Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada – The 6th Annual CBG Affiliate Weekend was held from Friday, August 16th through Monday, August 19th at the Fallsview Hilton in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The weekend continues to be the premier North American gathering for affiliates involved in the world of online gaming. A dozen affiliate programs sponsored the event that brought together over 100 of the online gaming business’ most active affiliates and their spouses. The conference was designed to mix a bit of work with a lot of socializing.
The event was headquartered at the Fallsview Hilton, immediately across the street from the Fallsview Casino. Most participants were lodged at the hotel, which hosts the Saturday seminars, evening parties and most meals. The conference began on Friday with participants registering in the afternoon and joining for a full group dinner at East Side Mario’s next door to the Hilton. This year the evening party was reprised, taking place, as is tradition, in the hotel’s 16th floor game room. Saturday featured sessions with the sponsoring affiliate programs and talks by Stu Hoegner about the legal landscape of North America and Mike Litson of BlueClawSearch.co.uk who opened the floor to SEO questions from the audience.
Saturday Night’s party was a Casino Night, where players gained raffle ticket entries when they “cashed-in” their winnings. Thousands of dollars in prizes were awarded, including a Laptop, Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby Livestrong Team Canada jerseys, Casino chips and a bottle of 15 year old Scotch, just to name a few. While there was a lot of excitement over the prizes there was a serious moment when it was announced that sponsors William Hill, Fortune Affiliates, Red Returns, ReferBack, Affactive and Revenue Jet joined together to donate $6000 to Princess Margaret Hospital, a world renown cancer treatment center in Toronto. Following a breakfast, overlooking the Horseshoe Falls, at the Watermark Restaurant, most of those present went for a ride down the Niagara in a chartered jet boat. Those who ventured out report that it was great fun and quite wet.
Judy Button, the weekend’s hostess, released the results of a survey of the registrants, which overwhelmingly indicated a preference for a date in late July or early August. Ms. Button also announce that next year’s gathering will not include morning sections and will likely move from a lecture format to a small group 5-10 workshops. The weekend wrapped up with a breakfast on Monday morning attended by many of the sleep-starved participants. As the crowd dispersed, leaving Niagara Falls, for homes scattered around the world, work begins on planning for next year’s weekend. The best summary of the weekend came from an affiliate who sent a thank you note. He wrote: “Thanks again for hosting such a great event. It was a really nice change from the huge conferences… as this one had a nice personal touch and a lot more interaction.”
