Overall it's been a great week in Florida (my skin loves it here). Affiliate Summit has a lot of excitement. It's the place where the no names and the big names can mix.
Here's my list of hits and misses:
MISS: The keynote speaker.
Jim Bouton, who played for the New York Yankees spoke. First, it was the first thing in the morning. Second, it was about sports. Third, it had nothing to do with affiliate marketing. As they say in baseball, 3 strikes you're out.
HIT: Wil Reynolds on Search Engine Optimization.
An articulate, opinionated, and practical speaker. I was absolutely enthralled. I hope we get the powerpoint and bookmarks.
HIT: Dave Taylor of Ask Dave Taylor on blogging.
Search engines LOVE new fresh content. Give it to them and they'll come back more often. Blogs make it easy. The only thing that left a bad taste in my mouth is his shameless plug for his books. In one breath he said he made enough off AdSense alone to pay the mortgage. A few minutes later he said he needed to sell some books to pay for his trip to Disney World. Tacky.
MISS: The closing session, the rotating tables, and the networking sessions.
They were much better in Vegas. The good thing about no one showing up for the first networking session is that if you did meet someone, they had plenty of time to talk to you.
HIT: Rosalind Gardner for being no nonsense and stressing content and business practices.
I got to meet her. It's always nice to see a woman speak because they're the minority for sure.
Smart people with a lot of technical know-how or understanding don't always make the best speakers. Read Guy Kawasaki's blog post: How to Get a Standing Ovation.
HIT: The great people I met like Eric Targan, Bob Land, and several others.
Final thought. Affiliates needing to learn business skills seemed to be a theme. I find it frustrating and funny that affiliates have knowledge but lack business skills. Businesses have business sense but lack knowledge.
The U|tech Conference will teach business leaders online marketing techniques to grow their business. Mark your calendar for Wednesday, October 18, 2006. We're lining up some of the best minds and businesses in internet marketing for one day. I just signed up a company I met at Affiliate Summit for a table. Stay tuned for more information.
Hey! Thanks for the kind words, and yes, the bookmarks and PPT will be coming, I got so many cards that it is going to take a while for my helper to get them in, I would say that by Monday/Tuesday we should have the bookmarks + PPT out to those who attended.
Glad you enjoyed, will I see ya in Vegas?
Wil,
Can’t wait to get the bookmarks. I talked to my friend Chris today. He brought you up. We both thought your presentation was excellent.
We’d love to have you speak at one of our internet marketing conferences. They target businesses who want to understand internet marketing better. Someone from PRWeb is going to speak , a business blogger, and someone on PPC advertising.
Yes, I’ll be in Vegas. Are you going to be a presenter? I hope so!
Best
Janet
janet@affiliateflash.com
Thanks for the candid feedback on my talk and final sales pitch. I’m unhappy that you felt it was tacky – that was obviously not my goal in inviting audience members to learn more about my business blogging course! Instead, I was trying to address what I see as a common mistake with presentations at conferences: they leave the audience hanging, without a clue how to learn more about that particular subject. That I didn’t accomplish that with elan is something I am chewing on, and will have a new, improved presentation for my next conference, I assure you. 🙂
Dave,
Thanks for your comments. I enjoyed your presentation. It was a breath of fresh air. You have personality and entertained while you taught. You obviously are very successful and good at what you do.
People will ask for resources. No problem there. It’s just that it was what I call an InternetSuperConference pitch. Fine for that venue (in fact, craved by many) but IMO it didn’t fit here.
Look forward to hearing you again at another Affiliate Summit…
Best
Janet
You should have the bookmarks and presentation now, right? If Missy & Shawn will have me back, I’ll hit Vegas in a major way! I am so glad that you really got something out of it, I hated sitting in conferences and being like “I paid how much, to walk away with nothing!!” So I made sure that when I started speaking that I would do everything in my power to give everyone at least one thing they can walk away with saying “That was worth it”.