This was by far the most entertaining Affiliate Conference I have been to. Although there were not quite as many affiliates attending as was advertised, and an evident reduction in Operator stands on view – there was something about the ambience and post-conference parties that outdid all the other ones I’d been to before.
Myself and the French and Hungarian Country Managers were busy throughout the whole conference. We made up for it each night by indulging in the incredible Hungarian cuisine, seeing the sites and attending the Operator parties.
The first party was hosted by Expekt, who’d come equipped with there new marketing weapon, Scotty Nguyen. It was a great first taster of the event with almost every major affiliate and operator casually mingling in the elegant setting of The Creole Bar.
These things are not just a good way to make business, they are a good place to make friends too. And in this setting, Free bars, prop bets and industry banter, it is not a hard thing to do. After a long day of negotiations, deals and queuing for lunch the three of us had dinner with Alex Dreyfus and the Gambling Affiliation boys at a place called Abszint. I won’t take the tedious route of listing all my meals, but just to say it was certainly in the top ten meals I’ve ever eaten.
The second day was predictably slower, with affiliates hungover and more in the mood for casual networking rather than the hard bargaining of the day before.
I left my two comrades on the last night to visit the Doyle Brunson Poker Klub, one of the finest and most dedicated card rooms I’ve ever seen. It is not officially affiliated with Doyle, but it has his blessing and the place is built on pure resepct for the man and passion for the game. Doyle came along about midnight to mess about at some baby stakes and generally show his appreciation for the venue. At most the klub had twenty five people in there, including dealers and waitresses. This just gave the whole scene that extra authenticity, an escape from the commercial gimmickry of much of the parties organised during these events. This was 100% Poker.
It took me nearly eight hours to lose my €70 and I have sincerely never enjoyed losing my money more.
Chili got some good coverage at the event and affiliates and operators alike were consistent in their love of the brand. We are soon releasing our new Affiliate VIP Scheme, and this will be the subject of an upcoming post. It will no doubt be a great incentive for anyone who has yet to sign up to SharetheChili.com.
Bye for now …
