I’m supposed to be enjoying a few days off in New York City, but before I can really forget about work (which never, ever happens) I need to give you the quick update from Wednesday’s LinkShare Symposium.

First, my two cents about the overall event and how it was run. BTW: I’ve been to hundreds and hundreds of conferences and tradeshows as a journalist over the last 17 plus years, so I consider myself somewhat of an expert.

I thought this one was very well organized and extremely well executed and I loved Chelsea Piers. My only complaint (you know I have to have at least one. Okay two. The chicken at lunch was dry and totally inedible) is that there was no working pressroom, which is a staple of most events. And this symposium could have used such a place for reporters to plug in a their laptops and file stories or blogs – especially since there was a fairly impressive amount of other media folks there covering the event.

Also I was thrilled there was no bulky bag to carry around all day and schlep back to the office. I always end up throwing those corporate bags away later anyway. Although, at one point I was wishing for a LinkShare pen – actually any pen would have done. Bad reporter. I should know better than to show up to cover something with just one pen.

The content of the event was good and informative. President Steve Denton provided a good, albeit brief, overview of LinkShare’s direction. And it was great to here from John Kim, the CEO of LinkShare and president of Rakuten USA about how LinkShare fits into the overall Rakuten strategy. Also, the Chairman and CEO of Rakuten, Hiroshi Mikitani, took the stage to give some insight into Rakuten’s business and explain what a huge player the company is worldwide.

The keynote by former Fast Company editor, Alan Webber, was refreshing and enjoyable. It was not about the performance marketing space, but provided everyone with some food for thought on globalization and new ways of looking at thing. The rest of the sessions drilled down on more specific subject matter. The conversion session was totally fascinating and I learned some things that I’ll be using as we move along in the redesign of our own website.

This conference just whets my appetite for the Affiliate Summit. Many of the same people will be attending and I can’t wait. I’m blocking out the “Orlando in July part” and focusing on the great networking and education opportunities that await me in Florida in two weeks.

Let me know what you are looking forward to this summer. lisap@revenutoday.com