Far-L I would tend to think that if AVN really wanted any feedback and discussion about change, they would have someone out in the WM "sphere" answering questions and holding meaningful debates - and after a few past attempts - someone that could actually effect changes that made sense.
While I understand Internext is a very small slice of what AVN does in real life, they chose to try to be the leader when it came to putting everyone on the "same pages"
Read their company mission for Internext: "Internext Expo - The largest event of its kind in the world, Internext Expo is THE forum to attend for all
Webmasters and Internet professionals serious about the success of their online business." (highlights added)
Although it's obvious reading their online editions and even the print magazines that AVN is trying to pave the merging of other technologies with the internet street - where I think they have lost sight of their original mission with Internext is their belief (evidently) that all WMs out here are trying to branch out to all of these other models - and we all know that just isnt fact.
Their attempt to try to merge all of this is evident at the last few Internext shows from the types of exhibiters to the seminars to even the sponsors. I found it amazing talking to the people manning booths in Florida - half of them didnt even understand what a link list was, let alone what a webmaster involved in making sites does daily
Alll they could tell you is that they had a website promoting their SMS, mobile, pod streaming or some new billing model - and these were half of the booths/reps that we ran into.
What seemed to be greatly lacking was actual webmaster information, sponsors, booths that used to be the mainstay of the floor.
Now add to that the confusion of other shows at the same time, prohibitive costs associated with attending "the forum for Webmasters" and all the other little things that people have brought up - and it doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out something is wrong and of course as mentioned - top it all off with an "appearance of non-concern" and it becomes easy to see why there are threads on every WM board out there talking about boycotting Florida last year - why the awards show for WMs isnt associated with this show and why the person running the Players ball cant get enough sponsors for his party.
So last thought would be - maybe AVN needs to get on the same page as the WMs - not the other way around?? Just my thoughts