Stephanie Lichtenstein

I just finished unpacking my bags from Affiliate Summit West. It turns out I am off again for a family matter. Since family comes first I repacked my bags tonight and am leaving in the morning. Before I go I had to post a recap of yet another phenomenal Affiliate Summit. Since my blog posts are lengthy I am going to break it down into a couple posts. Here goes part one covering Saturday and Sunday.

Before each conference I post a daily guide of my recommendations. I usually follow my own guide as an outline of what I will attend during the conference. As you know things don’t always go as planned especially in Vegas, you end up making new plans. I wanted to share my daily summary of Affiliate Summit West as it really happened!

Enjoying Shawn's drink of choice with him

My Saturday Guide and My Real Saturday, The Pre-Parties:
Many people arrived to the conference on Friday or early on Saturday to get a head start. There were several events going on this night. I am proud to say for my first night the plans remained the same. I was able to make it to all the events.

I started off the evening by attending an intimate dinner put together by my friend Joe Sousa. This was a relaxing time to spend at the American Bar and Grill which I would come back to frequent on more than one occasion. Joe also posted his own recap of events he attended during Affiliate Summit. I then headed to the ABW gathering within the Rio. It was a low key get together where I got to see many familiar faces before the conference started.

I then went check out how the poker players were doing. The poker tables were filled for a great cause the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Then I headed to Carolyn Tang’s bachelorette party in McFadden’s which was also at the Rio hotel. She was having the time of her life. From there I headed to the Buy.at event at Rain in The Palms. They had the top level rented out. Buy.at knows how to throw a party.

Buy.at Affiliate Summit West Party

I ended Saturday by going back to the Rio and checking out the Charity Poker Tournament. It was still going on when we returned to the hotel. Skimlinks.com had sponsored someone to play and then ended up winning the tourney! Then it was time for bed and luckily on Sunday the conference started at noon.

My Sunday Guide and My Real Sunday, Meet Market:
On Sunday the first thing to check out was the Meet Market. This was the perfect time to get to know some merchants and network. At the same time there were sessions going on. I got to attend the panel on Monetizing Blogs for Affiliate Marketing and SEO. The panelists were Drew Bennett from BenSpark.com, MurrayNewlands.com, John Carcutt from MediaWhiz.com, and TheRealTimJones.com. Here is my full review of the Monetizing Blogs panel.

I had a chance to interview John Carcutt from Media Whiz. He was on this successful panel and I think he brought on a different perspective. John normally attends nationwide conferences more search focused. This was his first Affiliate Summit. Since he knows his SEO I was interested to hear his thoughts on recent trends such as social media which also affect Affiliate Marketing. Check out our interview below to see what John has to say…

***Disclaimer: Please disregard the #tripodfail which makes me look like a bobblehead!

After learning from John and his panel I went back to the Meet Market for a while to mingle with the crowd. I got to talk to some new people. As soon as I knew it I was running over to the Affiliate Summit Mentor Meetup where I was heading a roundtable discussion. I had a great time talking to new attendees and answering their questions about the conference. Many of them wanted to learn about affiliate marketing in general. It is great to see others discovering how to market online through affiliate marketing.

Cooling off after running to the Affiliate Summit Mentor MeetUp

It was time to have dinner with Jay Berkowitz and a nice group of about 30 marketers. I invited Joe Stepniewski from Skimlinks.com to come with me. While I was there I got to say hello to John Fischer from StickerGiant and JB Glossinger also known as MorningCoach. The dinner was fantastic and both new friends were a delight.

Testing out the Chocolate Fountain at the ShareASale party

The ShareASale party is always a good time so I headed there after dinner. I got to jump in the photobooth and also into the bouncy castle. That is what I like about ShareASale they know how to have fun and don’t take themselves too seriously. I also got to play blackjack and try out the chocolate fountain!

Chocolate Fountain MicroSteph Approved!

I got to end my night with the best thing in the world which included a wardrobe change. Bowling for boobies had to be a highlight of the conference for me. Again it was fun with a cause tied into it which made it all the better. People for some reason can’t get enough of my bowling technique see below for an example.

If someone has a video of my bowling skillz please do send it over. I would love to share it on my blog. Also a big thanks to BowlingShirt.com thanks to them I have that sweet hawt pink bowling dress. They are run by GTO Management which also sponsored the bowling event as well as the great guys at TFAW and AffiliateMarketersGiveBack. If I were an affiliate I would definitely check out the BowlingShirt.com affiliate program. It is on ShareASale and for details on joining you can check them out here.

Brent, Joe and I bowling for boobies

There were over 150 bowlers staying up late. I cannot wait until next time! This happily ended my Sunday night. What a great start to Affiliate Summit West! Monday and Tuesday are where the games and networking really begin. Even though I will be out of the country for a week I hope to post the rest of my conference events as well as more video interviews I made live from the Blogger’s Lounge.

Bowling for Boobies group going strong