Every time I travel, I type up an itinerary in Notepad and then print it out to keep in my handbag.  I include flight times, hotel information and a schedule of events for each day.

This Saturday, I’m headed to Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas where the weather is guaranteed to be better than here in Nebraska where I’m looking out my office window to see twelve foot drifts of snow. And I’m ready for a semi-vacation as we’ve been cooped up in the house for way too long! The kids finally got to go back to school today.  So I debated on nap vs. work, and work won out.

If you are attending Affiliate Summit next week and want to meet up for dinner, drinks or discussion, just holla! Here’s definite times/places to find me each of the days…

Sunday 1:30pm-2:30pm – I will be presenting on the panel…

MommyBloggers: Changing the Face of Affiliate Marketing?

MommyBloggers are involved in many types of monetization strategies for their blogs, affiliate marketing being one, however they aren’t necessarily doing it in the “traditional” ways. 

Granted I am a mom, and I am a blogger, but I don’t label myself a “Mommy Blogger” (as they usually get a bad rap), but I’ll share my blogging monetization secrets in this session. Other panelists include:

• Deborah Carney, CEO, Team Loxly (Moderator)
• Wendy Limauge, Blogger, Sweeties Swag
• Carrie Rocha, President, Pocket Your Dollars
• Heather Sokol, Proprietor, Inexpensively

I’ll also be attending the ShareASale Under the Stars Party (they are serving PIZZA, my favorite) and the Strike Out Breast Cancer Midnight Bowling Fundraiser.

Monday 11:30am-12:30pm I’ll be participating in the Affiliate Showcase

Affiliate Showcase will be an opportunity for affiliates to preside over tables where merchants and networks can visit with them to discuss working together.

Tuesday 10:00am – 11:15am Presentation of Pinnacle Awards where I’m up for Affiliate of the Year!

You’ll also find me roaming the Meet Market and Exhibit Hall, maybe checking my email in the Blogger Lounge, and attending a few parties (ie Carolyn Tang’s Bachelorette Party and the Affiliate Summit Trivia Tweetup with Lisa Picarille). See Missy Ward’s complete party list. I’ll be the one drinking “something fruity.”

I am honored once again to be finalist for the Pinnacle Award: Affiliate of the Year to be presented at Affiliate Summit West 2010 in Las Vegas next month. Will I once again be “always a bridesmaid, never a bride”? Those of you that know me personally can decipher that in various ways.

Anyway, last year I was up against two very deserving gentlemen where Mike Allen won the coveted title.  This year I am again up against two notable males – Nicholas Koscianski of NickyCakes.com and Eric Nagel.

Joe Sousa put his bets on the winners, so here’s my handicaps on the situation…

I didn’t even know NickyCakes’ last name until the finalists were announced, but I do read his blog and get a chuckle over his ability to tell it how it is. If the winner was chosen by “whose made the most money”, my bet is that Nicholas would take the cake (yes, pun intended) as he is a self-admitted reformed blackhat.

Now, if they choose the winner by the nicest, most thoughtful and kind-hearted person of the bunch, Eric Nagel would win hands down. Sure, I like to think of myself as having those qualities, but I can’t even compare to Eric.  I have seen Eric donate very generously to the Affiliate Marketers Give Back charities on several occasions.  Plus he’s just an all-around likable guy. The first time I really talked to him, he impressed me by mentioning something trivial that I had twittered about.

So, see you boys in Vegas! The only other woman to ever win the prestigious Affiliate of the Year award is Connie Berg, and those flamingo shoes are hard to fill.

Check out All of this year’s Pinnacle Award Finalists.  Plus see Past Pinnacle Award Finalist Nominees and Winners.

Eric Nagel did it.  Joe Sousa did it.  Did what you ask? Recap their Affiliate Summit East experience in New York City last week. So I thought I’d put together a post of my own of a few highlights as well.

Saturday

Didn’t get into NYC until evening, but when you stay up until 4 a.m. in the morning, you can still pack in a lot of fun!  First stop was the Buy.at party atop the Empire Hotel followed by pizza, pubs and private parties.

Ken O'Donovan, Jon Levine, Kim Rowley, Pat Grady, Adam Reimer at Quality Meats

Sunday

Luckily I got to sleep in for a bit to heal my self-induced headache. I bounced back in time to hit the first session: Getting Noticed FAST Session. The panelists (Lisa Picarille, Michael Buechele, Trisha Lyn Fawver, Jen Goode and Stephanie Lichtenstein) did a great job, even if they did use some embarrassing pictures of me in their slideshow.

The afternoon was spent carousing the Meet Market. I was happy to volunteer my time at the Affiliate Marketers Give Back booth to raise money for breast cancer awareness.

Kim Rowley & Melissa Salas - Photo courtesy of Warren Corpus

Next up was the Market Leverage Yacht Party which ran us late getting to the ShareASale “Under the Stars” Party.  Brian Littleton always plans the perfect parties! I actually hit the bed early at 1:30 a.m. knowing I needed some beauty sleep.

Monday

I enjoyed the keynote with Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. I wish I would have brought along my copy of their new book Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust to have it autographed.

My favorite session (as in most notes taken and I’m smitten by the guy) was with Wil Reynolds. He was kind enough to type up his presentation with links for us all: SEO Tools You Can Use Today.

There were so many parties scheduled Monday night that I couldn’t possibly hit them all. But I couldn’t miss MarketLeverage’s Pizza Party as pizza is my absolute favorite food!  I also made appearances at Linkshare’s Unofficial Affiliate Summit East After Party at Johnny Utah’s (I did not ride the mechanical bull this time), the Drop.io Party at the SoHo House, and the GTO Management Bowling Party.

Bowling & Beers with GTO Management! Photo courtesy of Karen Garcia.

Tuesday

I was anxious to see the keynote with Peter Shankman as I’ve always been a fan of his HARO – Help A Reporter Out newsletter.  He proved to be just as motivational live in person.

I skipped the afternoon sessions to take a subway to Canal Street in Chinatown. I considered this “work” as well since my main sites are shopping related!

I missed going to the Yankees game (thanks for the invite Jason Rubacky) in the new stadium as I had to fly out Tuesday night.

I got to meet a lot of internet celebrities that I had never personally met (ie Gary Vaynerchuck and Ted Murphy) that I plan to blog about individually in upcoming posts.  I also met several non-internet celebrities that you can read about here.

Thanks to Shawn Collins and Missy Ward for putting on yet another phenomenal Affiliate Summit! Can’t wait for #asw10 in Vegas!