Affiliate Summit west is approaching, and as always people are asking each other, ‘are you going to Vegas?’ As an Israeli, this is not a simple question to answer, since there are 20 hours of travel, between Tel Aviv and Vegas, not just a short 5 hours ‘jump’ from NYC to Caesars Palace, where Affiliate Summit West 2012 is being held.
So, should you go to Affiliate Summit west, the biggest event so far, with more than 5000 registered people to meet.
The answer in short is yes. It is fun, you meet some great people, the parties are reviving, the food is good, the casinos are… well casinos and the hotels are usually good. Besides, Veags is Vegas, so how bad can it be?
Well, this is exactly the problem, it is not bad, but it is not great, at least the expo and the show. It is exactly what you can expect from Affiliate Summit: very nice keynotes, packed expo with many companies promoting the same offers, just with a different package, some new technologies, a bit of media but, lead gen etc. Nothing you didn’t see in the NYC August event, which I believe is better, at least from my experience.
So if you are going all the way from Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia or Antarctica just for the expo you might reconsider your decision. It is just not that great to travel such a distance. Whether it is new products to promote, platforms to test or traffic to buy, going all the way to the other side of the world is just a price to high to pay for.
So why should you go? For the people! Affiliate Summit is the biggest Affiliate meetup in the world, and it is happening only two times a year: January in Vegas and August in New York. The rest of the Affiliate events are good, but not as big as these two main ones. So if you plan to go to Vegas, it is only for meeting the right people, have fun with them, enjoy your time and on the way, discuss business and plan strategies and joint ventures.
In Affiliate Summit, networking is the name of the game so pack along with your business cards a friendly face and a liver capable of heavy drinking, since drinking is what you are going to do, and plenty of it… In the morning after, waking up with a minor headache, you might think to yourself: this guy is fun drinking with, let’s try do business together. And that’s my friend is what Affiliate Summit is all about!
So let the party begin, Viva Las Vegas!
Affiliate Summit – Come for the people, not for the show…,
I am curious why you think Affiliate Summit in NYC is better than Las Vegas? I hear people saying they have a clear preference, but can’t ever seem to get a solid reason why.
Hi Shawn, great to see you here!
This is my personal experience, but I know of many other non-American Affiliates that feel the same.
While Vegas is fun and we always love coming there, it takes us an extra day, just for resting from the long travel. It is just too far!
Another reason is the atmosphere: Vegas is fun, great fun, buy NYC is business! Some Affiliates told me that they could never find anyone in Vegas, since they all at the casinos, while in Hilton New York, the bar is the one meeting place everyone goes to (Well, there are two bars, but they are both in the lobby).
The third reason is the exhibit hall itself which is always great in NYC but something less in Vegas.
I would add another reason which is NYC business facilities: it is always better for me to meet partners in their offices that in a restaurant. Again, Vegas is fun, but NYC is business…
Thanks for the feedback, Ofer.
Interestingly, we see a higher percentage of attendees from Europe and the Middle East in Las Vegas than we do in NYC.
That baffles me, because I don’t care for Las Vegas myself, and I would pick NYC over Las Vegas every time.
The exhibit hall is bigger in Las Vegas than NYC.
I guess it is because Vegas is fun…
It’s might also be because of the dates: January Vs. August. In Europe July-August is the vacation time, so parents to kids find it harder to depart for a whole week and fly to New York.
I find it interesting to know that the exhibit hall is bigger in Vegas, i always thought the opposite. Perhaps it is the way Hilton is build that makes it feel bigger.
http://affiliates.info/are-you-going-to-affiliate-summit/
I agree – sometime “networking” is the name of the game…
Hell!!! if i had the $$$ to travel (i will be in Thailand this year) I’d buy a ticket and regiter to the summit. Because I think that i should know the main players in this game and start cooperating with other. They say that “the sum is greater than the parts” hey Ofer – here is an idea to a great post about networking.