How was AWE Barcelona? (10)
Reviews, experiences, tips, tricks, do’s and dont’! How was AWE for you?
Wrote a quick review on Friday:
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The good
Barcelona – I like the city much more than Berlin. It has a much warmer vibe (not talking weather), the venue was also very close to the beach. This feeling has been shared by many other attendees.
The Exhibitors – It seems every conference, there are more exhibitors that are not just an affiliate network or a traffic source. More trackers, more service providers like creative agencies, auto-optimization tools, even some crypto related projects were around. Not all of them are useful for us but I liked to see more than just the same ol’ same ol’.
The Speakers – Similar to exhibitors, there was a nice mix of affiliate marketing topics, e-commerce and general business. I’m not someone who spends much time watching speeches at a conference though. I find it more useful to use the time to meet people I only see a couple of times a year.
The not-so-good
There wasn’t anything I would say was bad about the whole thing but a few points to improve on.
The STM Mixers – Cool idea but I didn’t feel they have enough direction. I think people gathered there just to talk on all topics, not necessarily the mixer ones. Needs a bit of improvement, not sure exactly what, still early in the day for me. If AWC team is reading this, don’t worry, I will send you the feedback soon. 
Communication of after-party – The 2nd-day after-party to be exact. There was a misunderstanding because of the way it was presented on the schedule that there will be an official after-party. The reality was that it was just a suggested meetup and hangout place, without any AWC involvement. Most affiliates were caught off-guard and disappointed. While this is easy to fix and doesn’t affect the value of the event, it will leave many attendees with a slightly disappointing last impression.
Just like first impressions matter, so do the last. For me, it didn’t matter at all, because I didn’t plan on staying out so late. Was just too tired.
Conclusion?
All in all, very much looking forward to the next Affiliate World Conference, and anyone serious about the industry should check it out.
Yet again, the organizers showed that they seriously take into account the feedback from attendees, with making Barcelona the new location for Europe. Can’t wait for AWA 2018 in good ol’ Bangkok.
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As an extra-thought after this review, I actually didn't get to meet with all the people I wanted. I never ran into you @stickupkid for example, and plenty others. Sometimes, just 2 days is not enough it seems, haha.
For those interested in getting a feel for the atmosphere there, I saw this review by Attila, with a biiig bunch of pics: http://iamattila.com/cool-shiznitz/t...w-pictures.php
Great info and feedback! Honestly I think the venue could be less informal and more cozy. Like Berlin and Bangkok for example!
Sent from my iPhone using STM Forums mobile app
Speakers were exceptional ... by far the best ever. Registration was very efficient, and there were some really cool companies exhibiting. It was great to reconnect with lot of old friends and familiar faces while meeting some new interesting people as well.
Venue was not as hip or funky as Berlin, which I missed. But the city and weather were awesome.
I didn't have time to check out any speeches pretty much, since I've spent most of the time at the STM booth ... this was the busiest show of all the AWC conferences so far for us at the STM booth, so many forum members stopped by to say hi, many company reps asked about what the forum is about etc ... seems like the majority of people finally realized STM and the AWC have something in common 
I've asked several people about their impression from the show and I only got 2 complaints :
1. to some, the venue looked a bit empty ... which was caused by it's size actually, since there was more attendees than on any other AWC. And to confirm that it's all about personal preferences ... quite a few actually liked the bigger venue, since it was more spacey and easy to walk.
2. Same as Manu mentioned : the after party confusion ... plenty of people showed at the hotel, they wouldn't let them in ... this left some with a bitter aftertaste.
Other than that , everyone seemed to be pretty happy about the event ... people loved the speeches, the venue, the city ... pretty much everyone I talked to, was happy about the move from Berlin to Barca
Overall experience is quite positive, even though it is hard to surpass Berlin’s one, but Barcelona took a good shot. Big shout out to everybody we talk to (and especially to our users), looking forward to the next one!
Berlin and Barcelona are basically opposites. So because I really disliked Berlin, I very much enjoyed Barcelona! That's just a matter of personal taste, so the attendees will probably be split on the topic.
Regarding the venue, definitely a big one. I also heard a few people saying that "it looks emptier than previous conferences". Keyword there being "looked" because it was the biggest attendance so far.
The conference can double there, to make it feel cosier, no problem. 
For me it was the best show I've attended in a long time, if not ever. I really liked the city, people, weather and enjoyed it much more than Berlin 2 years ago.
The speakers were top-notch and each brought something unique and valuable to the table, although I was only able to catch a few talks.
Went there to really soak in new stuff, also attending Geek Out and Ecommerce Mastery Live. Only had time to watch one Geek Out talk on acquiring websites but it was a real eye opener.
Ecommerce mastery live was great and was a no-brainer for its cost. Insane production values and great mix of speakers. Tim Burd's presentation alone made it worth the cost for me as someone who is venturing back into facebook ads.
The afterparty thing probably left a bad taste for some - I got lucky and made it there early, but also left early. Went home at like midnight every night lol. I know the after party for Berlin 2 years ago was a bit of a disappointment. On the other hand the Ad buyers meetup at the pool and Grand Society event were great.
One complaint I heard was that most of the talks were not on affiliate marketing but ecommerce. Personally I like that direction for conference and industry, even if I'm not running ecommerce currently, but can understand why that may be unappealing to some. Facebook + ecom is all the hotness at the moment, but there's a whole other world out there. I imagine it's hard to find speakers doing affiliate marketing that want to spill the beans on what they're doing, especially outside of FB. I tried to give away as much juicy stuff in my talk on native as I could, short of giving away my campaigns.
All-in-all it was a great show and I'm really looking forward to seeing what they do for future shows.
The affiliate marketing vs e-commerce thing is tough.
Even within affiliate marketing there's an issue. For example, I got one person being very insistent that we provide more mobile marketing content in WHAT THE AFF. But of course, there is not much news in that part of the industry, plus it's not as profitable as a few years ago.
The things that are working best at the moment are not always the things you'd like to work best, unfortunately.
When it comes to what's working now, the biggest trend is that BH activities get rewarded less often. You might still be able to pull it off if you're really good and well connected but for the average affiliate, they are better off doing something that all sides approves of.
Plus, there are several ways to do affiliate marketing in e-commerce without building your own store. The current (wrong) impression might come because of iStack Training being so involved in AWE overall and they switched focus to building your own store courses, instead of affiliate marketing related activities.
All feedback is taken and discussed with the team, really appreciate seeing these posts, everything is presented in a positive and constructive way which helps us continue to shape Affiliate World into a better version of itself, as it grows, year over year.
The ecom vs affiliate marketing discussion is tough as Manu said, for many reasons. We look at the data for one, and there's a huge hunger for ecom. It's a natural evolution from affiliate marketing, and we need to be conscious of that. At the same time, AM is what AWC is built on so we need to balance it of course.
The venue is something we know we can do better with, and for a a first crack at our new home in Barcelona, we're very excited to see where we can take it. Lots of fun and exciting improvements coming for AWE2019.
As for AWAsia, we're really excited to dive deep into everyone's feedback on our survey. If you haven't filled it out yet please do. We value it so much and use it to continue to make Affiliate World the best conference ever.
Survey here >>> awc.li/awe18survey
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