Affiliate Summit East 2009 Recap

Just got back from a 7-mile training walk getting ready for the 40-mile Avon Walk in Los Angeles next month, to raise money for breast cancer through AffiliateMarketersGiveBack.com. As of today we're now over $20,000 and a nice chunk of that was raised during Affiliate Summit with help from volunteers who manned the AMGB table and The JAR Group.

I stayed some extra time in New York to take my oldest son and hubby around to see the sites. We had a blast. Unfortunately, I'm way behind in a bunch of work, so this video will serve as my personal recap of the show.

Affiliate Summit East 2009 is over and the first word that jumps into mind to describe it is “WOW”!

This was our largest summer show ever, clocking in at 3,076 attendees and a sold-out Exhibit Hall and Meet Market. This represents a 25% growth over last summer's show in Boston, which is incredible given the soft economy.

While I did not get to see any of the sessions other than the keynotes (I get to see all of them when our videos are ready!), I did spend a lot of time talking to lots of folks in the Exhibit Hall, Meet Market, in the crowded hallways and in the Blogger's Lounge (where I drank my fair share of Vemma and Verve).

I also got to belt out a few tunes during Affiliate Summit Karaoke (big kiss to Brett Petersel from #techkaraoke for hosting an awesome karaoke session), take in two Yankees games and have a blast at all the fantastic pah-tays!

Chris Brogan and Julien Smith were Monday's keynotes and they were great. They have a new book out called Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Improve Reputation and Earn Trust (you're darn tootin' it's an affiliate link), and I was lucky to score one at the show. I read it on the plane ride back from New York and I have to say, it's fantastic. I recommend it to any marketer as the information contained within can dramatically change the way you run your business…for the better. If you don't like affiliate links (although if you don't, I'm not sure why you're reading my blog…) here's a page from Chris's blog, to find out where you can get your copy of Trust Agents.

Peter Shankman was the keynote on Tuesday. His keynote was spot-on and he made me laugh with some of his 80's era interjections. At the beginning of his session, Peter asked if there were any attendees in the room with a hangover. I reluctantly raised my hand for fear that my 8-year old sitting next to me would look at me funny. That said, it did land me a new Poken which Peter tossed out to me for being honest. (Speaking of honesty, Poken desperately needs to open an affiliate program).

When I catch up, I'll be posting lots of pictures that I took during my time in NYC, but in the meantime, here are some fantastic photos from Shawn Collins and Steve Hall to get you started.

A super-giant smooch to everyone who helped make Affiliate Summit East 2009 a huge success and hope to see y'all in Vegas!