Signing up for Internext
 

Does anybody know if there is a way to sidestep all the financial questions on the registration form? They seem to be mandatory :-(

I find these pretty invasive (when tied to my personal and company information) and never answer them when registering at the show, but I was hoping to avoid the long lineups this year....

lie like a rug.

Alex

Yup lie, it's none of their biz anyway. Fill in the lower amounts, you'll get less spam. LOL

I guess I'm just annoyed that I have to go through 2 pages of it before I even get to the pricing page...

And, once at the show...when girls walk up wanting to scan your badge, cover it. Tell them they already did it. Or, run away :)

hehe- I caught onto that trick back in 2000

It still doesn't keep avn from selling your info though

Sound like someone with clout needs to lead a move for an Association Of Adult Webmasters and have an annual convention without a bunch of bullshit.

Hey Chop- Where in MS are you?
My family has a place in Brandon

Is AVN just a gaggle of cocksuckers or what? I've got to know.

And while were on the subject, why don't they do a show in NYC or Montreal during the summer instead the god damned subtropical rain forests of Florida?

If they're taking votes, I prefer Montreal. Less murder there.

Small world, Emmanuelle.

Hank_Heartland's family is from Florence which is about 10 miles north of me and Linkster is over on the River.

Running the back roads, I am about 15 miles from Brandon. I live on Phillips Lake which is about 2 miles north of US 49 at D'Lo. Here is a little map.

Anyone know this years prices? I refuse to fill out all of my personal info just so I can get pissed at the fact that they are charging too much.

it is called the Phoenix Forum which is NOT run by AVN :D

Actually, there is also http://www.cybernetexpo.com that runs in June. Fay runs a pretty good show, and the last one was (according to all that attended) a very good deal. I am 50/50 on going, the timing isn't very good for me again this year.

As for florida in summer, well... it is when the hotel is both the cheapest and the most available for a full house takeover. Nothing worse than a porn convention filled with "civilians". The Florida show is MUCH more "open minded" than the vegas show. I get the impression they are going to do this show in a different manner, with the whole hotel being turned into one large show, badge required to be part of the festivities at any level. This will take care of the mooches who have been staying in south beach and then just hanging around the hotel lobby to meet people.

The other part of a full house takeover that is nice is that you can be pretty sure everyone you want to see is in one place. Vegas this year was a major waste, considering people were all over the place.

AVN needs to figure out how to lower the hotel costs in vegas to make staying at the show hotel a 100% sure thing.

Alex

I'm going to be down there for a couple of days in May. Maybe we can all meet up?

It's $250 this year, and you must have a pass to be on the grounds of the hotel.
Also the hotel is adding a $16 fee per room/ per day for useless amenities such as shuttle to their sister hotel. It does include wireless access though, so all is not lost.

Webmaster Access (the Adult.com people) will be in Montreal May 5-7.
http://webmasteraccess.com/wa_east.html

I'm not convinced that it'd be worth a flight though

I'm going & I just started to fill out this massive form of useless info that no one would ever really need to know :)

1 - Which category best describes your primary business?
"Webmaster" isn't an option & I assume that's because it is a bit of a wide covering term. Neither "Marketing" or "Advertising" are listed either, which I think would cover 99.44% of the people on this board :) I think I'll choose "Other" & put in "Link List Webmaster"

2 - What best describes your role within your company?
a - I make the final decisions
By choosing this, they should now know to not contact anyone else in the company, including MrMaryLou :D

3 - What best describes you?
a - I work exclusively in the adult industry
Which is a lie because I do also have a rental property, but I like the "exclusive" term.

4 - How many currently active unique URLs does your company own?
e - 100 or more
There's no way in hell I would be able to count how many URL's I own. Domains? Yeah, I can count those. Sites? I might be able to get a list together of those. URL's? No one in their right mind would know how many URL's they have - LOL

5 - On a daily basis, how many unique visitors visit your sites (this is a combined total of all sites)?
f - 100,000 to 500,000
There were higher options, but with 150+ domains scattered across 4 servers, I have no fucking clue how many uniques I get to all my sites (let alone the number of sites that I have, but as I said before, I could find out if I was really bored & it really mattered)

6 - On a daily basis, how many unique visitors visit your sites (this is a combined total of all sites)?
a - Less than 10
I keep it less than 10 so that I don't have to take off my shoes & socks when I total things for payroll :D

7 - Which category best describes your company's annual revenues?
I think you all know me well enough to know that I'm not gonna list what range I selected, but it does seem very strange that the lowest range is "Under $250k"

8 - Approximately how much will your organization spend in the next 12 months on all IT/Internet related products and services?
a - Under $25K
That's the lowest & I really have no fucking clue what "IT/Internet related products and services" are.

So I get thru all of that & see that this is the ONLY option available for the badge:
All Inclusive Attendee Registration Fee $250.00
Ummmm....what happened to just the show badge?

There's also no info on booking the hotel (but that might come after I pay for this, which I'm not ready to do just yet)

Ok, where's Aly? :D

Hmmmm.... I may not go this year after all.... too much BS just to sign up.

The hotel is taking reservations now, but it's not on the internext-expo site.
It might be prudent to book your rooms regardless, since you have until the end of July to cancel.

This sucks. Is Jim still boycotting them? Maybe we should all just hang out at Jim's house.

We should arrange our own show. We could camp out at Chop's place, have a bon fire, go skinny dipping, and lay drunk and naked under the stars.

I'm never going to be able to sell enough of my kid's stuff to earn the amount required for both my wife and I to go. Maybe I should just send her.

This is one of my biggest problems with these filthy fucking AVN rimjobs. Why are they so blind to such a huge sector of the adult world? We, the god damned webmasters, are the largest group, but they have no idea that we exist. Either you are one of the big sponsors or you don't matter. Fitlhy goo-dripping meat munchers. |angry|
Do they want to lock out little jerks like me? Is that their intention?

I AM FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH, DAMN IT!

AVN has no business in the online business. It was that way back in 98-99 and it is still that way.
Just an example with their own words...

4 - How many currently active unique URLs does your company own?

Greenie and I talked about this. Do you know how many url's are on GGandJ alone? Not just counting every page but every thread and every post has their own urls. I know...they are probably talking about domains. That's my point...they don't know what they are talking about.

They need to stick to reviewing movies and leave this business to people that know how to run it.

Join the boycott

TheBitch is not happy with the price & she wants to boycott as well :D

I don't mind Vegas too much, because the only thing I do thru AVN is the badge - I book my own hotel room & I usually stay a few days before or after & treat it as a vacation. So all I need is the cheap badge so I can get on the floor.

But fuck, if there's no cheap badge & i have to buy 6 of these things at $250 each, I might just have a boycott party in my backyard :D

Maybe I should just check Other and say that I'm just looking to see some nekkid porn stars.

I'm pretty burnt out on these things. I do really enjoy seeing old friends and meeting people that I've gotten to know online in person but really if it wasn't for the fact that it is less then ten miles from where I live I'm not real sure that I would even go.

My feeling is this: I hate to pay AVN money for anything, considering how low an opinion they appear to have of us all. They really do treat us like cattle, and I for one don't like the shock stick to keep me moving.

I also think they have put abusive policies in place in the past that have backfired on them, including the "have to have a booth to have a party" thing. In the end, it put more people in position to make fun of them, the "gone fishing" or "we had to have a booth... but they didn't say we have to use it" signs must hurt their appearance at least a bit.

The big supporters, the babenets, maxcash, CEs and others have either gone away entirely or limited their show appearances. The size of their show floor continues to shrink, and the number of parties and events AWAY from the show continues to grow.

I go because I want to see my friends, to spend some time, and talk business with people that I might not see otherwise. Getting to ride around in Cleo's car is a thrill all to itself. :)

It's very hard to boycott this show, there really is too much chance to make deals and get things done... and in the end, that is what the shows are for, no?

Alex

Sounds like a good plan to me.

Seriously, I think some us should get together and throw a GG&J meeting. I went to the first Chicago meeting that Dr B and Surfn put on. To me that was better than Vegas.

For me, it's all about whether or not it is worth the investment. The only thing I want to do is meet my fellow webmasters. Period. I just want to sit down and relax with a bunch of the people I chat with here on a daily basis. It doesn't seem that AVN's plans mesh with mine.

$250 just to wander amongst the shiny sponsor posters? Bah humbug.

More than one trip to the floor was as useless as a tit on a bull. The contacts at the hosipality suites and private parties were priceless.

That is why they are moving to "secure the facility" as it were, and charge you to access ANY PART OF THE SHOW, including the show lobby, the bar area, the pool area, etc.

Clearly, AVN has figured out that more and more of the business of the show is being conducted off the show floor, in the bars, at the pool, in the lobby, in the events, and around the area. They are also understanding that a whole hotel takeover gives them the potential to sell advertising space and better control the overall situation from end to end.

I think you will see even more events held this year directly at the hotel, that AVN will work at least minor deals to assure that the fun stays right on premises, and that the leeches who have hung around the lobbies and bars in the past shows can't get in. They will forcibly increase their paid attendance by making it all but impossible to be a leech.

Net bottom line, at the end of the day, AVN will make more money from the show. The positive side being that the people you see at the show will all have had to eitehr pay $250 or have kissed $250 worth of ass to get there.

What this will mean for the overall show is another question. Obviously there will be issues about getting a badge, I see the potential that badges will be mailed BEFORE the show even starts, which could be interesting.

Every year we bitch, every year we go. Could this be the year that it all changes?

Alex

Whose ass shall I start kissing then? For a schmoe like me, it just isn't worth the investment. Perhaps that is small-minded of me to say, but nothing I've seen or read has convinced me that the AVN show is worth attending for the average webmaster.

The 'show' is most definately geared toward programs owner's and a handful of big traffic movers. Why would I pay to be bombarded with sponsor advertising? I could go to GFY for free. Every time I visit the Internext site I click away feeling that I've been disenfranchised.

I skipped the Vegas show this year as I plan on skipping again next year.

If you have a good relationship with a show sponsor or booth holder, you might find them willing to give you a pass. Last year PussyCash gave out a LOT of comped passes.

FYI- Generally those who have a booth get a handful of free passes with it, and then can purchase additional passes at a substantial discount.
Most affiliate programs are more than happy to help you with something like this if you are sending them lots of sales.

I'm looking forward to miami.. should be a blast.

I think that part of the problem is that Joe Blow webmaster shouldn't have to come up with a pile of cash to go to these things.

I'm guessing that it's about $1000 minimum to go per person with the badge, hotel & airfare. Then throw in the cost of the food & drink at the hotel (which is fucking ridiculous) & you're probably looking at $2500 for 2 people for the 4 days.

I'd rather take the $2500 I was gonna spend & throw a big party at my house for those that didn't want to cough up that much money for the show.

Talk about the opposite of South Florida! :D Hey, maybe we can do a winter retreat up there. Damn, only time I was in Buffalo was the big storm in late 70s. My friend and his brother dropped their little brother out the second floor window with a shovel and he disappeared into the snowbank. Then he tunnneled to the front door so they could open it. Damn that was some week.
Would Buffalo in the winter be better than an AVN-lockdown event?
You betcha!

Simon

We have one blizzard 28 years ago & that's all anyone ever talks about - LOL

I got nailed by that '77/'78 blizzard as well....

I remember standing on the snow bank on the side of the road looking down on the school bus top...

I was in the city at the time.. we had snow over the cars for 1 day.. then manhattan was cleared. by the 3rd day it was filthy piled on the sidewalks of buildings that didn't have doormen to wash it away.

Buffalo in August would be a more pleasant alternative than steamy Miami or Vegas even in "but its a dry heat".

of course for that same 2500 you could have a ROCKING awesome time here and probably leave with a few extra $$

I made some good money on that storm. A friend and I had access to a rubber wheeled frontend loader/grader tractor. We headed up to where the doctors, lawyers, indian chiefs lived and did a bunch of those long and/or cirular drives :D (and we only damaged one garage lol )

Righto...

The first point I need to make here, because I believe it's the most crucial, is that while Internext is owned by AVN it is not run by AVN Online employees.
The trade show department here at the office only runs trade shows. They run Internext, AEE (the AVN show), EroticaLA and an upcoming sex toy business convention. You're right, Jim, when you say they don't belong in the online business; they aren't in the online business, they're in the trade show business...
That's part of a large issue really. The people who run Internext don't have as deep a knowledge of the adult industry as you and I do. But it's not really their jobs to.
I have to face that - by perception, Internext is AVN, and AVN is Internext (and perception is everything), so when Internext demonstrates a limited understanding of the online adult marketplace, it reflects poorly on AVN. And vice versa... when AVN fucks something up (say, with AVNAds for example) it reflects badly on Internext.
It's tricky.


Moving right along...

Demographic Information:

Demographic information is requested of all attendees in order to give sponsors a picture of who attends the event, and also to assure that the event (seminars etc) is tailored to the appropriate demographic. If, for example, 85% of respondents were content producers, then the events would cater to that market segment more, and market itself more aggressively to others. So, this information is requested at registration.


Location:

Yes Alex, thanks, the Diplomat Hotel in Florida is cheaper for all when we have that many webmasters in one location. That's the hard part with vegas, it's far more expensive and very hard to get everyone in one place. Here's an interesting fact, even with the move to the Mandalay Bay this year, the percentage of attendees actually staying at the event hotel remained almost exactly the same as last year. It didn't feel like it though...

After each show, all attendees with a legitimate email address on their registration receive a follow-up survey. PLEASE fill out this survey and suggest alternate locations for the event if you'd like, I've confirmed that the question will be included on the post summer internext survey.


Selling Lists:

If you get scanned by a pretty girl at Internext, that 'scanner' gets your contact info... That's the point of that thing. If you don't want them to scan you, feel free to take a Sharpie (not Faye) to your barcode. Who cares?! HOWEVER, Internext (and I just checked this for the millionth time) doesn't sell, rent or anything the registration info or attendee lists. Infact, IMO they're negligently good about it... but that's another story. So, no, 'AVN' is not selling their lists (those idiots!)


Other Shows:

Feel free to start a coalition and start your own show. Good luck with that.
AVN AND Internext have great relationships with the other shows and we all support eachother back and forth... Feel free to start something new and join the family.


Badge Cost:

Alex also covered this perfectly on GFY. The badge cost is $250 with early registration. That's a lot more than it was last year. Last year, the trade show itself was the revenue source... that's why people had to exhibit in order to throw 'official' events, otherwise, they would have been 'leeching' off the event. But lots of people wanted to be involved and have events and so on without having a booth, so that requirement was removed. That does, however, amount to a serious loss in revenue (including that necessary to cover basic costs) for the show. So, to even this all out, attendance in any way now has a flat fee. That fee covers entry to all events, including exhibits and seminars and so on. And, yes, the nice folks at Internext are also having wireless access added to the entire event.


To Go or Not to Go to The Show:

Last year, 73% of respondents said they met or exceeded their business objectives at the show. That's not bad considering the relaxed environment and number of open bars... I've always found it to be worthwhile and fun myself, but feel free to skip it... unless you're name's GreenGuy... in which case, please don't!

CHOP SMITH: "More than one trip to the floor was as useless as a tit on a bull. The contacts at the hosipality suites and private parties were priceless." Well, $250 to access the hotel is probably a GOOD deal then! LOL..


Useless Warrior:

I haven't 'munched dick' in a long time... sorry our plans don't mesh... ;)


Don't hesitate to contact me anytime... or keep posting! |thumb