Three full days of glorious excitement for sure! Lots of things going down at these events and
Affiliate Summit is definitely one of the best for networking and meeting other affiliates in the industry!
Arrival
Team202 arrived in Boston, MA, where Affiliate Summit East 08 took place this year a day early, on Saturday August 9th. We checked into our hotel along with the
AffSpy team and Paul of
UberAffiliate since they flew in with us on the same flight coming from the MediaBreakaway conference prior. We didn't get the chance to stay at the on-site hotel since it was completely booked over at the Seaport, but we're glad we chose to stay in the Westin (which was roughly 2-3 blocks away from the main hotel) because everyone else was there!
Affiliate Summit Day 1
The first day of the event was awesome. We had a table (#69) at the meet market to show everyone what 202 was all about. It was great meeting familiar faces and several new ones. It was definitely a lot more crowded in the meet market this time than it was last time (Affiliate Summit West in Vegas). They definitely crammed the tables close to each other and the ballroom was probably smaller but it also looked like there were more tables than last time (but I wouldn't quote myself on that). Some people came up to us to congratulate us on the awesome tool and tell us how much they loved it, others were completely new and wanted to know what 202 was all about. It was great meeting 202 users in person as well since we never ever see you guys otherwise.
We met lots of people, many were also non-affiliates (such as Merchants, Advertisers, or Networks) who were interested in knowing what 202 was about and how they can work with us directly. We definitely exchanged tons of business cards and loved networking with everyone who stopped by. We also gave away a ton of new Prosper202 shirts which some of you may have seen from videos or pictures John Chow posted on his blog. Those were completely gone within the first 2-3 hours. We ran out fast and the best part was, about a dozen guys sport those shirts around the meet market! There was some confusion because other people though we had a huge staff going when in reality, there was only two actual 202 members there!
Unfortunately we were at our table the entire day of the event so we didn't get to scope out anything else that went on except we did get to stop by several of the other tables that were in the meet market towards the end of the day. Of course we snagged ourselves tickets to the ShareASale boat party for later that night!
iPhone App
A few people were lucky enough to get a glance on our next project with is the iPhone App for 202. Although I don't want to spoil the surprise, it is definitely going to rock your world when this comes out. If you haven't gotten yourself an iPhone already, you might want to consider getting one just for this App (just kidding). We've received requests for a similar App on the Blackberry and Windows Mobile phones so for sure we'll hit those up as well. Since I won't get into specifics of what the iPhone App does here, you can be sure everyone who saw the demo is definitely excited about it and is anxiously waiting. We hope to have an estimated arrive sometime in the next few weeks or next month, depending on how backed up we are. So for now, no promises.
IANteract Dinner
We were personally invited by
Ian Fernando to attend a private dinner he held at the Anthony Pier 4 Seafood Restaurant called IANteract dinner. About 22 people attended and naturally we talked about affiliate related stuff. I wanted to personally thank Ian for the wonderful dinner and perhaps in the near future, we'll consider doing a Dinners202 ourselves in Vegas or something ^_~
ShareASale - Under The Stars
Like the last affiliate summit event, ShareASale held their Under The Stars party, this time, on a big boat next to the docks. It was several stories high but only 3 were actually used for the party. There was lots of people who went and more networking occurred. Although I think their last party in Vegas was better, they definitely know how to throw a party each and everytime.
Affiliate Summit Day 2
The second day of Affiliate Summit meant the actual exhibit halls were open and booths were ready to be viewed. Unlike the first day, where we had a table, we were free to roam around and meet and network with people and there was definitely a lot more leg room and breathing room in the exhibit hall in stark comparison to the meet market. AffSpy was there with a booth and an announcement that their site was now in public beta. If you guys haven't already signed up, you should do so now as their software compare offers across different networks and it's 100% free to use!
I went ahead and stopped by several different booths to check out what was going on and had the pleasure to meet with more affiliates and affiliate managers, including some merchants. One of the best things about attending these events (and this has been said by many before) is the value in networking and striking conversations with so many people. I definitely tried to talk to a lot of people this time since I didn't get the chance to last time we attended Affiliate Summit West.
Meeting more Affiliates
I definitely got to meet more affiliates this time than I did last time at Affiliate Summit West, however a few faces I was hoping to run into (and they were there at ASE), I didn't see. This goes to show you how big the event is with thousands of people running around, sometimes trying to meet up with people is not probably. However I am sure I'll catch them again at Affiliate Summit West. We're also making plans to attend Ad Tech NY possibly since it came up during one of the conversations at Affiliate Summit. No plans yet but we're always looking to check out the next event (it gives us a really good excuse to get off our lazy butts and go out for once).
The real networking continued long after the exhibit hall was closed and
LinkShare held their own private party at a local restaurant in the area called Tia's. It was limited food and drinks but it was a blast and we had time to catch up with some people we met earlier in the day or from the meet market.
Affiliate Summit Day 3
Before we left towards the conference for day 3, one of our friends mentioned that they read online that Cheers (the famous TV show and bar) was apparently located in Boston and the bar was what inspired the TV show. I wanted to go scope it out and check out downtown Boston. We had only ventured out to The Other Side cafe to meet with some friends the first night, but aside from that, remained fairly close to the hotel and event. That first night we met my friend Chrys, founder of
Fliggo and supposedly his buddy, one of the founders of Napster. I told Chrys we'd catch up with him personally after he moves out to San Francisco next month!
Back on topic, we headed over to the exhibit hall again. Seeing as how I had the Press pass and was suppose to catch what was happening in the classroom sessions (one of which was held by John Hasson the night before which I caught up with during the IANteract dinner in person), I went ahead and tried to look for them. In the end, a few other people attended and scoped it out. Personally I find it irrelevant to attend these classrooms unless you are super new to the industry. For one, they usually film it and post it online, and for two, the information are very basic and targeted towards beginners. I find the value is more in talking to people face to face. Jonathan Volk was there was as well as some other big name affiliates but we won't start listing them here.
I spent most of my time the last day chatting up a storm with some people at the exhibit hall and really making the best of it. Of course during the entire event, the two most common questions we frequently get asked came up, and by now I'm sure you've all heard of these questions... How do you guys make money and what are your future plans for 202? As many of you know, we don't have a monetization plan and we are focusing on truly building a world class company that stands by what it stands for, helping affiliates and others. While we do have a list of things we're working on, everything is a wait to be seen. One of which I have already revealed at this point, an iPhone App! Stay tune for future announcements!
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We'll post some pictures soon...
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