For anyone working in the online gambling affiliate industry, the London Affiliate Conference (LAC) is an absolute staple on our calendars. 2016 marks the ten year anniversary of the LAC, a reflection of what a consistent job iGaming Business has done with delivering a top-notch experience for their delegates every year.
This year over 4,000 affiliates, affiliate program reps, media and other industry service providers are expected to attend, making LAC 2016 what promises to be the biggest one yet.
What I think is so special about the LAC is the vibe that comes along with it…take a walk through the expo floor and you will see what I mean. Everyone is young (well, at least most of us were ten years ago), people are having fun, meetings are friendly, the alcohol is flowing, music is blaring and each evening features an official party that goes until at least 3am.
The challenge here is attempting not overdue it at night so you can get value from meetings and the panels during the day. In an effort to help you manage your daytime schedule and extracurricular activities, here are my top five attractions at LAC that shouldn’t be missed.
The SEO guru’s panel
The LAC will kick off its conference sessions with the “SEO Guru’s Panel: Technical insight to boost your rankings in 2016” featuring SEO experts Jason Duke of ForeverUn Limited, Fili Wiese of Search Brothers, Andy Blackburn of GameOn and Jon Earnshaw of Pi Datametrics.
I spoke with Blackburn to get an idea of what juicy tidbits the panel plans to reveal and he said to expect a big chunk of the content to be around algorithm changes, how to counter the most recent algorithm changes and what the top technical SEO tips for 2016 will be. He said attendees can also expect discussion around duplicate content, the brand ranking update and the RankBrain algorithm update.
Celebs, celebs and MORE CELEBS
There have always been celebrity appearances at LAC such as Rio Ferdinand, David Hasselhoff, James Wade and the list goes on, but LAC 2016 has the most impressive list of celeb appearances I’ve ever seen. Over the course of two days, LAC delegates will have the opportunity to meet:
Evander Holyfield: Friday, Feb 5 – 10bet/RealDealBet (K20)
Glenn Hoddle and Glenn Hysén: Friday, Feb 5 – Unibet Affiliates (F13)
John Barnes: Friday, Feb 5, 11:00-16:00 – Europartners (E20)
Mike Tindall, MBE: Friday, Feb 5 @ 12:00 – UFX.COM (FPE 18)
Ruud Gullit: Friday, Feb 5, 13:00-17:00, BetClic/Expekt (K24)
Chris Kamara: Friday, Feb 5, 14:45 onwards, Ladbrokes (H15)
August “Agge” Rosenmeier: Friday & Saturday, Feb 5 & 6 – Betsson (C10)
Kille Kujala: Friday, Feb 5 @ 13:00 & Saturday, Feb 6 – LuckyDino (D24)
Ian Rush, MBE: Saturday, Feb 6 @ 11:00 – Banc De Binary (FPE 21)
The LAC 10 Year Anniversary Panel
The 10 year anniversary panel will take place on Saturday, February 6th from 11:15-12:00 and should not be missed. Nothing beats raw experience in this industry and hearing from some of our “dinosaurs” on what they have learned over the years should yield some invaluable information.
Panellists are as follows:
Ariel Reem, CEO, Extract Net
Luisa Woods, Vice President, Tropicana Entertainment Inc
Michael Corfman, CEO, Casino City
Gary Myers, Head of UK Sports Affiliates, Ladbrokes
Ory Weihs, CEO, XLMedia
Bryan Bailey, Founder, Casinomeister
Speaking from a personal point of view, Michael Corfman is the man responsible for bringing me into this industry 11 years ago, Gary Myers and Bryan Bailey I met shortly thereafter through my Casino City role, so I’m really looking forward to the memories this panel will bring back to me and hope you will enjoy it too.
iGB Affiliate Awards
For the first time ever, the iGB Affiliate Awards are free to attend for all LAC delegates. The awards will be serving as the “official opening party” for the LAC, so everyone should plan on hitting the Electric Brixton venue for the awards delivery from 21:15-10:30 followed by entertainment, a DJ and party.
Also new this year is a revised judging process to ensure the authenticity of the awards, plus the actual number of awards delivered has been reduced from 32 to 25 in response to previous attendee feedback.
Sunday Session
The Sunday Session sponsored by Intertops is one of my favorites. In my opinion, this networking event is the most valuable from a business perspective as its relaxed, easy to meet new people and everyone is relatively sober. This year the event takes place from 13:00-16:00 at Latymers, an English pub five minutes walking distance from the LAC venue.
Christine Marrah, long time affiliate and friend of Intertops, is an ambassador of the Sunday Session and when I asked her to elaborate on the festivities, here is what she said:
“I can simply say the whole team at Intertops have always been so hospitable
towards everyone, not just affiliates but to competitors as well. A few years back we thought it would be nice to have a chilled out event for everyone to enjoy a final beer while saying goodbye to friends they may have missed all week before taking off back home. Intertops is celebrating 20 years of being in business, this is a huge milestone for them and I am proud to call them my friend”.
