Affiliate World Asia 2016

The world of affiliate marketing is quite new to me.  Most of the people I interact with on a daily basis for business I had never actually met in person, that is until last December when Ian and I attending Affiliate world Asia.  It’s ok chatting daily on skype but there really is no substitute for meeting someone in the flesh, sharing a beer or cocktail and really cementing the relationship.

I haven’t been this excited for a “work” event for as long as I can remember. For one thing it was being hosted in Bangkok, and ever since I’ve left I’ve honestly been missing Thailand a bit.  For this reason Ian and I planned to meet in BKK a couple days before the conference, which also gave us more time to meet with some out of AM’s (affiliate managers)

As soon as I landed in BKK I had to race off and meet up with Ian and Jasper for some beers. Jasper is one of our AM’s, a tall blonde haired Dutch guy straight out of the pages of a magazine. Those Dutch really don’t know how good they have it as far as genes!  Ian and I have been doing AM for about a year but meeting and chatting with Jasper in person really hinted to me about how much room there still is for us to grow and expand!  Since Ian and I are fairly new to the industry I am obvious excited anytime we get the chance to pick the brain of a more seasoned person from the industry.

Its been a while since I’ve been on the receiving end of the perks of business.  Many of the Affiliate marketing companies and Traffic sources hosted events during AWA and Saturday was Yepads invite only party.  They rented out a big VIP area filled with 5 -6 couchs and decked out the area with all the best fixing.  There was a never ending flow of Grey goose, Champaigne, and whiskey.  In my opinion this was the best event by far we attended during AWA.  There was only about 40 of us in the area was it wasn’t too packed and everyone was in great spirits. We got to meet our AM Rob and even the CEO of Yepads.  While I do not go clubbing very often nor drink much anymore, this event really stood out to me because the energy was just so good.

While I don’t have one favorite AM Yvonne definitely has a special place in my heart.  We met when she was just getting started and was super hungry.  While we have a business relationship, over the course of this year we have definitely bonded and she was the AM I was most excited to be finally meeting.  She took us out for topas in a fancy restaurant high atop the convention center.  She made a point to show us she was wining and and dining us, trying to order way too much food.  She was also visually excited to finally meet us.  While we don’t do as much $$ with her as we used to she still make us feel like VIPs.  Even if we are just small potatoes in the overall industry.

The actual convention was two packed days of speeches and a busy “meet market” where all the companies in attendance had boots set up.  Even though it was two full days it felt like it was too short.  But it was a great event. It left me with a lot of inspiration and reminded me of just how big the industry is.

2016 was a good year work wise, and AWA was a great way to cap of the year. I’m hopeful 2017 can be an even bigger and better year.