My ad:tech San Francisco Experience

So ad:tech has come and gone, and for my first experience at ad:tech is was pretty good.  The first day I spent most of my time connecting with some industry friends in the very cool Affiliate Summit sponsored Beer Garden.  I was surprised how much it looked like the conceptual drawing that Shawn Collins had posted on his blog when he first announced the beer garden.

For those faithful listeners of Affiliate Thing, you’ll be happy to know that there were no snuggies involved.  Unfortunately that first day I didn’t make it to any sessions, but I did take a quick glance at the exhibit hall.  I think this might be the first time I’ve seen two floors of exhibit hall.  Can you tell I’m not an old hat at ad:tech?

That evening I joined some affiliate marketing folks at AT&T Park for a Giants vs. Padres game.  Shawn was quite perturbed that he could not get a signal on his AT&T serviced cell phone at AT&T Park.  I can’t say that I blame him.  There were some great moments in the game, including the closest I’ve ever seen two runners together when rounding the bases.  The Giants won and our seats were pretty good.  Luckily it was a nice balmy night and I didn’t need a jacket, but I did get blisters on my feet walking from Moscone Center to the park in bad dress shoes.  Nonetheless, I have to send a big thanks to Shawn for the game invite!

The second day I was able to attend some sessions, notes from which will appear here next week.  They were hit and miss… I got a lot out of some of them and almost nothing from others, except for some entertainment value.

That evening I had a nice dinner with the folks from eBay, Linda Woods of PartnerCentric, Shawn Collins from Affiliate Summit, Peter Bordes of Media Trust, and a couple folks from Red Anchor Media.  We had a nice discussion on quality in Affiliate Marketing.  I was honored to be invited and had a terrific time.  Any fellow creme brulee fans will be pleased to hear about the lovely Butterscotch variation at Anchor & Hope on Minna in San Francisco!

I didn’t make it over for the 3rd day of ad:tech, but overall it was a good experience and I’m looking forward to attending more in the future and getting some more done once I’m more firmly established with my new clients and with Paulson Management Group.