We have had three terrific and productive days at Affiliate Summit. The working group and FAB members turned out in force at the show and have been extremely valuable in helping us move closer to formation.

On Saturday afternoon we had our first joint working group/FAB meeting. In all we had about 20 people attend, including 8 out of the 11 FAB members. Here are some of the topics we discussed:

• A balanced and well represented membership is critical. Individual publishers need to have equal voice with the corporate members, and especially the sponsor members.
• The group settled on a membership model that is in three tiers (akin to SEMPO): an individual, a company and a ‘circle’ level. Each level would be priced differently, starting with something reasonable for individual publishers, something more significant for companies, and something substantial for circle (or whatever they are called). What those dollar amounts are and what those level benefits are have yet to be determined. But the group reiterated that membership level shouldn’t cause an imbalance in voting power.
• We opted for this tiered approach, as opposed to a ’segmented’ approach that defines membership by business model. The diversity in size and types of potential members seemed to make that difficult.
• What is the PMA trying to achieve? We need to bring something to the industry and we need to bring something of value to each member. We all recognize the need to raise the visibility and credibility of performance marketing. And at this meeting, the group added that it comes down to the ‘effectiveness of performance marketing.’ We each want to be more effective in our business, and collectively we want the industry to be more effective. Each special interest group or segment within the membership, can help define what effectiveness means to them. And it allows the PMA to evolve the definition of effectiveness as the market evolves.

On Sunday evening, there was another joint meeting, and 16 people attended. This group discussed the concept of ‘charter’ or ‘founding’ membership, and getting the PMA legally established so we can accept memberships, and begin tackling the things the members want to see accomplished.

• Before we can begin accepting members, we need to form officially. It was suggested that a law firm could be the agent for the PMA and hold membership dues and sponsorship donations in escrow until the PMA becomes its own legal entity. The law firm would also help with incorporation and making sure the process we use to elect the initial board of directors meets all legal requirements for a non-profit. We learned this is fairly typical for non-profit industry associations. It was a great relief to hear that recommendation, and now we have this option to pursue, moving us further to formation.

Today there was a Q & A session held, to give the community an opportunity to pose questions about the PMA. We had a great turn out, especially from the working groups and FAB volunteers (probably nearly 30). There were a couple of contentious questions, and I think those were based on frustration that we aren’t yet organized and can’t address industry issues yet, beyond what individuals may be able to do. There is also some concern that we haven’t been inclusive in our efforts, but I think the great turn out (over half our volunteers were there), demonstrated to everyone that we have a very broad and diverse group of people volunteering their time to help form the PMA.

It has been suggested that we post the contact information here for all the FAB members and working group members. That way, people with questions or concerns can reach out to people they know (and with so many volunteers, you probably know someone!). I’ll give those volunteers a brief chance to ‘opt-out’ of that suggestion and then I’ll post their information next week.

Next up:

The working groups are finalizing their formation recommendations, and we hope to have the FAB vote on the formation proposals. We also hope to become official very soon so we can start accepting members.

For all of you who have participated at the show, many thanks and keep up the good work!