Jon's View of ASW

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Jon

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Jun 21, 2006
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Wow. That show was awesome.

I've been meaning to post about the show but didn't know how to put all of the thoughts and memories of it into one post, so bear with me, and try and follow along.

First I'd like to start with the fact that I came to Vegas thinking this conference was going to be great. I definitely felt one hell of a good vibe there too, and from 99% of the people I met, everyone was really nice and courteous in their own special way, even Chrislingle.

I landed in Vegas on Friday night, met up with Mike (XY7) and his gf, and picked up Brandon from his area of the airport, checked into the Bellagio and had some dinner with Brandon. We spoke about our excitement for the show, and wondered how many people knew of us and of WickedFire. At AD:TECH NY we had a very small turnout of brave WickedFire members willing to show up to the Copeac booth for the first ever WF meeting. We were both confident that of the 100+ passes people got for ASW through WF that the turnout would be a lot bigger.

Saturday rolled around and we both slept in, which was definitely a wise choice, as we did some hardcore hanging out later that day and night. We swung by Ballys to meet up with Kevin from XY7 who had spoken to me at the last minute asking if he could do a WF/XY7 suite party on Sunday, who am I to object to that, so we agreed. Although I had previous plans to hang out with Casey from Boca Networks that evening for the Pats/Colts game, I figured a party to keep the WF guys (or those who showed) entertained with XY7 would be a cool thing to do.

Sunday came about and Brandon and I met up with TONS of WF members and lurkers at our vendor showcase table (sponsored by Copeac) to give out our funny but now controversial WickedFire/Copeac tshirts. That was definitely one hell of a fun experience. We had 100's of tshirts to give away and at first I didn't think people would get the jokes on it and take it too seriously. I have to say, the overall experience was really really unexpected because almost everyone who passed by and read the joke on the front laughed and immediately wanted one. It wasn't just another "free shirt" conference shwag giveaway, but something that people found pretty funny and thus began our goal of stamping WickedFire onto the show and it's attendees. Sunday was definitely the first day of a string of hectic days. I was on my feet for more than 10 hours straight, and from a guy who normally spends 10-20 hours sitting down in front of a computer, that was something I wasn't really prepared for. We gave away tons of tshirts, exchanged a bunch of business cards, and explained who we are and why we aren't the same as any of the other forums out there. I went upstairs to check out the XY7 party and it was in full swing, and it was pretty hot up there too (air wise). Saw some hot chicks, but mostly lots of industry people, both WF related and merchants as well drinking, snacking, watching the game, and most importantly, networking their hearts out. After a quick 10 mins of sitting down and having a cold drink, I went back downstairs, collected my shit from Brandon, and went off to meet up with Casey Cummings (not the pornstar) and the rest of the Boca Network folk for the rest of the Colts/Pats game. We then had dinner (which rocked) at Sensei in the Bellagio, and then I went back to my room to bed for some much needed R&R.

On Monday I was pretty excited and nervous about speaking. Since it was in the middle of the afternoon I had a few hours to network like a mad man at the conference and collect what now seems like over 2,000 business cards from just about everyone there. Hung out with some really cool friends and new people. Kicked it around for a bit with Daron Babin of WebmasterRadio.fm, Lou from CPA Empire, the whole Copeac Crew, Jessica and her crew (or JP's crew) from MaxBounty, Brianne from CoverClicks, Danielle Eager from LeadFlash, and a huuuuuge assortment of other people who I want to mention but just don't have the typing skills to do so. I also met up with the ever so famous Shoemoney, Andrew Johnson and Andrew Wee, where we kicked it around for 10-20 mins discussing possible questions we'd have to field for the session. I had to run out to the casino really quickly for a much needed last cigarette, where I met with the LunarPages crew, particularly Joe Whyte. I remember smoking a bit, cracking some jokes, and then running back to the conference so I wouldn't be late for my debut as a session panelist speaker. We then decided to regroup at the session, went inside there, put the WF tshirt on, and got ready for war. I thought the session went pretty well overall from what we had to make due with. We didn't have a moderator, or a mic for the audience, but we ended up starting things about 10 mins late ourselves. It kicked off with a tough question from Joe Whyte, and from then on it flowed pretty nicely. Again, had we had a moderator involved we probably would have had better questions and better answers too, but overall, we did well. Shoe and I ripped things up and although I heard people giggling from Andrew Johnson's Wisconsin accent, I can tell you that guy knows a lot of shit and maybe speaking isn't his best quality, but picking his brain on a blog or IM or even at the show is something you should do at least once.

I went to the Copeac/WF party a bit late and was immediately surrounded by good friends. Joel Bess and his boss Colin from Sylmark along with Eduardo and Brett from Miami/Chicago (forgot the name of their company). We had some laughs and started to reminise the old days of spam, porn, blackhat seo and gambling from the late 90's when Joel and I first met. I was then pulled away and went to have a chat with the cool people and new friends of Boca Networks. Spoke to Chris for at least an hour and a half about all sorts of really cool ideas and fun new projects. Then went to speak to Tim, Mike's partner at Intermark about life and philosophy. I also had the chance to chill out with a bunch of the WF guys, and just stood around shooting the shit and joking around. I had to leave early because I had not eaten all day and was feeling kinda dizzy, so I went off, got some overpriced room service, and then had the bombshell of the myspace lawsuits dropped into my lap by three different phone calls all confirming everything I was hearing. Had a quick secret meeting with some people involved and sat down to write about it.

Tuesday came about and I was pretty sick of Vegas in general. Got to the show at around noon'ish and walked around trying to get more business cards from people I hadn't spoken to or met yet. I kept being approached by other networks asking me about the myspace lawsuits and told them I would release the names AFTER the show. I swung by the WMR booth and was put on the air for a live interview with Daron which was a lot of fun because he knows I'm a big potty mouth and helped bring it out, which rocked. Afterwards I got a chance to speak to Kris from Pepperjam for a bit and told him I was a fan of his work, we exchanged business cards and parted ways. I met up with Andrew Wee again, and we spoke to Joel from MagsforLess for a bit on business in general and a bit about my past. Some Forex guy interrupted with some business cards, and asked me about the $16M buyout offer which kinda made me laugh, but it was a cool feeling to know people that I had never known about were all reading WF, even when bad shit happened.

I know I'm leaving a lot of stuff out, but I just don't have the capacity to sit here and type out every detail. Everyone who went to ASW from what I've heard had an awesome time, not because it was Vegas, but because this is the biggest industry event (ad:tech doesn't count) for affiliates and networks. There were at least 100 booths I think, and over 2,000 attendees, a much larger number than that of ASE 2006.

I just want to thank Shawn Collins and Missy Ward and their entire Affiliate Summit staff for putting this whole show together, I am sure it was one hell of a tough and crazy feat, but you guys did it, and you did a great job too.

If you haven't been to an Affiliate Summit yet, you need to get your ass to the next one in Miami on July 8th-10th at the Intercontinental. Brandon and I will be there, and we will have a WickedFire booth too! We are already planning at least two parties, and want to continue to have at least one VIP WF party at every AS show. We'll be having contests starting pretty soon to win free passes to the show, and sponsored roundtrips (airfare+hotel+full conf pass) contests as well from many networks who have shown interest. As always, we'll have a tshirt JUST for the attendees who are also WF members, so if you thought the last one rocked, wait until you see what this next one will be.

It was a pleasure meeting everyone, exchanging ideas, business cards, shaking hands, giving away tshirts, and just shooting the shit with you. I hope to do lots more of it at Affiliate Summit East in Miami, so if you are debating on going, convince yourself otherwise, buy a plane ticket, and save the dates. You won't want to miss this one, I guarantee it.

:bowdown:
 
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Was I really that bad? Now I definately don't want to watch Andrew Wee's video :D
 
Good post Jon, you should think about setting up a blog to put this kind of stuff on too.

andrew wee can help you out with it.
 
Damn, that's a long post. I didn't read all of it (got a case of ADD after the fourth paragraph) but what I did read was interesting.

Thanks for the review.
 
If I'm making enough money as an affilliate by then, I am so fucking there. Even if I'm still in my current status, (flat ass broke) and there's a Summit in California, I'm there.

Kaveman, I just noticed your in Santa Barbara as well. We'll have to party. I'm 2 blocks away from State St. my man. Going for some disc golf in the morning haha.
 
If I'm making enough money as an affilliate by then, I am so fucking there. Even if I'm still in my current status, (flat ass broke) and there's a Summit in California, I'm there.

Kaveman, I just noticed your in Santa Barbara as well. We'll have to party. I'm 2 blocks away from State St. my man. Going for some disc golf in the morning haha.

Oh WTF! hell yeah, over by Glen Annie?I used to fris golf with my buddie Loper all the time there. I live over by los positas and modoc. Deffinatley good to see another AM in SB

edit: hey its fuckin pouring rain, how the hell you gunna frisbie golf!! Crazy bastard.
 
Haha, hopefully it won't be in the morning. If it is, maybe we'll just burn some trees.:rasta: I live right between State and SB Bowl on Anapamu. We will definitely rock it soon.
 
Glad to hear the t-shirts were a hit :)

Enjoyed reading this story and the others? Did I miss the pics? *edit - I found them, hahaha
 
Hell yeah. I want a t-shirt too. I want mine to say, "I started making money using Wicked Fire, suck me off and I'll tell you how":xomunch:
 
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