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Originally this thread came about because a number of affiliates on limited budgets had asked where they could obtain passes to CAC (this was in other previous threads). This seemed like a good topic of discussion and was of interest to a lot of affiliates.
The conversation has since degraded to basically demanding that all expenses be paid including airfare, hotels, food and possibly even oriental shiatsu massages by large breasted females (ok, ok that was my idea to throw in :shhh: ).
At CAP we dont advocate strong arming our partners or berating affiliate managers if they dont have the budget to sponsor EVERYONE to come to Las Vegas. Obviously this wouldnt be practical or possible.
Yes, a large number of affiliates are comped with show passes by their affiliate managers. I dont think it is a bad thing to ask for show passes provided the program you are asking IS attending and that you do work with them throughout the year and produce profits for that casino group. But I think shaking them down for airfare or hotel stays is unprofessional and unacceptable behavior.
Do some SUPER affiliates get comped airfare and hotel rooms, yes, but very few, and as has been pointed out these are special situations. It is NOT a common practice anymore and its NOT realistic to EXPECT that a program will do this for you. Please dont let this thread give you the idea to run out and hit all your programs up for airfare and hotels in Las Vegas, most likely all you will accomplish is to piss off everyone and end up feeling rejected yourself when the programs tell you they cant afford to do this. (Don’t take it personal, they cant.)
I am moving this thread to the free for all area for now, but if it continues to head south I am going to archive it as this is not a productive line of discussion.
i think it was a very usefull discussion anyway,
and therefore a good thread alsoInteresting points of view here
I have 2 seperate affiliate programs that consistently make me $3k per month each, but it was another program where i am in the minus quite a bit(thanks to negative carryover)that offered to comp me to this event, i respectfully declined their invite
But it’s interesting, i would’ve preferred that one of my top 2 performers made this offer to me, i wouldn’t have gone anyway, but the gesture would have been nice, especially since i spend a nice part of my earnings on promoting their product each month(more than what it costs them to treat me to a 1st class experience)
I am considering the poker event coming up in Costa Rica as being the 1st one of these events i attend, but not if i have to go through the labour of making all my own arrangements in a strange land i have never been to before, and then being around people i have never met before.
It’s a business trip, and because of that, the affiliate programs should comp me, as they are trying to ensure our relationship remains on good terms, or trying to entice me as a prospective client, but essentially they are trying to solidify their place in the industry, and they can write off these charges as business expenses and be at least partially reimbursed for their expenses.
Having said that, i think these events should be invite only(and might i add, at more tropical and exotic locations, like select poker tourney’s), just to ensure a better crowd, i think that would be more productive for the attendees and cost less to the affiliate programs who comp the invitees
Why do i get the feeling that attending one of these things would be like living in my email box, with spam coming from everywhere
nick777 wrote:Why do i get the feeling that attending one of these things would be like living in my email box, with spam coming from everywhereThat’s the way it used to be years ago when the conferences were new.
Thanks to the huge attendance these days it’s not like that at all anymore.
It’s more like a department store and you can go shopping for new ideas, partners, deals and knowledge.
And where you can network with your peers.
Yorktown,
Please accept my sincere apology for my unprofessional conduct. I was under a tremedous of stress for reasons that will remain private. My slanderous attitude towards yourself and the CAC convention was uncalled for. I will for sure regret missing this event.
greek39
Several of us at Casino City have attended the CAC and CAP conferences for the past several years, and we are going to have 8 people at CAC this year. I for one view that they have been worthwhile attending, and recommend them to anyone who devotes significant effort to this business.
IMHO, the networking is important – the relationships and insights that come from talking with others invaluable. Just sitting at a terminal at work on a site simply does not provide the same perspective as getting out and meeting with others in the business.
And I vote for the conferences with my wallet. Some part of things might be comped for us – but we’ve never asked for airfare or hotel rooms. In our case the people we’re sending are salaried employees, and in addition to paying their normal travel expenses, we pay their salaries to attend. The rationale is simple, I think they get enough out of the conferences for it to be worth the expense.
If you are self-employed in this business the cost of attending is a lot less than our costs as an employer for sending people, and your benefit will probably be even greater – after all, it’s your money, and so you will be even more motivated to get a good return on your investment.
If you have not been before, and are uncertain about whether it is worth attending, I have a simple message – go – I really do believe you will come away with fresh perspectives, and you will be glad you went.
Lets simply look at Facts:
1) 80% of the affiliates that attend this event are sponsored. The last event had 250 affiliates. 200 of thise affiliates were sponsored. This fact can not be ignored. Again, 200 of 250 affiliates were sponsored. There was a reason why.
2) Of the sponsored affiliates, some were sponsored hotel rooms and airfare. These were for extremely large affiliates. Most were not.
2) Of the remaining 20%, :
– some affiliates insisted upon paying their own way.
– some were new affiliates and would not be comped
– some did not know that affiliate passes existed. It is for this that we started the thread.3) This has greatly changed from the original events in 2003, when 100% of the 20-50 affiliates attending paid their own way. And the TREND is that more affiliates will be sponsored at future events, not less. This trend took place as a result of our efforts to get more affiliates at the event.
‘Affiliate Managers are angry?’ If we didn’t take the actions we took, CAC would be TINY event, with few affiliates attending.
Let me get what some of you are saying straight: An affiliate (like Engineer, making $7500 each month in commissions from ONE program) wants to go to CAC to improve his conversions, as that is the goal of the event. He calls his business partner, the affiliate program and asks that a mere $500 pass be comped for him, with the goal of producing higher revenues for the affiliate and the affiliate program. The affiliate program needs to view this as a business investment, and a relationship investment as well.
Some of you propose: ‘How dare someone like Engineer ask for a pass?’
My view is simple:
(a)Those that comp their affiliates of his level have a logical business acumen and see the business between the two growing.
(b) Those that don’t comp an affiliate like Engineer for a mere few hundred dollars illustrate to the affiliate that they don’t support him.Perhaps affiliate managers are angry at the mere TRUTH of the statement. I am not proposing all affiliates be comped, you need to EARN IT. What it takes to earn it is up to each affiliate program. The common thread is based on your commissions. In other words – HOW MUCH YOU PRODUCE.
There is NOTHING wrong to ASK for something that 80% of your colleagues are getting. I stand behind this 100%.
Marc Lesnick
Conference Organizer
http://www.CasinoAffiliateConvention.com
September 14-15, 2006
Las VegasI would like to add 2 cents worth to the above which I fully agree on. I think
that many webmasters would be able to fairly easily at least DOUBLE their
traffic to a particular program with the proper incentive. So comping
makes alot of sen$e.
:tooconfus
Casino City wrote:I for one view that they have been worthwhile attending, and recommend them to anyone who devotes significant effort to this business.IMHO, the networking is important – the relationships and insights that come from talking with others invaluable. Just sitting at a terminal at work on a site simply does not provide the same perspective as getting out and meeting with others in the business.
Most definitely.
Meeting everyone in person is great, and the networking is irreplaceable.
We’re all in the same boat here, even if we don’t always see things the same way.
Sharing time and insights (not to mention beer :capmiami: ) can be invaluable both for succeeding in our business and for building friendships.
I, too, don’t mind investing in bringing a couple of people who work for gamesandcasino, we all go home energized and full of new ideas and drive.
:highflyer
Marc, I agree with most of your points, however I still do not think you have the right to tell people to do this. If an affiliate manager wants to comp them they can, but there is no reason why you should push this on them to bump your numbers.
I am looking forward to being there guys, it will be great!
