E-commercing around

Despite the dot-com doldrums, everything seemed rosy at the E-commerce SIG Wednesday night, January 3rd, at Syracuse University's Lubin House. Linkshare's Client Development Director Jeff Pacy, with a sexy 5 o'clock shadow and dark suit, moderated the panelists, including ebrick.com's Cris Abramson and fine fellows from Chase, Clubmom, Nano and the snazzy Snaz. The discussion swung from what's going on in the marketplace to the shift from a CPM and portal basis to meritocracy, affiliate marketing and performance-based relations. The conversation also revolved around recruiting and retaining the right people. They panelists said that now is the time to hire good people. After the talk ended, I chatted with Alliant Technologies' Marshall Brown, who told me about his company's large retail accounts. Linkshare's Technical Integrations Product Manager Steven Englander and Direct Affiliate Marketing Manager Andy Calimano chatted with guests who lingered. CBS Marketwatch's Multimedia Producer Vanessa Catalano told me she thought the panel was a good indication of the sort of year we had. She added that the mood is confident about 2001.