Commission Junction University – Day 1
I’m down here in lovely Santa Barbara for Commission Junction University, and day one is in the can. The weather has been nice…although living in California I’m generally used to this weather, but being in the Southern end of the state there’s a distinctly different feel that I can’t quite put my finger on. But I enjoy it.
I flew from Oakland to Los Angeles on a puddle jumper, and from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara on a pack of gum. Between flights and layovers and cab rides, I arrived at my motel at 12:15am. The room is your average motel fare: 70’s floral bedspread, translucent yellow cords on the lamps, inmate furniture. The room also has a mini fridge, microwave, nicely sized TV, free wifi, and a surprisingly comfortable bed & pillows – not too shabby for $77/night. This makes me glad I’m staying at a real hotel for Blog World Expo this coming weekend.
Because of the high cost of cab fare ($25+), once I got the conference hotel I didn’t want to leave until the end of the day. I ran into Lisa Picarille and Wade Tonkin almost immediately in passing after I registered and headed to the first session, which I’ll cover later. Jeremy Palmer from Quit Your Day Job lead the first “course” as CJU calls them, and Olivier Chaine from Magnify 360 led the second. On a personal note, I read his name in the program and knew the pronunciation would be something like “o-live-e-ay shayne” and was confused when the emcee pronounced it very phonetically (olive-er chain). I was disappointed in CJ when Olivier pronounced his own name at the end of his session much like I’d imagined it was properly pronounced…if you’re going to introduce someone, learn how to pronounce their name.
I digress. Both courses were informative and well done, and I’ll be posting a bullet point review of both later on. After the courses were done I took a quick break and then headed out to the CJU Expo, a small area of tables nicely held outside under umbrellas that more closely resembled the Meet Market at Affiliate Summit than your typical trade show. It was mostly merchants and different CJU programs with tables, with the exception of an OPM (Schaaf Consulting), a couple affiliates (SurfMyAds.com), and a table for the Performance Marketing Alliance.
It’s a good thing I saw that PMA table, because it made it easy to run into some familiar faces in the form of Connie Berg & Brad Waller. Also was able to say hello to Michael Brucker from RingCentral at their table, one of the organizers of the BAAMC whose quarterly meetings I attend. (By the way if you’re an affiliate manager with a company in the SF Bay area interested in getting involved and possibly hosting about 20-25 ppl for lunch some day, let Michael know).
After the expo it was zoo time with the welcoming event being held down the street at the Santa Barbara Zoo. As much as I wanted to go, my phone was practically dead for some reason and my stomach was a bit upset, so I opted to head back to my motel. Tomorrow is a day full of sessions that look pretty good, and a keynote from Guy Kawasaki…who I think may literally be giving me the nifty orange Alltop shirt off his back afterwards. More about that if/when it happens 😉
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 MoreFree Toolsday for May 20th
I learn so much just by hanging out on Twitter most of my day. I learned about a spectacular travel site called TripIt.com from Sam Harrelson.
This knocks TripAdvisor out of the park. I got on TripAdvisor thinking that it would be great a resource with all the reviews of hotels and attractions in the areas. But in the last year 99% of the travel I’ve done has been for work, where I’m not there for pleasure and I’m not necessarily choosing where we stay or go. So I don’t think I’ve logged into TripAdvisor in months. At least 6.
TripIt is a much more suitable replacement for me. And the user ease is AMAZING. But I’m getting ahead of myself. First, let me tell you the purpose of TripIt. The site works as a great organizational tool that aggregates your activities, meetings, hotel information, flight information, etc into a centrally located personal travel assistant. Just email your confirmation emails directly to plans@tripit.com and it integrates the details into your trip itinerary.
The itinerary itself is spectacularly thorough. Not only does it add your hotel info and flight info through the email, but you can also add different types of events, restaurant outings, and meetings. Everything is color coded and the site automatically adds Google Maps and Directions from one location to another into the itinerary. Here’s an example from my current trip to Boston:
TripIt also integrates well with Google Calendar, which is my online calendar of choice, and adds exact time and details for each appointment, flight, check in, check out, etc. The site has a printable itinerary that is currently keeping me on track here in Boston, and if you’re more of a mobile/smart phone reliant person there’s mobile features as well. I only wish the printable version was color coded as well, but I understand why it’s not.
If you travel a lot for business, you should give this site a try at the least. As all the free toolsday features, it’s FREE! So you have no reason not to go check it out.
Read MoreMake Your Business Bloom with PsPrint
Lots of good sales going on this month at PsPrint. The sales are in full swing for spring and it’s time to get the word out about your business. Over the last few months I’ve been reposting some great articles from the PsPrint website about using print marketing to your advantage, so these sales are an awesome time to take advantage of that advise.
- 20% off Brochures
- Brochures are the fastest way for your clients to look up information about your business in a convenient matter without the aid of your website.
- Brochure Printing Made Easy
- Branding with a Shoestring Budget
- 50 4″ x 6″ Postcards for just $14.95
- With prices like these, even the smallest business can promote their products or services. Postcards are also great inexpensive alternatives to party or event invitations. With such a low price for such a small quantity, any mother can send postcards for a proud graduation party.
- Top Six Mistakes to Avoid in Any Postcard Marketing Campaign
- Ninja Marketing Tactics – Postcards
- 5 Proven Tips for Powerful Postcard Marketing
- 15% off Rack Cards
- Rack Cards provide travelers not familiar with the area with highlights of local sights and attractions in hotel lobbies around the country. Rack Cards can effectively advertise restaurants and shops as well to an audience wide open to suggestion.
