Affsum Keynote Cory Booker
(c) Shawn Collins on Flickr
The keynote given by Newark, NJ Mayor Cory Booker was great… if you didn’t leave that speech leaving jazzed and excited to get in there and learn, network, and conquer the world – you weren’t listening. It was a terrific speech; very clear why he’s in demand as a public speaker, in addition to his mayoral duties. One note that was given by emcee Jim Kukral – 36% of the attendees of the show are affiliates.
Bullet Point Review!
- Knowing who you are is key before doing anything.
- You can always do a little more.
- “Poverty of Imagination” – nice quote from Corey.
- The world you see outside is a reflection of what’s inside.
- A challenge is just a hidden opportunity.
- What are you as an individual doing to improve the world?
- In the tech industry it was all about size…the bigger the better. Which was a reflection on the world before the mid 1980’s. Then everything switched from being about size to being about speed – faster is better.
- Newark, NJ is the #1 city in America reducing violent crime over the last 2 years – just in Q1 in 2008 murder has decreased 75%.
- What can we do to show our true selves?
- “You’re on the front line of America” to Newark cops. Booker actually went out on patrol himself at night that quarter.
- Get involved in changing the spirit of your community if you aim to help.t
- The primary cause of human suffering is forgetfulness.
- Deciding to do something is a cognitive process, not an act.
- Make your life resonate with what you do.
- Live your highest ideals to the most logical extreme.
- Believe in the miraculous.
- If you’re seeking success, find ways to live with resonance – believe in love that’s not just transactional.
- The heroes that we name days after are never the greatest ones.
Overall, everyone should have attended and it was an incredibly motivating talk that actually almost made me cry. Good choice for keynote!
Read MoreDays -1 and 1 of Affiliate Summit East 2008
Just a quick recap of days negative 1 and 1 of Affiliate Summit East 2008 before I head off to the Share a Sale Under the Stars party that started an hour ago (give me a break, I’m fashionably late!).
Day Negative 1 (a.k.a. Saturday)
- The Affiliate Classroom Live event went well overall. I feel like the people in most of my discussions were picking up what I was putting down. I feel like I could have been better prepared, but that was really my own fault. I hope that I’m asked back in the future of other events and can do a bang up job! Also met some cool peeps.
- AffSpot.com forum meet-up was fun – got to meet some new people like Angie & Roger from Snow Consulting, talked at length with the ever charming Lisa Picarille of Revenue Magazine, finally met the lovely penguin Jen Good of JGoode Designs, was thrown schwag by Sam Harrelson & Aunesty Janssen the admins of the Spot, and met Bill (Beachy), Ron (7daysRon), & some others that came & went. As I was looking down reading something on my phone outside the bar I recognized Jim Kukral of Scratchback soley by his mandals with socks walking by! Love it.
- Speaking of Sam, he had to bail on the Affiliate Dinner last night so he graciously gave me his ticket! I went and had a great meal, lots of laughs at the expense of the roastee Connie Berg of FlamingoWorld.com, and talked at great length with apparently my #1 fan Kim Rodgers from 4Checks.com. It’s funny that I JUST ordered my new checks from them for the first time last week, so we had a great discussion! The highlight just might have been Brian Littleton from Share-a-Sale dressed up as Captain Jack Sparrow for Connie’s love of all things Johnny Depp.
- Finally, while the concept of recording a live podcast for GeekCast live was a terrific idea, it ended up being a FAIL of epic proportions. It was an insanely fun time talking and having fun with peeps but between the audience, topics, & Shawn’s BeerTender, it was too much of a party. It was a blast though that kept me up until 3:45am.
Day 1 – Affiliate Summit Kicks Off
- Registration was incredibly easy now that they’ve come up with self check in kiosks. Love it!
- Missed the PPC and Social Media tracks I wanted to attend thanks to a righteous headache this morning (no, I DON’T think it was a hangover!) but heard the social media was good.
- Headed into the Meet Market and MAN was it packed! Got my fare share of awesome schwag, bought myself an “I Gave Back!” button, and got some good info on some cool networks and programs. It was a zoo in there so I had to bail, bu t it was good that I did since I’d lost track of time and was able to get to the NY tax laws session.
- The day isn’t over! I’m shutting this bad boy down in lieu of blogging about the other session I attended today and I’m heading over to the ShareASale party on the Odyssey Cruise yacht… can’t promise how long I’ll stay but it should be a blast!
Affsum Session: NY Tax Laws – Issues & Solutions
Unfortunately I was a bit late to this session today, but I got a lot of good info in the 40 minutes I did attend. The panel consisted of:
- Adam Riemer, Director of Marketing & Client Relations, Downtown Ecommerce Partners (Moderator)
- Chris Henger, Group Product Manager, Google Affiliate Network
- Kim Rodgers, Affiliate Manager, 4Checks.com
- Melanie Seery, Affiliate, NY Affiliate Voice
- Clarke D. Walton, Internet Lawyer, Walton Law Firm, P.C.
First I do have to comment on the panelists – I had the pleasure of hearing a session at ASW08 where Clarke spoke on internet taxes in relation to affiliates and I have to tell you – this is the kind of lawyer you want in your Rolodex. He’s extremely internet and tech savvy, which is always good when you’re talking about internet law. He has experience doing affiliate marketing himself, so he can totally relate to your issues. And he clearly knows his stuff.
Speaking of really knowing their stuff, Kim Rodgers is the ace affiliate manager who really knows what she’s doing, and has built her program up SO much it’s phenomenal. I had the pleasure of sitting with her last night at the Affiliate Dinner (more on that later) and she really is a great AM and has the unique experience of being in the position of a company that initially culled their NY affiliates and now, after some changes internally, are able to welcome them back and have to regain their business (not to mention their trust).
So, the bullet point review of the panel:
- Networks can’t really give any advice to affiliates legally, so they’ve pretty much had to stay out of it.
- Early in July, California explored the NY law and determined that affiliates don’t prove nexus, hence pretty much saying the opposite of what NY is. Hopefully for those of us in California this means that they’ve gotten it out of their heads to try to mimic this.
- Late in July the NY state senate approved a motion to repeal the tax, so while there’s not much news about this yet it’s a step in the right direction in terms of a repeal.
- It’s important for affiliates to be willing to comply and work with their merchants to get through this and maintain a good relationship.
- Affiliates in NY will have to give up a little privacy (like their NY address) in an effort to comply.
- Merchants can simply add a small paragraph into their terms of service that NY based affiliates need to agree to specifically to comply with laws.
- Affiliate managers need to follow up with the NY affiliates to make sure they’ve read the modified TOS and agree.
- Merchants who kicked NY affiliates right away probably have a better chance of wooing them back than merchants who waited until the middle of June and then deactivated the NY affiliates retroactive to May 31st. Melanie’s opinion? “They don’t have a prayer.”
Some take-home answers from the open Q&A:
- The law applies to merchants based in Canada as well (unfortunately I couldn’t hear if they said it applied to international merchants too).
- The law is not clear if nexus is established when a merchant has affiliates who make $10,000 per year aggregate or per affiliate.
- Affiliate managers should not encourage their affiliates to incorporate their businesses in other states. This is a poor work around (it’s not a solution) since, well, what if that state’s next to adopt a similar law? You can’t keep reincorporating and it’s basically fraudulent anyway.
- The state of Washington has come close with a similar law affecting internet sales and taxes. Formerly, the tax rate on an internet sale was calculated based on where the merchant is located. Now, it’s calculated based on where the order is shipping to. This only applies within the state – for now. (As an aside, I know that the California law is already like this and bases tax assessment on the shipping address, being that PsPrint is based in California).
- The federal government is also looking into these laws since we are talking about interstate commerce and may make a move soon, but it’s hard to say in what direction that move will be.
If you caught anything I didn’t (ahem 11|15 Media’s Michael Buechele), please share with the rest of us!
Read MoreOnline Marketing Glossary: Social Network
Social Network:
- Online networks of communities who share interests and activities or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others, which necessitates the use of software.
Okay, this seems like an overly technical and complicated definition, so let me throw some commonly known examples at you instead. Facebook. MySpace. LinkedIn. Social Networks and social networking is a great way to connect with friends, family, and colleagues!
It’s probably too late to register for Affiliate Classroom Live, so now you’re officially missing out on my round table discussion about social digital networking for affiliate managers, which will be happening in T-minus 1 hour and 50 minutes in the Waterfront I Ballroom here at the Boston Seaport Hotel.
Don’t worry – I’m sure to post a recap. I’m solid like that 😉
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Glossary Definition From ABC’s of Online Marketing by Alexandra Wharton, Issue 22, Revenue Magazine
Arrived Safely in Boston
I have arrived & ready for Affiliate Summit East 2008! I have to first say kudos to Missy & Shawn for selecting a wonderful hotel & conference center to host the summit! It’s super close to the airport so it took me much less time to get here than I anticipated, great in-room accommodations (LAN connection FTW!), and speedy service. Let me illustrate my time line thus far for you.
- 6:50a – Plane landed
- 7:20a – collected bags & waited less than 5 minutes for a cab
- 7:35ish – arrived @ Seaport & checked in
- 7:40a – ordered some hot breakfast
- 8:00a – was eating wonderful hot breakfast
So, speedy service is always excellent! I’ve had time to take a shower & refresh from my red-eye flight from Oakland & am now getting ready ti head down to the Affiliate Classroom Live event to join everyone mid-morning as I’m expected. More kudos are in order for the Summit’s partnership with Jet Blue…I’d never flown Jet Blue before and it was delightful. Thanks to the wonderful timing of my flight, FX channel programming, and the fates, there is NOTHING as cool as watching the final climax of Batman Begins (the elevated train derailment) at the exact time a jet is taking off below you!
I’ll leave your morning reading with some tips regarding the hotel I’ve discovered thus far, and then I have to finish getting ready and go find the right room!
- The body lotion in the bathroom – a little goes a LONG way.
- I got a really low connection to the wi-fi, but that might just be my nearly ancient Dell Latitude laptop, so if you’re in room I recommend using the LAN cable on the desk.
- In room dining was SUPER fast this morning; could have been the time of day but I’m hoping it’s just fast & excellent service.
- Staff has all be enormously friendly.
- If your room is laid out like mine (and I didn’t opt for anything special) the cabinet below the TV & ice bucket has a fridge…I didn’t find it at first lol
Remember if you see me around I look like this – say hi!!
Read MoreOnline Marketing Glossary: Data Feed
Data Feed:
- A text file that contains the information needed to generate a website. It is provided either directly to the affiliate or indirectly through a network. The affiliate then converts the data feed into a database, which is then used to populate webpages full of products.
There are a lot of questions in the affiliate world surrounding data feeds. What content is required? How should they be formatted? I know that one of the hopes of the budding Performance Marketing Association is to set some industry standards on this rogue content generation tool.
Unfortunately for me, data feeds are something that I’ve yet to master. It’s one of those things I keep meaning to research and learn how to generate and use, but haven’t yet had the time. If you want to learn more about the PMA’s efforts, they’re hosting a Q&A on Monday at Affiliate Summit East in the Harbor View Ballroom from 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm.
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Glossary Definition From ABC’s of Online Marketing by Alexandra Wharton, Issue 22, Revenue Magazine
