Industry Conventions - Is it really worth it

by mitchell posted Aug 13th 2006 at 22:00PM

Industry Conventions – Is it really worth it?

This is a question that I struggled with quite a bit when I was getting started in the industry. Even after I had seen some moderate successes in my poker affiliate business, I still didn’t see the value of attending CAC or any of the other conferences. To me it seemed hard to justify spending a few months of my affiliate income for one weekend of partying.

It is easy to think this way, BUT the answer to the question in the title is YES, it is worth attending at least one of these conventions each year. Especially if you are new to the industry, the value of attending a convention cannot be overstated. You often hear affiliates saying that the breakout sessions or presentations don’t provide much “new” information to the affiliate. But I am going to go against the grain here and say I disagree. Yes, if you are a super affiliate and doing millions per month, maybe they are less informative. But if you’re doing $1 million a month in mgr, then you should be looking at how you’re going to get to $2 million.

The key is picking and choosing which sessions relate to your individual business, and which will give you new tools or ideas to bring home with you. If you are the type of poker affiliate that thinks you know everything already, you are going to be in for a big surprise in the coming months. This industry is constantly evolving, and if you don’t keep up on the trends you will get passed by the new young guns entering it.

Now, even more important than the learning symposiums or sessions is the opportunity to network with poker affiliate programs, poker affiliates program managers, and fellow successful poker affiliates. Almost every poker affiliate program I promote, I am on a negotiated rate. Most of these rates were negotiated over beers at one of these conferences. Having the opportunity to sit down and have face to face conversations with your affiliate managers is huge. Like you, poker affiliate managers get hundreds of emails per day. Until you have met, shook hands, and developed a personal relationship, it is nearly impossible to develop the necessary rapport that is needed to negotiate killer deals.

Besides the networking with poker affiliate programs, I have made many friends and learned a great deal from just chatting with my fellow poker affiliates at these conferences. In my opinion it would be very hard to consider myself a top poker affiliate, but then say I have never met any of my affiliate managers in person or mingled amongst the other top dogs in the industry at some point in my career.

A smart affiliate knows the importance of investing in their business, and the unfortunate reality is that you have to spend money to make money. The cost of attending an affiliate convention is actually quite minimal in comparison to that of media buys or paid advertising. Like anything though, you will get out of these conventions what you put into them. If you attend one and do nothing but drink and party for 72 straight hours without attending a single session or meeting………..well then you’re probably one of the guys thinking that these sessions are worthless.

I encourage everyone who has not attended an industry event to make it a 12 month goal that you will either save enough or get your trip sponsored. For a new affiliate, attending one of these events and rubbing shoulders with the big boys could be just the boost you need to get you “Thinking Big as a Poker Affiliate” and taking your poker affiliate business to the next level.

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