Here’s an example of the relationship building at Affiliate Summit. I was headed to the Carnival buffet at the Rio Monday morning and saw a guy holding an affiliate registration bag in front of me. I struck up a conversation and asked him what he was doing at ASW10. His name was Stu and he owns a growing retail site. He heard about ASW and took the time to attend and learn about affiliate marketing. The buffet line was moving slow so I asked if we could chat for a while and then sit down together for breakfast. By the time we were seated, my Sunshine Rewards buddies (Tricia and Cindy) showed up and joined us for breakfast. Over the next 30 minutes, this affiliate marketing newbie heard from an outsourced program manager and two super affiliates about the industry he came to learn about. We discussed network selection, affiliate communication, coupon strategy, landing page optimization and general definitions of affiliate keywords and phrases. We really talked his ear off and I’m confident we sent him in the right direction to research launching his new program.

It’s unpredictable chance meetings that make events like this memorable. I had incredible meetings with affiliates and vendors and other OPM’s but the lure of building new relationships at Affiliate Summit is the cherry on top. That’s where my PokenZoo promotion came in handy this year. Which by the way was spawned from an initial conversation I had with Adam Riemer back in December. The Poken Meetup was a success because of Twitter and word of mouth. We had about 20 people over a 30-minute period. During this time, I was fortunate enough to have a 15-minute conversation with Warren Whitlock. We actually had a conversation longer than 140 characters. I was able to ask him strategy questions about Twitter, discuss the future of Poken and learn a little bit about who he was as a person, not just a social media guru who wrote a book. It was a long enough personal conversation that he should actually remember me if we meet again.

Even the organized breakfasts and lunches are a great chance for networking at Affiliate Summit. I saw one of my best affiliates (Eric Nagel) at a table and sat with him but didn’t realize I would become friends instantly with everyone else there. That breakfast conversation was beyond hilarious and the centerpiece was my new friend David D Ochoa. David is quite a character and is eager to learn fast. This was his second Affiliate Summit but I think he’ll be one of my top affiliates very soon. He’s seen the potential from other affiliates and is willing to invest the time to make it work for him.

There are plenty of wrap-up posts from Affiliate Summit West and they cover everything from the keynotes, the sessions, the parties and events. But, I wanted to highlight the most important thing to me about Affiliate Summit – relationship building is king and if you want to be successful, this is the place to start.

In July, I went to my local eye doctor for an exam and I was planning on buying contacts and glasses. But the glasses they had were just too much money to even bother. My old pair of glasses were cracked, scratched and the prescription was outdated so I never wore them anyway. But here comes 39DollarGlasses.com to the rescue. I was helping PMG with the 39DollarGlasses affiliate account and the merchant was kind enough to send me a free pair of eyeglasses. I sent them my prescription but first I had to measure the distance between my pupils because the local doctor left this off the prescription, just in case I decided not to buy from them. Thankfully, 39DollarGlasses has an easy to use chart on how to do this on their site.

The glasses showed up several days later and I wear them about half the time now, which I haven’t done consistently in about 10 years. The glasses are comfortable and sleek. It’s nice to have them as a back up to my contacts.

Anyway, I highly recommend buying your next pair of eyeglasses or sunglasses from 39DollarGlasses.com.

Thanks to Karrine at Her-Media for creating my new twitter background. Contact her today to get yours. Click the link below.

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