I just returned from ad:tech San Francisco, and it was a whirlwind of sessions, baseball, and networking.
The show kicked off with a keynote from Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia. On the way to the keynote, I got a peek at the Affiliate Summit Beer Garden before it opened.
I was covering the conference as Twitter press, so here are some of my Tweets from the Jimmy Wales talk.
@affiliatetip: @mikebuechele just heard about http://marvel.wikia.com at @jimmy_wales keynote at ad:tech – you edit there? #adtechsf
@affiliatetip: @search_iago I thought Alexa references from @jimmy_wales were odd – rankings are legit to people who rank high there, I guess #adtechsf
There were big crowds at registration after the keynote. I guess nobody heeded my advice via Twitter the day before.
@affiliatetip: Get your ad:tech badge now – no lines http://bit.ly/qXdAO
I met up with Lisa Picarille in the late morning to record our weekly Affiliate Thing podcast. We went across the street from Moscone West and recorded the show outside.
Watch the Affiliate Thing video to see how we dealt with an army of loud children, a cab that thought it was okay to drive on sidewalks, and an attack raven.
The beer garden made for a good meeting spot during the days of April 21-22.
The latest issue of FeedFront magazine was in the attendee bags, as well as at the Affiliate Marketing Networking Party on the night of April 21. It was great to see so many folks there paging through the magazine.
While I was at ad:tech, I was wearing a personalized Twitter shirt in a variety of colors.
Towards the end of the first day of ad:tech, the Affiliate Summit Beer Garden was filled up with thirsty networkers.
After the beer garden party, a bunch of us headed down the street to AT&T Park to see the Padres at the Giants. Interestingly, my Blackberry, which is on AT&T, was unable to get a data or phone connection in the ballpark of my provider’s name.
On the second day of ad:tech, one of the highlights was a panel, sponsored by MediaTrust, with Kelly Powers (Zazzle), Jarvis Mak (Havas Digital), Steve Schaffer (Vertive), and Peter Bordes (MediaTrust). The panel was moderated Neil Strother (Forrester Research).
That evening, I attended a nice dinner with the eBay Partner Network team and heard about their latest news.
@affiliatetip: @Justdrive @mediatrustpete @trishalyn @ebay_affiliates great to chat with you all at dinner last night #adtechsf
I was able to catch the keynote interview on April 23 with Kevin Rose, Founder and Chief Architect of Digg, which was conducted by Evan Hansen of Wired.
They were discussing questions that were texted during the session, and I submitted a couple, including, “Have you considered running affiliate ads on Digg?”
Apparently, that one was too hot to handle, because they didn’t use it.
I’ve got to say I got a little misty as I left the keynote and saw the dismantling of the beer garden.
I said my goodbye to ad:tech with one last Tweet as I boarded my plane back to New Jersey.
@affiliatetip: guy with popped collar and mini dog on my flight – don’t think I like him
Check out my pictures from ad:tech San Francisco.