Prepping for Affiliate Summit

With just 4 days until I hop on a plane to New York for Affiliate Summit East I am in the middle of getting my last minute preperations done. I have most things set to go but still have a few minor details to get finished.

The last week has been pretty busy for me.  Last Tuesday I flew down to Phoenix and drove a friends car back and this past weekend I had a volleyball tournament I played in. We ended up going 6-2 in our matches.  It was around 100 degrees both days so that was a long time in the sun and I was pretty wiped out by the end of it. We only lost our last match by 2 points in the third game and it was probably the best match we played so no championships but we did have a lot of fun.

Anyway, it is now time to focus on Aff. Summit. 

Hotel???  Booked.  I will be staying at the Hilton along with most of the other attendees. It isn’t necessary to stay at the venue hotel but it is very beneficial.  Lots of the conversations, networking opportunites, relationships, and friendships come about by just hanging in the lobby, in the restaurants, or in the bars and that is much easier when you are staying with everyone else.  Also it is much easier to take a midday nap, drop some swag off at the room, change before dinner, etc. if you only have to take a quick elevator ride.

Plane???  Booked. I am arriving Friday at around 3:30 and leaving Wednesday early in the morning. I usually like getting into town a day or two before the event. Arriving early gives you a head start on the networking opportunities and gives some time for just hanging out with friends before the conference gets rolling. I was planning on going to the Yankees-Red Sox game on Friday night but I don’t think that will work out. I am golfing with a couple buddies on Saturday though so that should be fun.

Business cards???  Ordered. After using some 5 year old cards for a few years I decided it was time to get some new ones. Got 500 cards coming and hopefully I can pass most of them out. Best thing about these new cards?  No phone number!  I hate talking business on the phone.  Much prefer email, AIM, Twitter, etc. for discussing business so hopefully this will help keep some of the phone calls to a minimum.  But I will give my new Google Voice number out to the people I feel need it.

Agenda???  Still working on this but here is my tenative schedule:

Friday – Arrive at 3:30, check in to the hotel, check out the city a bit (this will be my first time in NY), find some people for dinner, and just chill for the evening.

Saturday – Golf, Dinner.  Not much else planned. Also I will be picking up my badge in the evening. I would highly recommend this for everyone since it is usually pretty crazy on Sunday morning waiting in line to get checked in.

Sunday – CAMA Gospel Brunch from 9-11.  This event is put on by the Christian Affiliate Marketers Association and is always a good time. It will be at the Cotton Club in Harlem which should be pretty cool. 

Get Noticed FAST session 12PM-1:00: Looks like a great panel of speakers and should be an interesting session.  I am usually not a huge fan of most sessions but I will make sure I am at this one.

Advertising Tax Impact, Accomplishments, and the Future session 1:30-2:30: I know way too little about this issue and need to learn more.  The panel on this one will know their stuff.

I will also be spending a good amount of time at the Meet Market. In many ways this is more valuable to me than the regular exhibit hall. It is a great time to talk with other merchants and affiliates and is a good place to find new people to work with.

While at the Meet Market be sure to check out the Silent Auction to benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters of NYC. We donated a 1 year Traffic Geyser Platinum Elite package valued at over $3000 so be sure to go bid on this and all the other great items to support a great charity.

In the evening I will be attending the ShareASale Under The Stars party. SAS always puts on great networking events and parties so be sure to check out the SAS table at the Meet Market and get your invite.  These go quick so get yours early.

Monday: Hopefully I will be able to wake up at a decent hour. But here is my plan for the day:

Opening Remark and Keynote: 9:45-10:45 with Jim Kukral and Chris Brogan.  I don’t really know much about Chris but if Missy and Shawn make him a keynote speaker he must be good.

Exhibit Hall: I will be spending a decent amout of time here.  Always good to see what is out there and if there are any new companies I need to work with.

Lunch:  No plans yet. Anyone want to do lunch with me? Let me know. 

Affiliate/Merchant Networking 3:30-4:30: I will probably stop in here. Could be a good place to meet some new merchants and affiliates to share ideas with.

Ask The Experts 5-6: Got a few questions to pose to some of the people here. If you have any questions get them ready. The people answering them are among the best in the business so you can get some great answers much cheaper than if you hired them as consultants.

Intium Services Party?  Headlines and Heros party? Affiliate Summit Karaoke?  I will be hitting one of these (maybe all of them).  Not too sure yet. (BTW, for a list of all the parties check out the list Missy Ward put together).

Tuesday: Last day of Affiliate Summit.  Time to talk with all the people I have been meaning to talk with the whole time.

Keynote by Peter Shankman 10:00-11:15 – Will probably check this out.

GeekCast.fm Live 3:15-4:15 – Should be a fun time hearing from all these podcasters about the hot issues in the industry

Affiliate Triathalon 4:30-5:30 – I need to make up for my 2nd place finish in Vegas (I still think the I got robbed out of first due to a mismeasurement in the golf game.  hehe) and take first place this time. I think these events will be a bit tougher for me but I am up to the challenge.

I am sure other parties, dinners, events, etc. will crop up these days but we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

Pre Networking??? Still finishing this up. It is always good to go to an event like this with a few meetings, dinners, lunches, meetups, etc. planned.  I have contacted a few people I want to meet with but there are still a couple more I want to get ahold of.  BTW, don’t be shy about stuff like this.  Most people in this industry are more than happy to talk with you, eat with you, share ideas, and stuff like that.  Don’t be afraid to talk to people.  If you just sit in a corner by yourself you won’t get anything out of conferences like this.  90% of the good stuff you will get will be from simple conversations, not necessarily the sessions.

Packing???  Won’t worry about this until Thursday evening before my flight on Friday morning.  Looks like the temperature will be around 75-80 during the day and 65 or so at night so it should be pretty comfortable.  A couple pairs of comfortable shoes, some shorts, pants, shirts, and the normal stuff and I should be fine.  No real need for a suit or anything that formal. But I will have to make sure I pack the golf bag.  Can’t forget important stuff like that. 

Other than that I just plan on going and having a great time, catching up with old friends, making new friends, learning something from some of the great minds in the industry, eating some good food, and enjoying New York. 

Anything I am missing?  Anything in here helpful to you?  Anyone want to get lunch or dinner one of these days?  Just let me know.  You can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/drcool73 or just leave a comment below.  Thanks for reading.