Between helping to answer questions at the PartnerCentric booth (and handing out lots of schwag) and networking with lots of people off on the sidelines, I didn’t make it as many sessions as I would have liked to. So here are highlights from the ones I made it to. They were all very good!

Key Note Address by Declan Dunn – I think everyone would agree that the Keynote Speech on opening day was the most dynamic presentation of the show. Declan rocked the house with one clear and resounding message throughout his presentation. INTEGRITY! In fact he has formed a group called the “Internet with Integrity Project” http://www.internetwithintegrity.com/ where he asks all of us the question: “What’s your single most important issue facing marketers on the Internet? What standards would you suggest be put into action right now?” Share your thoughts and see what evolves from this project. I think we can all expect good things to come!

While I’m not sure that I learned anything brand new I did have lots of ah-ha’s and beliefs reinforced as well as gaining new ideas and insights at the sessions I attended below:

Panel: What Affiliates Want – No flames broke out surprisingly, in spite of the mix of panelists. The audience asked great questions and the panel gave great answers. Several people told me afterwards they wish Linda would have spoken most of the time and they wanted to hear more of what she had to say. (Panelists: Linda Woods, President, PartnerCentric (Moderator) – Rosalind Gardner, Author, The Super Affiliate Handbook – Amy Lehman, Account Manager, Commission Junction – Brian Marcus, Director of Partner Services, Performics – Nassim Nazemi, Director of Website Content, iGive.com – Hector Salcedo, Senior Sales Manager, Ebates.com – Pedro Sostre, Creative Director, Sostre & Associates).

Panel: Recruiting Affiliates – This one was standing room only when I got there, so I didn’t stay cuz my feet hurt. However it does go to show that recruiting is one of the biggest challenges that affiliate managers face. They are all looking for more meaningful and successful strategies for reaching the right affiliates. (Panelists: Mark Romanelli, DirectTrack Manager, Direct Response Technologies (Moderator) – Liz Gazer, Affiliate Manager, Rugman.com – Bret Grow, Vice President, Ouimette Communications – Liz Lloyd, Director of Strategic Development, YFDirect – Dan Murray, Internet Marketing Strategist, Ravenwood Marketing)

Luncheon Address, Stephen Messer, Chairman & CEO, LinkShare Corporation – Stephen started out saying he would have some controversial comments. It was an interesting speech. I had to leave about the time he said something like “Google is NOT your friend.” I think he was talking about Adsense, not sure. Wish I could have stayed to hear the rest.

Panel: The Art of the Data Feed – This was great panel and it was interesting to hear the different ways the panelists are using feeds. One of the issues that came up a couple times was the need for a standardized feed format to make it easier for affiliates to slice, dice and merge various feeds from multiple sources. The duplicate content issue also came up too and of course the answer is to add unique content. (Panelists: Ian Lee, Internet Marketing Strategist, ADS-Links.com (Moderator) – Larry Adams, Product Manager, Performics – Connie Berg, Founder, FlamingoWorld.com – Deborah Carney, Founder, NightFireProductions.com – David Cusimano, President, Cusimano.Com Corporation – David Delisle, Founder and CEO, WebBloom Designs Inc. – Michael Stark, President, PostYourProperty.com)

Panel: Marketing with Blogs and RSS – This is one panel I was really looking forward to, as I see RSS taking a much bigger role in affiliate marketing in the very near future. Many affiliates are taking advantage of the technology already but not many merchants are. We could be pushing out dynamically updating coupons, offers, product feeds and more – few are at this point. This session did some RSS 101 for those unfamiliar and some good questions were raised. Blogging is still evolving as a marketing medium but should be added to the pro-active merchant’s arsenal of tools for early adapter affiliates that are ready and willing to use blogs to make more sales. (Panelists: Jeff Molander, CEO, Molander & Associates (Moderator) – Torsten Jacobi, CEO, Creative Weblogging Ltd. – Beth Korte, Owner, Computer Money Makers and Savers – Jim Kukral, Director of Emarketing/Brand Manager, KowaBunga! Technologies – Wayne Porter, Editor, ReveNews.com

Well I’m about blogged out for today. Hope you enjoyed the little overview of some of the sessions. Stay tuned for Part 3 – The PARTIES & Part 4 More PICTURES coming at you this weekend.

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