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How to Get More Real Time Meetups with Other Affiliate Marketers? (27)

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Hi Guys,
I've been doing affiliate marketing for about 12 years and I love STMforum since I can connect with people doing similar things.

But that is all virtual ... through this forum.

Which is great, but sometimes you miss human interaction.

And to be totally honest, I probably learn more high level strategic stuff in a 2 day trade show interacting with people in real time,
then I would do spending weeks on a forum.

It just comes down to better/faster transfer of information and the ability to bounce ideas off someone in real time.
(especially over a beer or coffee!)

So I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for someone in Brisbane, Australia who wants more of that real time interaction?

There is probably a simple solution I'm missing because at the moment the only thing I can think of is -
* Go to more trade shows

But I was wondering if anyone knew if:
* Are there any cities which have a good affiliate marketer social scene going on?

Or had some other suggestions?

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I think there are just tow possible scenarios :

1) Attend more shows, meetups, industry events
2) Move to a city with a large affiliate community. Amsterdam and Barcelona would be examples in Europe

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There are not so many affiliates in the world, sure there's a couple thousands of us, but compare it with some other jobs where there are millions of people involved. So yeah, it's naturally hard to meet individuals doing the same "job". That's probably the reason for the significant popularity of the tradeshows and forums like STM. So yes, it's basically as bbrock mentioned, either attend more shows/meetups or move to a place that's know for bigger affiliate communities... Amsterdam and Barcelona have been mentioned already, Bangkok would be another one, I know there are quite a few affiliate in New York for example.

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Create an event on FB for Brisbane and surroundings, target the region + people in the online world and there ya go!

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Hey mate,

Not exactly in the same city but at least we're in the same country and I used to live in Brisbane

I live in Perth now but would be more than happy to connect and chat on skype!

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You could also try https://www.meetup.com/en-AU/

See if there are any affiliate meetups or start your own group.

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Definitely attend some meetups and trade shows.

As for cities, Thailand, especially Bangkok and Chiang Mai are also big affiliates hub's.

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Thanks Everyone!

Two points -

[1] Moving Location

I am actually thinking seriously of moving to a city with a big Affiliate Population for a few months to see if I like it.
Of course, there is a difference between having a big affiliate population and having one with an established social scene.

For example - I've talked to a few people who like in bangkok and they actually don't talk much to anyone else.
They just went because it was cheap and fit their lifestyle.
I might have just talked to the wrong people though.

So does anyone know if there is actually an established affiliate scene in
* Barcelona
* New York
* Bangkok
* Chang Mai
* Amsterdam
* Somewhere else?

[2] Finding People in Brisbane, Australia

@stickupkid @eurosen - Thanks for the suggestions. And I will reach out again to the local area but am not expecting anything (although hope to be pleasantly surprised).

I've done it before (but this was years ago) and did not get good results.

I just got a lot of wannbe's who were going to get into affiliate marketing 'sometime' (before they were distracted by the next get rich scheme they had)
Or people who did not realize that this actually takes 'work' and were expecting an easy way to make money - so stopped after a few months.
Or people who were only kinda maybe similar to affiliate marketers (e.g. business owners who marketed their own sites/services only).

But I'll try facebook and meetup and see what happens :-)

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Theres a chunk of affiliates in all those cities 100% Amsterdam/Barcelona/Bangkok/NewYork are all very decent hubs, Chiang Mai Erik could chime in on, but when I was there it was a lot more ecom/dropship/SEO. But yeah because there is a big base of people living there doesn't necessarily mean they meet up a lot as a group often, there are lots of teams/companies in those cities. Bangkok alone I know 20+ people living there solely affiliate based.

I know what its like with a lack of community being from Melbourne its a very small presence out here - although in the last year I've met more people in Melbourne regarding AM then I have in all the years previously, but none of it was from being on STM or posting in local events, it was chance meets at AWA and AWE.

This is why I love getting out to conferences, it sounds like a constant sell of the event but its hard to beat 1 on 1 chats getting to know a person and having such a large pool of affiliates in one place. You're bound to meet Aussies, or people who know other Aussies. The other thing though, I guess when I do hang out with affiliates here in Melbourne its not like an organised dinner masterminds etc, its just nice to be around people who have similar problems or mindsets and can shoot the breeze once in a while, then its super easy to forge good friendships as well.

Affiliate lifestyle is a lonely one at times haha, you ever thought about teaming up with someone?

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Chiang Mai is in my opinion hands down the best place to start a business. The “nomad” community is huge and the general hustle vibe is unbeatable. The tiny cost of living gives you a load more runway and you’ll be able to last for months on what it costs in the western world. Everyone is much more friendly and approachable. Best to look for yoga, fruitarian and other eclectic events to meet people vs affiliates - friends first

Even though I live in Bangkok personally, I would not really recommend it. Most the affiliates are pretty busy and work out of private offices, which makes it quite hard to network. The community is very close knit and without an introduction it would be hard to even know where to find people.

If your running good volume with a network that’s in a good location, why not approach them and ask if you could hot desk?

I’m sure if you hit up e.g. gotzha in Amsterdam or Bangkok and said “I want to send traffic, need desk” they could make something happen.

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@maynzie - Looking back on it, the few people I have found in the past from Brisbane who were high level came from going to conferences or training events as well.

I guess it shows a certain level of commitment to travel 10+ hours and spend your own time and money to go to a trade show or training event.
Maybe we should start an Australian Meetup at the next Trade Show.

Or just shout out "Aussie Aussie Aussie" and see who responds? lol

As for teaming up with someone .. I've considered it .. and done a few small ones in the past.
But learnt to not really force it.
So will only do it if it makes business sense and there are real synergies.

And when I say 'social scene', I'm not talking organized dinners or masterminds (although that would be awesome if someone set one up!)
More just people open to being social ... kinda like what you're experiencing now in Melbourne.

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@nickpeplow - Thanks for the information.

Friends first .. that is a great way to think!

I'm trying to think with a business mindset though.
And I know that 'environment' is a big factor in success in any business.

You can get in the 'environment' virtually through forums like this or just making sure to spend time on skype/calling your contacts.
But I was wondering if there was a ready made environment (i.e. location) which would supercharge this.

Or whether no such place exists at the moment.

Seems to be from what everyone is saying, that there are locations with more affiliates
But you'd need to spend time setting up your own network once you get there.

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Actually now that I think about it .... anyone know someone on the team putting togeather AWE?

Would be awesome if we could slip in some location based session/meetup into the official schedule
(like the facebook and native sessions were introduced in AWA last Decemeber)

I'm sure there are other people who'd value getting to meet other affiliates who live near them.
(Not sure if it is possible with the logistics though - but won't know if we don't ask).

Or maybe get something else organized.
Any suggestions? :-)

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No promises for sure - but I'll forward this valuable idea to my colleagues in the conferences department!

Thanks Suneel!



Amy

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@vortex - Thanks Amy!

Would love to know one way or another if this is even a possibility.

Otherwise we just need to get .... 'creative' lol :-)

Hmmm
- Hiring someone to stand around with a big australian flag
- Wear an Australian Flag TShirt to the event!
- Hire someone to hand out flyers outside the event to a 'private invite only part for Aussies'
- Shout out 'Aussie, Aussie, Aussie' at 30 min intervals during the show lol

Anyway one else have suggestions?

Any other crazy, fun, insane, off the wall idea (which might just work) ...

.. and oh yeah ... also any boring ideas which might actually work lol

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My voice is a big enough Aussie giveaway hahaha, I bet yours is too

If you make it out to Barcelona for AWE mate I will introduce you to as many Aussies affs as I can find there myself, and if you make it down to Melbourne anytime soon let me know, although as Summer begins to flicker away they become more or less an endangered species once again here haha

Not a bad idea to be honest, but you can find local countrymen in these little groups quite easily as well once you see the floor format

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@grofit - funny you should bring this up, I'm literally just working on our new set of networking events for Affiliate World Europe haha.

To skip back a bit and add my two cents, there are definitely cities with AM hubs with more social scenes - there are the ones that always get brought up - Amsterdam, Barcelona, Kiev, Victoria (Canada not Aus haha) And to @maynzie point, each show we keep drawing in a larger amount of aussies too. Most I chat with are on the ecom side though.

Each conference we are investing more and more into focused networking sessions. This will be our third year of the "mixers", but this year, we're packaging it into something larger (stay tuned, I'll make the full AWE announcement soon).

As for "location based" networking sessions, honestly this sounds like a perfect plan for self-hosted style event. All it takes is creating an Eventbrite meetup, sharing it on AWE page, STM, skype/fb groups. I would start country based, so you get a solid turnout.

Hell if you create it, I'll get our marketing team to share to our AUS audiences. DM me and we'll sort it out or add me on skype - chad.wilton

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Great idea right there, every AWE or AWA there are several un-official events organized by people who are attending the show, some of them are bigger and sponsored ones, but also rather intimate "dinner-sessions" for just a handful of targeted people. So a location based one for Aussies might work out. Someone always compiles a doc of all the announced meetups, so you could get yours listed there too, I'm sure about it. It takes a bit of effort to organize this, since you need to reserve a place and possibly risk that not everyone will show up, but it might be worth it.

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Thanks @maynzie!

I'll be at AWE (already have the tickets).
So would really appreciate any introductions you could make.

So where do the Affs migrate to during winter? lol

I don't have that problem here in Brisbane.
Nice temperatures year round, and we have awesome beaches less than an hour away :-)

One of the reasons I keep coming back.

PS: If you're ever up here in Brisbane (or more likely the Gold Coast), give me a yell :-)

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@Chaz - thanks for the info and the offer - will send you a DM.

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Amsterdam, Barcelona, Kiev,?

Hmm ... I was already planning to take a holiday after AWE.
Sounds like I know exactly where to check out now!

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Thanks for giving me my daily dose of LOL! That was cute Suneel!

I want to add my suggestions on how to find other affiliates that live in your country/region:

You can organize a meetup and post it here - https://stmforum.com/forum/forumdisp...and-Networking

You can make a post in this section to see if other affiliates will respond - https://stmforum.com/forum/forumdisp...?173-Area-Asia

e.g.
https://stmforum.com/forum/showthrea...851-Melbourne-!
https://stmforum.com/forum/showthrea...tern-Australia
https://stmforum.com/forum/showthrea...9673-Australia


Also: Chad and I are discussing the possibility of organizing something for STM members at the conference itself - with his help we may just be able to pull this off!

Again, no promises, but stay tuned!



Amy

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I also realised there are not many Affiliates in Australia, no Affiliate meetup group.

thanks @maynzie for the link to this post. Glad to know @grofit in Brisbane.

I am from Sydney by the way, just to say Hello!

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@windgod123 - good to hear form another aussie! :-)

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Yeah many more Aussies hitting the boards! Theres another lad in Brisbane uncovered @grofit perhaps you'd like an intro :P

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@maynzie - would love one :-)

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Also: I've verified with our conferences team that for AWE, there will be a way for STM members to find each other - either the badge will have a field with your STM username (or a space where you can write it in), or some sort of STM sticker you can put on the badge, or both.

And of course if you hang around the STM booth long enough you'll inevitably run into other members that are also coming around to say hi!



Amy

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