Pinnacle Awards Archives

Now that I’ve been home for a day, I am pulling together and processing all that happened at Affiliate Summit West. I’ll be honest that I wasn’t really looking forward to going–mainly for personal reasons. I was having a hard time getting motivated to go but knew that once I got there, I would be happy I was there.

I spent a lot of my time there representing in my capacity as Executive Director of the Performance Marketing Association and less time as blogger and owner of Sunshine Rewards. That made the trip a little different in that I didn’t schedule as many meetings. Nonetheless, I still came away with new business! Here were some of the highlights of the trip for me:

The PMA Brunch was terrific! We had a wonderful turnout of old members, new members, and even prospective members. Agencies, merchants, affiliates, networks, and others all mingled together to kick off the conference in familiar, energetic way. I have to thank Rachel Guillot for all of the work she did pulling it together for us!
The Meet Market was kind of a blur to me. I’m not even sure how I managed to pass so much time in there without visiting most of the booths. We had a nice spot at the back and it was encouraging to have PMA members seek out their stickers because they wanted to show off their membership. Over 20 members volunteered at some point throughout the day to help us spread the word about the organization.
I’m incredibly lucky to have Tony Pantano and Adam Viener to watch Steelers games with. ASW always seems to fall on the weekend of a Steelers playoff game, and I am glad I can hang out with them and twirl my Terrible Towel (and sometimes score free drinks).
I tend to take a lot of advice in general from Eric Nagel, so I knew that I would appreciate his session on “Maximizing Productivity: Tips & Tricks to Getting More Done.” I especially needed it now with the start of a new year, new initiatives, and a full inbox. I have to get back to making lists and prioritizing. I know he’ll help hold me accountable.
The ShareASale party was one of my favorites in a long time. The club was beautiful, the music and dance floor were hopping, and the Tailgate theme was casual but fun. I enjoyed dancing and goofing around with some of my favorite affiliate managers and OPMs (like Snow Consulting, AffiliateManager.com, Wade & Joe, etc) as well as the FMTC crew.
Monday I gave a presentation with Joe Sousa and Nathan Smith entitled “Boost Your Marketing with Faux Holidays and Special Events.” I really loved the topic! We didn’t get many questions afterward, which worried me that the content was not well received. Take a look at our slides and see what you think! (#VeryUnimportant)
All Inclusive Marketing hosted a terrific suite party for bloggers and I was able to connect with Char, Beth, Sarah, and the others on the team. I’m excited to try the bottle of wine I brought home from Wine Awesomeness! Sadly, it was time to say good-bye to Carolyn Kmet, but I will still bug her about the PMA.
I spent a lot of time missing my mom, Cindy Ballard. It didn’t seem right not having her there!
What can I say about Affiliate Karaoke? Nathan Smith works so hard to organize a place where we can go and be ourselves and cut loose. I don’t sing as much as I used to, but it’s in part because I genuinely love just sitting and watching everyone else!
I missed the Tuesday Keynote and Pinnacle Awards because it was the only time I could make the Rev Share Roundup, and it sounds like I missed quite a bit!! I plan on catching Sean Dolan’s keynote as soon as they release the video not only because he is a Steelers fan but also because I heard it was amazing. A lot of friends of mine earned Pinnacle Awards, which is fabulous, but I was most excited to hear that Rachel Honoway was honored with the Legend Award. She is deserving for so many reasons!!
Speaking of Rev Share Roundup, I was once again surprised to see so few affiliates in there. Maybe because it overlapped with the keynote? I already work with most of the merchants that were there, but I did meet one new one that I have big plans for already!
Lastly, I cannot convey the value of the time that I spent with my dear friends and business partners Eric Nagel and Todd Farmer. Although we didn’t talk a lot of Wine Club Group business this time, we always make sure to touch base and set plans and priorities for the next year. Aside from the business, I feel as though I am the luckiest girl in the world to have them around me. Never underestimate the importance of making connections at Affiliate Summit and following through with them!!

As I said at the start, I was not so excited about going; as you can tell, however, it all turned out great. I’m sure I’m missing lots of things and lots of people, but the post would be 5 pages long if I tried to document it all! Suffice to say I am looking forward to Affiliate Summit East in August.

How was Affiliate Summit for you? What stood out as special personally or for your business?

(Photo credits from Facebook: Carolyn Kmet, Kim Rowley, and Wade Tonkin)

I’m just now getting around to writing my wrap-up from Affiliate Summit West because so many exciting things happened there and shortly after! I went into the conference with the goal of treating it like it was my first time, and in many ways I achieved that. I attended sessions, made new friends, and even checked out the entire Exhibit Hall and Meet Market.

Although there were a lot of highlights for me, here are 8 things that I was glad that I didn’t miss but some of you might have.

Affiliate Karaoke: Although it was not an official even this time (anyone want to be a sponsor in New York??), Nathan Smith found us an amazing little dive bar to get cheap drinks, dance, and sing karaoke. We had a fun group of bloggers, merchants, and OPMs. Some of us knew we were looking for it in advance and others just saw us talking about it on Twitter. It pays to follow conference hashtags on Twitter if you are looking for something fun to do!

My session with Eric and Todd: I was lucky enough to give a presentation with Eric Nagel and Todd Farmer about our site WineClubGroup.com. We didn’t hold anything back. We showed our analytics, our revenue, how we find merchants, and everything that has made the site successful. I’m disappointed that more bloggers didn’t show up because we really did share a lot of our tips and tricks. You can still download our Resource Guide if you missed it.

Meeting Kozzi in the Meet Market: I promised myself that I was going to make a real effort to visit all of the Exhibits this time, and I did. Finding friends and current partners is nice, but finding NEW partners is a real bonus. If you didn’t make it to the back of the Meet Market to talk to Kozzi, you missed out. They are a stock photo provider with AMAZING deals for both people buying stock photos and affiliates who want to promote the program. If you have any interest in stock photos at all, you should check out the Kozzi Affiliate program.

Affiliate Legal Issues Session: As an affiliate and a lawyer, this session was totally up my alley. But even if you are not a lawyer, you need to understand things like nexus legislation and FTC disclosure requirements. Sam Engel, Gary Kibel, Carolyn Kmet, and Gerri-Lynn Becker did a great job of giving information about various legal issues that can threaten your business as an affiliate or a merchant. If you are not paying attention to these, you may find yourself on the wrong side of a lawsuit.

Newcomer Program: The Affiliate Summit Newcomer Program “helps connect first time attendees with Affiliate Summit veterans.” I was paired up with the amazing Mindy Marzec of Budget Fairy Tale. Not only did I make a new friend, but it was nice to be a part of something that would help someone else experience Affiliate Summit fully. I used to do it all the time but had stopped because I didn’t think I had time anymore. Remembering back to my first time at Affiliate Summit, I realized that it doesn’t take much to help put someone at ease. Whether you are a veteran or a newcomer, you should be taking advantage of this program if possible. (and thanks to Mindy for some of the photos above!)

PMA CEO & Founder Event: The Performance Marketing Association put on a terrific cocktail party where members and others interested in joining could chat about industry issues and the part that the PMA is playing. It was great seeing so much support for the organization and getting a chance to share the wonderful things that the organization has done this year. If you are reading this and are not a member, you need to find out how to become one.

ASW Speaker Event: Being a speaker has its perks, besides the free pass. This year we were invited to a networking event on the High Roller, which is like a great big enclosed Ferris Wheel. I was incredibly nervous about getting on it and my friends did their best to make me think we were going to fall to our deaths (or at least into the safety net below it). Despite that, it was a nice opportunity to chat with other speakers before the conference started and take in AMAZING views of Las Vegas. Thanks to Shawn and Missy for treating their speakers!

Pinnacle Awards: I was not really looking forward to the Pinnacle Awards because I had become a perennial loser and it is kind of embarrassing to sit there with my friends and lose every year. But it IS an honor to be a finalist even if you don’t win. I was absolutely floored when I found out that I won Affiliate of the Year! It was a moment that I will never forget. And I was incredibly excited for fellow winners Joe Sousa, Brian Littleton, FMTC, and Acceleration Partners.

There’s a lot of other stuff that happened that was important to me but wouldn’t be important to you (including quality time with some of the people that I treasure most in this world–you know who you are!). I’ll spare you the personal details.

Did you attend any of these events? Was there something you did that *I* missed that I need to do next time?

Wrapping Up Affiliate Summit West 2017

8 Things You Might Have Missed at #ASW15 (But I Didn’t!)