Yesterday I spent a few hours researching Affiliate Summit West, getting to know more about the history behind the event, and planning the activities that I want to be a part of. Affiliate Summit in general has continued to grow in attendance and notoriety since 2003, so I’m very excited about going. It should be a great experience.
According to the ASW website, the event almost doubled in size (in terms of attendance) from 2005 to 2008. With 3207 attendees in 2009. Hopefully the 2010 summit crowd will be a nice turn out too.
You might think that in a down economy, now would not be a good time to spend money on conferences. I totally disagree. As Internet entrepreneurs we have the distinct advantage of being able to take our office with us on the road. That means we should lean into this geographic freedom and learn to be where ever we are. Life shouldn’t stop just because we are in a new time zone for a few days.
Now is exactly the time when we should all be looking to increase our reach and expand our networks. Business connections have always been important offline and online they are just as important to our success. When we have a chance to get out and meet people in person and have shared experiences, we should do it. That means getting out and meeting people where ever they are.
I see conferences as similar to being an “early adopter”. It used to be that it was financially expensive to be an early adopter and the return on investment was usually just bragging rights with your neighbor. That’s not the case anymore. Now if you are an early adopter, you gain a significant advantage over others who are dragging their feet, waiting to see what happens. What once was a $600 VCR for the family is now a $150 Smart Phone for your mobile office. The return on technology has easily compounded over the past ten to fifteen years and the value has come mainly from the individual connections that have been made.
Since we’ll be attending Affiliate Summit this year as first timers, we want to make sure that we don’t miss out on any of the meeting events or after hours social events. That’s why we’ll be going to the Affiliate Meet Market on Sunday, stopping in on the Affiliate Exchange, cruising the Exhibit Hall, visiting Vertical Exchange, and checking in on the ShareASale “Under the Stars” – Karaoke Edition party. Last year’s ShareASale affiliate commissions were very good to me, so I’m looking forward to joining the party in Vegas and hopefully getting to know some of the crew.
One of the events I’m particularly looking forward to is hearing Robert Cialdini’s keynote presentation. His book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion is an excellent read. After reading it about a year ago, it really opened my mind to the ways that we are influenced in our lives and how we can influence others. You can listen to Susan Bratton’s podcast Interview with Dr. Robert Cialdini if you want to preview a little of what he teaches in his books.
According to the ASW website, there will be hundreds of vendors attending the event. So, I’ll be sitting down this weekend to create a list of vendors I want to visit in the Exhibit Hall. After we hit the highlights, we’ll probably just take in the rest as they come along. It’s not reasonable to think that we’ll get to see all the vendors, so it’s important that we focus in on the ones we definitely want to meet.
Here’s a map of the Exhibit Hall.
Shawn Collins, co-founder of Affiliate Summit, put together this great presentation to help everyone get organized by doing a little planning. It’s about 17 minutes long so if you plan to attend the event, be sure to watch and take notes.
Not going to be at the Affiliate Summit? Don’t worry. We’ll be sharing what we learn there with you here on the blog, and if the shwag is good, we’ll be holding some giveaways when we get back. It all depends on how much good stuff the vendors are giving out and how much stuff we can pack in our return carry on luggage.
If you’d like to meet up at Affiliate Summit, leave me a comment so we can plan something. We’ll be bringing the pocket HD video camera and the Zoom audio recorder for those choice interview moments. Attendees are not allowed to record the sessions at the Summit, but I bet there is plenty of places where a good informal interview can take place.
One week and counting,
Charles McKeever
OpenSourceMarketer.com
