

I was lucky enough to be invited to Ian Fernando‘s IANteract Dinner that he has at every conference he attends. This time it was sponsored by Executive Fortunes and was held in Switch at Encore. The dinner invitees included Tyler from Executive Fortunes and his partner, Rohail Rizvi, Ian Fernando, Eric Schechter, AdHustler, Ryan Gray, myself and another individual whose name I cannot remember. The theme of the restaurant was kinda corny with switching themes and walls, but the food was top notch.

After dinner, we headed on over to the 10th Anniversary Party for ShareASale at Tryst. I don’t know why, but I wasn’t in the mood to party hard that night, but it was definitely a good time. Finally, it was time for the Ads4Dough, Dough4Hoes party at the Spearmint Rhino. I skipped this party last year and regretted it. I’m glad I didn’t start drinking earlier that night, because that would’ve been a night full of debauchery. The plan was to hit up XS, but I decided to call it a night once I got back to the Wynn.

AdHustler made a number of great observations about the first day of Affiliate Summit that I suggest checking out.

Affiliate Summit West 2011 – Day Two – Exhibit Hall

I was glad I got a little shuteye the night before and made it to the keynote on time and ready to listen. This year’s keynote was delivered by none other than Dr. Direct, Drew Eric Whitman, the man who wrote Ca$hvertising. I bought his book awhile back, I just haven’t read it yet. He covered some material that was nothing short of amazing. I took some notes on my iPhone and will definitely be putting some of his suggestions to use this week. I’ve been told pretty much everything he covered was in his book, so I’ll be sure to read this book soon!

After the keynote I made my way down to the Exhibit Hall. I was pretty impressed that they were able to cool the room so it wasn’t so warm as usual. I was even chilly a few times. Again, if you saw me, you probably saw me chillin on the couches C2M provided. I did make my rounds too hey the guys at Revenue Ads to discuss this year’s Oklahoma Meetup, NDemand Affiliates and the AKMG Girls.

Towards the end of the Exhibit Hall I went up to XY7‘s suite to catch the first quarter of the BCS National Championship game and to take delivery of my iPad that I won. Thanks Kevin!

Then I had dinner with the Revenue Ads team, at Les Artistes Steakhouse in the Paris, and a few of their other business partners. Thankfully the dinner was amazing because I missed every play of the second half of the football game except for the final field goal. What a game!

Now, it was time to get in. The moment I was waiting for… The Affiliate Ball, sponsored by Profit Kings Media with Three 6 Mafia performing. I’ve been listening to these guys since 1998 and was ecstatic that they would be on stage. I’ve gotta thank Yousif from PKM for hooking up the bottle service that night. Good lookin out boss! Me and my boy Shane Dollas were hollarin at every girl in the club that night and was tryin to get Sarah Peachez to come back to the crib (Chris Brown voice).

Then I tried like hell to get into XS, but they were hating on my New Balance shoes and it was already close to 3am so I called it a night.

Affiliate Summit West 2011 – Day Three – Exhibit Hall

Made it to the conference late, walked around the Exhibit Hall and it was noticeably less packed that day as it seems a lot of people were leaving that day.

Since we were on the west coast, you know I had to hit up In ‘n Out Burger. I just happened to notice that Brittany from AKMG was also trying to hit up that joint and we grabbed AdHustler on our way out. Man, I love that place.

We tried to hold a Newbie Meetup for newbies at the Wynn sports book, but nobody showed that didn’t already know what they were doing, so I kinda just bailed on those guys. Sorry fellas!

I was tired from the night before and didn’t feel like going out, so I stayed gambling at the Wynn for a few hours. Won a few bucks playing War and Roulette. I narrowly missed one of my favorite football players, Sam Bradford playing craps just 30 yards away from me. I was pretty disappointed about that.

Conclusion

All in all, it was a great conference and I did take away a handful of things I’m already putting in action. However, I do think I’m going to skip a few conferences as I’m getting pretty burned out on conferences. Until next time…

Related posts:

1. Affiliate Summit West, Be There or Be Square!
2. Affiliate Summit West 2010
3. Oklahoma Affiliate Meetup 2011

Also, I post this before every conference.  If you haven’t read this, please do!  It’s some of the best advice I’ve ever read in regards to attending any affiliate conference.

Affiliate Tradeshow Floor Tips by Smaxor

Related posts:

1. What did you miss at Affiliate Summit West 2011?
2. Affiliate Summit West 2010
3. Affiliate Manager Expectations

I’ve uploaded all these videos to YouTube, but obviously the video quality has diminished.  The title of each video is a direct link to the original .mov file.  They’re currently uploading right this very second so it might be a couple hours until they’re all hosted.  These videos are on an old HostGator account with unlimited everything, of course.  Let’s see if we crash it.

P.S. – Don’t ask why I was turning the camera around in some of these videos.  I was drunk and obviously thought it was a great idea.

100_0090.MOV – Rob Hustle on the mic – 11.2mb

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-L3JE4dy4Q

100_0092.MOV – Rob Hustle on the mic – 12.8mb

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyBiwIihtqQ

100_0093.MOV – YTCracker on the mic – 45.4mb

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZY9lu7KM3Y

100_0094.MOV – YTCracker on the mic – 44.4mb

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxsMgYuj1ts

100_0106.MOV – Mic Davice & Rob Hustle on the mic – 20.2mb

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbYcHVOINeM

100_0107.MOV – Mic Davice & Rob Hustle on the mic – 122mb

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6RTf5K4Z3Q

100_0108.MOV – Mic Davice & Rob Hustle on the mic – 155mb

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3gXzyCalQw

100_0132.MOV – Mic Davice & Rob Hustle on the mic – 280mb

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlKJxNKEJsk

100_0136MOV – Mic Davice & Rob Hustle on the mic – 29.3mb

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nPjHOBuiH4

100_0137.MOV – Mic Davice & Rob Hustle on the mic – 96.2mb

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPnBBg1C3B0

100_0138.MOV – Mic Davice & Rob Hustle on the mic – 65.0mb

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlb15OsNDRw

100_0141.MOV – YTCracker on the mic – 143mb

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxWogUjfoh8

100_0142.MOV – YTCracker on the mic – 59.7mb

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyN8H2go0j8

100_0155.MOV – YTCracker on the mic – 147mb

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrKfdBpQ1Iw

100_0156.MOV – YTCracker on the mic – 87.7mb

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhBQ2y9_nKs

100_0158.MOV – YTCracker on the mic – 67.9mb

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu5-GWP0Ymo

IMG_0137.MOV – Not sure if serious? – 2.10mb

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZOMunpLe8U

Related posts:

1. Affiliate Summit West 2010
2. That just happened, ad:tech 2010 San Francisco!

I’ve included links to all the files below.

1. Affiliates on Facebook – Best Practices
2. Disapproval Destination
3. Disapproval Subscription
4. Facebook Ad Tips
5. Facebook Reporting Guide
6. Top 10 Ad Creative Tips

Like I said, this is pretty basic stuff if you’ve been advertising on Facebook.  If you’re new, it should teach you a couple handy things.

Related posts:

1. Affiliate Tradeshow Floor Tips by Smaxor
2. How to Cloak Facebook Ad Reviewers (the right way!)
3. Affiliate Summit West, Be There or Be Square!

As soon as I got to the airport in Tulsa I caught a flamer staring me down on the concourse and as I caught him he got up and left the concourse so I thought I was safe.  About 15 minutes passed and I wondered where he went so I looked around and this homo is directly behind me.  So I moved next to some random chick to strike up conversation with.  All was good.  On the flight from Dallas to Las Vegas I thought it was pretty cool that we passed over The Hoover Dam.  However, I was upset that I wasn’t able to visit there with AdHustler because I didn’t make it in time.

Then the guys and gals at Optimal Web Works, Jardini and SHOCK Marketer wanted to hit up the pawn shop that is featured on Pawn Stars on The History Channel.  We missed everybody by just a couple hours as they left for San Diego or just finished their shift.  From there we walked to downtown Las Vegas and hit up the old strip.  I’ve included some pictures below.

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Day 1: Meet Market, Yard House WickedFire Meetup and Neverblue/NickyCakes/PPC.BZ

Started the day out pretty early and had breakfast with SHOCK Marketer at the Sao Paulo Cafe.  Ran into the Tracking202 guys and a number of other people on the way there and Wes Mahler said he needed to get me on an interview so stay tuned for that.  Not sure when it will happen though.  Ended up making it to the Meet Market for about 2 hours with Ilya Lichtenstein.  Chatted it up with Jay Kim and Ilya for a little bit and Ads4Dough is great.  I’ve done very little revenue with them, but they were more than willing to give me the time of day.  I ran into my buddies over at Optimal Web Works and we’ve been tackling Facebook for a minute and discussing our strategies so we hit up the Facebook booth and grilled Ben for a good 45 minutes to an hour asking questions.  I came away with a couple ideas and can’t wait for some of their beta features to become publicly available.

There was a WickedFire meetup at The Yard House that was complete fail.  There were about 50 people on the RSVP list and there was at most 15 of us there.  I met a handful of new guys there and it was great meeting you all.

Then there was the EPIC Neverblue/NickyCakes/PPC.BZ part at one of the suites at The Palms.  YTCracker was the DJ and even did a few freestyle and songs.  I’ll have videos of this on YouTube shortly.  And how could we forget Rob Hustle and Mic Davice?  They killed the mic and I got plenty of videos of this too.  We ever had a couple guys jump in the pool including Josh Ziering and Khoa.

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Day 2: Exhibit Hall, Mailer Meetup, Party at The Hangover Suite & Las Vegas Boulevard

I forget what happened this morning.  I just know I finally made it to the Exhibit Hall for a couple hours and made my rounds.  Of course the first thing I did was run over to the C2M booth grab a beer from the keg and chat it up with Ruck, Mike Kerry, Steve Howe and Ryan Hurry.  Chatted it up with Jay Kim and let him know what I was running and what I kinds of offers I would like to see Ads4Dough get so I can get my revenue up with those guys.  Made a couple stops around the show and got a couple pieces of schwag.  I don’t really care for the Exhibit Hall.  Being labeled as an affiliate puts a target on you and it gets annoying when everybody wants to talk to you so I always turn my badge around.

Then I met up with the Optimal Web Works guys again and went to meet up with the mailers to find out what they’re doing and was given some information if I wanted to get into the mailing area.  They later had a party at The Hangover Suite.  I was hungry when I got there and they just happened to have some great chicken, wings and mini-burritos that I snacked on to hold me over for the night.  There was a couple mailers that were dropping knowledge on all of us there that were interested in becoming a mailer.  Ran into Bofu2u, Russell and BlueHatSEO and kicked it with them.

We later hit up the strip and Bofu2u almost got a pink Narwhal Henna tattoo on his nipple.  I was trying to get him drunk enough to make it happen so we hit the strip looking for a place to do the tattoo.  I thought they found one so I ran off to go piss and the guy I asked outside this club sent me upstairs to a gay club to piss and it was a maze to get outta there.  I came back down and found the group and the guy I asked all dying laughing at me.  Then I was told it was a gay club so I bitched out the guy asking what the fuck was wrong with him so he eventually let us get in his club for free and gave us some free to play beer pong.  Found some skanks that were pretty bootsy.

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Day 3:Exhibit Hall, Downtown Las Vegas (again), Gambling and Tender

Met up with Bofu2u, trigatch and Russell for breakfast at the Sao Paulo Cafe and laughed at the previous nights events.  Ran over to the Exhibit Hall again for a couple hours and immediately hit the C2M booth again for the keg.  Chatted up with those guys for a little bit and some other affiliates that were coming by for the same reason I was there.  Then Bofu2u, Russell, Julian, Nick Mattern and AdHustler for some In N Out Burger.  Made our way to downtown Las Vegas for some gambling and we all lost our asses out there, even at the cheap tables.  Then Nick Mattern, Russell and I decided to eat at Tender at The Luxor with heavyt, sgtryan, circa and a few other affiliates.  The food was excellent but most of the time we were there the damn alarm was going off and it got hella annoying.  By the time we finished eating it was around 10pm and I was tired as shit from the last few days and from drinking since 11am so I called it a night.

Departure

The departure was pretty uneventful.  Ran into my Optimal Web Works buddies in Terminal D and recapped what we were taking away from the conference.  I was tired as hell and happy to get home.

It was great seeing everybody at Affiliate Summit West 2010!  Can’t wait to make it happen again!

Related posts:

1. What did you miss at Affiliate Summit West 2011?
2. Affiliate Summit West, Be There or Be Square!
3. Affiliate Tips from Facebook

When I went to my first event at Affiliate Summit East 2009 in New York City I just walked around the tradeshow and glanced at each booth to see what it was about and moved on if it didn’t interest me.  Being kinda overwhelmed by the show since it was my first conference I talked to maybe 20 booths out of them all and there were a TON!  I felt like I cheated myself a lot, but I didn’t really know how to approach a booth that didn’t interest me.

Well, all that has been fixed for me by Jason.  He’s made probably one of the best blog posts I’ve read concerning tips on how to navigate the Affiliate Summit Exhibit Hall.  I’m just going to quote his entire blog post below.  I hope he doesn’t mind since I gave him 100% credit here.

Affiliate Tradeshow Floor Tips

Involved in affiliate marketing? Then you probably know that Affiliate Summit West is just a few days away.

So how can you get the most out of the show?

I’m sure you’ve read all the posts saying that all the real business at tradeshows happens at the parties. I agree a lot of business and information is shared in the settings outside the tradeshow floor. What niches are working well and where is a lot of the juicy stuff you’ll get off the tradeshow floor. Stuff that’s not usually shared publicly anywhere.

BUT….

There is a ton of good business to be done on the Affiliate Summit tradeshow floor as well, but you have to go with a plan. As affiliates what are the things we care about?

1. Traffic Sources
2. Things to promote
3. Creative and site design ( for some )

All of these things are bountiful at the actual show. Some shows are better then others for one or the other. I think Adtech is better for Traffic Sources and Affiliate Summit is better to meet networks and advertisers.

So what’s the plan? When I hit the tradeshow floor I want to meet as many people as I can. Network like a mad man meeting people that I “don’t” know. Seeing people you do know is fine but it’s the people you don’t know which is going to open new avenues, ideas and in turn create opportunities.

Here’s my plan:

Walk onto the floor and start at booth 1 then walk from booth to booth. Talk with every single person you can and find out which of your list items they have to offer you. Mostly I’m looking for traffic when I hit the tradeshow floor. More traffic sources is always what’s the most interesting to me. I know where to find offers at this point. So I walk from booth to booth collecting business cards asking “Do you sell traffic?” or “Who do you know that sells traffic?” If they answer yes I talk to them about how they sell it ie. ppc, cpm, cpv, cpa. How much inventory do they have. What does it take to get started, what offers are doing well with in their platform, what creative compliance stuff they have. Then I take all that and write as much of it as I can on the back of their  business card so when I get home I can remember what they have to offer.

Now if they say they don’t sell traffic they’re going to tell me what they do. When they tell me I try and figure out how I can get to some traffic contact they know. For example if it’s an affiliate network I might ask “what offers are doing well on your network?”, “How are affs promoting them?”, “where are they buying traffic?” Keep in mind they may not answer some of these questions but guess what if you don’t ask they will be guaranatee’d not to answer. Don’t be a panzy ask, dig, pry and get every last bit of info out of everyone you talk to. Don’t be afraid you’re going to hurt someones feeling or overstep your bounds. Now I’m not saying be a jackass but I am saying dig like a archeologist looking for bones., keep diggin.

If you, like me, plan on staying in this business long term your business will grow and you’ll need more and more people in the tradeshow. So give everyone respect and file what they do away somewhere. Because you’re going to get down the road, and this business is like a puzzle. You’re going to have some project going and there’s going to be a few pieces missing. Those cards you collected years ago at some show will fill your puzzle and complete your project.

Have fun and meet as many new people as you can. You already know the people you know come home with new connections and grow your business.

Success,
Smaxor

P.S. See you Spearmint Rhino!

Related posts:

1. Affiliate Tips from Facebook
2. Affiliate Summit West, Be There or Be Square!
3. Are you going to ad:tech?