For those of you that missed the Summit and those of you that were there and want to share your insights - this thread is the place to be. I did a big long blog about the Summit today and have 2 more coming, but wanted to post the info here for those that dont have my feed yet. (Shortened a little for this post.)

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Just got back from Vegas after an overwhelmingly positive experience at the Affiliate Summit. What I plan to do is a three part series covering the 3 elements of the conference that I feel had the most impact for me. The 3 P’s – PEOPLE, PRESENTATIONS & PARTIES. I know “what happens in Vegas – stays in Vegas” but I will still spill! ;-)

Part One - The PEOPLE! For me this was absolutely the most valuable part of the Summit on numerous levels. Meeting people face to face and actually talking instead of typing was so incredible I can’t even tell you. We are in a virtual biz, but nothing can replace up close and personal contact with people you work with.

Shawn, Missy and Team - 1st I want to thank Missy, Shawn all the speakers and people behind the scenes that made this event such a huge WIN for everyone involved. It was great meeting you all in person. You are both as genuine and real in person as you are online and it was a pleasure being around you. Thanks for all you did to make this the best Summit ever and a huge success.

The PartnerCentric Team – WOW what a team! We work together closely online and have weekly conference calls but for 9 of us to get together for 4 days to network and brainstorm in person was so valuable I can’t even express it. It was enriching to re-unite with the team members I have already met, and great to meet all the new managers I had not met in person before. We also had numerous clients at the show who helped at the booth, so I believe PartnerCentric had more people there than any other exhibitor. Everyone kept saying, wow you guys keep hiring all the best managers – you guys got Jamie from Coldwater Creek and all the good ones – if a good manager ever is MIA from a program I work with, I’ll know where to look – they probably hooked up with PartnerCentric.

The Affiliates – On Sunday I treated the whole PartnerCentric team, Connie Berg, her programmer Nate and Anne Fognano to a Champagne Buffet, then PC had a big meeting. It was so great to get to have some one-on-one time with Connie and Anne before the busy conference started. It was great spending some quality time once again with James Martell, Arlene his wife and some of his team. We were at James’ Cobra party up in Vancouver and were SO pleased he returned the favor and graced us with his company at our VIP party Monday nite. (Hope you guys enjoy all the PC Schwag you won!) Got to meet Billy Kay, Kelly (Ms.B), Loxly and a bunch of other affiliates I know from the boards. In fact we were all amazed at how many affiliates showed up. Looked to me like at least 1/3 were affiliates which is great cuz this conference usually attracts mainly merchants.

The AM’s, Merchants and ServiceProviders – Again it was amazing to be able to network, share industry ideas and insights with so many talented people I have worked with but never met. It was great to meet Todd Farmer and the rest of the Kowabunga team in person as well as Mark & Jason and the Direct Response Team. I had so many great conversions with so many people. One of the highlights for me was meeting Andy Rodriguez – what a cool guy! We had so much fun and Loxly took pictures of us hugging and kissing and will be posting them on ABW, so stay tuned. Actually she also took a pic of me with one arm around Todd Crawford and the other around Andy. Hey Lox, send me a copy. :-)

Special Note to Wayne Porter – The only negative part of the conference for me was watching you lay on the floor seizing. We were all so scared and felt so helpless. Felt like it took forever for the paramedics to get there, then they carted you away. I have been praying and worrying about your condition ever since. Well it looks like you are OK, thank God. If you can blog and make light of it, I guess you survived. Sure looked like more than a run of the mill seizure to me. Glad you are OK. Love the blog title that talks about your ordeal. Adware Behavior Causes Researchers Seizures (http://www.revenews.com/wayneporter/archives/000746.html)

I am posting all the pics I can find from everyone on my blog, too many links to post here. Stay tuned for Part 2 (the Presentation highlights) and Part 3 (The dirt! errrr, uhhhh, I mean Party highlights) coming soon.
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Anyone else have comments or any questions about the Summit?

Linda

Between helping to answer questions at the PartnerCentric booth, handing out lots of "schwag" and networking with lots of people off on the sidelines, I didn’t make it as many sessions as I would have liked to. So here are highlights from the ones I made it to. They were all very good!

Key Note Address by Declan Dunn - I think everyone would agree that the Keynote Speech on opening day was the most dynamic presentation of the show. Declan rocked the house with one clear and resounding message throughout his presentation. INTEGRITY! In fact he has formed a group called the “Internet with Integrity Project” (internetwithintegrity.com) where he asks all of us the question: "What's your single most important issue facing marketers on the Internet? What standards would you suggest be put into action right now?" Share your thoughts and see what evolves from this project. I think we can all expect good things to come!

While I’m not sure that I learned anything brand new I did have lots of ah-ha’s and beliefs reinforced as well as gaining new ideas and insights at the sessions I attended below:

Panel: What Affiliates Want - No flames broke out surprisingly, in spite of the mix of panelists. The audience asked great questions and the panel gave great answers. Several people told me afterwards they wish Linda would have spoken most of the time and they wanted to hear more of what she had to say. (Panelists: Linda Woods, President, PartnerCentric (Moderator) - Rosalind Gardner, Author, The Super Affiliate Handbook - Amy Lehman, Account Manager, Commission Junction - Brian Marcus, Director of Partner Services, Performics - Nassim Nazemi, Director of Website Content, iGive.com - Hector Salcedo, Senior Sales Manager, Ebates.com - Pedro Sostre, Creative Director, Sostre & Associates).

Panel: Recruiting Affiliates - This one was standing room only when I got there, so I didn’t stay cuz my feet hurt. However it does go to show that recruiting is one of the biggest challenges that affiliate managers face. They are all looking for more meaningful and successful strategies for reaching the right affiliates. (Panelists: Mark Romanelli, DirectTrack Manager, Direct Response Technologies (Moderator) - Liz Gazer, Affiliate Manager, Rugman.com - Bret Grow, Vice President, Ouimette Communications - Liz Lloyd, Director of Strategic Development, YFDirect - Dan Murray, Internet Marketing Strategist, Ravenwood Marketing)

Luncheon Address, Stephen Messer, Chairman & CEO, LinkShare Corporation – Stephen started out saying he would have some controversial comments. It was an interesting speech. I had to leave about the time he said something like “Google is NOT your friend.” I think he was talking about Adsense, not sure. Wish I could have stayed to hear the rest.

Panel: The Art of the Data Feed – This was great panel and it was interesting to hear the different ways the panelists are using feeds. One of the issues that came up a couple times was the need for a standardized feed format to make it easier for affiliates to slice, dice and merge various feeds from multiple sources. The duplicate content issue also came up too and of course the answer is to add unique content. (Panelists: Ian Lee, Internet Marketing Strategist, ADS-Links.com (Moderator) - Larry Adams, Product Manager, Performics - Connie Berg, Founder, FlamingoWorld.com - Deborah Carney, Founder, NightFireProductions.com - David Cusimano, President, Cusimano.Com Corporation - David Delisle, Founder and CEO, WebBloom Designs Inc. - Michael Stark, President, PostYourProperty.com)

Panel: Marketing with Blogs and RSS – This is one panel I was really looking forward to, as I see RSS taking a much bigger role in affiliate marketing in the very near future. Many affiliates are taking advantage of the technology already but not many merchants are. We could be pushing out dynamically updating coupons, offers, product feeds and more – few are at this point. This session did some RSS 101 for those unfamiliar and some good questions were raised. Blogging is still evolving as a marketing medium but should be added to the pro-active merchant’s arsenal of tools for early adapter affiliates that are ready and willing to use blogs to make more sales. (Panelists: Jeff Molander, CEO, Molander & Associates (Moderator) - Torsten Jacobi, CEO, Creative Weblogging Ltd. - Beth Korte, Owner, Computer Money Makers and Savers - Jim Kukral, Director of Emarketing/Brand Manager, KowaBunga! Technologies - Wayne Porter, Editor, ReveNews.com

Stay tuned for Part 3 – The PARTIES coming at you this weekend.

Sorry, I did actually write Part 3 and added a part 4, just didn't post them here because there are too many outbound links going to numerous sites that have pictures and links to several recaps from other blogs.

So instead of posting the big long link-filled blogs I wrote, I will just post the location of the Official Summit pics, taken by Debbie Carney of NightFire Productions for anyone that wants to see the Summit highlights, some of the party pics and put faces with names of people you know in the industry. nightfireproductions.com/modules/gallery/affsummit

Enjoy the pics!
Linda

Ebates.comNo comment. ;)

What Affiliates WantWhat were the most outstanding points brought up with that?

"What's your single most important issue facing marketers on the Internet? What standards would you suggest be put into action right now?" I can think of a few that could affect the decision making process. Was there any consensus on what the *most* important is?

Hi Marcia,

"Ebates.com - No comment."

There were actually a few of that ilk there. I had to say no to some of the companies that approached me and gladly explained why! One guy said - I'm pretty new with the company, I didn't know we were parasites or had a download app. He was either REALLY green or pretty good at playing dumb. :(

What Affiliates Want - What were the most outstanding points brought up with that?

Well really all the things that you would imagine were brought up. Timely payments, clean feeds with categories (heard that one A LOT) , adequate notification before merchants change site or links, timely replies to emails and fast approvals. Seems like pro-active management support and treating affiliates more like partners was a recurring theme. This one was a little distracting between lack of lighting and no mikes for the panelists. Some of the speakers were pretty good and it's amazing no flames or mention of parasites came up considering the mix on the panel.

"What's your single most important issue facing marketers on the Internet? What standards would you suggest be put into action right now?" - I can think of a few that could affect the decision making process. Was there any consensus on what the *most* important is?

Actually that's a question being asked by Declan on his new site. The results have not been published yet, he is just asking people to weigh in.