Although I’m suffering through a nasty cold and still behind on sleep, I couldn’t let the day go by without recapping the incredible experience that I had at Affiliate Summit West. Life’s about choices and here are some that I made in the last few days about which I am most happy.
Time With Friends
Affiliate Summit is about business, but for me that business is about working with friends. Whether we were chatting over a meal, bonding over sports teams, shaking it on the dance floor, singing along to karaoke, or just reconnecting in the hallways, the time that I spent with friends (both old and new!) at Affiliate Summit was invaluable to me. I especially enjoyed all of the time that I spent with my mom (Cindy Ballard) and Ashleigh both from a personal and a professional aspect. It’s always an adventure! [click to continue…]
by Tricia on December 28, 2011
As a mentor for every Affiliate Summit since they started the program, the question I am most frequently asked is about what people wear to the conference. This is both an easy and a hard question because I have quite literally seen people wear everything from bikinis to tuxedos. I don’t really recommend either but rather something in between. I’ll try to break down the sessions and parties and throw in some pictures from my Facebook account as demonstrations. Because, after all, it’s most important what you want to look like on Facebook because you will be tagged in all of those pictures before the conference is even over. And then they will be on your Timeline for the rest of your life.
Sessions: Dress in something that is comfortable both physically and mentally. You’ll be doing a lot of walking through the halls so wear something that you are not constantly tugging at or that is too hot or too cold. I usually think it is cold in the conference rooms so most days I wear layers. From a mental perspective, wear something that is YOU because you want to focus on being yourself and not worrying what people are thinking of what you are wearing. If you are usually a casual person, dress casual. If you enjoy getting dressed up, dress up. I usually dress up a little bit more on days when I am speaking than when I am not.
I think this picture is a good illustration. Marty has on a jacket as the moderator. Carolyn has on a sleeveless dress as a speaker. Kristen and I both have on sweaters and slacks as speakers. You can see audience members in t-shirts, sweaters, and button down shirts. Really a mixture of different types of clothes.
Parties: This is where things can get a little tricky depending upon which parties you are attending. Some of the clubs in Vegas do have dress codes. You will want to check out individual events if you are going someplace like that. But for the most part if you are attending the Shareasale party and the Affiliate Summit Karaoke, your dress does not need to be much different than what you wear during the day.
This is from one of the evening events held at the hotel. Andrew is known for sporting the hip-by-being-un-hip t-shirts. Todd did the “casual shirt but dressy jacket” thing. My mom and I both wore the standard LBD (little black dress) with basic accessories. I actually think I take that dress to every Affiliate Summit just as a fall-back outfit. Others were wearing jeans and polos, slacks and jackets, and dresses.
A lot affiliates work from home so we do not have the standard “work clothes” that people in offices have. Although you can certainly use Affiliate Summit as an excuse to buy new clothes, you can work with what you have. Nice jeans, slacks, a couple of basic skirts. Church clothes. Or even just dress up what you have with a couple of new accessories to update classic outfits to be a little more contemporary. Just don’t bring too much with you or you won’t have any room in your suitcase for all the exhibit hall junk you want to take home.
If you are really worried about what to wear and fitting in, you can check out the Affiliate Summit photostream on flickr. There are thousands of pictures on there from all different types of events at the various Affiliate Summit conferences over the years. But what you will see is essentially this–wear what you like, what you feel confident in, and what you want others to see as representative of you. And what looks good on Facebook.
It’s that time of year when we talk about who is on the “Naughty” list and who is on the “Nice” list. In the last 48 hours, I’ve decided that there are some merchants who belong on the Naughty list. Because of the nature of retaliation in affiliate marketing, I’m not going to name a lot of names. On the flip side, affiliates need to know just what is happening with certain merchants so that they don’t end up getting taken advantage of the way that I have been.
First on my naughty list, and I have no problem naming names, is Disney Movie Club through Commission Junction. I have no idea how the program is or is not actually related to Disney because it is not run by the same people as the Disney Shopping or Disney Games accounts. But to make a long story short, I had 100% of my leads reversed for October and was told that they reversed 78% across all affiliates that month. The reason wasn’t fraud or cancellation but rather that the leads “didn’t show up in their reports.” I’ve been in affiliate marketing for over 7 years, and I can’t make heads or tails of this rationale. I tried to get more information but in the end just decided to stop promoting them because clearly they don’t care about affiliates. [click to continue…]
by Tricia on November 11, 2011
After thinking about it all week, I decided today to take the plunge and sign up with the Affiliate Marketers Give Back Team to walk the 40 mile Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. I’ve got roughly 340 days to get ready to walk 40 miles in 2 days in New York City plus raise at least $1,800 for my team. You might think the whole thing sounds a little bit crazy, but I know in my heart that it is the right thing to do and I feel so compelled that it was hardly even a choice. I have been wanting to do it for years but every date conflicted with some kind of family obligations that I couldn’t get out of. I don’t have any excuses for next year. It’s time I step up. Why do I feel so strongly about raising money for breast cancer? [click to continue…]
Several months ago after speaking to my state representative, I wrote a post about Indiana and the Advertising Tax and the fact that affiliates in Indiana were safe for the time being because our legislature had repeatedly refused to enact an Internet tax and had actually made a deal with Amazon not to make them collect the taxes in exchange for Amazon building distribution centers here. A lot has changed very quickly in the last week.
The IBJ reported yesterday that Simpon Property Group filed suit against the Indiana Department of Revenue to force the state to begin collecting sales tax from Amazon. While I haven’t yet seen the suit, the article made it sound like the issue was mainly about the distribution centers but hinted a bit about an affiliate nexus. My fears were confirmed today when the IBJ reported that an Indiana state legislator is now filing a bill that will force Indiana to collect taxes from online retailers that “have a physical presence or affiliate distributors” in the the state. The exact “nexus” language is not there, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that this legislation in basically going to call for an affiliate tax. [click to continue…]
