Wow...Florida Internext..

[XPorn]

was t i n y

Very small.....

XPorn

[Tart]

Did you have a good time anyway? and where's the pics?

[Ramster]

Yes the showroom floor was very small but I personally got a lot of good business done. It is what you make it I guess. The floor though, ouch.

This hotel sucks too. $11 for a shot/drink and don't even ask how much it is to eat. LOL

[Greenguy]

I'm very interested to see what they will do next year. When Farley was on the radio show about 10 months ago & we spoke about Miami & addressed those issues, it was already booked for this year.

Did they have the free food like last year? Wireless thru the hotel? Was smoking allowed in the rooms?

I remember them saying that they were going to do away with the floor & have it all seminars & round tables, so that will be the excuse for the size of the floor.

[Jim]

And don't forget that Farley also said this year was already going to be bigger than ever.

[XPorn]

Yea....nice to see people and get things movin.....but wow...that show floor was lke my basement and 4 tents.....

But that being said......good, yet expensive time....

[Greenguy]

Maybe he said it was going to be bigger than Vegas, because that was easily achieved

I was looking at Adult Who's Who & it might be who they have listed, but a vast majority of the people that went to Miami owned or worked for an affiliate program.

Did anyone go to XBiz & AVN? I'd love to hear a comparison.

[Jim]

I'm going to have to listen to the interview again but I do think he said it would be bigger than ever. And of course, I replied, "but you guys always say that".

[emmanuelle]

Originally Posted by Greenie

Was smoking allowed in the rooms?

The Westin chain was among the first to ban smoking throughout all of it's properties

[cd34]

The breakfast area was in the exhibit hall and was larger than the exhibit hall. (not really, but, there might have been 20 10x10 booths) Food/Coffee was free, starbucks coffee on tap, plenty of pastries, eggs, waffles, etc -- typical buffet fare. When I was around, the staff did make sure things were hot, they brought out more before it was needed, nothing was empty and everything was fresh.

Most of the exhibits in the hall were empty, but, the cabanas around the pool were rented and people seemed to be having a good time there. Drink lines weren't all that rediculous, and it was obvious that the hotel did hire extra staff to make sure all of the tables and people were taken care of. Nothing like some of the ones I've been to where its a 15 minute wait for something to drink. And if you looked hot or thirsty, you could get a v2.0 beer or mai tai for free. They really need to work on their marketing -- I don't know what v2.0 was other than some logo on a cup.

There was wireless access in the rooms and throughout the hotel -- I wasn't a hotel guest, so, I don't know if that carried an extra fee, but, it was available.

No smoking in the rooms, the entire hotel was smoke-free, however, balconies and the pool/bar area allowed smoking, even when the signs said no smoking.

And I do believe you got a free lunch Ramster.

The shows do seem to be morphing more into social gatherings with the tradeshow stuff attached to the side. Soon, it'll be mostly social at a really expensive hotel until someone gets smart, picks a locale that is enjoyable at the right time of the year in a hotel that is reasonably priced. I think the days of the 'adult' tradeshow are probably gone. Its just not how most of the adult webmasters tend to work -- at least not what I observed.

[Toby]

Before leaving home I'd made a list of what I wanted to do re: business. Not a thing on the list had any connection with the show floor.

I crossed everything off my list but one, never did make connections with Anna & Deiter from Anna's Dungeon.

I did sit in on the ASACP self-labelling roundtable. More on that after I get back home.

I made some connections, planted some seeds, spoke to some sponsors about getting what I need to promote them, etc. It'll be a few months before I can say whether the show was profitable for me or not.

If not for the fact that I'm also visiting some friends while here in FL, I'm not sure I could justify the expense. $14 for Long Island Iced Tea in a small plastic cup? Give me a fuckin' break!

[Ramster]

cd34, you got it right and thanks for that lunch

Internet was free but there is still a $16 resort fee. Smoking is banned throughout all Westin Hotels as emmanuelle said.

Greenguy, the show was exactly that, programs and reps mostly. Not a lot of "webmasters" there but really many webmasters like myself are webmasters but also run/own paysites or programs. There was a few though around like Toby and Linkster and XPorn, ect.

I'd have to say it was a good show only because everyone is there and you can do business if you try and talk to people. I was happy.

[Torn Rose]

I just got home and have a lot of things to say on our experience, but I need time to unwind and take care of other things, but to satisfy you all for now…..

A VERY small crowd, wireless in the rooms was a joke, and we (Toni and I) was CHARGED $16 for the FREE wireless, which they told us everyone paid which was a first for me of hearing that, so I would like to hear if anyone else paid that.

We (jaYManCash) had to pay the normal hotel fees for their high speed connections so we could all work, and that was in/out constantly all weekend to the point that from Saturday afternoon on we stopped paying the $16 for the hotels high speed and went with the slow....sooooooo slow.... wireless that if we was online long enough to open a browser it was a miracle.

More later.

[emmanuelle]

[quote=Ramster]

Greenguy, the show was exactly that, programs and reps mostly. Not a lot of "webmasters" there but really many webmasters like myself are webmasters but also run/own paysites or programs. QUOTE]



Seems the only ones who attend anymore are the ones who have their boss foot the bill.
I remember scrimping and saving to be able to attend IA2000, because the educational benefits were invaluable. My, how times have changed...

[Torn Rose]

Originally Posted by Greenie

Did they have the free food like last year?

Yes, but I did not see it but was told by friends they had "… something that resembled eggs, nasty hot pockets and mac and cheese".

The funny part of this was Linkster had just told us what a great setup Xbiz was and how great the food was in great details not 40 mins before we was told this and not once did he say “hotpocket”, “mac and cheese” or “something that resembled eggs”

Originally Posted by Greenie

Wireless thru the hotel?

So they claimed, Toni and I was on the 24th floor and got zero connection, the JMC room was on the 34th and I never got connection there either. JMC plugged a wireless router into the Westins cat5 line and paid the $16 for their high speed and we used that to work, but the connection was shit at best. Constantly on/off and when you are trying to hold a meeting and need to get into an admin but can't it really "helps" you out.

Originally Posted by Greenie

Was smoking allowed in the rooms?

No, and rumor was 2 were kicked out Thursday for being told 3 times not to do it, they also had notices in the rooms that there will be a $200 cleaning fee if any evidence of smoking in the room was noticed.

Damn near everyone smoked on the balconies, so who knows how anal they will be.

[Greenguy]

I asked about the smoking because I was told by 2 people at AVN that the smoking ban was going to be taken care of when Internext was there.

I'm glad I stayed home

[docholly]

Originally Posted by Torn

Yes, but I did not see it but was told by friends they had "… something that resembled eggs, nasty hot pockets and mac and cheese".

The funny part of this was Linkster had just told us what a great setup Xbiz was and how great the food was in great details not 40 mins before we was told this and not once did he say “hotpocket”, “mac and cheese” or “something that resembled eggs”

We had fresh Hot tacos and fresh hot enchiladas, fresh cold guacamole and I can attest to the fact that at xbiz the drinks did not cost 16.00 per shot but were in fact basically free. Happy hour from 5pm-7pm nightly with many many extra drink coupons and then there is the 'slot option' Smoking in the elevators, in the hall ways and certainly in the rooms.

oh and i think the rooms were only 159.00 and i'm not sure what the daily charge was for internet but it was fast and furious.

[emmanuelle]

Originally Posted by Greenie

I asked about the smoking because I was told by 2 people at AVN that the smoking ban was going to be taken care of when Internext was there.

Does AVN really believe that they have that kind of clout with a 70 million $$ resort chain?

Best case scenario is that they got the $200 cleaning fee waived for attendees.

[Linkster]

Here's my take since I did attend both shows (although I really hadnt planned on the second one)
First - the smoking thing - thats a Westin corporate thing and nobody is gonna smoke in a room and get away with it usually - though they were very leniant about balconies (they even had ashtrays set up on them for the party suites and outside the big ballrooms)
When I first got there (a day early) the cafe outside did not allow smoking - that changed as soon as the hotel became all Internext - badge required - and no restrictions outside whatsoever.

The size - basically if I were a sponsor/program/service - I would run like hell from the showroom floor costs - every one of the sponsors I talked to said it wasnt worth the money and not one said they would get the cost back - of course since its a good tax writeoff - I doubt it made on lick of difference - the cabanas on the other hand were well done and very comparable to the cabanas at XBiz - although both shows really should think about a different time of year as the heat kept most in the pool - who wants to talk biz when sweat is pouring down your face - but still much better than the show floor.

The food and drinks - like mentioned before - XBiz had this organized so much better and with quality food/great atmosphere/great(either lowcost or free) drinks they win hands down - Im not sure what kind of deal AVN has with this hotel in Florida, but I can tell you that the prices did increase for drinks the day the show started by over 200% - the food prices seemed to stay the same - but then they are way overpriced to begin with and no real lowcost food choices on the property. This is another strong point of XBiz's show - venue - while Florida is beautiful and nice beaches/pools - the resort just doesnt have enough "action" and "choice" to be able to compete with a Vegas resort - something (If AVN really is going to consider doing any more shows) that needs to be looked at - with an eye towards finding something else as the resort is probably half the reason people didnt show up for AVN.

Internet - I dont use wireless - so I dont know that part -however I did plug into the hotels high speed cat-5 hockey puck they had on the desk and checked out the cost on the opening landing page - there was a choice for 3Mb or a much higher speed - the 3Mb for me was plenty fast and there was no charge for that - the higher speed did have a charge but I dont know what it was?

Last - there was a definite visible lack of some of the BS at this Internext with people doing stupid stuff - although some of it was still around, I think that there were large groups of people that did not show this time - I noticed a large decline in Gay/Twink population for some reason - although I really enjoy some of their parties, the normal crowd just didnt seem to be there?
The hotel still hasnt figured out that you cant let the general public in at noon on the last day with the show still winding down - way too many kids are exposed to things they shouldnt be

Final comparison - XBiz has the organization, venue, seminars, webmaster interaction, food and drink, parties down perfectly.
AVN - better come up with some brilliant ideas and start thinking about changing the Jan show right now - Mandalay??? What are they thinking?

[Greenguy]

That's some great insight Linkster - thanks for sharing it with us

[Jim]

Yeah, thanks Linkster. I keep seeing on other boards people saying it was the "Best" show ever. I suspect these are either people who sponsored Internext or AVN people themselves.

There is just no way to spin it. The core of the problem with the summer show is having it in Florida in August. Perhaps a different venue at the same time might work but, it seems to be hot all over. But, not really Florida hot. I still remember the October shows in Florida. They were at the right time and at the right price.

One more point about any summer show. Many webmasters are working very hard to be ready for the Back to School crowd. If they are going to take time off, there are a lot better things they can do than to spend a small fortune on a business related activity. Summer, for surfers, is a time for spending time with friends and family. I suspect that is the same for a lot of webmasters...I know it is with me. I know that's not true with people trying very hard to make it in this business. But for people that you want to meet that are successful, take the summer off. Perhaps the whole idea of a summer show by anyone should be reconsidered.

Of course I could be wrong...I am going to set up a poll.

[emmanuelle]

Originally Posted by Linkster

I noticed a large decline in Gay/Twink population for some reason - although I really enjoy some of their parties, the normal crowd just didnt seem to be there?

Most of those guys were models/eye candy brought by producers/ site owners.

Myself, I have brought models and staff to the show, but it just became cost prohibitive to continue doing so, in light of the diminishing returns. I have a hard time swallowing the need to pay for show floor passes for talent, who have no business on the show floor in the first place (last year's situation).

AVN's greed is directly responsible for the declining popularity of the Florida show. It's become an elitist event for big boys to pat each other on the back, and left smaller players feeling unwelcome.
IA2000 used to offer significant opportunities for all levels of the industry; education, inspiration, motivation and networking. Now it is merely a shadow of it's former glory....

[Linkster]

Jim - the problem I think that you run into with timing - the hotels are cheapest and most available in Florida in August (although you wouldnt believe it to look at the Westin prices)
My thought is that if you are going to run a webmaster show with a completely booked resort would be that you would either have to do it out of country or find another resort similar to the Westin but at a more reasonable time of year - May or October
The way the Xbiz folks did it in Vegas was terrific with splitting off the pool (the Hardrock actually has two pools interconnected) and cordoning off certain party areas - it worked and I do believe that after many shows, they definitely hit the nail on the head with their show. Now if we could just get the show scheduled at a little cooler time of the year it would be perfect

[Linkster]

emmanuelle - the only disagreement I would have is about the big boys - most of them were NOT there - I saw a bunch of the smaller programs and a few of the larger ones that make every show including Xbiz - but definitely not the top rollers - nowhere to be seen or heard from - it seemed as though even they have figured out that the returns are just not there even with the tax breaks

[Toni KatVixen]

The size of the show was a disappointment.

As an amateur, we counted (maybe) 6 sites in that area. The Florida show use to be the one for that group of folks to be seen at and get business done, especially for getting content with other sites. Now this show is way out of the price range for those people.

I love the Westin for the relaxed atmosphere, the staff seems to always be happy to see us (our valet made sure that we knew that ), the scenery, the most comfortable beds of any hotel, and yes the non-smoking (as a non-smoker, the other shows makes me sick). But unless AVN does something to make it more webmaster friendly, internext will die.

For us personally, with being with jaYMan Cash, it was the most productive show we ever had……….even if we didn’t get the content we normally get.