Far-L I applaud that you take it upon yourself to act as a go-between. I tend to disagree that Aly really got tarred and feathered other than by people that dont go to the shows and really were just venting. Most of us respect what she was trying to do and understood fully (I think) that she also was not AVN - but just someone trying to get comments and suggestions and taking them back to AVN.
I remember a discussion on another board with her that evolved into some things actually being accomplished, however I think the impression everyone took away was that her hands were tied from the AVN side and that most of the input she gave them just bounced off.
I also understand that the large sponsors are the people that should be catered to - which is why I've tried to make a point of describing the major changes we have witnessed over the last two years with huge losses of large sponsors - they just aren't sponsoring the show anymore. The first question that pops up when I notice things like that is - why? Why in the world would a major sponsor send one rep - with no booth on the floor - to walk the halls trying to garner business. If it were just one I'd say - well they are having hard times and couldn't justify the expense. However, when it involves at least 20 of the top sponsors, that is an indication of a much larger problem. This is not conjecture, this is just observation of what companies are out there with affiliate programs that work with webmasters (at least in the LL and TGP world of traffic) - and how many of the top 20 actually are visible on the floor of the show. My count at the last show was very few - and the largest of the aff. programs had maybe one rep if you could find them, and sometimes two.
The price of the show (the tickets themselves) are probably not a real big point of contention with most people - I also go to mainstream conventions and know the inflate prices you have to pay for those
That said, the cost of going to these shows is not about the price of the admission ticket - its the inflated prices that AVN negotiates for the hotel rooms, the inflated cost of everything presented at the show from food, coffee to the drink prices that get raised at the hotel bars. In Florida the bar prices for a well drink was from $8-$12 each - until the day after the show when they went back down to $3. God forbid if you wanted a call drink. In Vegas the hotel prices are at least double what they are the rest of the year - not counting the special discounts you can get at the Venetian if you register for a players card - I get offers all year - even Christmas holidays for under $80 a night for the same room Rose Travel gets for $200 (I guess towards the end when Rose negotiated another block it went up to $250). And most of the price is not due to CES - two years ago I paid 150 a night for the first 3 nights - the price then doubled for the last two nights when AEE started. And CES had been going on the whole time.
This is probably the major reason that most webmasters just cannot go to the shows - most of them cant put out $3k for a show that doesnt represent their business anymore.
Without getting into too much rambling - I agree with your idea about traffic producers having a part in the show (other than the same panel that happens every year) although I dont know exactly how to do it other than the way we have done it in the past having our own separate parties and get togethers that we kick in to sponsor ourselves.
The show is supposed to be designed with the webmasters in mind I would think? Like I said before, I agree about the sponsors having the big bennies - but shouldnt the sponsors be the webmaster program sponsors? I would recommend finding out why they wont sponsor anymore.
Last - this is billed as the premier show of the year for the webmaster community - so why have we taken the webmaster community awards away from the show? Doesn't make much sense as that was a highlight of the show and an opportunity for us to show our appreciation to those that stood out in our community.