Observations from Affiliate Summit East 2012 – part 1

Another successful Affiliate Summit East completed and I’m back in Los Angeles to let you guys know what I saw (and didn’t see!)

Overall, it was a fantastic show, great parties, great networking and it was very hot in NYC!

One thing I noticed about attendees is that a lot of people are struggling with networking properly at these types of events. I see a lot of people awkwardly standing around and not being active.

If you’re going to spend all that money to go to the show, you should get something good out of it! And, you should at least come home with several business cards. Even the shyest person in the room should find a way to get 10 business cards.

Although, it’s never about the business cards it’s about what new connections result in. Sometimes, I don’t even take a business card or give one out and just give someone my cell phone number directly. Those are the types of relationships that usually result in the best friendships and best business relationships.

One thing that I saw happening which I thought was a great idea was colleagues “challenging” each other to go up and introduce themselves to random people. They would make it into a game and pick someone (usually at random) for their colleague to approach and see if they have any mutual business interests. Often times it seems you find something in common that could potentially make you some money down the road. It’s a nice little trick to force yourself and your colleagues to step up.

I didn’t see many promotions going on during the show at booths. Usually I’ll see several iPads being given away. I don’t recall seeing a single one this time.

The parties were very good. In addition to having a blast, I got almost all of my good networking in at the parties. Props to Clickbooth for getting me in and throwing a great party and show.

If we talked at the show and missed contact details, feel free to contact me. I’m especially interested in talking to networks looking to expand and broaden their affiliate base, advertisers, and anyone promoting payday loans and skin products right now.