CJU Overview and Lots of News

Hi All,

I'm doing a 3 part blog about CJU. Just too much to cover in one sitting. Posting it here for those of you that didn't make the event and are curious learn about some of the news that came out. Yesterday after I got back I blogged part one. Today I will post some more info after I get caught up a little.

In my 20 year history in the technology industry I have been to more high tech conferences and events than I can even count, but I have to say CJU was a stand-out. One the best events I have ever had the pleasure of attending!

EVENT OVERVIEW

The hotel was phenomenal with many of the large group events taking place out in a beautiful open air Rotunda with an Ocean view. The food was fantastic. The 1st day at lunch, expecting the typical conference chicken dish, we were pleasantly surprised by an all you can eat buffet which included gourmet prawns and scallops. All the meals were awesome and were out in the Rotunda. The location and accommodations just could not get any better.

The courses, at least all the ones I attended, were extremely informative and well done. I will be covering them in more detail in part 2. Everything was on-time and well orchestrated by tons of CJ and ValueClick staff who all proved to be gracious hosts.

I think there were around 500 people there. I saw lots of industry friends and gurus and got to meet a lot of great new people – affiliates, merchants and service providers. Wow we have a lot of talented, brilliant people in our industry! I have so many new ideas to implement and actually learned a lot at this conference. I went mainly for the networking WHICH WAS PRICELESS, but came away with so much more than that.

The Keynote Address was made by - John Battelle, Chairman, Federated Media Publishing. It was titled “Search, Blogs and Web 2.0: The Role of Publishers in an Intent Driven World”. How can someone with such a brilliant mind, deliver that dynamic of a speech with such calm humility? What a genius and a great speaker! I would definitely keep my eye on John’s new company FMpublishing. Follow this guys lead. We also each got a copy of his new book. “The Search” - About the rise of Google—and how the search industry is changing the way we live in profound and unpredictable ways.

CJU - TO BE CONTINUED…
I’m blogged this before I even read email or began to try playing catch up. Have not even checked my own forum or scanned the blogs to see what others have to say about CJU. So this is just a tiny overview which will turn into a 3 or 4 part series.

When I have time I will cover the sessions. My favorite 3 were "Deep Linking and Beyond – Best Practices for Data Feed Optimization", "The Low Down on Downloads (ie. parasites)" and "The Dating Game - Affiliate Style". Now I will just tease you with the fact that this was NOT a boring old panel discussion about how to find the right partners – which is what I was expecting. It was THE Dating Game. The music, the format – everything except Chuck Woolery! I was sitting with Shawn Collins, Heather from X10 and Linda Woods from PartnerCentric. We were practically ROLLING on the floor. It got pretty spicy and showed us what a great sense of humor CJ has.

I will also cover some new products and services that are coming from CJ and other companies. My last post will cover the 3 P’s. Some of the People, the Parties and the Pics. I’ll post more after I catch up a bit. In the meantime, feel free to ask specific questions about the CJU event or share your experience if you were there.