On May 30 and 31, the largest partner marketing conference in Eastern Europe in 2024 was held in Yerevan. – MAC Affiliate Conference. As promised, I visited her. It’s time to write a short report for those who couldn’t or didn’t want to come.
Recommendation of the month: Pin-up Partners – affiliate program in gambling and betting verticals. A direct advertiser operating under the brand of the same name since 2016 on CPA, RevShare, RevShare+ and HYBRID models.
- On the eve of MAC-24
- The first day of the conference
- Private SEO afterparty on Lake Sevan
- Final thoughts
On the eve of MAC-24
As expected, MAC-24 has become one of the most exciting events in the webmaster world over the past few years. Many arrived at the conference in advance and started meeting with colleagues in restaurants, bars, clubs and hotels, arranging a kind of prepati.
Although I am not a big opinion leader in the industry myself, I was even invited to 3 different chats. Moreover, on one day even on May 8 (almost a month before the actual date of the event).
I know for sure that, at least, Artyom Vysokov and Zhenya Ivanov came to Yerevan for a week. In general, there were a lot of people. And I didn’t expect such a scale, so I didn’t prepare for the whole week. Although I walked around Gyumri with some of the guys on May 25-26.
The traffic was such that someone was about to be evicted from the hotel. But in the end, it seems like everyone lived up to the first day of the confa. However, some managed to be seen only after lunch on May 30.
In any case, I worked until the 29th and we arrived in Yerevan, in fact, only on the eve of the first Poppy day. We checked into a small hotel and immediately went to meet with friends.
View of Yerevan from the veranda of our hotel.
The first day of the conference
It’s not the first year I’ve been going to a conference for webmasters, so I know perfectly well that it’s better not to approach the opening itself, so as not to stand in queues. I had breakfast slowly in the morning, called a Yandex Taxi and drove to the Meridian Exhibition Center.
I stood in traffic jams in Yerevan for about half an hour (the city center was blocked due to anti-government rallies). And as a result, I arrived at my destination exactly an hour after the official opening of the conference.
However, this did not save me from the registration queue.
But I was like, I took some pictures. We also had to take a video of how we drove up to the conference venue: the organizers epically decorated the road with banners and other similar things. But I didn’t have time.
I immediately contacted Artyom Vysokov, because I did not have time to meet with him the day before. And as a result, I spent most of the day hanging out with him and his subscriber from the company Linkbuilder.com – Anton (with whom, perhaps, we will stir up something in the future).
And I also very unexpectedly met with my old friend from Ufa, who, concurrently, turned out to be a reader of my blog, Serega. He is currently actively developing mobile applications.
According to my personal feelings, most of the stands on the MAC-24 were from partners working in gambling, betting and interior. Separately, I can highlight the stands of all kinds of payment services (which, in fact, work in the same niches). No Admitads or CityAds.
On the first day of the conference, there was no drinking water from the organizers, but this was compensated by affiliate programs at the stands. However, they didn’t have much ordinary water either. But there was alcohol, snacks and all sorts of related drinks.
And the partners, as usual, had a bunch of all sorts of drawings of iPhones, virtual reality helmets, merch, discounts on services, etc. Here I once again regretted that I was not staying for the second day and the official afterparty.
Funny moment: a couple of traffic arbitration communities have launched online contests to collect business cards of conference participants. Whoever takes pictures and sends the most arbitration business cards will receive cash prizes (several hundred dollars). We could also participate in this.
You can take a lookvideo from the confa center on my Instagram.
As it turned out closer to lunch, there was no free food on the Mac from the organizers (with the exception of lunch for representatives of companies with Diamond penetrations).
I can’t remember a single conference I’ve been to personally without a buffet lunch. But what can you do? We tried what was sold in the dining area for money. Although there was a rather poor choice there.
After lunch, tired enough from the heat, we listened to a report and a half in the hall with a stage. At first, Galina Bakusheva talked (without details) about how she built her SEO team for gambling. Then KJ Rocker broadcast basic things about lead generation.
The organizers of the Poppy posted videos of the reports on their YouTube. As usual, I have a separate album in my VK so as not to lose it. Maybe I’ll look at something else if I find time (as the same experience of previous conf shows, I won’t look at it).
Offhand, I can recommend Denis Narizhny’s speech about cheating PF on Google:
And Alexander Flint – about brand traffic accumulation:
Most likely, there are other annual reports. Therefore, if you have time, I advise you to look at everything. Write later in the comments if you particularly like something – for others.
In the evening, Artyom, Anton, and I went to a bar to celebrate the first day of the conference. We actively communicated on work and leisure topics. From the bar, I went to a restaurant, to another company of SEO specialists. Then there was an evening walk around Yerevan.
Unfortunately, I never crossed paths with Maxim MAXIMAFFILIATE. As far as I understood, he came to the conference in the afternoon. And, apparently, he had more important things to do. Well, never mind, maybe next time.
And I also didn’t get to the SEO afterparty organized in one of the chats I wrote about above. But…
Private SEO afterparty on Lake Sevan
The next morning, while everyone was moving away from the first day of MAC-24, and we were standing in traffic to the Meridian Exhibition Center (due to an accident), my company of SEO specialists and I boarded a bus at Republic Square.
An hour and a half, and here we are at Lake Sevan (where, by the way, the arbitration sailing regatta took place on the eve of the Poppy, where I also did not get), at the Hotel and Teahouse Bashinjaghyan. There we had pre-booked cabins for several days, with a beautiful view.
Perhaps three days in this place have become the top memory of the year. About on par with the trip to the Devil’s Bridge last year. If you are planning a summer vacation in Armenia, I recommend it!
On the first day we did nothing there: we rested, admired Sevan, talked, had dinner. By the way, again, I recommend the whitefish kebab (a delicious local fish that is caught right there).
On the second day, we had planned an ascent with guides to Mount Artanish. This was my first official ascent of a full-fledged mountain (Sanka and I went to the mountains in Vanadzor ourselves, but this does not count).
The climb took about 4 hours in total. With a fairly large number of stops. We could not maintain the initial rhythm set by the lead conductor. After all, IT specialists.
The views there, as well as many places in Armenia, are gorgeous!
A couple of videos from the ascent and descent are still there on my Instagram.
After the mountain, the previous evening was repeated: communication, dinner, Sevan. By the way, you can swim there only in August. The lake is large, deep, mountainous and quite cold. In winter, it freezes only in places.
The next day we had two transfers: first from Sevan to Yerevan (where we still managed to walk and have lunch), and then from Yerevan to Gyumri, home.
Final thoughts
- MAC Affiliate Conference 2024 in Yerevan turned out great! It’s not a trivial task to gather so many cool people in one place.
- The top niche for earning money in 2024-2025 is gambling. I will publish posts (which have become very rare) on this niche on my blog (subscribe).
- Lake Sevan is a top place to relax! This year we are choosing where to go in August for a week: UAE, Cyprus, Turkey or Sevan.