They say that what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Is that a rule? ‘Cause I’m just about to break it. You are forewarned.

Last weekend was the Second Annual WishList Member Live event. It was my first time and it won’t be the last. While I’d never met-in-person any of the attendees, I’d networked with many of them through the WishList Insider site, as well as the Developer Certification course.

It felt like going to a reunion where you sort-of know a lot of people, but it’s been years since you’ve really connected. These names, faces and voices suddenly became real people. I even recognized many by their pictures on the forum. I’m still not sure if that’s a good thing or not.

The first day, we heard from several speakers, including Adii Pienaar (theme designer), Chris Garrett (blogger), Ray Edwards (copywriter) and Cory Miller (theme designer). Some great information was shared and, although I’ve been working in an online business for almost three years, I did pick up some great tips!

Day two split us up into two tracks: Marketing and Developing. I went to the Developer’s side and was overwhelmed by the potential of WishList Member! I’ve been working with this software for over a year now, and with the release of their API (application programing interface), some true magic can be accomplished.

I now have to ask myself, “Do I want to learn how to use this? Or should I hire one of these smart people to get it done for me?” The potential of the API is huge. I’m already speaking with a fellow Developer who has created a couple plugins. I’m hoping to learn some stuff from him, and maybe help in the ideas & testing arenas instead of the actual programming area!

The event culminated with the First Annual Wishie Awards, awarding trophies to the best sites in several categories. It was a fun, celebratory event and a fun twist on the ubiquitous “cocktail party” that live events always seem to have.

Was it worth it?

When I decided to attend WishList Member Live, I went with two goals. One was to personally meet Stu McLaren and Tracy Childers, the duo behind WishList Member. Here’s proof that I met that goal! –>

My other goal was to personally meet two of my fellow Certified Developers. I’d connected with them in the forums, but really wanted the opportunity to get to know them better as I plan on referring clients looking for a custom membership site. I like helping out my friends, and getting to know Charly Leetham and Steve Dimmick was simply awesome. It’s so fun to find people who act exactly the same in real life as they do online.

If that had been all that happened, I would have counted my attendance at the event as having been a good investment. But I also had the opportunity to meet other Certified Developers and a slew of folks interested in my Management services.

Plus, I had fun! I made some new friends and had some great 1:1 conversations.

And I didn’t need to visit the casino to leave Vegas feeling richer than when I’d arrived.