The X10 2005 Affiliate Summit Report

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By Heather Paulson

The Affiliate Summit was an incredible show for those of us in the affiliate marketing industry that are interested in learning, growing and sharing with other industry professionals. The Affiliate Summit 2005 took place June 13-14, 2005 at the Riviera Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The X10 Penthouse party on the evening of June 13th was fantastic with an exclusive crowd of industry luminaries such as, Todd Crawford, Jeff Molander, Shawn Collins, Missy Ward, Jim Kukral, Linda Woods (The Affiliate Goddess) and more then 60 other various guests!

The Hors D’Oeuvres, as well as the open bar, and luxurious accommodations had the X10 party swinging on a high note well into the early hours of the morning. Alex Peder the president of X10 welcomed many of the guests personally and enjoyed the atmosphere with others on the large balcony overlooking the Las Vegas strip.

The second day of the Affiliate Summit was exceptional with the highlight of the day including words of interest from Stephen Messer, Chairman and CEO of Linkshare Corporation at the luncheon address. His thoughts on Google were eye opening and curious.

“What do affiliates want?” is a question many merchants with a vested stake in the affiliate marketing channel are interested in knowing. Linda Woods President of PartnerCentric was insightful and gracious in her posing of questions and insights to the panelists, who included Rosalind Gardner Author of “The Super Affiliate Handbook.”

John Ferber, Chief Product Officer of Advertising.com had an excellent presentation concerning diversifying channels to increase higher sales. John Ferber’s insights on multi-channel strategies are strong and worth reviewing for those of you who were able to be at this presentation.

There were many, many, interesting topics of interest including; privacy issues with online communications and the art of the data feed. Of course the highlight of the event was hitting the main floor where booths of all variation enticed you with free drinks or other gifts of plenty. My favorite mentions are The Bizoppnetwork, Kowabunga, Eadvertising.com and XY7.com

Tuesday June 14th, the speed networking was tons of fun; I must admit, that whistle was a little startling the first 5 times! The Keynote address for the day was presented by Fredrick Marckini, CEO and Founder of IProspect I must say he was very impressive; his gift of speaking dazzled the spectators (Or was that just me) with his fluid gift of expression.

The lunch presented by Pete Neumann, VP of Corporate Development for Findwhat.com (now Miva.com) was also well done. Although the choice of slide show images (however impressive) will haunt my memories when I think of words such as “flexible” and “traffic”. Any of you that had the key lime pie, please let me know if your lips have unstuck from puckering so hard! WOW!

The panel on Google and affiliate marketing was moderated by Rob Key, President and CEO, Converseon. This discussion went smoothly until someone from the audience asked for an explanation on duplicate content issues. Then it got a little more.. spicy!

Jeff Molander The Mr. Molander of e-commerce marketing and CEO, Molander & Associates moderated the panelists in the presentation of “Marketing with Blogs and RSS.” This was an excellent discussion concerning the future use of RSS feeds to stimulate affiliate sales as well as assist affiliates in increasing their program awareness. Torsten Jacobi CEO, Creative Weblogging Ltd. had insightful perspectives on the applications and general technical instrumentation concerning web logging in this industry.

The last day of the Affiliate Summit wrapped up with a party hosted by CPA Empire, Direct Response Technologies, Vayan Marketing Group, and Xy7.com party at the Sunset Station Casino in Green Valley! The Black Jack tournament was fun and nerve wracking, with free drinks and equally stiff competition from the other savvy players!

The Affiliate Summit had an excellent turnout, with many happy, beautiful, statistical filled minds walking around the show room floor. Shawn Collins and Missy Ward are innovative practitioners of the affiliate marketing world and all kudos to a wonderful experience from your X10 affiliate team members.

X10 Party Photos

Heather Paulson
X10 Affiliate Marketing Director
Heatherp@X10.com
253-437-3878