Jason Calacanis knows how to put the cat among the pigeons!

(Jason Calacanis and Stephanie Agresta at the Bellagio Hotel, Olives Restaurant)

Go ahead, try to deny it. It would be tough. Jason Calacanis has been doing this his entire career - beginning with Silicon Alley Reporter, then Weblogs, Inc. and now with his latest venture, Mahalo. The Affiliate Marketing industry was lucky enough to harness Jason’s “outsider energy” last week in Vegas at Affiliate Summit West 2008, where he gave the keynote speech. Never before has a keynote speaker created such a flurry at this show. I suspect Shawn and Missy knew of Jason’s history at another marketing show, and were eager to start an important dialogue in the community. That’s how they roll.

I like it when the feathers fly. I suspect, so does Jason. He challenges assumptions, keeps an open mind and is great at calling a spade a spade. I like that about him. Oh yeah - he also has superior taste in television shows and cars.

In the last week there has been a terrific swirl of conversation in the blogosphere about Jason’s take on the industry and the future direction of affiliate marketing in general. For background, I suggest you read Sam Harrelson’s live blogging entry at ReveNews. You can also catch some of Jim Kukral’s video coverage here. Or listen to the keynote on Webmaster Radio. Jason did an great job documenting his experience as well, and capturing the follow up comments.

Basically the world fell into a few camps. The “offended” ones; the defiant ones; and the grateful ones. I’ll save my feedback for them for their blog comments (everyone could use some more blog comment activity).

I find it interesting that this conversation mostly stems from the publisher perspective. It’s true that advertisers are less likely to pipe up, but let me try to speak on their behalf. Advertisers are interested in working with REAL PARTNERS. Not people who hide their identity and their methods. Much like a PR firm that connects with media outlets, our agency “pitches” new merchants to established communities of publishers (affiliates) that are adding real value to their consumers, such as Upromise, Ebates, iGive, and Kaboodle. Check out the list of “good guys” that have been collected on Jason’s site. I agree with Shawn Collins that it’s time for the NETWORKS to step up to the challenge of being better gatekeepers.

Well - we all have lots of action items to attend to. I’d like to personally thank Shawn, Missy and Jason for making the keynote so meaningful.

And now onto the networking, InternetGeekGirls’ favorite part:

As Jason Falls knows, offline events are the best way to make connections with people. Affiliate Summit is THE SHOW for the performance marketing industry; always has been. Check out my flickr stream and Tris Hussey’s flickr set for some amazing shots from the event. The ShareASale party was also a highlight (big congrats to Brian Littleton for winning the “Legend” Award and to his staff for a fine display of community and energy). The party was full of great conversations with the smartest people in the space. I had the chance to talk to Lisa Picarille of Revenue Magazine, Kristin Fox from Gaiam, Steve Rosenbaum from Magnify.net, JP Werlin from Downtown Ecommerce and Wil Reynolds of SEER Interactive.

As a social columnist focused on style and substance — the big loud clubs aren’t exactly my scene. I prefer the smaller, more intimate affairs. The blog lounge, sponsored by B5Media, was full of cool people - in particular Karen Jackie and Dana Rockel of ContentRobot. However, I have to toot my own horn for a minute and say that the Social Media Panel, moderated by Sam Harrelson, was probably the most fun I’ve had in a long time, or at least in the prior 2 weeks.

I’d like to give a shout out to Affiliate Summit first-timers: iJustine, Tris Hussey, Rick Calvert, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Deb Schultz! Thank you all for your energy and support.

Hat tip to Affiliate Summit for giving us all the opportunity to come together to build our businesses, exchange ideas, have some fun, and most importantly - spend time with the people we work with day in and day out to enhance affiliate channel sales.

My fellow New Yorkers are in for a treat this summer. The next Affiliate Summit is in Boston [sign up now and save - this is not an affiliate link]. A bit closer than Vegas (or Florida). With Cory Booker keynoting, right before the Democratic national convention, I hope more feathers will fly.