For the second year running I was lucky enough to secure my place at the Affiliate Future Barbados Event, and a very memorable event it was too for a variety of reasons.

Last year I said that I had regretted not being able to go diving or indeed visit the infamous Harbour Lights this year I managed both although the copious drinking, dancing and making merry at the latter was the most successful of the two pursuits.

Again it was great to spend some quality time networking and having fun with some fantastic people some of whom are great friends of long standing, and of the people I met for the first time I’m sure a few of them will also become more than just casual holiday acquaintances.

The Affiliate Future Barbados  event is invaluable for the Affiliate Marketing Industry, long standing business relationships and fantastic friendships are born out of it.

Thanks to the Affiliate Future team for organising the trip and being fantastic hosts, Pete, Alex, Jess and especially the wonderful J Lil who went out of his way to find me alternative accommodation when the first room proved unsuitable, thanks also to Chris Clarkson of Sunshine.co.uk for sponsoring my place yet again.

This awesome video sums up the whole Barbados experience:

As special occasions go you would be hard pushed to beat the glitz and the glamour of the A4uAwards held on Tuesday 2nd June at London’s Park Lane Hilton.

The UK affiliate marketing industry was well represented across all sectors, and everyone was done up to the nines, which proves that even us “grubby affiliates” do on occasion scrub up well.

I had the honour of being invited to the event by DFDS Seaways, so a big thank you to my hosts Andrew Cooper and Tom Fotheringham.

Basically this article is a whole bunch of plaudits, the venue was excellent, the meal was adequate, catering for 500 is never going to be the same as individual attention in a Michelin star restaurant.

The entertainment was great, and the awards themselves well presented.

Of course the company was fabulous so many good friends and acquaintances packed together in one room to applaud and honour the best of the best.

While all the awards are worthy of our fine industry and the winners richly deserving, my particular favourites  are the Publishers’ Choice Awards and Community Choice Awards which were voted for only by members of affiliates4u, my bias toward these awards comes from the fact that many of the winners, highly commended and indeed nominees are very dear friends of mine.

Publishers’ Choice Awards

Publishers’ Choice of Affiliate Network

Winner: Affiliate Window

Highly Commended: DGM

Publishers’ Choice of Account Manager

Winner: Hannah Swift (Existem A.M.)

Highly Commended: Julie Wood (Affiliate Window) & Agnieszka Marchewka (buy.at / Platform A)

Publisher’s Choice of Affiliate Manager 2009

Winner: Chris Clarkson (sunshine.co.uk)

Highly Commended: Naomi Brown (Firebox)

Community Choice Awards

Affiliate Management Agency of 2009

Winner: Existem Affiliate Management

Highly Commended: Azam Marketing

Affiliate Marketing Blog of 2009

Winner: Kirsty McCubbin (affiliatestuff.co.uk)

Highly Commended: Lee McCoy (leemccoy.co.uk)

Congratulations to each and every one of you.

The full list of awards and winners can be found here

Finally massive congratulations must go to  Matthew Wood a young man (he only hit the big 30 a couple of days after this years awards) who has helped shape the entire UK Affiliate Marketing Industry over the past seven or so years, he and his fine team at Existem do such sterling work. Without Matt and the team events like this and the popular a4uexpo may never have been established.

As you can probably tell by the tone of my humble roundup I loved each and every minute of the night, and am already looking forward to next year.

Only change I would like to see is the smaller affiliates and merchants being honoured in some of the verticals, people who wouldn’t necessarily put themselves up for nomination, how this could be achieved is anybodies guess, food for thought.

The first a4uexpo Europe in Amsterdam was amazing, I knew it would be good but it exceeded my expectations, the venue was ideal, the timetable well structured and the quality of the speakers was of a very high standard. The delegates were naturally of a more international flavour than at the London events however there was still good representation from the UK.

In all I attended a full 12 sessions over the 2 days of the conference, I managed in the main to stick to my timetable the only change I made was the first slot on day two where I ventured into “As Online continues to take its valid slice of the performance cake, what does the future hold for performance advertising in general?” presented by Nicky Iapino, this was by choice I might add not some mis-navigation due to the effects of a heavy night.

Regrets, thats easy I missed a further 7 sessions due to not being able to be in two places at once, however I’m hoping that these will be all available on video at some point.

In general highlights were many and disappointments were few, suffice to say I have a whole host of ideas, from link building to site structure to producing effective content and many other little gems, I have already implemented a couple of things with many more to do, hopefully the rewards will follow.

Changes I’d like to see

• difficult one but maybe a few more minutes between end of lunchtime sessions and start of afternoon sessions
• a way of asking questions without having to use the microphone (some of us are shy) possibly a tear off strip at the bottom of the feedback form.

Highlight of the exhibition hall for me was Conversion Rate Experts who were giving free eyetracking reviews of delegates websites, very illuminating.

I would now like to publicly thank Matthew Wood and his team from a4uevents / Existem for putting on an excellent event and all the speakers, exhibitors, other delegates, back room staff etc for making it a resounding success.

See you all in London in October.

The inaugural a4uexpo Europe is up on us from 28th – 29th of April the cream of the internet marketing world (plus little old me) will descend on Amsterdam for two days of the most intense networking and conferencing the Affiliate Marketing world has ever seen, with over 800 delegates the industry is well represented across the full spectrum; affiliates, networks, merchants, agencies, management companies, specialists in seo /  content /  search / ppc & pr and many more areas all being in attendance.

As for the conference sessions never before have I filled up my diary so completely with something penciled in for every single slot over the 2 days thats a full 12 sessions, however I have a further 6 sessions earmarked that I will have to miss due to having not yet perfected cloning or time travel, such is the rich cornucopia of delightful goodies on offer.

My Diary Expo(sed) * Please note these are sessions I have cherry picked as being the most use to me as a content affiliate / publisher / blogger.

Monday 27th April

7.00pm

Attend the Ignite Party for networking and very importantly to collect the delegate badge which will save time in the morning.

Tuesday 28th April

The fun begins:

9.30 – 10.30 I am presented with my first choice of the conference;

International SEO 101 – Judith Lewis i-level

New web & traditional PR strategies – Andy Barr 10 Yetis

Both these areas are close to my heart however I suspect the latter will win through as it is scheduled to cover social media marketing such as twitter and facebook, I just hope the one I don’t attend gets videoed.

11.00 -12.00

WordPress optimisation strategies – Joost de Valk Orange Valley

I caught Joost’s session at the London a4uexpo in October and believe me I could listen to him all day, a goldmine of useful information for anyone using or considering using wordpress.

12.30 – 13.30

Extreme SEO panel Q&A – Dave Naylor Bronco, Ciaràn Norris altogetherdigital, Marcus Tandler Mediadonis, Joost de Valk Orange Valley

The brochure says it all – White and Black Hat SEO gurus will demonstrate techniques and answer questions on SEO strategies that could give you the upper hand over your peers.

13:30 – 15:00 Networking Lunch – ha wrong no rest for the wicked

14:00 – 15:00 Lunchtime Sessions

Don’t mess up your content – How creative content increases ROI – Hannah Swift Existem-AM

As a content affiliate this is a must attend session for me.

15.00 – 16.00

Choice time again and a difficult one too

Big site SEO strategies – Dave Naylor Bronco

SEO and conversion surgery – Live Q&A – Dixon Jones Receptional, Gary Beal Vanguard SEO, Joost de Valk Orange Valley, Bas van den Beld SearchCowboys, Roy Huiskes Onetomarket, Ciaràn Norris altogetherdigital

Two Seo sessions which one will I make I do not know. Again I hope the video camera attends the one I can’t get to.

16.30 – 17.30

More choices …

New ways to monetise social media – Alicia Navarro Skimbit

Voucher codes – The demise or is it just the beginning of the channel? -  Kier Marston Webgains, Axel Landschoof raba.tt

I suspect I will attend the social media session however I do run a small voucher code site so do have an interest there too.

End of the sessions but not the end of the day, for delegates with any energy left there is the Breakout Party starting at 8pm.

Wednesday 29th April

Here we go again another jam packed day;

9.30 – 10.30

Innovative AdMedia design with google gadgets – Denis Maibaum zanox

Totally new to me something I’ve never considered so I hope to acquire another tool for the armoury.

11.00 – 12.00

Where is that tardis when I need it.

Conversion clinic: ‘recession proofing’ your landing pages – Ben Jesson, Karl Blanks, Steven Pavlovich Conversion Rate Experts

Standardization, self governance and self regulation as an industry – Can this become a reality? – Matt Bailey IAB Afiliate Council Chair, Pete Wilson Platform-A, Helen Southgate dgm

Regular readers of this blog (I suspect there is at least one) will know that I admire the work of Conversion Rate Experts, however as someone who has been in this industry for quiet some time I want to see provisions in place so that ethical practices win the day, unfortunately logistically I am unable to attend the regular IAB Affiliate Council meetings so this is my opportunity to get up to speed with what they do and the progress that is being made, sorry CRE catch up with you later in the day.

12.30 – 13.30

Maximising affiliate revenue in a digital age – Liane Dietrich Linkshare

Maximising affiliate revenue is a subject close to my heart.

13:30 – 15:00 Networking Lunch . Afraid not grab a bite again and back to it.

14:00 – 14:45 Lunchtime Sessions

Advanced link building, how to find and get those real juicy links in 2009 –  Christopher C Cemper Cemper.com

I make no secret of the fact that link building is one of my weak areas, hopefully this will help.

15.00 – 16.00

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe it doesn’t get any easier for us poor delegates arrg.

Transparency and Afiliates: Is there a benefit? – Ewan Darby Ogilvy, Lori Helms Geoffroy Kodak Gallery, Albrecht Fischer Commission Junction Germany,  Sebastien Galina Sony Style Europe

Optimizing your campaign traffic with Google Analytics – René Nijhuis Google

Yet another tough descision and one that I haven’t made yet.

16.30 – 17.30

The final choice

Link building strategies; Beyond link bait – John Straw Linkdex.com, Wiep Knol Tribal Internet Marketing, Bas van den Beld SearchCowboys

Landing page success story: How we Increased SEOmoz’s sales by 170% – Ben Jesson, Karl Blanks, Steven Pavlovich Conversion Rate Experts

Again a difficult choice on paper but a no brainer for me, having chosen to miss the Conversion Rate Experts earlier in the day, it would be rude of me to miss this one too.

Well thats the end of the sessions what a fabulous conference in prospect, all is not over though anyone still standing can go to the beach.

18.30 – 21.30

The Urban Beach Party – a chance to relax and unwind

All I can say is wow bring it on.

Doing this post as much as a diary for myself as for any other reason, anyone want anything adding just give me a shout.

• 26th March – London Pub Meet Farringdon (sold out) – managed to beg a place for this last minute.
• 2nd April – Linkshare Symposium – I cant get to this one unfortunately
• 28th – 29th April – a4uexpo Amsterdam.
• 2nd June – A4uAwards – win tickets with Existem AM
• 19th June – Affiliate Future Barbados event – fingers crossed I can get a ticket again loads of ways to win including Sunshine who sponsored my ticket last year and are giving away 6 places this year.
• 13th August – Existem AM Summer BBQ – Plymouth
• a4u expo roadshows – dates and venues tba
• 12th September – Think Visibility – Leeds
• 13th – 14th October – a4uExpo 2009 – London – the big daddy of events if you only get to one make it this one

I’m sure I have missed something :0