Wow, just got back from Affiliate Summit in Boston.  Kudos to Shawn Collins and Milly Missy Ward on another job well done.  I always leave with fresh ideas, new friends and additional motivation.  I uploaded some (not all to protect the not-so-innocent) pictures of the event to Flickr and Facebook.

I arrived on Saturday, and the first omen that it was going to be a great Summit was that my luggage was not lost!*  Took a water taxi to the Seaport Hotel just in time for the Affiliate Dinner.  The “roast” of Connie Berg was the best one yet! 

Sunday started early by having brunch on the CAMA Cruise. Note - if you have the tendency to get seasick, do not set sail aboard while nursing a hangover. Then after stuffing my bag with schwag at the Meet Market (and meeting with my mentee, Cindy), the ever so popular and funny Mr. Jon Levine and I decided to take in a few sites since neither of us had ever been to the Tea Party city.  Ate at America’s oldest tavern, Bell in Hand, and ducked out of the rain at the Cheers Bull & Finch Pub.  Returned in time for the ShareASale Under the Stars Party - Brian and the gang know how to throw the greatest parties!

Monday’s keynote, Major Mayor Corey Booker was an excellent speaker.  I can seriously see him running for President someday. And I can’t forget to give some link love to MC Jim Kukral even if he can’t dress himself properly (more on this later). I presented on the “Content that Kills” panel with lethargic Lisa Picarille and Angel Djambazov (more on this later as well).  I have to say the most heated session to attend was the Performance Marketing Alliance Q&A.

I thought the prices in Boston were rather reasonable ($10 water taxi, $1.50 Diet Dew).  But eating at Morton’s Steakhouse (wonderful food) threw that judgement out of the water.  Luckily a nice OPM treated some of us affiliates out to dinner.  Following dinner was the Linkshare party (Gilbert’s vodka = not so good) and then the talented Brian Littleton on piano.

I slept in Tuesday morning (or tried to, thanks everyone for the wake up calls).  Then headed to lunch and the exhibit hall for more networking.  I now have several more tshirts for my Free Shirt Friday posts.  Tuesday night, thanks to Shawn and Missy (or is it Miley now?) for the Boston Red Sox tickets at Fenway Park.  It turned out to the be an excellent game after the Texas Rangers decided to kick it in gear during the rain and give the Red Sox a run for their money.  Drinks atop the Baseball Tavern were awesome as well.

I had this brilliant idea that I should just stay up all night long as I had to get up at 4 am anyway for my flight. But at 3 am, I decided (and acted on that decision, see I listened during the keynote) that an hour nap may be good idea.  So although I’m suffering from sleep deprivation, I’d do it all over again in heartbeat.

See you all in New York City in October???

*My luggage has been lost on the way to the previous two Affiliate Summit East’s, both in Orlando and Miami.  After my luggage was damaged in Vegas earlier this year, I invested in new luggage that surely radiated new karma.

**I wrote the above post while on a layover at O’Hare in Chicago but was too cheap to pay for internet access for an hour.  So, my new luggage ended up coming back more damaged than my last suitcase!  It was the first time I’ve used it, so should hopefully still be under warranty.  Maybe the amount of schwag in my bag was too much - I was 11 lbs. over the weight limit, and they didn’t bat an eye.  The TSA also didn’t catch a whole bottle of water I had left in my carry-on (accidentally obviously), and they let it go through.  Hmmm… feel safer now?