Affiliate Summit West 2016 Recap

Affiliate Summit West 2016 kicked off on January 10, 2016 at Paris Las Vegas.

I gave my First Timers Orientation for Affiliate Summit West 2016 session at 10:00 AM, and I was glad to see a packed crowd of folks eager to learn how to optimize their time at the conference.

After I wrapped up my presentation, the room erupted into a big networking party.

This was followed by breakout sessions throughout the day that covered blogging, buying and selling sites, image optimization, legal issues, SEO, WordPress, and more topics.

The Meet Market opened at noon and ran through 6:00 PM with a steady stream of attendees meeting with the table exhibitors.

During the day, exhibitors built out their booths in the exhibit hall for Monday and Tuesday.

Sunday also included the first RevShare Roundup, which was designed to facilitate discussions between the revenue share programs represented and affiliates/publishers/bloggers looking for new revenue share programs.

There were lots of networking options in the evening for Affiliate Summit West 2016 attendees. I checked out the ShareASale Under The Stars Party with a Great Gatsby theme.

The second day of Affiliate Summit started with a bunch of tasty brain food at the networking breakfast.

This was followed by an awesome keynote from Kerri Pollard, former President and current advisor of CJ Affiliate by Conversant.

The exhibit hall opened on day two and thousands of affiliate marketers came together for a full day of networking.

In addition to all of the business talk in the exhibit hall, there were also educational sessions throughout the day.

And we had a nice spread for lunch that included marinated artichoke salad, penne pasta with Roma tomato basil sauce, grilled chicken breast with pesto roasted garlic sauce, Sicilian meatballs with Lyonnaise tomato sauce, biscotti, tiramisu, lemon tart, ricotta tart, and espresso tart.

Throughout the day, attendees were getting together to network in the Refuel, Rendezvous & Refresh Room.

The Ask the Experts roundtables, where conference attendees have an interactive discussion with a variety of experts, took place towards the end of the second day.

Day two of Affiliate Summit wound up with the Affiliate Ball, which featured E-40, Tha Dogg Pound, Dr. Dre’s son, Curtis Young, Rump Crew, industry rock band Megapixel, and DJ Diamond.

The final day started with a tasty attendee breakfast, and I got nice and fueled up on fruit, yogurt, and other healthy stuff. Just kidding – I was all about eggs, bacon, sausage, and potatoes, but we had a variety of healthy and junky breakfast foods.

Then the tenth annual Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards were given out to recognize exceptional members of the affiliate marketing community.

Congratulations to all of the nominees, finalists, and winners. Here are the finalists and winners (bold) for the Pinnacle Awards:

Affiliate of the Year
Brad’s Deals
Rae Hoffman
Retail Me Not

Affiliate Manager of the Year
Adam Riemer
Greg Hoffman
Karen Garcia

Exceptional Merchant of the Year
Amazon
Fanatics
WP Engine

Affiliate Marketing Advocate
Brian Littleton
Greg Hoffman
Tricia Meyer

OPM/Agency of the Year
Acceleration Partners
AffiliateManager.com
Schaaf PartnerCentric

Tool/Service of the Year
BrandVerity
FMTC
UpSellIt.com

Shortly after, there was a fun and informative keynote from Greg Gifford, Director of Search and Social at DealerOn.

The final day of Affiliate Summit also featured a series of breakout sessions and lots of networking in the exhibit hall.

The Tuesday networking lunch included southwestern Caesar salad with crispy tortilla strips and a chipolte Caesar dressing; tomato, pepper, and avocado salad; black bean, corn, and jicama salad; tortilla chips with roja and verde salsa; grilled beef and chicken fajitas; sautéed seasonal vegetables; Spanish rice; Flan, chocolate cake, and Kahlúa cheesecake

The exhibit hall wrapped up with a Pub Crawl for some cocktails and last visits to the exhibiting companies, as well as a chance to meet 1-on-1 with speakers.

As the companies broke down booths in the exhibit hall, all of the work and play was officially coming to an end.

Thank you to everybody who came out to network, learn, and have fun with us at Affiliate Summit West 2016. http://www.affiliatesummit.com/