Advice from an Affiliate Summit Veteran
I’ve been attending Affiliate Summit before it even was… ( other veterans will understand 🙂 ). My first speaking gig was back in 2002. The event was called AffiliateForce and it was an affiliate marketing conference held on a cruise ship, which went around the Caribbean. At the time, I was only 19, so it was actually my first opportunity to play in the cruise ship casino. I have been attending every Affiliate Summit since, and here are a few veteran tips for you, if you are attending Affiliate Summit later this month in Las Vegas.
Bring Lots of Business Cards
This seems like an obvious one, but the only thing worse than meeting up with someone and hearing that they forgot or ran out of their business cards, is the idea of you having to tell almost every person you meet, the same thing. Throw a bunch of business cards in your luggage, your computer bag, wallet and pockets! Just make sure you have business cards with you.
Step Out of Your Comfort Zone
Possibly one of my weaker areas of marketing and networking, is that I’m not that outgoing on meeting new people. I advise if you are not an outgoing or shy person, to make every attempt you can to meet up with as many new people as possible at Affiliate Summit. You’d be surprised sometimes who is sitting next to you in a session, or right next to you at a networking party. One new connection can change your whole business forever!
Stay Close to the Event Location
Vegas has a lot of different casinos and hotels to offer. I would highly recommend staying in the same hotel as the event (Rio), or a hotel very close (Palms). While in Vegas, everything looks very close… but sometimes trying to get a casino across the street can talk about 15-20 mins. Additionally, staying in the same hotel as the event, will offer a lot more networking opportunities, as you will run into more conference attendees during your stay.
Have Fun & Make New Friends
Affiliate Summit is in Vegas, and there are going to be plenty of parties. Lots of these parties will go very late into the night and you will meet up with a lot of new people. First impressions mean everything, and so does a personal relationship. Treat everyone you meet with how you would like to be treated. I know it sounds silly, but it has happened a few times where I would go up and talk to someone and they would talk or act as if they were so much better than me or anyone else they talked to… don’t let this happen to you. Have fun while in Vegas, you’ll be running into the same people when you come back next year!
Attend the “Super Affiliate Strategies” Session
Deciding what sessions you’ll attend sometimes can be frustrating, especially when there are competing events you want to attend. Plan ahead and make sure you get to the session early if you want some good seats. I highly recommend you plan to attend the “Super Affiliate Strategies that Work” session on Day 3 at 11:30am. Myself, John Chow, Kris Jones and Amit Mehta will be doing a super affiliate panel with open Q&A. I believe this will be the premier session of the conference!
These are just a few of my veteran tips for Affiliate Summit. I look forward to meeting with many of you at the event. Feel free to post any advice or tips you have the for event as well!
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Appears they changed their rules since you first started going,
"MUST BE 21 TO ATTEND:
No one under the age of 21, including children in strollers accompanying their parents, will be admitted. No refunds will be provided to underage registrants."
Nice…I think I've checked every item off my list already. I just got business cards to match my new site design (launching in the next couple days), and I booked my room at the Rio instead of trying to "save money" at a cheaper hotel across town. I'm naturally outgoing and friendly to the point that I have friends who think it's a stretch imagining me working online, so I hope to not have problems making connections with people at my first Affiliate Summit. I'm looking forward to seeing your panel, Zac.
Great tips, and now if I could go 🙂
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where's my shirt?
thanks for the tips, seem like common sense though.
I have all of my contact info on the front, along with my "Zac" toon. On the back I have all of my site properties.
I used all of my contact info, as well. You can see the business card I had printed to match my soon-to-be-released blog design at https://www.chrisbloczynski.com/do-bloggers-need-b….
I know… it pretty much has my name about as many times as it needs, right? I guess that's one of the fundamentals that you'll run into when you choose your own name as a domain… anyways, I'm excited for my new blog design to be finished so I can start handing out these cards.
Thanks! The designer added that on a whim, actually… he thought it was sort of plain Jane with just my name all over the place, so he found an image and I thought it suited me well.
I just asked it as a fundamental question to one of my website owners. They told me making money from an afillate could be dangerous, because you need good statements with each other, because they can disapprove an lead.
I pretty much dropped the ball on this one. I told myself I was going to go, but when it came down to it, I just couldn't justify the cost. Now I'm thinking I should at least do the exhibit hall, but not sure if that's worth the trip to Vegas for a couple days. This would be my first year attending if I did go, so I'm sure I'd learn something, but I'd love to hear input from others about attending just the exhibit hall and whatever networking events I could get into.
Hi, Dave. This will be my first Affiliate Summit attendance as well… I actually was approved for a press pass, since I blog about internet marketing, so I was able to forgo the cost of the full-conference pass. Something you can think about the next time it comes around, I suppose.
It looks like the premier networking opportunities would be the Affiliate Meet Market on Sunday evening (this event appears to be open to all attendees), and the Share-a-sale party at the Palms hotel later on Sunday night. You might be able to score an invite to the party by talking to the Share-a-sale folks while they're at the Meet Market, and possibly attend both events off the back of your exhibit hall pass.
The Affiliate Summit blog has been saying that they're very close to selling out. If you wanted to do this on the cheap, you could grab a last minute exhibit hall pass before they close up and then just spend Sunday night at the Rio, hitting the Meet Market and the party, and do the exhibit hall on Monday after you check out of the hotel. That way you can get your networking in and maybe pick up some swag before you fly home in time for dinner with the wife on Monday night.
Or, you could hit it next year, too.
Some great tips!
I agree about staying at the hotel where the conference is being held. It's amazing how many bar and lounge deals that are maid.