21 March 2008
Conventions: Affiliate Summit & LeadsCon
I’m not really a big fan of Las Vegas, but I can’t seem to get away from there lately.
At the end of last month, I went out to Affiliate Summit West with my friends from Incentive Dollars. We were only around for one day of the show, but since it was small and we had Expo Only passes, we didn’t miss out on anything. Nothing remarkable transpired, though I got got meet a few people I’d been dealing with for awhile (quite randomly, too) and lined up a potential buyer for a database I might sell.
I used to think there wasn’t much point in going to these conventions. We all know how easy it is to do business over aim/email and everyone is pretty comfortable working with people they’ve never met nowadays. Ad:Tech NYC back in November was the first one I went to, and I was amazed how quickly you can get things done in person. About 30 minutes into the show we stopped at a both of a company I was dealing with and I walked away 15 minutes later making an extra $300/day. I was also quite happy to find out how much more forthcoming people are when it comes to discussing ideas and trends when you’re face to face.
I am really excited about LeadsCon. I’ve been working in the insurance & finance lead space for a few years, and it’s been undergoing a lot of changes lately. The program looks fascinating and I’m sure I’ll learn a lot. It’s also exciting to know that I will have some overlap with probably every exhibitor there.