My HONEST Affiliate World Conference Review (9)
I promised myself that I would write an honest review of an affiliate conference as a first-time newbie.
so here it goes....
A little run-down
I was mainly involved in many SEO related projects and one of my longtime colleagues asked me if I would join him on a paid-traffic journey. I said fuck it, and we blindly decided to start off in the adult dating vertical. I've never ran paid traffic before so there was a steep learning curve on hosting, trackers and everything. I think it took me a few days just to figure out how 
He recommended me to join STM as there was a lot of tutorials and a good community. I said f*ck it and joined. I've read all the basic paid traffic case studies, tutorials, how to setup Amazon AWS s3 bucket etc, literally just about everything.
Some success
Fast forward a month or two, I started getting some success in adult dating and reached the iconic $100 per day milestone and I was stoked. I fell in love with the community and I would sit there on my mobile refreshing the homepage for any new threads or post I could read and reply to.
I started to notice that affiliate world banner and that's when I found out about the conference. Mind you, I've never been to anything like that and 40 AWC ads on facebook later I finally bought the ticket, hotel and flights
Tomorrow is the big day
I was counting down the days to my flight and I believe it was the last few days where I started to get anxious of the thought of going into the unknown. So I reassured myself, I'm going here with zero expectations, good or bad, I will enjoy it no matter what. Some random forum member messaged me with a few posts and asked me if I want to meet up. I said fuck it, why not.
We met up, had a beer and he introduced me to another group of cool guys and we joked, talked about marketing, how we all started and overall just had a good time.
To me, the first day was a surreal experience because as an affiliate we sit in our man caves, not interacting with anyone and mainly doing our own thang' and to me in the presence of other like-minded people was a very uplifting experience.
The conference
I must have talked to what it seems to every booth there and exchanged so many cards I lost count. I was networking and trying to talk to everyone possible and I couldn't get enough of it.
The talks and shows we're a little boring for me, however, I did enjoy the ones on the last day.
THE STM BOOTH
I didn't even notice the STM booth the first day but, someone told me that you could meet the team and mods there so, as soon as I found out I ran over to the booth and introduced myself. I believe I was greeted by maynzie and as soon as I told him my forum name, he jumped up and gave me a hug and says he read some of my shit and recognized me.
We talked for a bit exchanged some stories, and at the end of it all he looked deeply into my soul and said "You will make it" and keep at it. I took that energy and it lit up a fire in me to keep doing what I'm doing. I also met matuloo at a later point and shook his hand and thanked him for all the quality stuff and posts he provides.
*To all the Mods and STM staff thank you for all the help and stuff you provide, it's truly unbelievable how much guidance and help you provide without expecting anything in return.
To summarize
I've met loads of quality people and formed lifelong friendships over a three-day span. You know the saying when people say it's better to have a couple good quality friends instead of many well, at places like this, that saying gets put too shame. I'm finally back home and my energy and motivation levels have never been like this and I'm ready to conquer any challenge in front of me.
I'm already in the process of trying out this whole digital nomad lifestyle by moving to Thailand and living out there for a month before the Bangkok conference.
So yeah, for all you lurkers out there and I know there's plenty of them on this forum. Click that hard to miss banner and buy the ticket, you can worry about airfare and hotel at a later point. If you don't have cash, use a credit card, and worry about it later, because there is no price tag on the networking, connections, and friendships you will make. #JUSTYOLO
That's awesome to hear!
I think we didn't get to chat, because I was at the STM booth only for like 15 minutes total across the 2 days but hopefully you make it to Bangkok too!
Too bad I missed you - must have been on a break when you came by the booth. But great to hear Josh and Matej took good care of you!
Thanks for the awesome write up - looking forward to meeting you in Bangkok!
Amy
Sent from my SM-G930W8 using STM Forums mobile app
Your run in with Maynzie was spot on. Josh is one of the most genuine, caring individuals I've ever met on this forum, and he's back full speed as an STM mod. Thanks for your feedback of the conference, we always encourage everyone to let us know what they liked and didn't like so we can continue to provide the best experience possible to attendees.
You're in good company here!
I am the random guy who I hanged out with this cool guy 
))
Nice conference. Next stops Amsterdam and Prague
Sent from my SM-G955F using STM Forums mobile app
I mean i am too tired now, but will write my impressions tomorrow.... hopefully
Sent from my SM-G955F using STM Forums mobile app
Thanks for your review man, and it was an absolute pleasure to meet you. The energy you type with on the boards is followed nicely in real life so I was so happy for you to share your story with honesty and excitement!
Can't wait to see where you lead over the next 4 months en route to AWA.. its plenty of time to make a real stab into the game.
No idea how I missed this thread It was awesome to meet you man, and many others from the forum too... I just wish I had more time to sownd with everyone, its been pretty busy this time
See you all in BKK
And thanks for the kinds words you said about the forum!!!
Totally agree that AWC is by far the best place to meet new partners and create partnerships that may last years. After attending three AWAs and three AWEs what I recommend is:
- try to schedule meetings before being there
- use the mobile apps to find potential partners
- have a look of the booths there in advance and schedule your agenda to meet those you may make business with
- attend the parties (all :P)
- be eager to share your secrets, it's the only way to get other's secrets
- don't pretend numbers to impress people
BTW, we have joined forces with Tim Burd and put together a FREE TICKET Giveaway for Bangkok AWA!
We just posted about it here: https://stmforum.com/forum/showthrea...cket-giveaway!
Home > Networking Hub >