Barbados itself was a treat – it was less developed than I had imagined, that’s a good thing.

It was great to get back into diving, after a 4 year gap I was a little rusty, but it all came back to me quickly – Thanks to Hannah for convincing me to go!  The nights at Harbour Lights and the Boat Yard were great fun.  Both were all you can drink evenings! Yes, that was a little messy for some – James do we have pictures of the ‘Worm’? - and who has the photo evidence of Dwight Yorke heading off with the Columbian Hooker?

The Rum Ball Rally offered a great opportunity to explore the Island, our jeep consisted of Jim Mansfield from Intel, his wife Erica and James - we managed to blag a 7ft rum bottle cutout on our scavenger hunt - somehow it managed to get back to London to bless the AF walls!

Thanks to Tom Quinn for organising the fishing trip, sadly we didn’t catch anything but least we had rum and coke to hand and the sun shining! Don’t know how MagicFreebies Tom managed to survive the trip with a dislocated shoulder after a ‘Shark Attack’ the night before?

Finally my activities were rounded off with a round at Sandy Lane Golf Course, sadly not the $4000 a round Green Monkey, but the equally impressive Sandly Lane Country Club course – its pretty neat as you get a local caddy with insider knowledge of the greens and fairways.

I hear James is looking to potentially increase the numbers again next year with up to 100 people flying over, and looking at a hotel with direct beach access which would be I believe, welcomed.

Thanks to everyone who made the trip so much fun, and to anyone who is thinking about heading out next year – I’d definitely would recommend it!

Other thoughts:

• http://www.leemccoy.co.uk/2009/06/thanks-guys-for-barbados-but-i-wont-be.html
• http://www.affiliates4u.com/forums/affiliate-future/113132-huge-thanks-af-team-barbados-09-a.html

Having never been to this part of the world (except for the Bahamas for the now defunct Affiliate Force cruise back in 2001) does anyone have any tips on surviving the week? I’ve heard all sorts of stories from alumni from the incentive over the last 3 years!

I’m looking forward to dusting off my PADI card and getting some diving in and exploring the Island a little with the Rum Ball rally!

For anyone looking to structure an affiliate incentive you’d be wise to take a look at how James and the team have handled the promotion to not only reward the very top affiliates who drive huge volumes but the up and coming affiliates who work equally hard for their merchants.

Structured incorrectly these incentives can do more harm than good so it’s nice to see someone getting it right.  These extra  incentives ranged from best use of creative, best increase in performance, top affiliate and PR i.e talking about the merchant on blogs, twitter and forums and other social media platforms.

I’m looking forward to spending some decent time with everyone next week, something which is often very difficult at our own events!