There's nothing like 8 hours of air travel home after a conference to reflect on the events of the past several days. (Though I really I should be sleeping. Who has time to sleep at these things?)
First impression of CJU this year: it has grown. There were perhaps 150 additional attendees this year as Commission Junction removed the tables from the conference rooms and packed in more seats. It's hard to imagine that CJ is doing anything but growing as a business after seeing so many motivated advertisers and publishers. And looking around for the ribbon adorning their name badges, there are easily many dozens of new CJ Performers since last year.
My visit to Santa Barbara stared on Saturday night, arriving at about 10pm. I immediately spotted some old friendly faces in the baggage claim area and met a few new people as well. I shared a cab with a fellow CJ Performer and landed at the Double Tree Fess Parker resort. My head was three inches from the pillow when I changed course and headed over to the hotel bar. Most people arrive on Sunday, but there was a handful of CJ folks, and a few publishers including Jeremy Palmer. To make a long story short, we walked out of the bar at 4am. In spite of my corruption, Jeremy did a great job on his presentation later that day.
I don't know what it is about conferences that makes it ok to drink and stay up all night, but the primary reason I enjoy CJU is not for the sessions (though there were several interesting ones, and I hope that some found my own session interesting) but for talking to others in the industry. There's just not enough time to talk to everybody AND sleep.
A few of the many folks I enjoyed talking with, though far from a comprehensive list...
I had the privelege of dining with most of the CJ executive team and folks from the UK and France CJ offices at different times as well receiving a warm personal welcome and thanks for my honest feedback from Tom Vadnais. I have been a big pain in his butt (though deservedly so) in the past 6 months.
It was also a pleasure meeting and presenting with Pedro Sostre in the last session of CJU. Effective presenting in front of a large audience is 100% incompatible with staying up all night but I think we pulled it off.
Finally, thanks to many of you who sought me out and and offered positive feedback on the writing I've been doing here, especially over the past few months. I was pleasantly surprised at the number of people who are subscribers.
Posted by Carsten Cumbrowski 5 years, 4 months ago
Hi Scott,
It was nice to meet you and so many others the first time in person. I missed Beth, but I kept her updated about what happened..... and I still owe you the beer. I guess we stick to the original plan and take care of it at Affiliate Summit 2007 West in Las Vegas ;)
Cheers,
Carsten
Posted by Carsten Cumbrowski 5 years, 4 months ago
Hi Scott, It was nice to meet you and so many others the first time in person. I missed Beth, but I kept her updated about what happened..... and I still owe you the beer. I guess we stick to the original plan and take care of it at Affiliate Summit 2007 West in Las Vegas ;) Cheers, Carsten
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There's nothing like 8 hours of air travel home after a conference to reflect on the events of the past several days. (Though I really I should be sleeping. Who has time to sleep at these things?)
First impression of CJU this year: it has grown. There were perhaps 150 additional attendees this year as Commission Junction removed the tables from the conference rooms and packed in more seats. It's hard to imagine that CJ is doing anything but growing as a business after seeing so many motivated advertisers and publishers. And looking around for the ribbon adorning their name badges, there are easily many dozens of new CJ Performers since last year.
My visit to Santa Barbara stared on Saturday night, arriving at about 10pm. I immediately spotted some old friendly faces in the baggage claim area and met a few new people as well. I shared a cab with a fellow CJ Performer and landed at the Double Tree Fess Parker resort. My head was three inches from the pillow when I changed course and headed over to the hotel bar. Most people arrive on Sunday, but there was a handful of CJ folks, and a few publishers including Jeremy Palmer. To make a long story short, we walked out of the bar at 4am. In spite of my corruption, Jeremy did a great job on his presentation later that day.
I don't know what it is about conferences that makes it ok to drink and stay up all night, but the primary reason I enjoy CJU is not for the sessions (though there were several interesting ones, and I hope that some found my own session interesting) but for talking to others in the industry. There's just not enough time to talk to everybody AND sleep.
A few of the many folks I enjoyed talking with, though far from a comprehensive list...
I had the privelege of dining with most of the CJ executive team and folks from the UK and France CJ offices at different times as well receiving a warm personal welcome and thanks for my honest feedback from Tom Vadnais. I have been a big pain in his butt (though deservedly so) in the past 6 months.
I enjoyed a long night of war stories with Jeremy Palmer as well as catching up with fellow industry bloggers, Adam Viener, Vinny Lingham, David Lewis, Carsten Cumbrowski, Brook Schaaf, Connie Berg, and Sean Crotty (now at Art.com). Congratulations go to David and Vinny who both won Horizon awards this year. It was also a pleasure to finally meet Asif Malik in person, the creator of GoldenCan, whom I have known for many years.
It was also a pleasure meeting and presenting with Pedro Sostre in the last session of CJU. Effective presenting in front of a large audience is 100% incompatible with staying up all night but I think we pulled it off.
Finally, thanks to many of you who sought me out and and offered positive feedback on the writing I've been doing here, especially over the past few months. I was pleasantly surprised at the number of people who are subscribers.
See you all at the next event.