Internext/AEE passes anyone :) - AVN SUCKS!!!!!

[Jim]

Originally Posted by Greenguy

We tried that with Aly before Miami, but I think we pissed her off with our opinions & options...to the point thast she stopped coming to the board & gave up trying to explain their side of things.

The long & short is that there's no need to have OUR convention in Vegas so soon after New Years, so soon after the August show, at the same time as AEE (they run our by itself in August, so they can run one without the other)

We are all jaded a bit as we know way too much about how the convention works, how you can't have a party without a booth or ads - ask any other Joe Blow off the street that's been to a convention - they have no idea what goes on behind the scenes to the extent that we do.

I can sorta see AVN's POV on this, trying to get as much money out of everyone as they can, because the reality of it is that you really don't need a badge - nor do you need to go thru their travel agent - and you'll have just as good a time & meet the same amount of people - you miss the floor, but big fucking deal - we all know it's not as impressive as it was in 1999 or 2000

But we'll all be there because of AVN - even me, who will probably not be giving them a dime - because they scheduled it.

Move it to March before Easter - Move the Miami show to someplace tollerable in August - spread things out a bit.

I'm rambling....

You know how I feel. My hair is getting longer and longer You and I are in agreement.

There is absolutely only one reason to have a show in Florida in August. And only one reason for the Vegas show to be right after New Year.

I have said it time and time again. It's OK for it to be about the money as long as it isn't only about the money.

[docholly]

Well the only 'slow' season here in vegas for conventions (we're #1 in the world) is the month of DEC and mid june to mid august. otherwise you have major events all the rest of the time.

Jan-CES/PPAI/World of Concrete/Outdoor World all have excess of 100K

Feb-Magic & Shoe Show 100k

March- Con AG 150K

April NAB-100K

May-National Hardware 100K

soo maybe mid June for Vegas and Mid Nov for Florida??

What i never liked about the Vegas show is it is right after New Years so it really interupts the over the holiday vacation schedule unless you include Vegas on your route.

CES people will start arriving on the 2nd and leave on the 8th because of all the meeting sessions, move in/out and the actual expo.

|cool|

[Linkster]

Gee that means we'll have the round bar to ourselves the night of the 8th

[Far-L]

There is no way to make everyone happy.

I like the Jan. Expo show being at the same time as CES though - good for biz, great for publicity, like the ability to check out the latest and greatest in software and hardware, etc.

Simply put there is no way AVN/Internext is going to make everyone happy. Remember - they also have to contend with competing against all the other shows that are going on during the year too - they don't do anything arbitrarily.

More importantly, I know from years of working with them - sometimes begrudgingly like many of you here now seem to be - that they are NOT the enemy. They are reasonable people. They do listen to feedback no matter how negative. To me, that is one hallmark of a good business which is why we have, do, and will continue to enjoy biz with them.

Rather than come across as defending them blindly, which I am sure many of you think i am doing - I urge you to follow the same lead we did and effect a positive change and get on the same page with them, no pun intended.

Thanks for hearing me out.

[Linkster]

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

[Jim]

Originally Posted by Far-L

There is no way to make everyone happy.

Just one point. Does having Internext in Florida in August make anyone happy? Except AVN of course.

[Far-L]

Originally Posted by Jim

Just one point. Does having Internext in Florida in August make anyone happy? Except AVN of course.

That is just one of the mysteries that I hope to solve...

I am not a fan of florida in august at all; everytime I see another sweaty picture of myself I pretty much want to puke but where do you think would be a good spot?

Reachable to the common webmaster? Affordable but nice - obviously the hotel airport best western in Seatac is not going to do, lol.

Gimme something to work with - I already got the dissatisfaction part down.

|Jim