Internet Geek Girl

Internet Week New York (IWNY) starts tomorrow. Since I can’t go to everything, I wanted to highlight my “Top 5 Picks” of the week.

Live from New York, it’s Diggnation!  Hop the L train out to Brooklyn on Wednesday night at 6 pm and join Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht for a live taping in front of a New York Audience.  All the cool kids will be there.  Plus in addition to Kevin and Alex, the Revision3 folks got Brian Brushwood, host of the smash hit Scam School to shock and amaze the crowd with his dazzling array of bar tricks – can you stand the heat? DJ Bears and Bears Repeating will be performing as well for all you music fans. Rock on!

Pete’s back in NYC, time to get caffeinated! Join Pete Cashmore and his rockin’ band of Mashable staffers at Touch on Friday evening at 6 pm for the Mashable Exihibit Hall Extravaganza.   Over 14 showcasing exhibitors, and a large mix of attendees including local New York startups and entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, Web 2.0 companies and old-skool New York institutions will be there. Wouldn’t miss it for the world!

The TechSet does Manhattan!  Join me and Brian Solis as we celebrate the people who are actively defining the new Web landscape and contributing to the lucrative and industry-defining social economy along the way. We’ll be hanging on the rooftop of the Hotel Gansevoort (ooh la la) on Saturday afternoon beginning at 4:30 pm.  Please RSVP on our Facebook event page!

Old media meets the Social Web. Federated Media’s Conversational Marketing Summit will have some of the biggest names from Madison Avenue to Silicon Valley in attendance.  There are still tickets left for the conference which is June 9th and 10th. You can use the code GeekGirl15 and save 15% on registration!

If your tux is at the dry cleaners and you can’t fit in a Webby Award gathering, I’d suggest you check out the New York Software Industry Association (NYSIA) party on Monday night from 6 – 8 pm at JPMorgan Chase (270 Park Avenue).  The top technologists, developers, web 2.0 practitioners, and people from the professions that support them will be there. This event features an open bar, and Hors d’ Oeuvres will be served. $20 in advance, $30 at the door. Event starts at 6pm sharp.

The fact is I probably will party hop and also hit a few impromptu TweetUps as well so follow my Twitter.

Let’s get this party started!

(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.

Ok, ok…I know I haven’t posted in awhile. And I truly feel bad about that. It’s been a whirlwind of a few weeks – jetting from NJ to SF, Silicon Valley, Santa Barbara and back. Stay tuned though, because there are changes in the air for InternetGeekGirl. I got some very good advice from a leading editor in the tech industry, and a re-launch will be happening on my 1 year anniversary – March 9! As a side note, (and I’m happy to have deep philosophical conversations about this), I have been Twittering the whole time.

NB: See all the cool pics and reviews of “InternetGeekGirl and her bub.blicio.us friends Meet in Palo Alto to Fill the GapingVoid and Have a Conversation!” (here and here).

In other news…it’s time for Affiliate Summit! I’ll be arriving in Vegas this Saturday, and excited about the Social Media Panel, which I will be on with the following Twitterati: Sam Harrelson (moderator), Deborah Schultz, Chris Brogan, Tris Hussey, and iJustine. Don’t forget to follow @AffiliateSummit and @asw08 (group account) on Twitter.

We will be giving away t-shirts from cool, web2.0 start ups during our panel – so if you’d like to send yours along to the Rio Hotel – feel free. Here’s the address (make sure it arrives no later than 2/24 and goes to my attention):

Rio All Suite Hotel & Casino

3700 W. Flamingo Road

Las Vegas, NV 89103

1-800-Play-Rio
ATTN: STEPHANIE AGRESTA (AFFILIATE SUMMIT – ARRIVAL DATE 2/23)
Cell: 646-408-3318

InternetGeekGirl will also be the hostess with the most-ess in the blog lounge, so we’ll pass them out there as well.Refreshments provided by B5 Media.

BTW – don’t miss Andrew Wee’s Affiliate Summit Las Vegas Survival Guide!

See y’all in Vegas!

And what a year it has been. I am grateful for all my awesome friends and colleagues. Hope you enjoy these shots from the many industry conferences and networking events I attended this year. Thank you all for your support. Have an awesome holiday and successful 2008.

I look forward to seeing you next year!

Every week Lisa Picarille, the Editor-in Chief of Revenue Magazine and Shawn Collins, the Co-founder of Affiliate Summit host the leading affiliate industry podcast, Affiliate Thing . Last Wednesday, while Shawn was at Affiliate Summit London, I served as substitute co-host. Our guest was Heather Paulson, long-time affiliate marketing veteran, who recently launched her own company, Paulson Management Group. The Affiliate Thing Ladies Show was a blast to do. Please click here for a listen.

BTW – when deciding to pay homage to my favorite childhood show, Charlie’s Angels, I specifically went old-school. (A dedcication to my cute little twin sisters who spent years running around the house with me, dressed up in our mom’s cloths, with water guns in our little black purses. Yes, I ALWAYS had to be Sabrina). FREEZE!