Christian Affiliate Marketers Blog

What I am looking forward to at Affiliate Summit

Feb 20, 2008 Affiliate Summit West

wow… Affiliate Summit really snuck up on me this year. I’ve been so busy with planning the Gospel Brunch and working on building my new company, GTO Management and helping to ramp up the sales and marketing effort at ThePartnerMaker, I looked up today and realized it’s just over 48 hours until I board my flight for Vegas. So much cool stuff is happening… what am I looking forward to? Quite a few things.

The Affiliate Meet Market- for the first time in the 5 Summits I have attended, I’ll be working for myself. That is both awesome and a bit scary and I am totally looking forward to joining my partners Karen and Joel Garcia at the GTO Management table. I think we’ve done an awesome job of branding and I look forward to seeing how it comes off. Come and see us at Table 42 if you are there. We’re just a couple of tables away from the Shareasale Block, dead center aisle in the room.

The 2nd Annual CAMA Gospel Brunch at Affiliate Summit- A labor of love.. some on ABW might argue an obsession for me. I am really stoked to see this all come off for a couple of reasons. The event is a sellout again with 55 folks from all over the world (Singapore, South Africa, etc) joining together for food, fun, fellowship and amazing Gospel tunes. Selling out last year was easy… it was a free event after all. This year we really stepped it up in terms of organization and program with charter bus transportation to and from the event and a private reception for the attendees. This of course ramped up the price tag and this year, we sold out with prices for tickets ranging from $45-55 each. Wow… thanks to all who attended last time who shared their testimonials and helped let people know that the price is a steal for what you get attending. The other thing I am excited about is the launch of the “CAMA Certified” badge. We’ll be announcing a program where affiliates and merchants can have their sites, programs and or offers reviewed and certified by a board at CAMA.

This will let merchants know that an affiliate is safe to work with and will let affiliates know which “Christian” programs are “Faith and Family” friendly and Gospel promoting and help them make wise decisions on who to work with and attach their name and reputation to.

Thanks to the Gold Sponsors oneNetworkDirect.com, Andy Rodriguez Consulting, IBSDirect.com, and to Silver Sponsors GTO Management, Manna Marketing and the United Sharing Network

Meeting the folks who bought their Summit pass through my affiliate link - Honestly, I so appreciate this. It was amazing how many people came to sign up for Summit through this nlog that is just over a year old. If you bought through my link, drop me a note and I’ll buy you a coffee or something.

The SinglesofFaith.com Workday- Las Vegas is honestly starting to wear on me more as my faith develops. I used to be a big fan of the philosophy “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” and really enjoyed the Strip and all of glitzy Vegas. I’ve been to Vegas for various shows and a vacation now about 4 times in 18 months and I’m starting to see more there. When you get off the Strip you can see a lot of peopel who are hurting and struggling and need the love of God and other people. Mike from SinglesofFaith.com has organized a work party where members of the SinglesofFaith christian dating site and other local volunteers spend 4 hours on Saturday 2/23 sharing God’s love with people in need. If you are in town an interested, please contact Mike at mike@singlesoffaith.com I’ll be there an hope you will as well.

AffiliateClassroomLive Affiliate Manager Course - this full day course tought by some of the best in the business (almost all friends of mine) looks like an awesome kickoff to the Affiliate Classroom Affiliate Manager Certification. I’m going to sit in as a refresher after spending a lot of the last 3 years selling management services and to see if their online certification and training of affiliate managers is something I can get behind here. I am a firm proponent of the value of quality affiliate management in any affiliate venture.

ThePartnerMaker Kickoff Reception- I’ve been working with Jeff Molander and David Delisle on getting ThePartnerMaker off the ground and we’ve had some initial success, and we’re poised for much bigger and better things. To really kick off this product, we’re hosting an invite only reception on Saturday with some of the best and brightest in the Industry.

The Affiliate Bash - this years big party is being held at Tao and features entertainment by The Blue Man Group. I have always wanted to see these guys and getting a chance to do it at a club (Tao at the Venetian) that a chubby middle class guy from Sedro Woolley, WA might not otherwise be able to get into is a kick. It should be awesome.

More to come….

Tags: Affiliate Summit, Affiliate Summit West, GTO Management, ThePartnerMaker