one year, I WAS the booth....

...WHEW!...

Okay, I will address all of these posts very shortly. Just got off the show floor and wanted to see how this thread had come along but need to get my frazzled brain back in order before tackling all of this.

I now have a list of improvements and suggestions for both Internext shows that rivals 'War and Peace' in size. I want to take this opportunity to thank all the people at the show who took the time to share their thoughts with me.

The one issue that jumps out immediately after re-reading this thread is the one of location and date... Vegas in early January, (which I believe Dravyk initially raised). The idea behind the date and location is to have Internext, AEE (AVN) and CES (Consumer Electronics Show) coincide somewhat. It's generally believed that many attendees and exhibitors at each of these shows benefit from keeping these shows together. I dislike the timing, too, but I definitely understand that logic. What do you think?

I'll be back with more to say here very soon! :wacko:

LOL

Back from the show

Here is a couple more suggestions.

Hire Check in people that have actually seen a computer before, If I had paid to exhibit I would have been furious looking at the huge line of people still standing at 3:00 in the afternoon. Better Yet - mail the badges to the people that pre register and have an Express ID check for them.

The hotel rooms people are staying in should be off limits, I am sick of having crap hung on my door, left in my room, or getting messages from the front desk that they have "a package" for me. As a side note to all of you people that do this, I make it a point to NOT use products / services of companies that do not respect my private space. While I am at a show - the room I am in is my home - I do not want things in my home that I do not ask for, If I want it I will pick it up at your booth.

will add more as they come to me

Me too just got back from the show. Was fun to see old friends & make new ones. I must say I got good results from this show. But it was more because of personal relationships than the showfloor.

few suggestions:

- The hotel Mandalay bay was charging crazy roomrates if you compare them to Venetian Prices and service. I stayed in a nice suite in the Venetian because of the better service. Many complaints from people I spoke too about mandalay.

- after show meeting point would be nice.

- rollerskates, little cars or anything what would get me to the show without killing my feet...The distance to the showfloor was too far...

- I also saw people standing in line to get their show pass way too long and why the hell you need to give your ID ? I got someone from the organisation to bring me my pass (thank you again you know who you are !) but was not very happy to give out my passport for making a copy..(maybe a new law?)

- Smoking room at the show floor would be nice for thre addicts! LOL

- More nice Girls ! I remember a lot more girls on previous shows! They bring atmoshere to the show !

- seminar suggestion: why not give all exhibitors a chance to speak about their business and have visitors asking questions to them.

- for example: all content providers get X minutes to present their products and afterwarts the visitors can ask questions. Same for billing solutions etc..

- Just combine the AVN and internext on the same dates. 5 or 6 days of exhibition is way too long I think.

Just my 2 cents.

X, Claudia

almost rested up after the show...
I was offline because the cable connection in my room didn't work...ah well...
outside of that, I enjoyed the hotel...we stayed at THEhotel@Mandalay bay and the rooms were amazing.

While some people complained of not being able to get a room there, we had no problems (maybe because we registered through their website?).

The registration was definately a clusterfuck of epic proportions (anyone who tried to find me and couldn't, it was because I wasn't even really on the floor until late the second day).

We had a decent show, the results of which we won't realistically be able to measure until after everyone has gotten back home and caught up on things discussed.

Speaking of which, I now have to catch up on emails, ICQ's and other assorted aftershow "fun".

sorry...I pictured me circa 2001 (drunk off my tits)... moving from table to table saying :

"Firstly...your all a bunch of HOMOS!!!!...."

;-)))) [/b][/quote]
"And if any of you homos touch my stuff...... I'l kill ya!" :P

Don't forget us midwesterners! :rokk:

Hey Hey Hey No Baltimore
I live close by and don't want a bunch of porn mongers clogging up the inner harbor B)

Would like to see a Northeast summer show instead of Florida

New York maybe? Philly?

and why Vegas every year? Ok I'm the only one not thrilled about Vegas with the exception of the Cirque shows

New Orleans was great for shows, would make a great winter show and there is gambling

As far as panelists, I've enjoyed speaking with Colin Roundtree in the past but business is different now
Who's really going to give up any real info without plugging what they have to offer? Sometimes you get the plug with no real usable info

Processing is what to me is most important to hear about, then possible legal issues, then tech issues and what everyone else is trying to push out new


Joe may be on to something with a more "roundtable" format

I'm also a fan of sitting in the lobby and letting everyone pass by. Anyone I'd like to make contact with or speak with comes by sooner or later

Between the lobby and possible roundtables a lot of contacts can be made. Maybe the roundtables should be on the showroom floor (toward the back so everyone has to go through) to keep bodies where the exhibitors are [/b][/quote]
I'm not fond of Vegas either Vick, so you're not alone!

I think Vancouver would be nice.

:)

Hahaha, why am I not surprised nick?

I did have a chance to talk to Aly on the show floor. She pledges to come back round here after the show to handle the decompression as well. She is very sincere about trying to make a difference and says not for anyone to hold any punches.

Ill have mor thoughts in the morning.

A-fucking-men to both of those! That line was just bizarre.

Also wanted to echo Claudia's complaints about MB (and how the hell did I miss you??!! :( ). The lack of mini-bar and coffee maker was just silly and we paid the same rates as the Venetian with the two rooms.

Peaches.. :cryin: I just have to fly out than for a next show !

Let me start by saying I have never been to internext. I suppose the reason why should be of some interest. There is no business for me to do there, so I spend my capital on stuff that makes me money. Having said that, I have been to many trade shows like the IBC which I believe is now held in Amsterdam but used to be held in Bristol as well to NAB which is the biggest in the world. I am the veteran of a few other trade shows outside of my industry for other reasons. But they all have one thing in common. They launch new products before the public gets to see them. They take orders for new products so the first adopters can get out there and make some money. In other words they provide a sneak peak into the future and give the participants a leg up on their competitors. They spend huge amounts on their displays and attract an audience with their companies chequebooks in their hip pockets.
I don't see any of this happening at internext. For instance, I have just jumped feet first into the world of high definition video production. Now it may have been at internext, but I didn't see anything about it. If you are going to be a player in the video game, this is the most important technology at the moment. Internext should have been all over this. I might have even gone for that very reason. Editing solutions, monitor solutions, transcoding solutions. The list goes on.
Another generation of affiliate programmes is nothing new as far as I can see. My suggestion is to make the show a little more technical to show the way to those who actually produce content. The old days of content trade parties where everyone and their dog has the same hotel room pictures for months after internext are hopefully over. I can't see that making money any more.
Personally, I feel that less emphasis on the Cristal and more emphasis on worthwhile money makers would go a long way to resparking interest in these gatherings.
Ya gotta make money before you can spend it, and a lot of folks are not achieving what they had hoped and are not about to drop 6k to hit vegas for a couple of free drinks and a few good stories.
I mean this post in all sincerity and hopefully you will find some of the suggestions worth considering.

I'm goiung to hate admitting this, but I agree with you on a lot of that. A lot of things that SHOULD have been there, weren't...they were/are at CES though.

The way I see it, they'd rather let these types of companies exhibit at CES, which is right next door to the AVN video show and don't give a shit enough about us Internet guys to ramp up their sales force to get some of these types of companies to exhibit at the InterNext show.

Those of us who've been in the business long enough are bored of the "rock star life" and just want to solidify existing relationships and maybe meet some new people face to face...and probably won't be paying $200 per ticket for that experience again, especially when I had more business-related discussions sittng in the lbooy out in front of the registration area...that's where the business talk was (or seemed to be)....

Well said.

I heard a version of this from just about every person I spoke with at the show.

:blink:

Well said.

I heard a version of this from just about every person I spoke with at the show.

:blink: [/b][/quote]
yeah, I kinda borrowed it from Pattyecake, but it was very true

wow, that has to be the worst typo of "lobby" I've ever managed to spew from my keyboard...

I can't tell you how many times just hanging out at the lobby helped me catch ppl to talk too.

It was sad to see on the first day, ppl waiting in line up to 3 hours to get in.

THAT'S THREE HOURS PEOPLE!

First day of traffic was lacking big time.

I managed to stay a lot busier this time than any show previous as is probably evidenced by the fact I'm just now posting. Computer was with me, had high speed, but barely had time to do a few quick email checks to make sure everything was running well at home.

But I definitely have some comments...

--Registration line: It was disorganized the day before the show started with both lines combined into what should've been the exit line while the queue lines were empty. No one bothered to come out and put up some signage or direct traffic to fix it. So it's no surprise that on the first day it was a full on goat fuck.

--Center bar: It's a well known fact that no matter what kind or size show you have in this industry, where everyone really goes to meet up after show hours is the "center bar" in the main hotel. It'll be packed to the point you cant move. That's all well and good, but it would be nice if someone would clue in the hotel management that we aren't there to dance and have the live entertainment take a couple of nights off so we can hear ourselves talk and use the band's space for a few more people.

--Location: Mixed feelings. On one hand it's the far end of the strip and a step down to 4 diamond from 5 diamond at the Venetian at the same cost. But there's convenient accomodations at different price ranges available nearby. We were able to locate FFN Central in the Pharoah Suite at the Luxor and found it fairly convenient with Mandalay being a short walk away via the Mandalay Place mall.

--Dates: Let's be real, bumping up against AVN Awards and CES is convenient for AVN and a handful of big name video performers....not the webmasters and web industry. I would say at least 95% are there ONLY for internext. It sucks being so close to the holidays. And when New Years dictates that we overlap the start of CES as it did this year, Thursday just absolutely fucking sucks. The town is packed, you cant get into anything, cab lines are insane, room rates are thru the roof, and ask for something like a late check out and the front desk just might flip you off.

--Show floor: I doubt I spent 2 hours total on the show floor. And I actually had a shopping list this year. Of the people I really needed/wanted to see for business purposes, I found exactly 3 of them on the floor. I dont need a flashy booth or booth bunnies. I dont particularly want tote your literature. What I want to do is ask some questions, get some quotes, maybe a business card with a working email/icq. Main purpose show floor seemed to serve this year is the place to go to pickup your passes for parties and other events.

--Overall: There needs to be some sort of format change that will allow you to find who you need to find and have quiet discussions without chaining people to booths. Maybe it is something as simple as an electronic registry with a list of 3 or 4 meeting points and let attendees and vendors alike pencil in a few hours were they'll be in one of these spots.

Well the only issues i had were already mentioned, to long to wait for passes, as exhibitors, you already have our information, why does it take 3 of us to collect our passes individually when myself, Gary or Chris could have collected id from the other two and got all three passes at once? It used to work like that, why doesnt it now?

The queue at exhibitr registration IMHO was a huge clusterfuck. It shouldnt have taken close to 2 and a half hours for us to collect our passes. Thankfully, whilst waiting in line we got some business deals done.

The venue, overall i was pretty happy with it although the walk seemed to have doubled from our room to the convention floor this time around, think its time we went on a diet lol

As for the organization on the Mandalay Bays part for the 3 Gay Webmaster Bash meals, we couldnt be happier, despite some teething problems a few weeks prior to the events, when the day for each meal arrived, things were ready, the proper signage was where it was supposed to be and the wait staff were friendly and outgoing, so much so that we asked them all to stay behind and eat with us after the meals had ended by way of thanks.

The food itself, was phenominal, that seemed to be a big talking point after each of the three sponsor hosted meals and we even managed to get some vegetarian meals sorted out at the last minute too.

All in all our Vegas experience as an exhibitor was one we will repeat again however, without the need of going through AVN, having spoken to several people at the hotel on the topic of AVN there seemed to be a lot of agreement that the redtape needed to be gone through was a little o.t.t.

Other than that, we got some great business done, from solidifying existing business relations, forging new ones and even signing contracts on the show floor itself.

This is also the first Vegas show where we have returned home actually feeling satisfied at the overall show from a business standpoint as well as a personal one, we met so many new people who were actively looking for business contacts in our field that we're going to be busy for months sorting through all the business cards and getting details sorted for some lucrative new ventures.

For those we had the opportunity of meeting at the show, thank you all, you made this show worthwhile for us on so many levels and an especially big thanks to every one of the attendees to the 3 meals and 3 after hour events that formed the http://www.gaywebmasterbash.com without your continual support they wouldnt have been as huge a success as they have been for our event sponsors, attendees and, for us.

I think the bad experiences that are being sugar coated here are hideous!!!

Just say it people, this show could be the death blow for AVN on the internet side of things.

I for one will never pay for a pass to one of their shows again!

I wish Oprano would get involved and do a show the right way! maybe combine with Faye and Dave, as they are clearly the only ones that actually listen to the constituency, and appear to give a shit!

I've been involved with shows in mainstream....it's a huge project, especially when you consider the numbers attending this one.

The registration lines were very long, especially for the exhibitors. On the flip side, I saw quite a few opportunities taken to network, in spite of the wait. There's nothing better for business than being stuck in some line. While it may not have been very efficient, I did plenty of networking and even got some business from standing in that line. I also got to see people I might have missed. We were mostly laughing while complaining.

KK...while Vancouver may have seemed like it was a cluster fuck, the disorganisation actually worked in our favour. When you get a bunch of webmasters waiting to go somewhere, we all start talking. It's a wet dream for many of us, since we're such a captive audience. I would have preferred staying at the Pacific Palisades and maybe things could have gone a little smoother; but, so what? The bottom line is that webmasters live and love to complain. When you're on this side of the event, it's easy to complain, I think. Besides, it gives us something to talk about.

I think Vancouver makes a GREAT venue for the show.

Pacific Palisades would be a great base for it too.


:)

Jedi Mind Trick?

Went to Vancouver in October with a few friends....Pacific Palisades rocked...from room service to their wonderful restaurant...plus, location, location, location...right on Robson.

Very enjoyable.

I actually have used it myself.

Suites are cheap.

Best value for money hotel in the city...


Plus we have great golf , webmaster friendly strip club

http://www.no5orange.com/


did I mention golf?

As a long distance traveller.. I would be more likely to attend if there was a Vancouver show one weekend and a Miami show the following weekend.

Might work if both organisers did a discount for sponsoring both events.... and had a reason to help promote each others event. They might even find a way to cut costs with a bookend event schedule.

If it brings in a lot more International webmasters than usual that could cover the higher costs of doing 2 shows for sponsors too.

Might even get Nick to Florida if we do a "cannonball run" from Vancouver to Miami over the 4 days between shows B)

Driven Vancouver - Orlando in 3 days 2 nights :)

Its only 3300 miles :)


Through South Dakota the only things going faster were stealths ;-)))

Opti if you only knew....

Opti if you only knew.... [/b][/quote]
ahahahahahaha

A bunch of FFN in an Escalade kicking it accross country LOL

Cuz' Ms. Claudia was with me :-))

No shit.

Ask her :-))

But I saw YOU!!!

ahahahahahaha

A bunch of FFN in an Escalade kicking it accross country LOL [/b][/quote]
Ahem... Bentley??!

ahahahahahaha

A bunch of FFN in an Escalade kicking it accross country LOL [/b][/quote]
A Sexcalade would merely be the blocker....

The FFN's would rather be piled up in one of these with donuts and ice wine.

http://www.featherlitecoaches.com/

Having the Vegas show at the very beginning of January is only so that AVN can save money by stringing Internext and AEE together. Any other reason is just bullshit.
If it weren't bullshit, then it would be at another time, period.
Immediately after the holidays and just days from New Years when everything is still at triple pricing makes the show very non-webmaster friendly and non-family-friendly. (As in to those who have families, not as in taking your family with you.)

Nick I'm sending you a PM. I've pitched the idea to a few other people and no one has had the balls (or maybe the organizational skills) to do it... maybe you will. No, it's not a business/investment proposal... just an idea for something you can do at the FL show.

Another obnoxious thing I noticed this year is how aggressive the booth bunnies were at giving out literature.

There were some aisles that when you went down them it felt like you were walking down the strip with all the hawkers wanting to put ads for horizontal refreshment in your hand. And it worked much the same way, if you took one, the rest of the flock would immediately pounce.

They were also straying well away from the booths. More than once I saw people getting pounced while trying to make a phone call from the back side of the floor, etc.

I'll go to the web to get my literature, with me it's very rare that anything larger than a business card makes it back to the room.

Scratch that... your PM box is full.

(While you're at it, scratch this damn stop-smoking patch on my arm. Thing itches like crazy.)

Scratch that... your PM box is full.

(While you're at it, scratch this damn stop-smoking patch on my arm. Thing itches like crazy.) [/b][/quote]
Mine isnt.

ROADTRIP!!