In March of 2006 I attended Yanik Silver's Internet Marketing Underground seminar in Washinton, DC. It was a life-changing date with destiny, for it was there that I met my future JV Partner, Eric Holmlund.
I was also impressed by the high caliber of people who attended this seminar. It seemed that there was an awful lot of success in the room filled with over 300 people.
Two years later and Yanik does not disappoint.
The entire Underground concept is that there are plenty of unsung success stories in Internet marketing. You may not know who these people are, but they are making very comfortable livings in their particular niche.
Since these "underground" entrepreneurs are revealing their secrets for the first time on Yanik's stage, he ties the whole conference together with a "spy" theme. Attendees are "agents" and Yanik always finds a pop culture spy theme that persists throughout the entire conference.
In 2006, the theme was Austin Powers. You may remember that was the year I accidently insulted Vern Troyer, aka Mini-Me.
In 2007, the theme was Mission Impossible. Robert Stack signed autographs and posed for pictures with attendees.
This year, the theme was based on the hit prime-time thriller, 24. The ticking clock was a part of the entire conference.
Yanik succeeded in inviting a fantastic roster of speakers, including Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos.com. Tony is a down-to-earth guy who presented a great vision for corporate culture and customer service. He reiterated many things that I personally believe and gave me plenty of new ideas. Zappos is doing some absolutely brilliant things and they are on track to do $1 BILLION in sales for 2008. Impressive, yes?
I had the pleasure of enjoying lunch with Mike Filsaime, Ryan Deiss and Cameron Johnson. Mike is one of the most brilliant marketers I know, as well as being a good friend.
Ryan told the funniest joke at the table.
And you'll recognize Cameron as one of the contestants on Oprah's show, "The Big Give". He's a bright young man who we will undoubtedly continue hearing from.
Bart Baggett is always a joy to spend time with. He's got a great sense of humor and is very versatile. I'm sure he'd find a way to make an off-color joke about that comment as well. ;-) Bart did a handwriting analysis for me and I will try to post the video soon.
The event was packed with high-profile individuals, including Dr. Joe Mercola, whose Mercola.com medical site is only second in traffic to WebMD. Dr. Mercola has a wonderful vision for transforming the health care industry and I will wholeheartedly support his efforts.
Here's a photo of me and Dr. Joel...
Of course, Yanik's seminar always bring the Internet "dinosaurs" out of the wordwork!
Marlon Sanders showed up with a new style, sporting bleached hair and trendy duds. Check out the bling!
Here I am hanging with the illustrious Mr. Sanders, who was good for marketing insights and a few laughs.
The networking opportunties continued as I had the opportunity to spend time with Declan Dunn, Jonathon Mizel and Tony Blake.
Yanik always comes up with clever events for the Friday night VIP dinner. He has done a murder mystery (in which Jeff Walker was found guilty of Yanik's murder!), but this years event was even better.
Yanik hired the Go Game to create an on-the-streets of LA scavenger hunt that challenged teams to follow clues and earn points by shooting creative photos and videos according to instructions sent via cell phone. Our team included myself, Eric Holmlund, Tom Kulzer and Sean Cohen (from Aweber.com), Don Crowther (of Stomper SMARTS), Rick Grunden and another gentleman whose name evades me at the moment.
We had a great time coming up with creative solutions to the puzzles that were assigned us, though we eventually did lose our way in LA. We thought for sure that we didn't place anywhere near the top, but as it turned out we won!
Here's a photo of the winning team with our trophy and three nerf gun prizes. We gave the trophy to Eric since he took one for the team by allowing his head to be dunked in what was undoubtedly algae-filled water. Ick!
For the Saturday night entertainment, Yanik contracted with Mini Kiss to come and rock out for us.
That's right. A Kiss cover band made up entirely of "little people".
They were... um... hmmm.. .how do I say this? They were "interesting".
Enough said. Here is a photo of me with the minis!
Of course, in between the networking and fun, I did attend some of the sessions as well! Barry Dunlop and Dean Hunt provided some great tips for buzz marketing, and Andrew Lock wowed the crowd with his Microwave Marketing quick tips for doing cool stuff online.
All in all, it was a valuable conference to attend. If you are not going to conferences like this, you are missing out big time.
Thanks for a great time, Yanik!
It's Del.icio.us!
Furl It!
April 4, 2008 06:34 AM
Joel, what a great summary of the event. As a first time attendee I must say the value is great and I'll be at the next one.
I noticed Zappos sponsored the tubs you put your shoes in at L.A.X - gotta admire that placement..
The networking opportunities were first class.
April 4, 2008 08:40 AM
That looks like alot of fun to meet with all the big shots of internet marketing. Cool Joel
http://www.websitelinks.co.za
http://www.fishinginfo.co.za
http://www.mariasharapovathechampion.blogspot.com
April 4, 2008 09:15 AM
This is a great update. So often you hear the hype of these conferences and in the end never hear how great they actually were.
Joel, it looks like you have changed you look a bit. I was wondering who the guy was that was in all the pics until I really squinted to see that you are now much more clean cut then your sites make you out to be. Good change.
April 4, 2008 09:31 AM
Thanks
April 4, 2008 10:14 AM
Hey Joel - great to finally meet you at Underground IV. Hope you're well.
Tim
April 4, 2008 11:03 AM
Great Photos. All the knowledge, networking, and fun. I have to go!
April 4, 2008 09:15 PM
Looks like the event was fairly dead. Maybe if it wasn't underground, you would have more people attending?
April 4, 2008 11:08 PM
Thanks for sharing I agree very much with another comment left earlier. You just don't ever really here about the results or benefits of these conferences. It appears as if it was a great networking opportunity and landed some solid JV opportunities.
--
Michael
http://www.avekhost.com
April 6, 2008 10:54 AM
Joel.
Right on the money once again from one former Disc Jockey to another I must say.
Yanik's an amazing individual, and I cannot wait for the TOP SECRET package that's sure to arrive with all the transcripts from the Underground secret event.
Love your Adsense newsletters by the way Joe.
Here's to making a cool 6 figures this year, 2008.
Feelgood.
http://www.absolute-seduction-tips.com
April 6, 2008 11:12 AM
Sounds like a great event. Wish I could have checked it out!
April 7, 2008 10:31 AM
Underground was a fantastic event! Many brilliant minds and plenty of ideas that I am going to impliment. I look forward to next year.
April 16, 2008 01:02 PM
Great conference - it was NO WHERE NEAR DEAD...the speakers were amazing; the contacts we made were crucial AND it was fun!
It was worth the price of admission many times over!
Nice to meet you at the BlackJack tourney Joel! Hope you got the (fuzzy) photo I sent!
Carrie Wilkerson
The Barefoot Executive
www.theBossMovie.com