Aac?

[Triple7]

Well, the binary guys. Quite irritating indeed. I forgot to mention that. Luckily they were all in one part, although some of the vultures escaped out of their cage and were hunting in other areas. Most of them were really "pushy" and go on with their monologue when I told them I'm not into binary options and that my websites are 100% casino. They just continued their monologue. One or two times, it's ok, but after some time it's starting to be really annoying.

AAC was also useful to see which affiliate managers are able to have a conversation and which ones are just able to have a monologue. It helps a lot with deciding which mails I will respond and which mails will be deleted.

[webanalysissolutions]

Well, the binary guys. Quite irritating indeed.

Perhaps the conference organisers should run a separate conference for these binary guys. If you're into that sort of thing then you'd go to that conference too. There is a Financal Expo, but these guys are allowed into LAC, BAC, AAC to make up the numbers I think. Haven't met any affiliate who works well with these people. Most of us are either sports or casino, a few bingo too.

If I were the conference organisers, I know each year the stats look good - more affiliates attending, more companies, but this may be only due to the turnover in affiliates and fresh people attending. Ultimately, long term I'd be looking to change the formula for these conferences because it's worked well since it's inception, but is now becoming a bit "samey" and predictable - same pitches, same freebies and giveaways, alcohol, girls, celebrities, table football, poker tournaments etc etc. I know a lot of large affiliates who just won't attend any more for many of the reasons above. In London there are big affiliate companies who literally get the tube in to the conference from their office, do their meetings and go back to the office as they don't want to get hassled by a load of people they have no interest in. I do the same!

If anyone has been to ICE in London you'll see how much more of a professional event that is - no hard sell, no people grabbing you, no half naked girls, very little free alcohol etc. People go to ICE for business.

[Triple7]

Well, I think their business fits better in gambling than in financial. Binary options running a minute are gambling. Their people should show they've had some education. If somebody is having lunch with people, it's quite a lack of education if you interrupt them. Or I was walking and talking with people and than there appears some vulture in front of you and start to interrupt (usually with their binary options).

I think the rates for having a booth are quite high. Just the bigger brands, providers and some opportunists are able or willing to pay this. I met many affiliate managers who are not having a booth. Some of them have dodgy tactics and dodgy programs, but also many of them are having a good program or I'm already working well with them. I didn't saw them approaching people all the time. They have conversations with people they know, perhaps with people introduced by other people they know, etc.

It is all about education. For example Twenty One Casino had some girls walking with leaflets and they just handed over the leaflet if someone showed some interest. Buffalo had a booth at a good place, but anyway they were approaching people everywhere and anyhow. Same for AffActive. Same for a lot of binary guys and girls. I don't even remember the names of the programs. They're paying big money for a booth, hiring models, have give aways, etc and still they feel the need to bother people outside their booth. Quite sad.

Another thing is that booths are quite expensive. Not everybody is wanting to pay that bunch of money for a booth, give aways, prizes and hire some models.

And the freebies, half naked girls, etc. For me it's ok, to give it some sphere...

[webanalysissolutions]

I think you might find that the most aggressive programs at conferences who feel the need to walk to the floor and try grab people are the ones with the worst reputations for fraud, skimming, corruption etc. They probably need to aggressively recruit new affiliates as their turnover of affiliates is high due to their bad reputations, and/or they really struggle to recruit new people because their reputation is so bad.

As with walking down the high street and getting hassled, or having some guy knock on my house door trying to sell something, I never respond to cold callers or this sort of tactic.

[Triple7]

True. The less affiliates affiliates sign up in a normal way, the more they feel the need to act like this.

But anyway, with me this is working quite contra-productive. Their behaviour at this events is like a preview of what I can expect when I work with them. Hypothetically, because I won't. Also it's creating more irritation than any other thing...

[Renee]

Conclusion after two days in Amsterdam:

* It's nice to see the faces behind the mails / skype conversations.
* I agreed some nice bonus offers with affiliate managers. Usually with the ones I'm working already with.
* In some conversations with affiliate managers or game providers, I heard new and useful things that I can use for my websites
* The seminars were usually old news and quite basic.
* Some affiliate managers are worse than the jewelry sellers in countries like Tunisia, Turkey, etc. They keep on asking and asking...
* Some really are having a complete lack of education or are that desperate for traffic that they even interrupt when you're in another conversation or eating and talking with other people.

I'm glad to read you got all of this out of the conference, especially the bolded line.

I will admit, I cannot stand it when another affiliate manager interrupts the affiliate I'm having a meeting with and many times I have actually said, "I'm sorry we are in a meeting. Can you please come back later."

It's rude, and I'd never do it to anyone else.
Affiliates will wave sometimes if they see you walking past while they are in a meeting and I'm always careful never to stop or say anything more than hello because I know how frustrating it is.

Nobody likes sports betting :P is the bottom line. For 3 days all I heard was "Do you do Binary Options". Extremely aggressive managers in terms of approaching that is. I don't think anyone else has approached me but Binary.

At day 2, I just put a deflated football on my head and walked around with it to show them im into sports.

Things that I liked:

- Was pretty well organized.

- Good atmosphere and lots of people to talk to.

- Talked to tons of people, though I had 0 appointments and no plans to talk to anyone.

- Met old friends from BAC 2011.

- Good 2 days of entertainment, if you have nothing else to do

- Played a few games of pool, air hockey etc, was pretty cool to meet some new people and have fun meanwhile.

Things I didn't like:

- Pre-registration, was behind the hotel's bar/restaurant. To get there, tbh I didn't expect I had to walk through 55 tables with people on them. I was a bit confused but finally found it.

- Pre-reg sponsored networking event was from 16:00 - 18:00, at 17:00 the sponsor decided to take away all of the beers and wine, and the people just got there, couldn't get anything. Felt sorry for them tbh, cause they kept coming and coming at one point i was chatting with the bar guy that he should put a sign if he doesn't wanna stand there deny people all day. Anyways found that pretty lame, especially when they didn't run out of stuff, but just took it away.

- I'm not into free stuff, and I didn't get anything, but I brought a friend who was looking forward to it. Other people also wanted to take advantage of my "yellow" badge, but ha ha there was nothing to get at all, besides snacks. Not even a flash disk or something they could use. I think they got some shirts and a bottle opener or something at the end idk.

- Aggressively approaching Binary Option Managers, that even grab you by the arm. I was pretty chill in the beginning, then I started telling them I'm not into the stealing money business. I like players to have a fair chance of getting something.

- I didn't eat lunch there, but from what i heard, there was no free lunch or anything at all? Maybe the followed the idea, alcohol on empty stomach will hit you hard .

- Not as interactive as I expected.

Overall, I would repeat, if it's here in Amsterdam, however I'd see if I'd go both days. Pretty sure I saw everything I could see and do on Day 1. Oh, apparently memorizing some of the bad terms for major companies, and opening up with it is "being rude" now

Also no other affiliate from around here approached me but Beacon and Renee said I'm a lot uglier in person than my picture here, so maybe that's why.

Hahahaah. This made me LOL.
What I said was that you are much LEANER than your photo here, so people may not recognise you. The same has happened for me. Usually noone recognises me.

Was good to see you btw
Next time I will be sure to sink a ball on your team during pool

I think you might find that the most aggressive programs at conferences who feel the need to walk to the floor and try grab people are the ones with the worst reputations for fraud, skimming, corruption etc. They probably need to aggressively recruit new affiliates as their turnover of affiliates is high due to their bad reputations, and/or they really struggle to recruit new people because their reputation is so bad.

As with walking down the high street and getting hassled, or having some guy knock on my house door trying to sell something, I never respond to cold callers or this sort of tactic.

I almost got offended until I read the most aggressive programs are the ones with the worst reputations.
We usually walk the floor mainly because as mentioned it IS very expensive to get a stand at the conferences and coming from Australia it's already exy enough just to get there, so we need to make sure we are able to justify the money spent. London seems to be the only conference worth it for us having a stand.

[Miles_FTA]

We usually walk the floor mainly because as mentioned it IS very expensive to get a stand at the conferences and coming from Australia it's already exy enough just to get there, so we need to make sure we are able to justify the money spent. London seems to be the only conference worth it for us having a stand.

I agree Renee . This was my First conference in many years walking the floor and I have so much more respect for affiliate managers that have to do this year after year it isn't easy . Approaching affiliates in this manner is tough but ultimately our programs pay large amounts of money to get us their so we have to try initiate new business some way and talking to new people on the floor is something we have to do. Not in an aggressive way or not in a rude way it has to be done in a professional manner for sure. I like the smile and wave approach too but it is hard so big up to you guys you dot it well.

[xecutable]

The trick is to establish an eye contact for 2-3s and approach . That's why I started looking at the ceiling at one point while walking though binary

[Jason FTA]

Ummmmmmmmm........ Uuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhh...............Huhhhhhhhhhhhhh !! - A basic illustration of how I feel today!!

Picked up some kind of flu bug on the plane to Amsterdam, then picked up a beer/Tequila drinking bug AND a "Coffee shop" bug so I didn't feel the greatest. Having said that, I would like to say thanks to Ed and James from iGaming Business for being such awesome guys. Then thanks to Michael and Anthony from GPWA for always lending an ear and giving around good advice - You guys ROCK!!

I feel like death at the moment, the flu has gotten the best of me. Could only get an appointment at the Doc for tomorrow afternoon, so I guess I will just have to sweat it out for another day

See you all in +- 3 months!!

Regards
Jason

[MobileBetting]

Personally I have no issue at all with the free beer, table football and girls - but maybe that's just me! Overall I enjoy BAC and AAC, have been attending for 3 years now and see no reason to stop going. My meetings with affiliate managers are useful and lead to a better working relationship. Binary are easily ignored, avoid eye contact and walk on by. If they try to stop you just say no thanks politely but firmly, and keep on walking!

Overall a thumbs up for AAC.

[ocreditor]

I would like to thank bet365 affiliates team & GPWA guys for a great dinner at AAC 2015!
It was the funniest evening guys, hope to meet again next time

I tried to upload the picture from that night but from some reason I can't upload an image

[RacingJim]

It's putting me off conferences reading what people have said, those binary options guys sound annoying. Pet hate number 1 for me is being bugged by companies I don't want to work with.

[Triple7]

I agree Renee . This was my First conference in many years walking the floor and I have so much more respect for affiliate managers that have to do this year after year it isn't easy . Approaching affiliates in this manner is tough but ultimately our programs pay large amounts of money to get us their so we have to try initiate new business some way and talking to new people on the floor is something we have to do. Not in an aggressive way or not in a rude way it has to be done in a professional manner for sure. I like the smile and wave approach too but it is hard so big up to you guys you dot it well.

I fully understand that many affiliate programs are not willing to pay large amounts of money to have a booth there. It's not just the booth. It's the whole trip with a team, a booth, hire some models, giving some free stuff, etc. That's not working for everybody. It's ok people approaching other people on the floor.

It is al the manner how people approach other people. Some people do have education and some simply don't have it. Somebody with education will approach people when there's some contact en the other person is not in a conversation. Some rude people simply don't care if they interrupt conversations.

[Triple7]

Personally I have no issue at all with the free beer, table football and girls - but maybe that's just me! Overall I enjoy BAC and AAC, have been attending for 3 years now and see no reason to stop going. My meetings with affiliate managers are useful and lead to a better working relationship. Binary are easily ignored, avoid eye contact and walk on by. If they try to stop you just say no thanks politely but firmly, and keep on walking!

Overall a thumbs up for AAC.

Neither me, for me the girl, beers & table football part is very ok. I like it and to me it gives the AAC the right atmosphere.

The binary guys, some of them are not giving op that easy. And not just one. It was a whole bunch of mosquitos trying to get you to their binary booths.

They should do something that they'll stay in their own corner.

[Triple7]

It's putting me off conferences reading what people have said, those binary options guys sound annoying. Pet hate number 1 for me is being bugged by companies I don't want to work with.

Well, besides that, I didn't even have traffic for them, but still they didn't give up...

[webanalysissolutions]

Neither me, for me the girl, beers & table football part is very ok.

Of course, any hot blooded male likes girls, beer, and perhaps table football However my original point was really more towards it being and looking a bit unprofessional and a bit of a gimmick in that the advertisers know that providing this element will get you to the stand. It's like the stands that have a celebrity, or a fast car parked there - it has nothing to do with the basics of whether you'll promote them, whether they're the right fit for your traffic and whether you'll make any money.

It's just a little sad that such blatant tactics attract the young, naive and new affiliates into promoting the wrong people, that's all. Also, it's a little bit wrong in a way in that what about all the women who work in the industry - isn't it a bit demeaning that their own companies have to employ other, more attractive girls, to attract business? I did know a female employee in another industry whose company went to a conference and hired a Ferrari and some models to stand by it just to get punters to their stand, and all the female employees of that company refused to go.

In fact, LAC did set some rules on the women walking around in that one year people were practically naked, so they did start to try put a cap on it.

I do know quite a few companies that go to the conferences do not play such tactics as a matter of principle, to keep their professional look, and I think long term this has worked out much better for them.

[Triple7]

Of course, any hot blooded male likes girls, beer, and perhaps table football However my original point was really more towards it being and looking a bit unprofessional and a bit of a gimmick in that the advertisers know that providing this element will get you to the stand. It's like the stands that have a celebrity, or a fast car parked there - it has nothing to do with the basics of whether you'll promote them, whether they're the right fit for your traffic and whether you'll make any money.

It's just a little sad that such blatant tactics attract the young, naive and new affiliates into promoting the wrong people, that's all. Also, it's a little bit wrong in a way in that what about all the women who work in the industry - isn't it a bit demeaning that their own companies have to employ other, more attractive girls, to attract business? I did know a female employee in another industry whose company went to a conference and hired a Ferrari and some models to stand by it just to get punters to their stand, and all the female employees of that company refused to go.

In fact, LAC did set some rules on the women walking around in that one year people were practically naked, so they did start to try put a cap on it.

I do know quite a few companies that go to the conferences do not play such tactics as a matter of principle, to keep their professional look, and I think long term this has worked out much better for them.

Concerning that point I agree with you. Except de gaming providers (who had really interesting things i.m.o. and it was not that busy at that side of the hall) it's not so much about new games, new slots, etc. It's more about see the people you mail / skype with, try to get some free spins offer, no deposit bonus or a few % extra (for programs get some top position) and "work with us". I think for a lot of people this is the business that is done on events like this.

I agree with the 2nd paragraph. To me it's even more sad that dodgy programs, involved in criminal activities (888, RevenueJet, Buffalo Partners) are playing an important role there. That people try to get as many people as possible at their booths is logical. But a lot depends on what there roll will be. Once one started, others will follow and do even more. It's also about "be remembered". Like for example college. We don't remember the silent girl, sitting in a corner, but we do remember the hot, sexy dressed girls. If you see a 1.000 cars a day, you won't remember a Fiat Punto, but you will remember a Ferrari.

I think in general we agree. I also do prefer to see some of the newest games of MicroGaming instead of for example their icecream car, but ok... with this sort events they are usually like people are demanding. What is bothering me much more, is the role that the companies I mentioned before are playing.

That and the rude behaviour of perhaps 5% of the affiliate program members. And I think 99% of that 5% are binary people.

[Renee]

Also, it's a little bit wrong in a way in that what about all the women who work in the industry - isn't it a bit demeaning that their own companies have to employ other, more attractive girls, to attract business?

I'm confident enough in my own skin that I don't really care about the promo girls walking around. Our company has never hired them, even when we have a booth. I think my mouth can get people to the booth better than any promo girl. I actually know what I'm talking about!
At the end of the day, that's what affiliates want when doing business, right?

[xecutable]

Be creative, hire guy models! Hire me!

[webanalysissolutions]

I got advice for people who are cynical about conferences, who have complaints about the weather, travel times, binary options, hot girls, boobs, body paint, football, beer, shouting, dancing, atmosphere, duration, strippers, days of the week, speakers, cab fares or anything else.

My advice is especially useful for those who didn't yet dare to attend a conference, those who are too cheap to part themselves with the money for a Ryanair bloody ticket, who are afraid to leave the safety of their own country, who think there should be an immediate financial return of investment, who are too embarassed to take a freebie, who are too afraid of being embarassed, who are afraid to stand next to someone who's doing better than them, and other cynics, moralists and nay-sayers. Here goes my advice:

Stay away and keep quiet, FFS.

Wow, you really know how to be creative don't you? About 99.76% of what you just mentioned wasn't raised at all in this thread!

I'm probably all of the opposite of everything you say. Big affiliate, been there, been to loads of conferences, probably more than many have, worked in some big industries, held down senior roles, so just sayin' I don't need any freebies, I just want to do proper business and make real money, not pocket money like most affiliates make.

That said, if you're making a bit of pocket money on the side of your real job, then a conference is a nice jolly and a good opportunity to let loose and do whatever you don't do when you're back at home.

The really big guys don't bother with conferences anymore, not the ones I know anyway. We all meet directly at the offices of the companies we work with.