Who is going to ASW in las vegas?
- Thread starter mikep
- Start date
Just get the silver badge unless you really want to pay more for sessions that will be available for free online later.
Or start a blog and get free press pass which is the same as a platinum pass minus the food and drinks.
I just posted sessions from 2 1/2 years ago, so it's not particularly soon (if ever) that sessions are going up for free.
Flying in on the 16th around noon too. Got a Gold pass but would have gotten a Silver if I'd have to pay for it. Got Gold for ASE and wasn't worth it. It's about the networking not the sessions.
Since Vegas is crazy expensive to throw a good party, youll find any party worth going to is going to be an invite only party. Usually all the larger networks throw some sort of party for their pubs/advertisers. You should see if the networks you work with are doing anything so you can make sure youre on the list.
I am not going to be there, but the Copeac team will be, and from what i heard they put together a better party than last year, we moved away from the Palms so some of you guys need to venture to the strip but it should be worth it. I dont think our parties ever diappoint unless you fail to get in or show up late.
Are speakers and sessions any better than they used to be? I had a platinum pass to ASE 08, and my business partner and I (and friends at an agency who were also there) found most of the sessions (we split sessions to get them in) worthless with speakers who didn't really know their stuff. Wil Reynold's SEO presentation was one of the few gems there, but things like Amit Mehta's "sales pitch", Anatomy of a great affiliate program, Kevin Lee's extremely one-sided view of affiliates in search (a CEO of a search-only agency), Jay Berkowitz's 10 rules, and the future of affiliate marketing panel talking themselves in circles (though I do have respect for a number of the panelists) were especially painful. There was really little value, from the perspective of an affiliate, agency, or from the perspective of an advertisers either in a CPA or traditional affiliate model. Definitely not $1500 worth of value. Speakers need to be vetted more before being chosen to speak as an expert on a subject.
Really, most of the worth of the pass was from the ask the experts session (now open to everyone?), not the speakers or panelists. This year looks to be a bit better, to give you the benefit of the doubt.
Now, what I find absolutely hillarious is the fact that Debbie Bookstaber from The JAR Group will be speaking from an affiliate agency's perspective on the "Increase Search Revenue While Protecting Your Brand" topic - The JAR Group is (allegedy) behind a certain affiliate entity that is one of the most egregious in committting search policy violations against merchants (taking over official search ads, while geo-targeting away from the merchant/agency in charge). Though I won't have a platinum pass, I'd love to just go to that and ask a few questions, or just talk with Debbie afterwards...
There are a lot of new faces this time. We rely on feedback on specific speakers when we ask for it after each conference. That helps determine which are invited back and which will never be back.
We explicitly tell all speakers they cannot pitch - when we get feedback that people are doing it, they don't get asked back.
I read a lot of broad feedback and when I ask for specifics, people rarely say anything, so I appreciate you saying what you liked and didn't like.
Working on putting a trip together last minute. Should be there Friday, depending on what flight I end up booking...
I'm definitely not going.
I think I said that about Ad:Tech London, ASE, and Ad:Tech NY too though. Urgh.
I think I said that about Ad:Tech London, ASE, and Ad:Tech NY too though. Urgh.
the only thing worthwhile will be the exhibit hall and the networking/parties in Vegas, unless you are a complete n00b at affiliate marketing (which you shouldn't be paying $1,000 for information found free online like mentioned above) - There *was* only one session that looked remotely worthwhile (Shoemoney/Dennis Yu) and with that being canceled, the session portion of the conference is again worthless
name me 1 session that has been something that someone with more than 1 year experience in this could've needed at ASE.
I have no idea what you do or where you focus your efforts.
So far, I've had a chance to watch the videos from the following and got something out of each, and I've been doing this for more than 1 year myself:
- Igniting Viral Campaigns by Creating Relevant Conversations
- Offline Affiliate Marketing
- SEO Site Clinic
- Seven Deadly Sins of Landing Page Optimization
- SEO Tools You Can Use Today
- Hot Topics in Marketing Compliance and Enforcement
Perhaps I am not as enlightened as you, because I find something I can apply at pretty much any session I attend at any conference.
Not all sessions apply to me, and I don't bother with those, but there are dozens at each Affiliate Summit, and I typically watch 10 or so.