In 1996, the headlines of the Atlanta newspaper I worked for screamed for the head of Juan Antonio Samaranch on a platter because he did not deem the Atlanta Olympics as the “Best Ever”.
I am here to proclaim that Affiliate Summit West this year was the best conference I’ve ever attended. It was not only fun, it was very productive for my team at Greg Hoffman Consulting. Normally I rant about how the networking is so incredible at Affiliate Summit but this time it was the total package: great location, great networking, great sessions and speakers, great friends and colleagues, great food, great weather and finally great travel.
There is one theme that is continuing to echo today. “I can’t believe I didn’t see you”. The conference has grown and we were so spread out on multiple levels that people never had a chance to run into each other as we usually do. I saw some people from afar but never had a chance to shake hands or get a hug. (Jim Banks, Rae Hoffman, Ian Fernando, Heath Bertini, Rebecca Madigan, just to name a few) Even those that I did see, I didn’t have the quality time as usual. I only spent 20 minutes in the blogger’s lounge and that says it all right there. I was BUSY!
On Saturday night, a small group of us went to Fremont Street downtown because I have been to Vegas several times and never acted like a tourist. So we got to see the sites and enjoy the town as it is meant to be on a weekend. I just wish the picture I took of the girls had “little Elvis” in the background. The street performers cracked me up and we cracked some of them up too. Never dare Cindy Ballard to mess with a human statue!
Sunday morning was mass at Guardian Angel Cathedral with a handful of Catholic affiliate marketers that got out of bed early. Mass was followed by a massive breakfast at Serendipity 3 at Ceasars. My hangover omelet was amazing but it wasn’t much of a challenge. I think I shocked a few people by cleaning the plate.
Sunday was busy with networking in the halls as usual mixed with some great affiliate meetings planned in advance. The Meet Market was all in one room this year (I think) and I was able to visit with some colleagues and catch up on what’s happened since Affiliate Summit East. I enjoyed meeting my newcomer on Sunday evening and helping him get ready for the mayhem the next day. Sunday night was the absolute best ShareASale party ever. Instead of the ballroom setting, it was at a real club. The party upstairs was the place to be with sites of the Vegas strip from the base of the Eiffel Tower Restaurant.
Monday was almost a complete blur as we had so many meetings with affiliates. Cindy, Kelly and I were spread out across the conference center between sessions and meetings. I manned the buy.at booth representing SubscriptionAgent.com for about half an hour. Kelly took over so I could attend the Mastermind Group session with some of my favorite people: Tricia Meyer, Eric Nagel and Todd Farmer. I took furious notes as I’m in the process of starting my own manager’s mastermind group. That was an extremely inspirational session and I’m glad they shared.
After the huge breakfast, I didn’t eat much for the rest of the day besides a salad with the Affiliate Walla crew. We had a nice team dinner with the Carousel Checks/Girly Checks crew at a steak house. I still ate lite… It was good to spend time with my Affiliate Summit little sister, Jill Swartwout and her parents, Bill and Nancy. Nighttime brought the legendary karaoke performance by Eric Nagel.
Tuesday was the big day for my session, Does your affiliate program have the juice? with Wade Tonkin and Jeremy Palmer. I admitted that it was far more advanced from the podcast I started with Joe Magennis after ASE10. Jeremy came in with the super affiliate perspective and blew us away with a very detailed formula on how to choose the right affiliate program. It made me feel like a silly robot on Mystery Science Theater 3,000 compared to a scientist. I’m hoping we get good reviews because the feedback we heard from both merchants and affiliates was incredible. We are looking at doing this again in New York.
Congratulations to Tricia for winning the Pinnacle award for Best Blogger and to Kim Salvino for winning Best Affiliate Manager. I’m very happy for both of you.
After wrapping up the show by occupying the couch for 90 minutes in the Affiliate Summit Speaker’s booth, it was time to prepare for the traditional #GetSome dinner with the wolfpack. I pleaded with them to not let me wake up in Thailand. All I can say about dinner is…bacon. Before calling it a night, we crashed the party at Toby Keith’s and said our goodbye’s.
It doesn’t hurt that I cashed in mileage on Delta and flew first class both ways. It was my first time up front with the hot towels. I don’t know how I can travel coach anytime soon. I’m looking forward to Affiliate Summit Central and ShareASale ThinkTank in May. I’ll see you then my friends. Until then it’s back to affiliate management of our growing programs.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Great recap post Greg! I agree that this Affiliate Summit was an awesome venue (but always is)!
I love the fact that this one was on Las Vegas Blvd. So much action within a few blocks.
You know you had an interesting trip when your wrap-up post mentions everything from "little Elvis" to MST3K to bacon. LOL
mmm. bacon.
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