Wow – was Affiliate Summit already a month ago? Crap. They were super cool to give me a press pass and I’m only now getting around to writing up my thoughts on the show. Sorry Shawn.
I wanted the stir to die down so I could re-engergize the coverage…yeah…that’s my story.
As many of you know I started my SEO career as an affiliate selling Phentermine and Viagra. Back then there was no real affiliate community like we see today. I’ve been out of the game for several years now so you can only imagine my jaw was on the floor when I showed up in Vegas last month. The place was crawling with affiliates, merchants, technology companies, and affiliate network companies. The show floor was packed. I haven’t seen that many booths at conference outside of maybe SES NY in a long time. You literally could hardly move through the aisles.
The other thing that really struck me was how well attended the vast majority of the sessions where. People were hungry for information and by and large were asking very well thought out questions. I even unoffically joined the SEO panel with some of my good friends (@davesnyder, @cshel, @ericlander and @scottpolk). I ran around with the microphone doing my best Vanna White impression. The panel went really well. We even wound up with this great video review:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUv5s05EPWY[/youtube]
On the last day of the show I was having coffee with Heather Paulsons and ran into a long time friend of mine, Kris Jones, from PepperJam. We talked at length about the lack of crossover between the affiliate conferences and the more traditional confernces. I can safely say I will be working hard this year to make it to ASE09 in NY – maybe even as a speaker – hint hint 
.
The show was refreshing to me and I’m motivated to use some the that time I spend watching TV in the evenings to get back into some affilaite marketing for a little extra pocket change as well as some new learning opportunities. I’m actually starting to learn how to do some PPC for my own stuff but don’t tell all my SEO buddies – they’ll disown me.
This was my second Affiliate Summit. I went one of the very first shows years ago and I am absolutley impressed with what Shawn and Missy have built over the years. Well done. I’ll be back.
As a parting gift – here’s me with a giant crab at ASW09:
Eric Lander
February 3rd, 2009 at 2:16 pmThe SEO session would never have been as successful without you running the Q&A microphone all around. It was good to see you back in an affiliate arena, particularly for those of us who can actually remember the pill pushing days of the Wild, Wild West.
I’m really looking forward to AS East in NY this Summer and hope you can make the trip out. It’s great to see how much Shawn and Missy have grown AS conferences out over time. Very well attended, and obviously loads and loads of fun.
Dave Snyder
February 3rd, 2009 at 2:23 pmGreat post on ASW09.
I had a great time, despite the fact that I hate Las Vegas.
The affiliate crowd really soaked up what we had to say. I was originally worried whether we would be looked at as the nerdy kids in high school, but the community was pretty cool.
Plus anytime I get to spend with my Oilman is a good time.
scott polk
February 3rd, 2009 at 2:27 pmI have to say the title of your post cracked me up before I even got a chance to read it .. and I do remember that crab – LOL
You are so right Affiliate Summit has come a long a long ways in the years I have been involved. The attendees are extremely happy get information really apply it to their businesses.
Your Vanna impression was great and I am so glad you were part of the panel with all of us. We are going to make it a double session at Affiliate Summit East in New York, so 2.5 hours of site reviews next time.
Thanks – You Rock!!
@scottpolk
Heather Paulson
February 3rd, 2009 at 3:12 pmHey Todd,
Was fantastic running into you and glad you enjoyed taking a photo with our CrabPlace.com client mascot who has an affiliate program in ShareaSale.com! Looking forward to reconnecting with you at the next Affiliate Summit!
Carolyn Shelby
February 3rd, 2009 at 3:51 pm(I’m dying to make a comment about you and the giant crab, but I’ll refrain because I’m nice and also because I think everyone can probably guess where that would have been going anyway.)
I’ll second your observation about the show floor. Honestly, I haven’t seen such a packed show floor in *ages*. Not just the number of vendor booths, but the teeming mass of attendees was just amazing.
As for our session… I was really, really, really pleased with the organic SEO site review. It was well attended and (based on the feedback anyway) well received. I’m looking forward to another similarly awesome session at ASE this August.
Will you be reprising your role as Vanna in NY?
andrew wee
February 3rd, 2009 at 6:23 pmGood to have met you at ASW, Oilman…
I see you typed “Affilaite Summit” above, will you be talking about ranking for common typo traffic at ASE? Cool beans!
Doing the Vanna is great, and perhaps a matching outfit?
Seeya at the next affiliate summit.
Jim
February 4th, 2009 at 10:02 amThat is quite a crab. I don’t think i could have a bad time if a crab like that were around.
Austin Graffiti
February 5th, 2009 at 12:14 pmThey gotta have one of these things in Austin. Is the entry price reasonable?
Brian Mark
February 5th, 2009 at 12:40 pmWell, it sure sounds like it was a good time. Wish I could even think about a conference right now. So far, it’s all doom-and-gloom around the office because of how bad the local contractor market is, so I doubt I’ll make it to anything for a while.
Vibe.to
February 6th, 2009 at 3:12 amThe crowd at Las Vegas is overwhelming, so much so that sometimes you overlook the best it has to offer. But its was hard to overlook this crab in the pic. Hope to catch it sometime soon.
Mal
February 14th, 2009 at 11:34 pmThere must be a lot of us who came up the same way Oilman… looking forward to catching the NY show this year but the Hilton has been a little tight with the complimentary exhibit only passes so far. Cheers -
Jo Mikan
February 15th, 2009 at 12:42 amThe landscape is sure changing. Do you thing toolbar and software loyalty affiliates will eventually squeeze out the little guy?
Thx,
Jo
Per
March 1st, 2009 at 5:47 pmGreat post man. And yes, affiliate has really grown the past years. People seems to go from Adsense to Affiliate more and more..
Mike Rutkowski
April 28th, 2009 at 12:17 amWOW! This conference sounds like it was an incredible event! I’ve never been to an affiliate conference (or traditional conference for that matter) but am really going to make an effort to get to affiliate summit east. (Just wish it was more over a weekend so I could take less days off from work!)