Ms Danielle, the Next Zac Johnson Wannabe
Nov 12th, 2007 by msdanielle
The A-ha! Moment
John Chow was generous enough to invite a few of us bloggers to dinner this past Friday at the Hilton’s Benihana following Mark Cuban’s closing keynote speech at BlogWorld. To my surprise, and delight, Zac Johnson was sitting across the table with his girlfriend Reena, next to John himself. (About Zac) Since the tables were split to accommodate all 15 of us, I didn’t have an opportunity to chat with them during dinner. But I was able to meet Zac and Reena afterward for a quick meet-and-greet. Woohoo! 
All of this networking — and especially Zac’s own “about” story — was making me realize that I really need to get in the game as a marketer. I learned some very valuable PPC insight from Darin Carter at BlogWorld, and was so inspired by the range of people who showed up — it dawned on me that attending conferences is really a necessary priority for me.
Upcoming Conferences
These are some upcoming conferences that I figure fit my market, and my goal of becoming a super affiliate. If you’re thinking of attending one or more internet marketing-related conferences in the coming months, check these ones out as options. [If anyone wants to recommend some additional worthwhile conferences for me, please leave them in the comments and I can add them. Thanks!]
- PubCon, Las Vegas December 4 – 7, 2007. For webmasters, SEO’s, and affiliate marketers. Hosted by WebmasterWorld.
- Affiliate Summit West, Las Vegas February 24 – 26, 2008. For affiliate marketers, merchants, and affiliate networks. Hosted by Affiliate Summit.
- CJU, TBA 2008. For advertisers, publishers, and agencies. Hosted by Commission Junction.
- ad:tech, San Francisco April 15 – 17, 2008. For advertisers, agencies, execs, solution providers, and marketers.
How Will I Get There?
John Chow recommends going to conferences for free as media, but I’m not as popular as he is, so for now I’m assuming I won’t qualify as media. [But it doesn't mean I can't try!] PubCon is most likely a bye. But Affiliate Summit West (ASW) is a viable option for me. And it’s expensive. $949 to be exact, for the full conference pass. Yikes! In any event, paying my way to get there is one way to attend, although I’d rather go for free.
A second way for me to get there is through Zac’s own Free Affiliate Summit Pass contest. Wouldn’t that be awesome if this wannabe could go for free by winning Zac’s contest? He’s already given away one pass, and there are two drawings left. I’m crossing my fingers the next winner will be me, of course.
Another way is through Ian Lee’s contest for ASW passes. Yep, that’s right. Ian Lee is also giving away two chances to win a full conference pass. (Ian held the Affiliate Networking Dinner where John Chow won the Zune that I ended up giving away!) I know I’m risking a lower chance of winning by actually encouraging you guys to enter, but all’s fair and it should go to an affiliate marketer who really wants to go.
So why am I entering? Well, I too would like to be a super affiliate and be able to spend my off days as Spiderman or some other super hero. I’ve been working on my affiliate site pinkdeals.net for some time now, and am in the process of overhauling the design through UniqueBlogDesigns. I know what small affiliates know about the market, but I don’t want to be small time anymore. That’s why I’m a Zac Johnson wannabe. Cross your fingers for me. Zac or Ian, send me to ASW for free!!
The Consolation
There is of course a chance that I won’t win the contest. If you’re interested in going in for a group rate with me ($711), leave a comment in the comments section. If I don’t win, we can get a couple hundred dollars off. If I do win or am able to go as media for free, the rest of you can attend as your own group and get a discount!
[Photo courtesy of John Chow. Thanks again for dinner, John!]
[If you enjoy reading MsDanielle.com, please feel free to subscribe via RSS or get free email updates.]
Follow me on Twitter
Subscribe via email:
Danielle hit me up about the upcoming conferences. I am interested in going.
I assume your talking about the group rate for ASW?
Is there not a group rate for PubCon?
yes, for ASW.
*if anybody wants to go at the group rate, please leave a comment here.*
i’ve sort of resolved to the fact that i won’t be able to make it to pubcon. hehe… take pictures!
(did u get my email?)
Yea, I got your email and I replied. Did you get that?!
Booking flights to Vegas tomorrow. Danielle, you’re missing out!
Re:ASW, Search Marketing World 2008 in Ireland is on around that time and I hope to be speaking at it so I doubt that will be an option, but if it’s not on that time, consider me penciled (does that look spelled right?) in on the group rate.
mmmm definitely possibilities
mmmm definitely possibilities. i like pinkdeals b/c it’s all about you danielle!! is that working out well for you??
so far pinkdeals is going as well as long i have time to update it. this is my dilemma…
Awesome post Danielle, good luck on the contests! I’ve always attended and recommended the Affiliate Summit events, and attended CJU back in 2000-2001 when it was a lot less corporate. I have yet to attend a PubCon, still deciding on this one.
Depending on your location and availability, I’ve always tried to get to AdTech NY, which is also in California and Chicago. I go for the exhibits and not the conference. The show in NY last week was insanely huge. Definitely a plus for new contacts and networking.
duh, i totally forgot about ad:tech. thanks for the reminder
yea i saw your write-up of ad:tech. i wanted to go to the SF one…i should’ve gone. i am looking forward to asw though. thanks for hosting the contest…i’m crossing my fingers!
ya . . . two vegas trips in less than a month is kind of hard to do . . . we just gotta put the nose the grindstone and get PinkDeals ready to blow up . . .woo woo!
Lol that jacket with the skull and bones is rad.
hey hon hon
wish you could’ve made it out too. how was the melbourne cup?
one of these days we’ll hang out. hope your bookmarks site is going well!
The Melbourne Cup was awesome and started with a champagne breakfast at 8am
I’m going to be in Vegas at the same time as PubCon for a work conference. It would be sweet to swing a free media pass, I’ll have to start looking at that possibility as remote as it might be.
I’ve never been to a blogging conference but I too have been reading a lot of the posts at Zac’s site as I really want to move into the affiliate marketing as well. That would have been really cool to meet him, although my wife would probably be more interested in attending his Halloween party as that looked really cool.
yea im going to try to finish reading his affiliate guide either tonight or tomorrow night. this is good stuff….
Hey Ms Danielle -
If you’re blogging regularly about the industry, you’re press to us (the organizers of Affiliate Summit).
Go to http://www.affiliatesummit.com/presspass.php to request a press pass.
hi shawn, wow, thanks for the link! i’ve read wonderful things about you on zac’s blog
i will be requesting a media pass, thank you so much for the offer! woot woot!!
You guys ever come to ASIA the best Sinagpore?
Nice picture… where’s Zac BTW?