I always look to meet my readers and always look for new business opportunities.

Cya in Vegas

So I found myself in London, at the Excel exhibition center at the suburb of London, about 30 minutes by the tube from the center of London.
The Excel exhibition center is a nice place but is located in an area that you don’t want to get stuck at night, at least not me. There is nothing around but docks and few hotels. The transportation to the center of London is so easy, so the decision to book a hotel at the heart of London definitely proved itself as the right one.

The show itself was well organized. It’s not in the scale of the affiliate summit. I would say that close to 1,000 people attend for this show.

In the exhibition hall most of the exhibitors were local companies. This is good because that was the main reason for my visit. There were some local affiliate networks along with some local merchants. I found some new business opportunities. It’s early to talk about the chance to succeed with them, but it’s a good start.

Although I didn’t have much spare time, but between one meeting to another, I took the opportunity to enter to some of the sessions. The sessions at the A4U, at least the one that I entered, were a bit different from what I’ve got used to so far: More information less people who try to sell their product or their name. However, most of the information deals with SEO rather with PPC and social networking. The sessions were less innovations but with deep saying.
I didn’t meet any “super affiliate” that managing huge amounts with PPC. However, I did meet some guys who own amazing websites with lots of organic traffic.

For me London is always a good place to visit at. I was lucky to meet a great weather: sunny but not hot!
You can’t (cont ) expect more from an affiliate week.

The A4U is relatively new event comparing to the Affiliate Summit. I believe that it will get better. See you next year at the A4U in London.

The affiliate summit in NY was great. Although the Hilton convention center is less preferred than the Rio convention center (Vegas), the atmosphere in NY is perfect for doing business.

So I found myself jumping from one cocktail party to another. From one sky-high roof to another British style designed club. More and more networks started to adopt the private cocktails parties rather than having loud crowded parties. Its great change because you get the chance to meet people in a more comfortable environment, cut the deals, and then having fun dancing with your colleagues (only women for me )

Affiliate Summit can take all of your strengths easily. There are lots of business opportunities around you, much more than you can squeeze into a whole day. With your body loaded with adrenalin you don’t feel the tiredness, but when it’s all over and everyone back in their homes you barely can walk one step further. You feel every muscle in your body. I myself spent my time catching some sleep for almost 24 hours straight!

If you are in the affiliate business, affiliate summit is a must event for you, BUT…must be ready for it.

I already booked my flight and hotel for affiliate summit west 2010 in Vegas. Until then I have lots of work – converting the business talk to action.

In October this year I also intend to attend at the A4U in London. It will be my first time there (A4U not London ). I hope to get some new point of view about the affiliate marketing industry from the European networks rather the American oriented affiliate networks.
I heard that some of the “American” affiliate networks also considering taking part on this event as well, so in any case boring it will not be

With the presence of variety of affiliate networks like ClickBank, Azoogle, MediaTrust, Advaliant and more, along with great speaker like Dush Ramachandran, VP of Sales & Business Development, Clickbank, Dr. Harlan Kilstein, Internet Marketer, the Affilicon can definitely be marked as one of the great affiliate event of this year.

For me this kind of conferences are more for networking. Most of the time you will find me out of the sessions halls, expect from some exception shows where there is a benefit to both the newbie and the veteran.

A BIG “thank you” to Itay Paz, the man behind this event.  It’s amazing what a single man (with the great support of his wife) can come up with. And it’s not ends there because the Affilicon is now on the roads. The next event will be in Stockholm, Sweden, October 14-15, 2009. More information about it you can find at the Affilicon website: http://www.affilicon.com

During the next week I will probably write more, and in detail, about some the sessions that I attended. One of them was the great show of Dr. Harlan Kilstein. If you don’t know who is Dr. Harlan Kilstein, just Google after his name. It will motivate you to check my next post with some great stuff from his sessions.

The Affilicon was closed at a private dinner party in a nice restaurant in Tel-Aviv. It was a great evening with a great group of people.

Now I have few months to relax from this crazy week.
For me the next affiliate event is the Affiliate Summit East in NY. If you have planes to attend there don’t hesitate to drop by and say hello.

I’ve just purchased my full pass for the Affiliate Summit West 2009 in Vegas.

Affiliate Summit West 2009 is taking place January 11-13, 2009 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

I also booked a room at the Rio hotel before the rooms will be sold out. Last time I could not find a room at the Rio because I tried to book a room apparently late.
Make sure to check the Affiliate Summit group coupon for the Rio All-Suite Hotel. You will get your coupon code after you will register to the Affiliate Summit event.

Since each year the number of attendees is gradually growing, I strongly advise you to make a pre-booking. Guarantee your room now. Don’t wait so long with that because you will be left with no room at the Rio and at the other hotels around you will pay more and from my experience its not so convenience to stay in a different hotel.

The nearest close hotel is the Gold Coast Hotel, right across the street, two minutes of walking. It’s cheaper than the Rio, but some of you might not like it. I accommodated at the Gold Cost hotel for the Affiliate Summit West 2008, but I did that only because all the rooms at the Rio were sold out.

Well… I am not going to miss Affiliate Summit West 2009. I am all set now.