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Three things are always on my agenda when I visit New York: the arts, the museums, and the food. This year there is a surprising addition: funny puppets. Whom do I have to thank for such an odd itinerary item? That razor tongued curmudgeon of the webs Loren Feldman, who flicks his Flip camera on anytime he wants to watch Michael Arrington duck. Affiliate Summit Co-Founders Shawn Collins and Missy Ward have teamed up with Loren for a night of humor and yes, puppets that is the Audience Conference. That precursor to Affiliate Summit will take place at Caroline’s on Broadway (it is technically a separate event and tickets are still available).
Usually I tend to be attracted to panel sessions because I find the dynamics and the possibility for intelligent discourse and debate compelling. This year Affiliate Summit East features a lot of very strong individual presenters around a range of innovative topics. There is simply not enough focus within the affiliate industry on innovation. I don’t feel the networks do enough to cultivate innovative publishers. That is unfortunate because the flexibility of the affiliate marketing can be applied to many emerging models and sometimes I feel we are missing the boat on social media, mobile commerce, and local marketing. This is why I am glad Shawn and Missy have compiled the line-up they have.
So before you get lost hunting for some restaurant you saw Bobby Flay throw down at, here is my pick for the top ten sessions you can’t afford to miss:
1) Innovate! New Exciting Applications of Affiliate Marketing
Session 1c
Location: Sutton Complex (Beekman & North)
Session: 12:00pm-1:00pm, Sunday, August 15th
A lot of innovation has becoming out of the UK. I’m glad to see Joe Stepniewski who has been doing some amazing things over at Skimlinks, fresh off the 2010 Technology Genius Award at LinkShare’s Golden Links, present this session focusing on new ways affiliate marketing is being used in web startups, services and applications. Here’s hoping he mentions PopShops (I’m proud to be part of their original team).
Panelists for the Innovate! New Exciting Applications of Affiliate Marketing session include:
2) New Lead Generation Models: Social-Mobile-Viral
Session 2b
Location: Murray Hill Suite
Time: 1:30pm-2:30pm, Sunday, August 15th
Continuing the innovation theme off-beat veteran Declan Dunn will be taking folks interested in the lead-gen space into the new media game. Focusing on how to turn fans into leads via various social and mobile tools without becoming the equivalent of that insurance sales guy no one wants to invite to parties anymore. A valuable balance to strike in lead-gen.
Panelists for the New Lead Generation Models: Social-Mobile-Viral session include:
3) Affiliate Freakonomics: Market Quirks at Work
Session 8a
Location: Gramercy Suite
Time: 12:10pm-12:30pm, Tuesday, August 17th
This has potential of being a session with some fireworks. Like Skimlinks, VigLink is also an extremely innovative company. Oliver Roup, CEO, of VigLink devised an intriguing title to this session and it will indeed be interesting to take a look at how wildcards in click data can help give affiliates an edge. So what about the fireworks, you ask? I’m curious to see whether Oliver addresses the blogger fallout over supplanting tracking code inside Lijit. That indeed was an unexpected variance for bloggers using Lijit. If he doesn’t, someone should ask him.
Panelists for the Affiliate Freakonomics: Market Quirks at Work session include:
4) Android Affiliate Mobile Marketing
Session 5d
Location: Sutton Complex (South & Regent)
Time: 2:00pm-3:00pm, Monday, August 16th
For a long time we’ve been hearing how mobile is the next big thing, that it would soon arrive. Well, if you’ve been watching the market, thanks to the rise of smartphones mobile commerce has arrived. Like the web, the platforms you can choose from in mobile are fractured with very specific nuances. This session by Michael Martin will focus on Android, arguably one of the most exciting of the current mobile platforms.
Panelists for the Android Affiliate Mobile Marketing session include:
5) Curation. Can You Filter Free Content?
Session 7c
Location: Sutton Complex (Beekman & North)
Time: 11:30am-11:50am, Tuesday, August 17th
In the debate over the value of content, I’ve always been squarely on the side that holds that “content is king”. But with so many information streams the value of the content produced is often diminished because it is impossible to filter through all the distracting noise. The concept of curation isn’t new, but with the rise of social media it is getting far more attention these days as the need to filter quality content from the chaff increases. With over 42,000 sites featuring a wide variety of topics all with a video distribution backbone, Magnify.net knows a thing or two about effective curation.
Panelists for the Curation. Can You Filter Free Content? session include:
6) How to Eliminate Affiliate Fraud 100%
Session 7d
Location: Sutton Complex (South & Regent)
Time: 11:30am-11:50am, Tuesday, August 17th
If VigLink session doesn’t provide fireworks this one should. I am always wary when someone promises to eliminate 100 percent of anything. It’s too bad eBay didn’t know of Rey Pasinli’s secrets. That being said I am pro any tool or sharing of techniques that can help reduce the high rates of fraud inherent to the industry even if that reduction rate doesn’t quite reach zero. Maybe Rey will make a believer out of me.
Panelists for the How to Eliminate Affiliate Fraud 100% session include:
7) Affiliate Platforming: How to Attract & Retain Audiences
Session 9a
Location: Gramercy Suite
Time: 2:00pm-3:00pm, Tuesday, August 17th
It took only a few minutes at SOBCon to realize that Scott Stratten is one of the smartest people in the marketing industry. He is an idea factory of sorts but one whose laser focus actually churns out ideas that are practical to implement. Add to that rare talent the fact he is a karaoke rockstar and you have a can’t miss session. Thus I encourage you to forgive the fact he has the most boring title of any session this year and tune in to the UnPresident. It will be worth it.
Panelists for the Affiliate Platforming: How to Attract & Retain Audiences session include:
 Master of Your Domain?
Session 4c
Location: Sutton Complex (Beekman & North)
Time: 11:30am-12:30pm, Monday, August 16th
The legal labyrinth of the Internet has grown in complexity over the years. Snagging a URL doesn’t always mean you have the rights to use it free and clear. Trademark law often impacts domain owners, especially if another business claims you are infringing on their rights. The constant twisting evolution of the legal space, makes such sessions a must. Plus I have a weakness for panels where one of the members is from a committee that advocates the mirage of self-regulation.
Panelists for the Master of Your Domain? session include:
9) Avoiding the Google Slap
Session 5b
Location: Murray Hill Suite
Time: 2:00pm-3:00pm, Monday August 16th
Google has been traditionally unfriendly towards affiliates. That has changed slightly since Google bought Performics and has stepped into the space. While I would have rather had a representative from GAN than an AdWords evangelist; having representatives from ClickBank and Google should shed a lot of insight on the impact of quality scores in-channel.
Panelists for the Avoiding the Google Slap session include:
10) Why Q4 is the Year Long Season
Session 6c
Location: Sutton Complex (Beekman & North)
Time: 3:30pm-4:30pm, Monday August 16th
Everyone plans to think ahead but merchants inevitably find themselves scrambling for placements in Q4. This last minute mentality often fails to capitalize on potential placements with publishers. Publishers, as well, can be equally blamed for not pressing merchants often and early enough. The end result is wasted potential and money left on the table. Planning beyond the current season is always smart, and CJ should have some interesting insights on how to leverage such plans.
Panelists for the Why Q4 is the Year Long Season session include:
Special Note: Watch for a rare Jim Kukral post on ReveNews following his keynote at Affiliate Summit East.
That’s the rundown of my picks for Affiliate Summit East 2010 in New York. What sessions are you looking forward to?
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