Affiliate Summit East (ASE) 2012

**Kay** · May 26th, 2012, 6:51 AM

Is anyone going to this? It's in New York City from August 12 -14. Tickets are 'only' $549. But don't worry if you can't afford that because John Chow is giving you a chance to win one of ten tickets he has to give away. All you have to do is make a great comment on his posting to be in with a chance of winning the prize.

Do be sure to check out the terms and conditions which apply.

...the pass codes become invalid in the event the conference sells out.

Damn! I was so confident of winning, I booked my flight and hotel room on the strength of thinking I'd get a free ticket to the event. Now I guess I'll just have to hope it's not going to be popular or well-attended.

It doesn't seem like a very nice way to run a competition. Hey! You can win this 500 buck prize! (But only if no one else wants it.) Hmph.

**Clinton** · May 26th, 2012, 7:43 AM

I suppose he didn't want to invest the $500 to buy the ticket first in case nobody made a "great comment"

That's fair enough, isn't it?

**Kay** · May 26th, 2012, 8:00 AM

I don't think he had to buy any tickets. He was given ten to give away. This is what he says on his website:

I got $5,490 worth of Networking Plus Passes to give away!

Which sounds great if you're interested in going to the event and can't spare the $549 entry fee. It just seems a bit shabby to say that you're giving something away, but if there's any opportunity to sell it instead (ie the event gets sold out) then stuff giving out the prizes which people have won, we'll sell the tickets instead. Either you can win a prize or you can't. I've never seen a competition before which offered a prize and then said they won't give you the prize if someone shows up and wants to buy it.

What kind of event is it anyway if they're shelling out free tickets in this way? Oh, but they might not be free. Well, they'll be free if no one wants to buy them.

When will they tell the winners whether the passes will be valid or not? The day before the event? That makes it kinda difficult to make transport and accommodation arrangements. Either offer a prize or don't. Mrs Grumpy doesn't like this competition.

**Chabrenas** · May 26th, 2012, 12:12 PM

John Chow is American. That sentence doesn't mean 'I received $5,490 worth of ....'.

Anyway, he bills himself as The Internet *****, so what do you expect. He works hard, but he's no fool. He understands the mentality of the people he addresses. I remember him going into a restaurant and tweeting 'who wants to buy me dinner?'. Someone did, just to get his name displayed.

**Kay** · May 26th, 2012, 1:39 PM

If John Chow paid for those tickets, then I'm a Chinaman. He's a prominent MMO blogger. Most likely this 'competition' is a way of drumming up publicity for the event. As far as I'm concerned it's a rotten competition anyway. What's the point in offering prizes to people and saying that if the event looks like it'll be a success (ie a sell out) then the prizes will be invalid?

He works hard, but he's no fool. He understands the mentality of the people he addresses.

No, he's not a fool. He knows how to make money online by telling people how to make money online. And now he's offering 'prizes' or maybe he's not. The point of the OP is that it's shabby to talk up the offer of free tickets which you may or may not award depending on how many tickets you can sell for the event.

**TheodoreK** · May 26th, 2012, 1:55 PM

Originally Posted by Kay

Most likely this 'competition' is a way of drumming up publicity for the event. .

I am sure that's the case and it's working!

We are talking about it even here in EP aren't we?

**Kay** · May 26th, 2012, 2:14 PM

OK, so we're talking about it but it's not exactly a promotional thread. It's more a case of a gotcha on the grubby tactics they're using. Dunno about you, but now-you-win-now-you-don't tactics didn't make me feel inclined to take part in this thing where you can win free tickets but only if it's a flop.

**TheodoreK** · May 26th, 2012, 2:24 PM

You are right, of course, and I was turned off by the second-hand "free" tickets tactic.

Thing is that for most of the people this summit targets the chance for a free ticket does sound awesome.

Now, I wonder would happen if someone has already bought a ticket but also wins one of John Chow's free tickets and decides to cancel his bought ticket for a full refund.

Do you think it might be possible that John Chow has a list for all the people who have already bought their tickets so he does not accidentally awards them with a free alternative?

**KenW3** · May 26th, 2012, 5:34 PM

This is a promotion that Shawn Collins is running at http://www.affiliatesummit.com/want-...-to-give-away/ The pass codes given out must be redeemed for tickets while tickets are available. If the event sells out before a winner tries to redeems a code, then there won't be any tickets left. This sounds very odd, as any codes issued should remain valid and each ought to count as a sold ticket.

Originally Posted by Affiliate Summit

Note that if you are granted passes to give away, you must notify the recipients that they cannot be transferred, and the pass codes can no longer be redeemed in the event the conference sells out.

This is similar to radio stations giving away free tickets to concerts. It gets bloggers to mention the upcoming event, and giving them tickets to award as prizes is paid advertising. In much the same way that a tiny one-person radio station won't be given free U2 concert tickets, though, there are minimum qualifications to be able to offer these promotional Affiliate Summit tickets.

**grynge** · May 28th, 2012, 4:17 AM

Whilst it's not quite the same, our infomercials used to run competitions with the

chance plays no part in the drawing of the winner.

and they would award the prizes to family and friends. This seems much the same, heres a gift but you may not have it if we don't want to give it to you.