That’s right, registration is now open for 2009’s Commission Junction University, September 15-17 in Santa Barbara, CA.  This network-hosted event is a prime opportunity to meet your colleagues in the affiliate marketing space and to network with affiliate managers and affiliates.  I attended last year’s CJU and had a great time meeting some great people.

Early bird registration is open through June 30th, giving you $100 off the $995 price tag.  In this economy, saving anything is better than nothing so book early!  Once again, CJ will be hosting the event at the beautiful Fess Parker’s Double Tree, right there on the ocean.  The view is simply stunning, I have to admit.  And while staying at the Fess Parker might not be in your reasonable budget, be sure to stay nearby and don’t make the mistake I did last year.  I figured staying at a lower cost motel just 7 miles away would be okay, and in terms of the motel it was fine, but the cab ride to the Fess Parker was a painful $25.  So staying nearby will definitely help your sanity and pocket book!

I believe I’ll be in attendance, though I don’t want to make any plans just yet.  After last year’s plane issues (flying from OAK to LAX to SBA, then from SBA to PHX to OAK) I think I might take the opportunity to drive down this time.  Hope to see you there!

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I apologize, dear reader, as this blog has been on auto pilot lately.  A lot has been going on in my world, both personal and professional, and it’s still taking a lot of time and energy to get sorted out.

The good news is, I’ll be back at the helm soon.  I’m heading down to CJU tonight and then Blog World Expo next weekend, so I’m sure I’ll be super jazzed to come back to this blog in full force.  Lots of travel in my future, which makes me slightly even more stressed considering I’m not the biggest fan of flying really, and I haven’t packed anything yet.  Luckily, I have been traveling so much in the last year that I’ve gotten into the habit of keeping travel sized stuff always packed in my toiletries bag instead of packing the stuff I use normally.  Travel size for the win!

CJU will be my first network event, and I’m excited.  I was looking at the agenda last week in putting together my schedule, and I really appreciate that there aren’t really that many choices to choose from during the few break out sessions.  I assume that most of the sessions are just put on my Commission Junction staff considering there’s no names attached to the sessions like other shows.  The keynote will be given by Guy Kawasaki, a former Apple guy now working on AllTop.com.  I’ve been following Guy on Twitter for sometime now, so seeing him speak in person will be nice.  I know a few folks who’ll be there, so it should be a good time.  My one regret is that I didn’t book soon enough to get into the conference hotel, Fess Parker’s DoubleTree Resort.  I’ve heard great things, but booked too late so I’m staying nearby.  Maybe next year!

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I checked out the agenda for Blog World Expo and there’s about 7-10 sessions per time block to choose from!  It’s hard, because my interests vary and I know some good people on panels that I want to check out.  Savvy internet marketers talking about monetization that I don’t mention nearly enough, Michael Buechele and Tim Jones.  And of course there’s the usual suspects that I love – Jim Kukral, Lisa Picarille, Shawn Collins, etc.  I’m not done scheduling for that since I have some tough choices to make in terms of which sessions to attend.  I also noticed that one of my favorite musicians, Mike Shinoda, is going to be participating in one of the keynotes.  I have no clue WHY lol, but I may have to throw my last Linkin Park CD into my bag in hopes of an encounter!

So, that is what’s on my plate for now.  I only have part of a day in between CJU and BlogWorldExpo, so hopefully I’ll get the notes from my CJ sessions up for you to learn from before I’m off again!  In the meantime, I hope you’re not overinundated with the daily definitions and happy to take a break

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