When I run into affiliates, merchants, networks, agencies, OPM’s, bloggers, SEO’s and others; that have never been to Affiliate Summit, the “Think I should go?” question usually comes up at some point.

To answer their query, I typically let them know what they would expect to learn and who they’d expect to run into, if they decided to attend.

But rather than hear it from my mouth, (because you know… I’m the Momma and as such, we all know our babies are gorgeous!) we had some footage shot during Affiliate Summit East 2011, this past August.

The video below will give you an inside look at the Affiliate Summit Conference & Trade Show and you’ll hear what some of our attendees have to say about it.  {Disclosure:  When I first saw this video I got a bit choked up….}

Affiliate Summit Insider Video on YouTube.

Still have questions? Shoot us off an email at http://www.affiliatesummit.com/contact/ and we’ll get back to you ASAP. Promise!

Will I see you at Affiliate Summit West 2012 in January?

The ShareASale ThinkTank is just wrapping up now, and I for one am disappointed that I have to leave. Brian Littleton, CEO of ShareASale, outdid himself as usual. With the Grand Del Mar hotel in San Diego as the backdrop, the environment itself couldn’t be beat.

I spent Friday afternoon on the incredible golfcourse riding around with Scott Jangro, Brian Littleton and Emilio Yepez. Not being able to play because of my broken foot was disappointing, but the views were great and the company couldn’t be beat.

The evening opening gala was held outside and being in a room with 100+ top affiliate marketers sharing ideas over some great wine and food was nothing less then spectacular.

Morning came way to early but I became energized as I walked into the Main Session that was abuzz with ShareASale merchants, OPM’s and affiliates sitting down providing feedback thru a series of one-on-one scheduled sessions. Sitting down with merchants that I promote to provide suggestions on how we can enhance our businesses was extremely valuable. I also evaluated the programs of two merchants that I wasn’t promoting and gave them some feedback as to what it would take for me to join their program. The information sharing and enthusiasm during the one-on-ones sparked some great ideas and furthered the theory that affiliate marketing is all about relationships.

I spent the afternoon sitting at various roundtables discussing industry issues and brainstorming with some great people. The most engaging topic pertained to bloggers that were also affiliates and the we shared some lively debate on whether disclosure of affiliate links were necessary. Since so many bloggers are now finally beginning to monetize their blog through affiliate marketing I think it was very important that we opened up the dialogue to discuss this. Interestingly enough, we couldn’t come to an agreement on it.

We had a free night on Saturday, so Lisa Picarille, Karen Garcia, Jen Goode and my girlfriend who lives locally, headed into La Jolla to take in a wonderful dinner at the Crab Catcher. We headed back to the hotel and caught up with our fellow ThinkTankers and enjoyed some more networking opportunities in the lobby bar until the wee hours of the morning.

Sunday morning’s networking breakfast was terrific and I filled up on an egg-white omelette and multiple yummy cappuccinos. We spent a few hours afterwards in a general session discussing the format of this year’s event and provided some feedback regarding the ShareASale network to Brian Littleton. What’s great about Brian is that not only does he value the feedback that he gets at this annual event, but he actually acts quickly on action items that he’s presented with.

ShareASale as always, was a gracious host and I for one appreciated the opportunity to attend once again.

Here are some pictures of the event: