Affiliate Summit Question

[Jenyfari]

Hi all

We will be attending the Affiliate Summit in January and were wondering whether it is worth getting the full pass. We will be coming from Australia so the cost of the airfares and accommodation alone will be quite high so the addition of the two full pass tickets are really going to break the budget. So we really need to know if the full pass is worth the extra money.

Any opinions??

Regards
Paula

[AffiliateGuild]

The full pass gets you in to hear the speakers and you can learn from them. What I would suggest is go to Google's Video archive and do a search on affiliate summit ... watch the videos they've put there for you. You'll get a feel for what the full pass is like.

The thing you definately should do though, is to go to the parties after the show closes. That's where you'll learn a lot if you connect with the more experienced affiliates. You'll make a lot of connections if you're a social networker. So, I'd say definately plan on attending those parties.

[Lisa76]

Great advice AffiliateGuild,

This is also my first time going and we have the additional free passes for the affiliates. Just wondering how many companies make use of the free passes for their affiliates. We're trying to come up with a way to distribute the passes but would like to know what others have done in the past.

Do many companies bring their affiliates or is it usually just the AMs, and other top-level folks in the company?

[Jenyfari]

Thanks for the advice. Will definitely head on over to Google to take a look.

And just a suggestion to 5PillarManager, I have seen affiliate managers give away free passes to their top performers but it also might be a good idea to have a competition that also allows your low performers to enter. I wouldn't give them free to your low performers but a competition that encourages them to promote your products in some way and the best promotion wins. This gives them encouragement as I do know that most affiliate managers only award their best performers and disregard their new affiliates who are just starting or have gotten waylaid. This gets them on track and encourages them to promote your products so its a win-win situation for both sides.

[Linda Buquet]

Re; the parties. Def important. Not for the partying but the networking. Sometimes you learn more at the "after" events. Plying your competitors with liquor is a sure fire way to discover some of their secrets. (kidding)

I believe I have heard Shawn say though - to get into official Summit parties you need to have a full pass.

Good idea Bobbie to have people go watch Summit video to get a feel for how good the sessions are.

"Do many companies bring their affiliates or is it usually just the AMs, and other top-level folks in the company?

It used to be mainly AMs and network reps but now more and more affiliates are going. Not sure how many of the affiliates are sponsored by their merchants, but having a contest that rewards not just the super affiliates and top performers is always a good idea IMHO. Some newbie and mid-tier affiliates will grow up to be supers - with a little help from us.

[xy7max]

You guys better all come to our party! We'll be throwing down for sure. After all, Vegas = homecourt advantage!

watch out AF '07 weeeeee

[Lisa76]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. What about booths? Any advice for a newbie? I posted a similar question in another forum but didn't get much of a reply. Any booth vets here care to share some tips, do's and don'ts?

I haven't done many conferences so I'm just trying to soak up all the info I can before I go.

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Lisa,

You said: "What about booths? Any advice for a newbie?"

What specifically did you want to know about booths???
How to staff it? decorate it? giveaways? schatskes? (sp) lead gen???

[Lisa76]

Hi Linda

All of the above. lol I guess mainly decorations and booth activities. I watched the video on the aff summit homepage and saw most booths had a backdrop so that's something we'll have to prepare. Do people generally do contests, giveaways? I'm sure it's up to the creativity of each company, but just want to make sure you we are prepared and get the most out of the conference. As you can tell, I've very green regarding the whole thing.

[Linda Buquet]

So sad... Was going to show you pics of Partnercentric's booth a couple years ago when I worked the show with them. I made a collage but it got deleted.

Anyway, one of the reasons to have a booth is to collect leads, so you will want to have some type of contest so you can collect biz cards. Most affs don't have cards so you'll also want entry forms too. Also most people give away schwag so you'll want to have some type of branded promo item to give away for branding purposes.

I came up the theme and contest for PC's booth a couple years ago. The Theme was "Let PartnerCentric Take the Stress Out of Affiliate Marketing." We gave away little stress relief balls shaped like computers with the PC brand on them and had chair massagers in the booth. We gave away some other stress relief schwag too - can't remember. We also hosted a PC party with the same theme and had a masseuse doing chair massage, played mystical massage music and stuff. It was all VERY cool!

The contest we did was all online, so the lead forms were electronic and the affs entered in their own details so there was no data entry needed after the show to do follow-ups. But the online contest was a pain - had all types of tech problems.

You'll want a backdrop display so you can have signage and also to "keep up with the Joneses" and have your display look as good as or BETTER than your neighbor's.