On the Friday night, after a decent Japanese meal at Wasabi Teppan-Yaki, we headed to the pre-conference party – complete with a 9 hole crazy golf course. Perfect for a few drinks, a few catch-ups and a few laughs. Despite wanting an earlyish night, even having a room right above the Wedding Party disco didn’t dampen the spirits. Police Academy on the box was a decent distraction!

So onto the main event! The conference!

First up was “What I Learnt about Search From Playing Championship Manager” by Kelvin Newman. This was a good talk to get the day underway – I learnt that we probably don’t consider stats enough with regards to search, but more importantly not enough when playing Championship Manager. To be fair (and slightly showing my age) Sensible Soccer on Sega Megadrive was the pinnacle of my football game skills.

Next was “Win At SEO With Duplicate Content” with Malcolm Coles. Going to this segment was in no way influenced by the mention of Karen Gillan’s underwear (!). This was another interesting talk where Malcolm demonstrated the tricks used to basically game Google. It was clever, but I got the feeling that for this to work you need to be a bit of a “Johnny On The Spot” with news stories.

After lunch it was time for Neil Walker and “Three Types of Marketing Lies”. Again more stats to look at and initially I did wonder whether sleeping off the chips and cookies might have been a better option. However, Neil put up some data which resonated with our own (yes we do a little bit, but not enough to be good at Championship Manager) and that got the old brain firing.

And there was more brain activity in Nichola Stott’s “How To Find The Angle”. Nichola offered tips on what makes newsworthy stories and explained that humanising the angle can really help. It was an enjoyable talk with plenty to consider!

“Monetising Through Community” with Jane Copeland was the next destination. Jane explained how she thought thriving communities could monetise their audiences better and gave some good examples of what they could be doing. It was interesting and the ideas sound. What would have been useful is to know of recommended tools that could be used in these cases (e.g. Skimlinks, Retargeting Ads)!

Last but not least there was “Ask The Experts”, a panel session featuring Nichola, Kelvin and a Ninja (Peter Wailes). Some of the stuff (e.g. Facebook Edgebook Algorithms) went way over my head, but it was a fairly comfortable way to end the day’s conference proceedings.

And then came the entertainment!

Actually first came indigestion as Jude wanted to watch Doctor Who (last week’s and this week’s) which was kindly being shown from 6pm. A rushed Pizza Express lasagne later and we were chilling out with a big screen whilst lots of people round the UK searched for Karen Gillan’s underwear (apparently it spikes on a Saturday night – see I was listening).

Then came beers, Robot Wars (which was seriously cool), a domain auction, some games, some more beers, Guitar Hero, a magician guy (who was incredibly good) and more laughs and chat.

So, did I enjoy ThinkVis?

An unequivocal yes. It was nicely paced, not too demanding on the brain but had enough to spark ideas and questions about what we’re doing. Content in a couple of the talks affirmed a couple of things we’ve seen ourselves but have perhaps not taken on board. Online does seem to be more and more about “now, now, now” and from a SME affiliate angle that can be hard work.

However, it’s not impossible. You can get Farnborough Town out of the lower leagues, you can play with Google, you can search for celebrity underwear under the umbrella of “research”, you can use stats to your advantage and you can make stuff up.

And with that new found knowledge, ThinkVis made me want to go back and try new things with Loquax – and in a year that has seen us consider it’s next direction – that’s quite a massive plus to take away from Leeds.

Oh… and take photos of small lego men with sweets!

As ever it was great to catch up with some very familiar faces as well as one or two new ones, not always for the right reasons mind. The guy from Wow Media who walked into a door, fell over, slumped all over the show with his jeans at half mast and proclaiming “I’m off to my expensive hotel” will most certainly be remembered. Class!

It’s important to learn new things at affiliate events, so what did I learn from heading down to Plymouth for the second time?

1. Disappointingly there wasn’t that much dancing from Clarke. However, there does seem to an obsession amongst Plymouth folk for The Wurzels. It’s almost like an anthem – first rule of Plymouth Club, learn lyrics by The Wurzels. At least in Wales we have Tom Jones’ Delilah!

2. Flip Flops were everywhere! Apparently these were donated by Webgains. I guess it’s wrong to complain about freebies, but to be fair you could understand why they wanted shut of them. For them to fit properly you needed unfeasibly long toes. However, they did have a better use as “gloves” for the new found sport of Flip Flop Boxing. 2012 Olympics stand by!

3. The Hodge is insane! He’s also quite infectious – not in a diseased sense – but his enthusiasm and sense of humour definitely lifts spirits. He was also graciously beaten in the first ever Flip Flop Boxing match, although to be fair he probably didn’t know he was in it. A trip to Think Visibility is definitely on the cards.

4. Two Unlimited are being reformed. Apparently there’s video footage of myself, Elaine, Dave and Dom singing along to “There’s No Limits”. Techno! Techno! Techno!

5. Never trust your missus with a camera!

6. Cake/Gateau/Dessert/Pudding are words not known in Plymouth. Well at Existem AM! BBQ food is nice, but a man can’t live on steak, sausages, chicken and salad (“you don’t make friends with salad”). Cake related items are needed. Next year I’ll bring my own.

7. If I do bring my own cake, Hannah from Existem AM won’t be getting any. I’m still traumatised by her demands for more Duck Cake. At least I think it was cake she wanted.

8. Auctions are good fun, but don’t take part if you’re on the opposite side of the room from your wife. She may be bidding and you may be bidding against her. She may also be bidding on things because she’s had one or two extra ciders.

9. Never trust your missus at an auction.

10. Loquax can run without someone holding it’s hand! This was probably the first time myself and Kirsty (co-director) have been away from home over a weekend at the same time (which in about 10 years is quite an achievement). I kept “in touch” with a few emails and admin things via the iPad – and it all worked well.

11. Unfortunately the 11th thing I learnt is not for publication… not just yet anyway!

So there you have it, a brief overview of what was a nice relaxing and enjoyable weekend in Plymouth. I learnt nothing new about affiliate marketing, but did learn I can leave the office and let the site do it’s own thing once in a while. More importantly it made me realise that I’m heading down the same lifestyle pathway as a number of my peers.

I don’t want/need to be heading to affiliate meetings to “cut a deal” but need guidance and inspiration on how to make sure I’m running things web wise and that they’re not running me. More importantly, when I’m away on these things, I simply just want to enjoy a beer and a chat with some good affiliate mates.

Because of that, next year’s event on 12th August is already in the diary.

And for that a big thanks goes out to Existem AM for organising! Cheers.

Last year the earlybird was £249 for affiliates, although if you were quick off the block you could have picked up a pass for just £149 (A4UExpo Blog). This year, to take into account the new venue, new opportunities and format – and quite probably the rate of inflation, credit crunch and sundry extras the early bird for affiliates is a mere…. £395!

That’s a 58% increase from last year or a 165% increase if you got the cheap deal. Blimey!!

In fairness the pricing is inline with other events, such as Bingo Bullet, and in fact it’s still a bit cheaper and probably better value.

However, I’m not rushing for the early bird – not just yet.

I did enjoy A4UExpo 2009 and did get some exceptional value from attending. However, a large bulk of our time was spent doing meetings rather than being in the seminars.

Taking into account ticket cost, travel, hotel and also time off for two people that was fine. However, at the increased rates this year I’m starting to question whether we need to rethink a little. Paying out almost £800 for two tickets (£700 if you pick up a discount code on Twitter) to then go and have a few pre-arranged meetings sounds expensive, even more so if it’s at the expense of missing sessions.

The increased cost means that there now needs to be increased value in attending. That means that before parting with cash I’ll be scrutinising the sessions when published a lot more closely than normal. Also coming under the microscope will be what’s on offer during the event. An extra few quid not to suffer that club at The O2 again may actually be worth it (personally I’d prefer The Thames boat trip again… that was cool).

It may well mean that this year we have to cut down on meetings and perhaps attend more seminars. If that’s the case then they better be good. Whilst A4UExpo is great for the social aspect, there has to be more value in attending than just supping a few beers with mates. We can do that down in Plymouth. The alternative is to consider not going to Expo and perhaps spending a cheaper few days in London meeting merchants/partners etc instead.

Fortunately we’re in a position to be able to afford to attend, and perhaps still will as it’s an event unlike any other for affiliate marketing. However, for new entrants to the industry or those struggling to get a foothold the price, plus of course travel, hotels and maybe even time off work, may feel they’re being priced out of things and that’s a big concern.

The best advice if you’re after a free ticket is look out for giveaways, like this one on Affiliates4U, and discount codes which are already appearing on Twitter. There may even be some blogger passes available too!

The “earlybird” rate will expire at the end of August, although if A4U’s previous is anything to go by, it’ll get extended.

Perhaps this event isn’t for affiliates! But if that’s so why is there an award, within the proceedings, for best portal and another one for best affiliate programme? And how can anyone who’s not an affiliate vote for best affiliate programme anyway? You can understand the confusion!

I’m hoping I overheard things out of context. Affiliates have a role in online bingo and the affiliate space shouldn’t be confined to a handful “super affiliates”, who let’s face it are still affiliates even if they want to pretend to be something else. There should be a place for them at an online bingo event and their presence should be encouraged.

However, this isn’t a cheap conference. An affiliate pass costs upwards from £595+VAT and that does restrict affiliate numbers considerably, especially when you include hotel costs, travel etc. The question is then, is there value in an affiliate attending?

In a direct comparison to say A4UExpo then it’s a big fat “no” – simple as! However, this is a more niche event and it’s useful to pick up a few “insider” tips, get yourself known especially to those at the end of an email, and do a few meetings without the hustle and bustle of a large conference.

Day one was mainly spent in talks, chatting and networking – all good. The evening of the first day concluded with an awards ceremony. It was good to see some worthy winners this year, like Tombola and Bingo Port, but the whole thing was incredibly cringe worthy thanks to the presentation skills of Gregg Scott.

Never have I seen someone die on their backside on stage so quickly and then so often.

A top tip for Gregg, and indeed any stand up, do not come on stage and introduce yourself as a cross between Jonathan King and Christopher Biggins! Biggins, no problem – but with King then you’re on dodgy ground from the off!

Another top tip for Gregg, and indeed any awards presenter: when you complete your set and it’s been a disaster then leave. Do not go from table to table and hand out business cards! It’s embarrassing.

In some ways Gregg was a highlight of the event. It was so bad that you wished you weren’t there, but also so bad that you were glad to be there to witness it. For that to be a highlight perhaps gives you an idea of my overall view of the conference.

Once I’d caught up with people I needed to see in a business capacity on day one then that was it for me and I gave the second day a wide berth. The talks I attended were ok, but nothing really generated a buzz in the way A4UExpo does. The social and networking aspects were good (although the after party didn’t get rave reviews – thankfully I went to Nandos instead) plus I had a couple of productive and encouraging meetings.

All in all it was OK. In fact it was pretty much like the last time I attended in 2008. Sadly I don’t think the Bingo Summit has moved on well enough in affiliate terms, not just for affiliates but also marketing operations within online bingo, which in my opinion is simply a missed opportunity.

Maybe things will change in 2011? If not at least I hope they don’t ask Gregg Scott back!

Perhaps it’s because we’re too busy being annoyed about paying to enter the country every time we use the Severn Bridge or we’re waiting for a sunny day so we can venture outside?

Anyway Christmas is coming and so the plan (as suggested by Duncan Thomas) is to try and do it properly this time and meet up for some Christmas cheer. Smingle & Gem are up for it as are myself and Jude. There’s a few more interested including the legend that is Chris Brocklesby.

More details can be found on A4UForum.

Hopefully this time we can fix a firm date, time and location – so if you’re local to the area drop a line either here or on A4U and come and share a Christmas drink with with other local people involved in affiliate marketing.

The overall result was a much more enjoyable expo experience underpinned as always by enjoying a few chats and a few beers with the usual suspects and some new ones too, including Chris Brocklesby who’s a local Swansea affiliate.

The highlight had to be the ‘Conversion Squirrel’. Had it not been for this amusing little critter I’d have not found my way to stand five for a free eye tracking analysis of Loquax. Within a couple of minutes a couple of issues on the “new user journey” were spotted and these have already been addressed. If things turn out as expected then it’ll be a massive thanks to Conversion Rate Experts for their time.

The squirrel did give me an idea for next year – all stand holders should have a mascot and at the end of the Expo there should be a “last mascot standing” bundle. Bets could be taken too just to add spice.

It might be noisy and messy but no way as noisy as The Breakout Party, which was the lowlight of the whole 2009 event. After last year’s River Thames experience the party at The O2 had a lot to live up to… and it failed badly. Wrong location, wrong setting, wrong choice of loudness – but these things happen.

The seminars we attended were ok, although it might just have been me but the lighting at times was uncomfortable on the eyes. The Affiliate Apocalypse session was probably the best of the bunch and one that left me with many questions and annoyances.

The most agitating moment (as spotted by Geoffblog – and thanks for the comment – appreciated) was hearing that that many cashback shoppers now go direct to their cashback site to shop (no price comparison, no visiting other sites, no deletion of cookies etc).

The customer journey and commission attribution also cropped up in other talks. Whilst it’s good to know networks and agencies are looking at stats and considering the winners and losers of the “last click wins” rule – it’s important that when this data is used that far reaching conclusions aren’t drawn on a narrow focus.

Anyway more on that another day!

Other highlights of the Expo 2009 included getting a free caricature from Gone Digging at the Webgains stand, the lunch time food which was a big improvement on last year, free teddy bears from the lovely people at Jackpotjoy/Market Ace, freebies from Shopzilla and Naomi of Firebox fame, Darren Newmark for his endless comedy (next year’s host for A4UAwards 2010 maybe?), the sharing of cup cakes from Total Search Solutions and Affili.net (much needed sugar boost in The Fox) and the king of the meat eaters Mr Mark Russell for dinner at Rodizio Rico (as recommended by Tom Quinn Medicine Woman).

Overall a good couple of days of work and fun. Being organised most certainly had it’s benefits and a big thanks to everyone we had meetings with in our new “London office” outside Expo – aka the coffee shop!

A4UExpo 2009 is definitely worth shouting about… just turn the music down in 2010 please.

Either that or include pipes, slippers and ear plugs in next year’s delegate bags! ;o)

Thankfully Day 2 starts a little bit later than Day 1 and for affiliates “Killer Link Building Strategies” sounds the best of the “should I stay in bed with my hangover and watch Jeremy Kyle or go to a talk instead” time slot sessions. Link building is something we’ve never gotten into so learning “how to build high-value link targets and how to acquire them” may be useful as could be the Link Swap Shop proposed by Joe!

The next set of sessions is a mixed bag. If I was a paid search affiliate then Sri Sharma’s talk on “Strategies To Earn More From Your Affiliate Paid Search Campaign” would definitely be worth a look. “A View From Across Silicon Valley” with the co-founder of Commission Junction, Per Pettersen and a panel session on “Barriers to Conversion” make up the rest of the talks. A cup of coffee and a leisurely look round the Expo Exhibition may just win in the what to do at this time stakes though.

Deciding what to attend after lunch is going to be a tough decision.

The Extreme SEO Moderated Debate was a good one last year and should be a fun and informative session again this year. However, the panel are up against “Start-up And Launch Strategy” with Seatwave and some music sites called Spotify and Sharemyplaylists – never heard much about either of them – explaining how they did what they did.

“Beat Your Merchants At Their Own Game” is the other talk in this group which judging by the blurb will be full of merchants making sure their affiliates aren’t getting the edge on them via Adwords – one for the PPC people!

Apart from roads, hospitals, sanitation, voucher code management and Matt Bailey what has The IAB done for us? would be a much better title for a talk than “Regulation, Promotion and Education – What Can The IAB Affiliate Council Do For You?”. However, do make sure you catch Matt explaining what The IAB is all about and how you can also get involved in the 13.30 to 14.15 slot.

If you like the sound of Matt’s voice then good news as he’s on again at 14.30 with “Adding Value Within The Purchase Chain” but sadly he’s up against the “Affiliate Apocalypse Panel”, which sounds the better option. This should be a fascinating session as it will cover issues like transparency and the last click rules. Helen Southgate, Duncan Popham and Seth Richardson are the doom-mongers panel.

One of the most popular talks at previous Expos has been “Meet the Super Affiliates” and you can expect a packed room again this year when the 4pm talks kick off. Expect to hear something about a music sharing site once or twice as DJ Mix Tape himself, Kieron, is on hand as the panel moderator. This year he’s joined by Tina Judic, Sri Sharma and Philip Wilkinson (who I vaguely remember emailing a few times back in the early days of Loquax?).

Day 2 ends with a choice of two sessions, one about domain names and the other about writing killer proposals and selling yourself to merchants. Usually by 5pm though a power nap awaits as there’s the Ice Party to come and close what hopefully will be another successful A4U Event.

I wonder if Matt Le Tissier will be there this year?

As ever Matt and the Existem team have put together an intriguing mix of talks aimed at merchants and affiliates.

The first highlight is the lack of keynote speaker at the start of the event. Praise be to the affiliate marketing gods! I can’t even remember who did it last year, but it really didn’t electrify the audience. The only downside is there’s no “welcome intro” by Matt, but I’m sure he’ll say a few words at some point during proceedings.

So this year it’s straight into the nitty gritty with talks about Red Letter Days (sounds a great idea, but I’m afraid I’m out), affiliate marketing and media (sounds merchanty) and SEO strategies with Dave Naylor (recommended as Dave is an interesting speaker).

Following Dave is one of the stand out talk titles of the whole two days is “Are Networks Dying?”! It’s a panel session and includes a network, an agency, a publisher and an advertiser. It promises to be an intriguing session and hopefully discussion. From our experience, network earnings have been getting worse whilst independents improve.

One network has gone from best earner to worst performer in less than 12 months. It does make you wonder if it’s just us or a reflection of other affiliates across the board, so this session will be of interest.

Sessions for affiliates and with affiliates on the panel are always busy, and “The Affiliate Doctors Live!” involving Duncan Jennings, Kieron Donoghue and Chris Garrett shouldn’t be an exception. They will be offering “frank advice on issues within affiliate marketing, start-up strategy, conversion, blogging and SEO”. Sounds good, but have to say I’d like to see other affiliates involved (Lee, Kirsty, Joe, Matt, A Struggling or Successful Newbie?) as well as the usual suspects.

The next “sounds good” session involves Kevin Edwards and Michelle Boxall (Affiliate Window) – “The Truth Will Out: Disproving Common Misconceptions In Affiliate Marketing”. Although the blurb says that this session is aimed “at affiliate managers and merchants” I’d have thought that affiliates would also be interested in knowing the truth about the the myths and legends of voucher code sites, cashbacks and brand bidders.

For newbies Nadeem’s “12 Biggest Affiliate Marketing Mistakes” could be worth checking out in the 4pm slot, but for those who have probably made them already then “Advanced Site Architecture And Product Feed SEO” with Judith Lewis looks a good alternative option. Judith got rave reviews via Twitter about her Thinkvisibility session so hopefully this will be more of the same (plus even more hopefully free chocolate).

The final session of the day will probably be “You want to Tweet What!?”! This could be the weirdest session of the whole expo as by this time most of the delegates would have been on Twitter at least once to say they’re at A4UExpo. If Thinkvisibility was anything to go by, no one was listening to the talks as they were too busy Twittering to each other

Still, it sounds a fun session and so hopefully we’ll all learn how to tweet better in time for Day 2 (coming later).

If there’s a good session on Day 1 I’ve not mentioned why not leave a comment and say why it’s worth attending?

On the Thursday we became tourists and went to the National Martime Aquarium, a place full of noisy kids, wonderful fish, and people who didn’t understand the concept of “when taking photos turn your flash off”. Afterward we got stuffed with sausage from Captain Jaspers and then Devon ice cream from one shop and then more ice cream from a van five minutes later.

The networking event was more of a catch-up with old friends event… despite having seen most a few weeks earlier in Bristol. In terms of business one network representative did say he wasn’t sure about working with us because I write this blog. Still not sure whether that was tongue in cheek or not, but if anyone thinks OLD’s content is that controversial or contentious… you really do need to get out more!

Unless of course you feature in the main event of this blog post – and then you’ll probably never talk to me again!

This is what happens when you give affiliate industry people alcohol, a dance floor, a dodgy DJ and Bon Jovi!

Apologies in advance to anyone featuring in the above. There is some dodgy filming as the cameraman staggered around a little bit, plus there’s bright flashing lights just in case you’re effected by those. The good news is there’s plenty more in the archives if required.

If you want to dance off with other affiliate people next year then make sure August 20th 2010 is clear in your diary.. in all seriousness, it was a great couple of days down by the sea with a great bunch of people. You’d be mad not to go next year!

Throughout the day we all got a turn in taking a Peugeot 106 on a gravel pit for handbrake turns, an Evo, a Subaru, a Mini, an Audi R8, Ferrari, Lamorghini, Porsche 911 and an Aston Martin (although that turned into the Audi R8 due to techinical reasons). Don’t ask me what kind of Ferrari or Lambo – one was red and the other was yellow will be the answer.

I’ve never really got cars in any shape or form, but having now done two driving days this year I can see why they can be quite fun. If you’ve never done a car experience day then it’s well worth giving it a go (even better be a good affiliate and you might get invited along to one).

The highlight of the day…. well Jude came third in the overall standings and picked up an impressive looking trophy. The same trophy that’s now the wallpaper on her mobile, the same trophy that sits by the bed during the night and in the office during the day and the same trophy that she casually reminds me about at least once every hour!

To say this was a fantastic day out would be an understatement. It was relaxed, a lot of fun driving cars and taking photos (as above) and great to meet other affiliates and of course the guys and girls from Herotech and Cashcade. Big thanks to them!

I’m now off to give their sites a lot more promotion, just after I’ve hidden a certain silver cup in the garage.