My life modified in a giant method twenty years in the past in the present day. It was the primary Affiliate Summit that I organized with Missy Ward and it happened at Baruch School in New York Metropolis on November 3, 2003.
Pulling the entire thing collectively occurred fairly quick. We chatted on the cellphone about making an attempt to start out a convention and registered AffiliateSummit.com on Might 19, 2003.
The unique aim was to placed on a convention on a cruise in 2004, however we determined to do a small occasion earlier than that to get the identify on the market and construct an inventory.
I heard about a possibility at Baruch School, which was just a few blocks from the place I labored on the time, and I went over to talk with them. We had been capable of get a room for 200 with chairs, tables, A/V, and so on. without spending a dime in trade for giving some passes to their advertising college students.
That was good since we didn’t have cash. If it wasn’t for that free spot from Baruch, the rise of Affiliate Summit could by no means have occurred.
Within the months we needed to arrange out first convention, we known as in favors from associates to workers the occasion, and did every part very primitive. All gross sales went by my PayPal account and affirmation emails for individuals who registered had been manually pasted from a Phrase doc and despatched from our emails.
Trade associates volunteered to be audio system and we obtained a bunch of associates with corporations to “sponsor” it (we didn’t cost them, so we’d have a bunch of “sponsors” out of the gate).
We scheduled it on the primary day of the advert:tech convention in New York, which was an enormous occasion on the time, so we might capitalize on folks coming into city, and we set a low worth level ($75 for all day and lunch).
Our solely bills had been lunch and printing for the day, and with ticket gross sales we broke even however turned wealthy in business status for Affiliate Summit.
Affiliate Summit 2003 was a sell-out a handful of days earlier than. We had a dozen or so folks present up hoping to attend, and we quietly beloved that we couldn’t match them, as a result of it created a buzz and demand once we began selling our subsequent occasion.
So many issues labored out excellent and propelled us right into a dream that lasted almost 20 years.
Take a look at images from Affiliate Summit 2003.
