Jeremy

It's not often I get to start a blog post with this sentence:

"So I'm sitting in a strip club at 3:00 AM in Amsterdam's Red Light District", and next thing I know my crackberry has disappeared. Anyhow I promised I'd give a wrap up on the 2008 CAC Amsterdam trip, so here it is. Overall, aside from my phone getting stolen on the last night, it was a productive trip.

Luckily we got there a day early so we were able sleep off the jet lag and be fresh to go the first day. Greg and I spoke at Canaffco's Affiliate Bootcamp that first day. The subject we spoke on was "How to build and maintain an active community". It was actually nice to speak on this topic as a lot of affiliates have the wrong idea about building an active community.

Contrary to popular belief, you don't need a Vbulletin forum to build an active community. You can actually do it with a simple blog. I can think of a few bloggers who maintain an active dialog with commenter's and posters in their blog. Neil Patel is a great example off the top of my head. With this new blog, I intend on being much more active in the comments as well.

The next day at the conference we actually had a packed schedule. I had meetings back to back from morning until night. Most of my meetings now days revolve around PAP versus negotiating personal stuff. Who would of thought 3 years ago that PAP would be the powerhouse it is now, surely not me.

That night however we did let loose and go out. After hanging out and playing poker with the Webroute guys, in proper tradition we made sure to hit the Casa Rosa. This year was especially fun though as we partied with the man and legend, Markus Tandler. I think we finally got in around 5:00 AM and crashed. I know we went a few places after the live sex show, but it is all a blur at this point.

The next day was filled with more meetings. After attending meetings at these events for years, there is one thing that is certain; Either your trying to sell something, or you're being sold something. This was the last day and the famous CAC "Beer Session" took place. To be honest I thought it was very disappointing. Half the session was spent talking about "skill gaming" and stupid shit about online ping pong and other garbage.

The overall sentiment of the conference was that the industry is making a turn for the better. Likewise a lot of the European Sportsbook providers are starting to get into poker. In regards to attendance, and most operators will agree, it seemed like there were not as many affiliates in attendance as years before.

Of course I am biased here, but with the recent success of all the CAP events, affiliates are now more choosy on which events to go to. I have written several times before on my feelings of charging affiliates. Personally I think it's greedy of the conference organizers and just a way to squeeze a few thousand dollars more in profit.

I know how much money our events make, and believe me, you make enough off of sponsorships and operators that you shouldn't have to charge affiliates. I realize that most affiliates get "sponsored" or get the free passes from the operators, but it seems like a big hassle to make us chase these down. Dude, just make it free.

In respect to industry conferences, I have 3 thoughts:

1. There are getting to be too many and the best ones are going to rise to the top

2. In the coming years we need to get at least 1 or 2 conferences closer to the U.S., even if this means Mexico, Canada, or the Carribean.

3. The Poker Conference / Spring Break is the next event, and will be on a sunny beach, and much more relaxed than Amsterdam. Likewise there is an ASOP event and it's 100% focused on poker affiliates!.