I’ve spent much of the week at Web 2.0 Expo. Man, the show was good and very well attended. It was also super well organized. And the Blogtropul.us (a room for bloggers) was hopping with people streaming live, blogging, doing video and writing up real time accounts from the show. There was even yoga happening in there.
In addition to the jammed packed expo floor, tons of informative sessions and lots of networking with great people, Ad:Tech also featured its annual Limelight Awards.
I’m finally recovered from last week’s Ad:Tech San Francisco madness. It was a great conference. Now, I’m prepping for this week’s onslaught of Web 2.0 Expo. There seems to be a huge buzz around this show. Everyone I talk with is eagerly anticipating the conference or maybe they are just hyped up about the many parties that are planned. Anyway, you slice it I expect this to be a fantastic week of schmoozing and learning more.
No matter how much I prepare each year for the Ad:Tech tsunami to hit San Francisco, I’m never truly ready. Weeks before the conference, I begin meticulously making out my schedule for each day – what companies I’ll meet with, what sessions to attend, which booths I promised to stopped by; and of course, which parties and events I need be at.
Gary Vaynerchuk is just a bundle of warm fuzzies wrapped in ball of sunshine topped with a heaping helping of positive energy. I have no idea how he stays so upbeat but I’m trying to take a cue from him. I think we all could benefit from his outlook.
Today is a day of jokes, pranks, scams and other hijinx. I’m not going o attempt to pull the wool over your eyes. You’re too smart and I’m just not feeling that clever this morning.
There was a thread on the affiliate forum ABestWeb.com about first timers’ experiences at the Affiliate Summit. I was sorry to hear that not everyone had a completely pleasant experience at the event. Many pointed out that they felt there were many people whom they wanted to meet but felt were unapproachable. Most people singled out responded on the forum that had someone come up to them they would have been glad to chat. In many case, these people were not even approached.
You know the slogan: “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” Not true if you’re dealing with more than 3,000 attendees of Affiliate Summit this past week. There are plenty of blogs (mine included), Tweets, Flickr pictures and hopefully some video to help you feel like you were there or relive the fun.
Keynote speaker Jason Calacanis kicked off the official part of Affiliate Summit’s program track on Monday. The controversial blogger and Internet entrepreneur stirred things up a bit by focusing on the part of affiliate marketing that has a reputation for perpetrating tactics perceived by the mainstream market as spamming or not providing any value. This seemed to rankle some in the audience, but also drew praise from those that felt the brutally honest outside look at the industry was much needed. He also praised affiliate marketers as a very smart group of folks and encouraged them to think even bigger when developing new sites. Check out Sam Harrelson’s live blogging of the keynote.
The Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas is huge. I can’t believe that yesterday’s Meet Market hall had more than 100 exhibitors – and that’s not even the exhibit hall floor, which doesn’t open until today. There are expected to be more than 2,700 attendees – a big portion of them affiliates not just merchants, network types and vendors.
