Affiliate Summit coming to London

[3wdl]

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So it seems that the Affiliate Summit is coming to London - they have posted a message on their site to confirm the date, September 28, the day after AD:Tech London and a month before the a4uexpo.

Would be interested to hear other peoples opinions on this.. Two large affiliate events can surely only be good for the affiliate industry, but are there enough advertisers for both in such a short period?

Will affiliates attend both events, especially when it requires two trips to London in two months?

I guess costs will be a factor too - Affiliate Summit usually charges around $2,000 for a pass whereas the a4uevents are usually split dependant on if you are an affiliate, agency or network.

Interesting times ahead - lets hope that both events bring good PR for the affiliate marketing as a whole.

[Max_Bush]

I think both events are worth attending. The a4u is quite UK centric which is obviously most important to those in UK affiliate marketing but the summit is also very interesting with its US base. I think the events can compliment one another and I would expect a good volume of the international summit attendees to be coming along to the a4u event which should make for a some really good conversation.

I should be attending both and really looking forward to it.

[Mitchy]

I guess costs will be a factor too - Affiliate Summit usually charges around $2,000 for a pass ...

Looks like they have subsidised the Summit slightly for us Brits...

£270 inc Vat for early booking. Or is that the strength of the pound at the moment!?

[3wdl]

Looks like they have subsidised the Summit slightly for us Brits...

£270 inc Vat for early booking. Or is that the strength of the pound at the moment!?

Ah - didn't notice the price (I swear it's gone online since I posted this). Not a bad price in that case.

[clubmom]

Ah - didn't notice the price (I swear it's gone online since I posted this). Not a bad price in that case.

I just posted the prices a couple hours ago.

[Shane]

hmmm sorry to be negative norman here but I hope it's not a huge venue booked for it as at those prices I can't see many going, mostly I'd guess it will be American's looking for a short UK trip on company expenses

Having been to the last two vegas events I have to say I'm suffering a severe dose of summit apathy, having shelled out a couple of thousand dollars now in attendance fees (not to mention about £6k in flights, hotels, vodka, lap dances and steaks) and being very under impressed at both events by all but one speaker. (That being Wil Reynolds from thinkseer.com.. An excellent speaker !)

I've been to better FREE events in the past and I doubt that the Summit organisers understand the UK market enough to make it worthwhile laying out almost £300.

As unenthused as I am, I will be going to the Miami Summit ..shock horror gasp ! but I will be going for two reasons, 1) it's MIAMI.. how can you not go if it's on expenses !!.. 2) see if there's any improvement but I won't be buying a ticket for the sessions.. I'm afraid for how much it costs and the level of information that is actually usefull that is distilled it just isn't worth it at all... time is better spent in the hall talking to the networks IMO.

I've felt somewhat fleeced by the last two vegas events in regard to the sessions.. it's clear that it's a pure and simple money making event, yes I understand it must turn a profit to exist and yes I know everyone here is playing to make money BUT !! and it's a big BUT in my view : every aspect of it is monetised to the hilt yet the emphasis on the affiliate experience just isn't there, sessions seem cobbled together at the last minute, topics aren't covered in depth, session go completely off topic, speakers shamelessly self promote,

All in all I felt my needs were not catered to in all but the most fundamental way.. basically for my $1400 odd dollar fee I'm given something to look at and listen to whilst the clock ticks towards the end of day one then groundhog day happens and it's day two.. the user experience is secondary to merchandising and marketing to the networks.. where the big dollars are pulled in from.

Shawn.. umm the networks and merchants come to WOW and recruit affiliates so how can anyone sane not make sure we are skipping with joy listening to quality, informative, well thought out and detailed presentations given by capable speakers ???? .. we should be leaving there with quality contacts from the hall, and our brains primed and stuffed with quality ideas and information from the sessions.. we should be raring to go.. !

This lack of quality sessions coupled with the very expensive sponsorship packages is taking a very short term approach in my view, if affiliates don't come you can't charge $5k to brand the muffins up for the 9.05 speed muffin meet and greet break or logos on coffee cups for the 9.30am coffee breakout blindfold brainstorm session courtesy of blahdeblah.com

As a result I will not be getting my credit card out for a London summit, I shall be giving it a miss and seeing How the A4UExpo goes instead.. it's about time we had a home grown event organised by people who understand the UK market place, affiliates, networks and merchants

Shawn I really am sorry to be negative (ok and a touch sarcastic too) but I'm only saying what many of us thought, the vibe wasn't that enthusiastic at all, the quality just has to improve ! you may have impressed every American there but the English (Scottish and Welsh).. (ok and scousers) are harder to please and now you are coming to play in our yard.. I don't envy you one bit.

If as an agency, merchant, affiliate or network, you can only make one event in London towards the end of this year then, having been to two summits on their home turf and being unimpressed, I'd save yourself for the A4U Expo !

[clubmom]

Hi Shane -

Thanks for your candor. We are always looking to improve from show to show.

very under impressed at both events by all but one speaker. (That being Wil Reynolds from thinkseer.com.. An excellent speaker !)

I'd appreciate if you'd share, privately or publicly, which speakers you didn't like. We base future events on the ratings speakers get, and if we don't get negatives for the bad people, we don't know which you didn't like.

I've been to better FREE events in the past and I doubt that the Summit organisers understand the UK market enough to make it worthwhile laying out almost £300.

While we keep an eye on the UK market, we wouldn't presume to know it well enough to go it on our own. For that reason, we've partnered with AffiliateProgramadvice.com to run this show.

sessions seem cobbled together at the last minute, topics aren't covered in depth, session go completely off topic, speakers shamelessly self promote

In Vegas, we took a risk on some speakers who were talented in their fields, but didn't have speaking experience. We won't be doing that, again.

Also, this time around, we've decided to focus on only having "advanced" content at the show. A lot of speakers were dropped and added - it's not a static roster.

Please do let me know about anybody that was self-promotional. That is strictly forbidden and it's reiterated to the speakers from the time they are accepted through to the show.

Shawn I really am sorry to be negative (ok and a touch sarcastic too)

If we got nothing but smiles and lollipops, we'd never know we had to improve on anything. I appreciate it.

[jess1]

James:

but are there enough advertisers for both in such a short period?

Yes there can and is. In fact we may end up being over subscribed if the response so far is anything to go by, most of the Uk networks will be there and the two events are and will be different.

Will affiliates attend both events, especially when it requires two trips to London in two months?

Yes some will and some wont, some like me will be going to both.

Interesting times ahead - lets hope that both events bring good PR for the affiliate marketing as a whole.

Yes it will and the PR wheels are in motion.

This is about cross border opps and bringing the two together to compare and contrast. Its about monetising your traffic, most web logs will reveal a % of visitors that are not from the UK, if u are offering nothing but UK products, how can you monetise this traffic? As an example.

As a merchant, maybe you know that your products will sell in the US, how do you do this? Don’t forget, there will be some US aff industry folk coming to the event too.

The price is right it’s the day after ad-tech.

A4uexpo will be a blast and so will affiliatesummit.com there is no conflict between the the two as both are different, all parties have been speaking to each other. So its not a them and us scenario.

Shane, I have a completely different view on the affiliate summits I have gone to, its horses for courses I guess

I go to these events with clear objectives in order to justify the spend.
As you can see, the Affiliatesummit-London is not expensive.

[Shane]

Horses for courses indeed... I'm sure many people are very happy with every summit

Maybe I just expect more for my $ especially as being an affiliate and affiliates are the main reason networks pay big $'s to attend to recruit so to lure us into paying a fair wedge for a day or two event it's imperitive that we are exposed to quality sessions containing valid and detailed information and not just brief overviews giving basic information we could gather in a few minutes searching on google.

I will make Miami in the hope it's improved as It's in all our interests that events like this are popular and do well which is why I filled in the post event questionaire and said why I felt it was wrong and why I posted above.

I'm sure with Jess onboard that London will be much improved over vegas

[Elaine]

mmm - quality sessions - problem is one persons quality session would leave others cold - which is the reason we didn't opt for the these - I'd quite happily (well maybe not happily - but I'd pay) for individual sessions which I'd probably find useful - easy way to guage the popularity of subjects.

[Nicky]

Yes there can and is. In fact we may end up being over subscribed if the response so far is anything to go by, most of the Uk networks will be there and the two events are and will be different.

As a UK network, I knew nothing about this event officially! Have people been approached already?

cheers
Nicky

[3wdl]

As a UK network, I knew nothing about this event officially! Have people been approached already?

cheers
Nicky

http://www.affiliatesummit.com/07london_exhibitors.php

[jess1]

Hey Nicky...

UK Networks were "officially approached" yesterday and some will be today.

[jess1]

Nicky email sent

[Nicky]

Got it - thanks