As a member of the sales and marketing team at boberdoo.com, I attended Affiliate Summit East (ASE) for the first time last week. While boberdoo attends several conferences each year, we know that many affiliate marketers and lead generation companies contemplate whether these conferences are worth the price of admission and for good reason. We know just as well as you that they're not cheap. As a first year exhibitor and attendee, I felt it worthwhile to do a brief summary of my experiences in hopes to make the decision making process for future attendees a little easier.
Affiliate Summit East - The Details
Affiliate Summit East was located in Times Square at the Marriott Marquis. I found it to be an adequate setting for the show and its 3,000+ attendees, as it is was large enough to accommodate massive amounts of people and exhibits. There was an Affiliate Summit East online forum with logins provided to registered attendees. The forum was particularly useful for pre-show networking and scheduling meetings, however, it only included those who had activated their online accounts. Along with the standard conference goodie bag, everyone received a published schedule that was useful for navigating the daily lineup of events.
Networking Made Easy
I would say that the highlight of Affiliate Summit East was the fact that networking was incredibly easy. The traffic flow between the exhibit halls was busy but not unmanageable, allowing for people to easily move from one booth to the next. Individuals from across the globe made their way from each exhibitor, exchanging contact information and discussing their objectives for the show. Whether it was a brief hello or an extended chat, there was an unceasing buzz of activity and conversation throughout both days. Even an introvert would have had no problem making new acquaintances and connecting with valuable contacts. As long as you have plenty of pocket/purse space for business cards and comfortable shoes you’re all set to be an ASE networking champion!
The aforementioned highlight contributed to an atmosphere of pleasantness and positivity that made the conference quite enjoyable. In comparison to my past experiences with conferences, I was pleasantly surprised that the vast majority of attendees were eager to listen and chat about their goals and business objectives. Even when the day wore on, people had a level of energy that is hard to find after hours of non-stop networking. More importantly, though the attendee count was impressively high, there was a feeling of cooperative effort that helped keep everyone on track and focused. One issue was that the seating around the hotel in the lounges and meeting areas was tight so it was necessary to plan ahead when scheduling meetings. As far as less-positive experiences, I would reiterate that things were a bit crowded in the common areas. That being said, more people means more networking opportunities.
The Attendees
About halfway through the first exhibit day my colleague Scott and I had already come to the conclusion that more boberdoo clients should have attended. Not only would we have enjoyed seeing our clients in person, it was also increasingly apparent that the most “in demand” attendees were lead generators/ lead sellers as the majority of attendees were advertisers looking to promote their product or service. We encountered a myriad of people desperately hunting for leads in nearly every vertical imaginable both while we were exhibiting, and in passing around the common areas. Hopefully next year we will see some familiar boberdoo faces.
Conferences are what you make them but having the right venue, exhibitors, and amenities can make them great. Affiliate Summit put on a great conference and we look forward to many more to come.
boberdoo.com is a software-as-a-service provider for the lead generation industry. Our lead distribution software allows our clients to automate and optimize their entire lead businesses and even provides new revenue-generating opportunities. If you're interested in learning more about boberdoo or would like to discuss Affiliate Summit East please give us a call at 800-776-5646 or request a demo today!
boberdoo.com also recently exhibited at LeadsCon East 2016. Read our takeaways here.