My role at Existem is Social Media & Events, so I’ll be involved in upcoming & existing web projects, managing social media campaigns and also working on the events side.

Often over the telephone, I’m asked where I come from, and because I’ve been in the UK for 5 and a half years I forget about my accent and reply with my most recent location instead of  South Africa! Before you ask - no - I don’t miss the snakes and spiders and other goggos!

(gogga, goggo (gho-gha or gho-gho) - Insect, bug. From the Khoikhoi xo-xon.)

I’m really excited about being here and I’m looking forward to meeting you all in the near future.

Sarah

With only 14 more sleeps to go, I’m now in my final working week at Existem before my maternity leave will start next week. Hopefully, a week to rest and sort out final preparations before our new arrival, after which time I’ve been told my world will be turned upside down and the meaning of time is long forgotten for a while!

Rest assured that the events will be well looked after in my absence by Matthew, Ingrid and the rest of the Existem troops, but hopefully they will miss me a bit!!

I’m very excited about meeting Babytays and the fun times which will follow, keeping me very busy! But I’m sure a4uexpo London will be on the back of my mind as it is one of my favour events and I enjoy working with all exhibitors, sponsors and delegates in the lead up to the event.

If you have any questions, give Matt a shout who will be happy to help and point you in the right direction and you never know I may put in a personal appearance and perhaps even with Babytays in tow!

Incase of the possible early arrival, I just wanted to say goodbye for now and I look forward to working with you all again on my return later this year / early next year.

I’m sure the team will keep you updated with the new arrival, or you can keep updated over at www.babytays.co.uk.

We’re all really excited about the move - We now just need to put our mark on it, and before you ask that does not include Jackson.

So, does anyone have any ideas on how we can make it an even more creative and inspiring workplace?

Chris already has his eye on a pool table, which I’ve said we’ll order when we hit £10k of commissions through Price Cuts ;)

Other ideas I’ve seen bantered around include:

• A magnetic blackboard
• An ideas ‘Washing Line’
• A soundproof shouting room!
• The obligatory Wii or Football table…

Whilst we can’t compete with Kirsty’s office, It would be interesting to hear your view on the perfect Affiliate working space, what do you really like about yours?

Our new address from Thursday will be…

Units 7.17 & 7.18 The Rotunda
The Deco Building
Paintworks
Bath Road
Bristol
BS4 3EH

To minimise disruption all calls should be forwarded whilst our BT numbers are ported across to our new VOIP telephone system (takes up to 6 weeks!)

We’ll upload some photos tomorrow for anyone that’s interested!

I’d like to thank everyone who has made these events possible, from the delegates and speakers to the sponsors and exhibitors, all of whom helped pull off an exceptional event.

We increased attendance figures by 25% in 2008 for a4uexpo and Sold Out tickets well before our awards ceremony in June, which demonstrates how interest in the sector is growing.

Internally we’ve seen a few changes Tom Freeman left the company to pursue his own dreams, and we welcomed Nick Jones as our Senior Developer who has done a sterling job over the last 11 months.

We’ve also welcomed both Darian Moody who is also getting his teeth into our new affiliate projects and Ingrid Anusic who joined us recently to help with the expansion of our a4uexpo Conferences and look at strategies for new ventures.

As a business we’ve taken steps to get everything together from Accounts to Structure.   The events business now sits under Existem Events Ltd as a separate entity which leaves Existem Ltd to now concentrate fully on developing new consumer websites where we can utilise the CPA model.

Mark and Bruce at Existem Affiliate Management have also had an outstanding year, with huge wins and a client base which now consists of over 40 companies.  The team have also expanded with Hannah joining in October.

Existem has also invested in a number of external start-ups and websites including Invitation Digital and eatout.co.uk.

In October I somehow managed to get my profile interview in NMA, something normally reserved for CEO’s of Myspace and the like, so very chuffed, I’ve also attended and spoken at various events in the UK and Europe.

Next year, we all know is going to be more challenging and we are well placed.  We’ve already decided to move into new offices at the Art Deco building here at the Paintworks in Bristol, which will double the office space and provide room for the business to grow.

As for our affiliate projects we’ve taken a side step this year with our events really taking priority however we’ve recently soft launched Price Cuts a new site which we will be heavily marketing in the new year and we now have the structure in place to ensure expedient development and marketing of this and future projects, and redevelopment of others including our cashback site Free Fivers which now boasts more than 230,000 members.

So before I ramble on any further, a final Thank You to everyone at affiliates4u.com, the moderators, members and our clients who have made 2008 such a enjoyable year.

On a personal note I’d like to also thank all the staff at Existem for doing such a great job over the last 12 months we’ve really pulled together as a team to pull off some excellent projects.

Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year everyone and we’ll see you all in 2009!

In that time I’ve worked on many different projects, met loads of interesting people and taken part in two HUGE events in the form of a4uexpo and a4uawards, and it’s fair to say I think the best is still to come.

On a personal level I feel my work has improved hugely since I have been here and I hope that it’s something that keeps constantly improving as we move forward.

Over the past year or so (mainly due to my first computer going to silicone heaven, taking the first 8 months work with it), I’ve kept quite a large catalogue of stock illustrations, icons, photoshop brushes and wordpress stuff and I thought now would be a fitting time to pass on some of these things.

You can download all this stuff as a zip file here (careful, it’s quite large at 300MB)

Everything provided has either been made by me or found from open source sites online.

I hope you find it helpful

The conference organised by Alex Older, aims to kick start, educate and inspire students at the University of the West of England (UWE) and is also open to Designers and Developers outside of the University.

As an ex UWE student, I am really excited to be supporting the event and investing in the exceptional talent within the Bristol area.

Apart from being based at the Paintworks, a growing new media and creative hub we are also members of the growing Bristol Media a community of new media specialists.

In addition to supporting the WDC conference, we are also bringing the a4uexpo Roadshow to Bristol on the 16^th July 2008. The evening is a free to attend networking event for anyone involved or interested in the Affiliate Marketing space.

We are looking for a talented PHP Developer to join Nick on the technical side. We have some awesome ideas lined up and we need someone passionate about emerging technologies to put them into action with support of Pete our full time designer and the rest of the team.

We also have a new position for a Sales and Events Executive to assist Claire wih a4uexpo and other events.

We offer a fun, relaxed working environment, 24 days holiday + bank holidays, an active social calender and a company contributed pension scheme.

If you’re interested apply to matthew at existem.com attaching your CV, or call me on 01179 723998 and we can have a chat.

If you are reading this and know someone who would be ideal for either position - introduce them to us and if they get the job we’ll send you £150 or a Magnum or two of Champagne!

Finally if you are a recruitment agency reading this, please don’t waste mine or your time by calling!

But we did all have a gander when they used the office next door as a base for filming.

Chris especially liked the actresses using our window as a Mirror!

Here are a few shots we took a couple of Months back…

Next time we’ll have to make sure we sneak in some website branding!

See the careers section for more information on the role - If anyone can help us fill the role we’ll happily reward you with a bottle of your chosen tipple whether Cristal or San Pelligrino!

http://www.existem.com/careers