ShareASale ThinkTank: 10 Years of New Ideas and Partnerships

As we get ready to kick off our 10^th annual ShareASale ThinkTank in our hometown of Chicago, we thought it would be fun to take a look back on some of the great times we’ve had putting these conferences on over the last decade.

ThinkTank began as a way for us to bring together some of our top clients as well as those new, up and coming Affiliates and Merchants in a setting with an emphasis on interactions, effective business development, and many laughs. As our Director of Client Services, Sarah Beeskow-Blay succinctly put it, “ThinkTank is a wonderful blend of class and camaraderie, and all attendees are certain to benefit from the free-flow exchange of ideas and information.”

Let’s now head to the wayback machine and look back on how the event has grown. We look forward to seeing all the attendees here in the Windy City on Sunday! 

ThinkTank 1 – Las Vegas, NV – 2006

12 Merchants and 20 Affiliates! We were just testing the waters of hosting our own mini-conference, and it turned out to be a great success with fantastic presentations from the Merchants and a demo about our Client Services offerings.

ThinkTank 3 – San Diego, CA – 2008

ThinkTank was gaining in popularity and this year we would add a new optional session at the end of the conference. We called this the “Things We Need to Fix Session,” allowing the attendees to voice any opinion to our CEO of issues they may have with our network or items they would like to see implemented. This was very well received and would continue in every ThinkTank since!

Of course, since we were in such a great location for it, you cannot forget the many business meetings held on the golf course before and after the sessions as well!

ThinkTank 4 – Newport Beach, CA – 2009

The years would go on with many successful ThinkTanks in places like Half Moon Bay, CA, where workshops for both Affiliates and Merchants were a resounding success with discussions on social media, coupons, how program agreements should work and much more. 

We came back to Chicago for a mini-ThinkTank (we called it the remix) in 2011 which gave many of our team at the time a chance to help out and experience parts of a ThinkTank for themselves and meet some of our industry partners. We hosted an Under the Stars networking party on a Chicago rooftop which was everyone enjoyed. Attendees learned more about the new tools we were introducing, took in a Chicago Cubs game and some visited the ShareASale offices or took in the sights.

As the industry grew, so did attendance for ThinkTank leading to some fantastic events such as…

ThinkTank 8 – Denver, CO – 2013

We had over 100 Affiliates and for the first time, Bloggers, attend this ThinkTank in the Mile High City. ShareAsale team members helped to lead some amazing education sessions at this event along with some fantastic Merchants lending their expertise as well. The attendees were treated to a beautiful location in downtown for the ThinkTank as well as many fun activities at night all put on by the ShareASale team for the three days

We took a break after a ThinkTank in Charlotte in 2014 to refocus and grow. Hence, this is our “10th” ThinkTank. 

We are incredibly excited for this upcoming Sunday and look forward to welcoming old industry friends and new. We are proud of the atmosphere that we create to help our clients build new relationships, as well as promote a learning experience for all levels of Affiliate Marketing expertise.

Of course, being who we are, you know we’ll have some fun activities planned as well!

If you are interested in learning more about ThinkTank, please contact our Marketing Department. They can be emailed anytime: ShareASale@ShareASale.com