My Trip To Las Vegas Was all About Networking

I just came home from Affiliate Summit 2007, this year it was in Las Vegas, which I love. It's always a lot of fun, and I get the chance to meet with other affiliate marketers I've known over the years. The best part about Affiliate Summit, though, is the connections that you make.

Even though I didn't go out there with the idea of joining more affiliate programs, I ended up joining a few anyway. It seems that you can't go to one of these events, and not join the program. The thing is affiliate managers that you've worked with in the past have changed jobs and or change their programs, since the trust is already there you join the new affiliate program they are associated with especially if it fits your current sites.

This has happened to me about five times over the years for the affiliate manager has changed who they work for. It is a strange business affiliate marketing, affiliates tend to think about themselves when they are making their websites. They tend to forget that affiliate managers are usually employees of the company they work for. If they don't like the direction the company is in they move on to a better company. Sometimes it just is a change of scenery that is needed by the affiliate manager.

One of the reasons to attend Affiliate Summit, is the connections that you make with affiliate managers. They already know, some affiliate managers that I will be partners with as long as I'm in affiliate marketing. They know who they are so there is no reason to mention them by name.

Now let's talk about Affiliate Summit West 2007

I flew into Las Vegas at 12 noon on Saturday, and my friend Billy picked me up at the airport. Since I booked this trip a little late it was hard to get a hotel room, I ended up booking a hotel room at Hooters casino. Which is right off the Las Vegas strip behind the Tropicana. This was a great place to stay, even though the convention was being held at Bally's casino. It was a little walk, but the lovely scenery made up for it if you know what I mean.

Saturday night I attended the affiliate dinner, along with a bunch of other affiliates. I had a lovely steak dinner and met some new affiliates. I got to speak to one of my mentors James Martell for a while, that's always cool. Actually I probably met about 35 to 40 people I already knew, it was good to catch up with some people. During dinner they had a roast for Shawn Collins and that was very funny.

Sunday, I went down and registered for the summit. I got to meet with some of the network reps, and some of the reps that I have known for years. There is too many for me to mention in one shot, so I just won't mention them by name at all.

Sunday night was the affiliate jam session. That was a lot of fun, it was nothing like I expected. You will have to Google for some the pictures for that one because I ain't sharing. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

Monday morning I went down to the summit and actually did some work. I did some meet and greets, I did some negotiating, and a lot of other things I can't mention. The real action took place Monday night, the affiliate party at the Wynn resort was something else. The nightclub was one of the nicest nightclubs I have been in. There was even a large waterfall that had been branded with some affiliate program logos. I drank a lot of rum and coke only because the cocktail waitress was cute. That is my story and I'm sticking to it.

After leaving the Wynn, we piled into some limousines and headed over to the Palms casino. My favorite affiliate manager, got us up into the world famous Ghost Bar. Needless to say, I can't comment on what happened up there further. Once again, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

Tuesday I overslept and missed half of the summit, but since I already made all my deals I didn't mind. There was a few sessions I wanted to go to, but I just couldn't get out of bed. As the sessions were winding down, I met a couple affiliate managers, and we went to get something to eat. After that ended up at the piano bar at Harrah's with my buddy Don.

Wednesday I made my way down to Bally's to do a little gambling and to say goodbye to some people that were leaving that day. As the day wound down, I found myself back at the piano bar at Harrah's with my friends Twinkeys.