Many of the merchants and publishers that I’ve been talking with this week are focused on the holidays. And while, the holidays for me, right now, mean the Fourth of July and my sweetie’s upcoming 40th birthday – these folks were referring to Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I’ve finally returned from New York and the LinkShare Symposium. It was a great time catching up with merchants, publishers and LinkShare executive. I also enjoyed attending the Golden Link Awards on Monday night. It’s so much fun to see everyone get all dolled up and it’s not just the ladies that look like a million bucks.

It’s not just the summer heat wave. There’s lots of debate and discussion where people are fired up about the possible formation of an industry trade association.

I recommend you check out the threads about the topics on the online forums – ABestWeb is a great one. There are many different opinions on the topic. I like that people in the online community are smart, vocal, passionate and opinionated.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the BAAMC (Bay Area Affiliate Manager Coalition) monthly meeting. Held at the offices of Real Media in San Francisco, the two hour lunch meeting was attended by about 25 affiliate managers from leading companies and merchants in the area.

Revenue is pleased to be nominated for a 2008 LinkShare Golden Link Award for the Performance Marketing’s Most Vocal Advocate. This is the same category we were nominated in last year, but lost to the fabulous Kellie Stevens of AffiliateFairPlay.com.

Nearly two months after LinkShare President Steve Denton stepped down, the company announced it has appointed co-presidents.

I took a 450 mile road trip down to Camarillo, Calif. in the middle of last week. There’s nothing like a long drive to clear your head. I find it relaxing to hit the open road (although, that was before I reached the Los Angeles area later in the week).

I had several items on my agenda for the trip – to rent a car that I might consider purchasing in the future (a Toyota Prius); to try and do my weekly Affiliate Thing Podcast while driving down to my destination (don’t worry I used a headset); and to think about the broader issues that I would like to see an industry association address and bring them up at the dinner in Camarillo (which was really the main reason for the trip).

Earlier this week, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) released its Interactive Campaign Setup Best Practices as part of a long term initiative to improve operational efficiency in interactive advertising.

I just got off a conference call where the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) attempted to give an overview of the New York State Tax Bill that goes into effect on June 1, 2008.

While LinkShare joined forces with the DMA to get its affiliates and partners involved in the teleconference call, no LinkShare representatives spoke during the more than hour long call, which also included a Q&Q period.

Beginning on June 1 the state of New York will start charging taxes for online transactions to companies that have no physical presence in that state. There has been a lot of discussion about this issue, how it impacts affiliates and merchants, and whether or not these regulations might be adopted by other states.