Some thoughts on Vegas

[miz_wright]

Originally Posted by RawAlex

I did not attend, but based on comments here and elsewhere, here is a couple of things I gathered:

The biggest screwup in this whole deal is having the show floor in a licensed establishment. The idea is cool, the idea is great, but with Nevada's 21 year old drinking age, it pretty much kicks the crap out of a certain part of the business, from some webmasters or employees to talent. That is truly a huge negative in the deal. Some may take it as a plus as it "keeps the kiddies out", but in the end the kiddies pay the same price to get in and are legally allowed to be in the business.

Having stuff shoved off into skyboxes and whatnot meant that the flow of people wasn't as good as it could be. I am sure some companies got great exposure, and others got none at all.

I understand the concept, in the past AVN has lost a huge percentage of attendance to people who would just set up at the hotel bar / the round bar / whatever and work the show from there without ever paying to be in the event. They fixed this in Miami by doing a whole hotel takeover and being snotty about the badges, and in Vegas they are trying to fix it by taking over the hotel's biggest bar.

I haven't attended an AVN show since 2004, and I don't have any overwhelming urge to break my duck.

A few thoughts;
1) the 21+ thing was pretty poorly handled, regardless. ID was required to get a badge to enter the show floor... but if you're me, apparently, the badge was not enough - I was asked several times to show my license to gain admittance to the floor, despite the lanyard badge I was wearing and myriad other people flooding in around me, not being asked to verify age. In theory, I am flattered. In reality, I am annoyed. I had always presumed it was due to the number of open bars at these things.

2) The booths... I think the idea was to mirror the cabana idea at xBiz summer forum and the Miami show - the cabanas worked really well in that setting. In the club format, though, it was unfortunate that the higer-priced boxes were the most difficult to see and get to.

3) I've been to a number of shows, and so far, the Miami show was my most productive show, because it created a captive audience with no "outsiders." I knew anyone in that hotel was going to be someone I could or do work with, which made it much more effective with regard to meeting people and hashing things out for new directions.

[gonzo]

Nice AEE pics. I need to dump my camera one last time and post some myself.

[KevinG]

I was generally pleased with Internext.

I thought the last two years in a row the Vegas show sucked.

I feel this year was a major improvement.

Yes, there is still some bullshit in the seminars, but imo, they were tremendously improved from the last two years. I thought the seminars were decent.

I liked that there were no overlapping things going on during the day. In the past you had different seminars at the same time and the show floor too.

I appreciated that there were 1 or 2 seminars in the morning, one after the other and the show floor was closed during.

Then the seminars stopped and the show floor opened.

I think that was great and appreciated that they tried something different by having the show floor in the Rain Nightclub.

However, why the fuck did they include the loud night club music? How the heck can you talk business when you have to yell over music?

To me, it seemed like they were trying too hard to be cool.

Overall - good show for me. Good contacts and prospective deals.

[RawAlex]

The over 21 thing isn't as much about webmasters as models, booth girls, performers, etc.

A porn convention where Micah Moore, Bree Olsen, and Alexis Love can't get in is certainly a weird idea to me.

[Hell Puppy]

Originally Posted by RawAlex

The over 21 thing isn't as much about webmasters as models, booth girls, performers, etc.

A porn convention where Micah Moore, Bree Olsen, and Alexis Love can't get in is certainly a weird idea to me.

Never heard of 'em, do they have any traffic to send?

[Hell Puppy]

Originally Posted by LizAEBN

A few thoughts;
1) the 21+ thing was pretty poorly handled, regardless. ID was required to get a badge to enter the show floor... but if you're me, apparently, the badge was not enough - I was asked several times to show my license to gain admittance to the floor, despite the lanyard badge I was wearing and myriad other people flooding in around me, not being asked to verify age. In theory, I am flattered. In reality, I am annoyed. I had always presumed it was due to the number of open bars at these things.

2) The booths... I think the idea was to mirror the cabana idea at xBiz summer forum and the Miami show - the cabanas worked really well in that setting. In the club format, though, it was unfortunate that the higer-priced boxes were the most difficult to see and get to.

3) I've been to a number of shows, and so far, the Miami show was my most productive show, because it created a captive audience with no "outsiders." I knew anyone in that hotel was going to be someone I could or do work with, which made it much more effective with regard to meeting people and hashing things out for new directions.

Badge on a lanyard without a pic will never serve as proof of age. All too easy to let someone borrow your badge.

It sure smells like AVN already decided to do Palms again next year. That kills me just because i still have a case of the red ass against the hotel. But if they insist, I have to wonder if there's a better venue somewhere inside the place for doing the cabana kinda thing. I didn't make it to the Ghost Bar.

Agree on keeping people out. Even with the hotel sold out just for internext though, you'll never get a vegas property to turn away people wanting to gamble off the street. But I think they could do a better job of making sure areas of the property where the show is at do not have "normals".

[miz_wright]

Originally Posted by Hell Puppy

Badge on a lanyard without a pic will never serve as proof of age. All too easy to let someone borrow your badge.

Oh, agreed! The part that chapped my ass was that no one else was being asked for ID - or stopped. If I entered with a crowd, I would inevitably be stopped and ID'd whilst the others were waved through.

I mean, I know I look younger than my years, but fer serious: I know I don't look like I am under 21.

[Hell Puppy]

Originally Posted by LizAEBN

Oh, agreed! The part that chapped my ass was that no one else was being asked for ID - or stopped. If I entered with a crowd, I would inevitably be stopped and ID'd whilst the others were waved through.

I mean, I know I look younger than my years, but fer serious: I know I don't look like I am under 21.

It's vegas, when it comes to their gaming or liquor license they'll always error on the side of caution.

Seems like every female we went in there with got carded, while we sailed right thru. But then that might be a reflection on us being dirty old men. We just tell 'em we have a lot of "nieces"...

[EmporerEJ]

Originally Posted by LizAEBN

Oh, agreed! The part that chapped my ass was that no one else was being asked for ID - or stopped. If I entered with a crowd, I would inevitably be stopped and ID'd whilst the others were waved through.

I mean, I know I look younger than my years, but fer serious: I know I don't look like I am under 21.

Did it ever occur to you that the guys just wanted to stop you and talk to you?
Yes, I know it's hard to believe, but men actually believe, especially with adult industry people, that this simple interaction may result in "Gee Mr Security guard/ rent a cop....yer the hottest guy I've seen here. Wanna come up to my room for a quick romp?"

It's pitiful, I know....but sadly, true. This is called: "little brain reasoning."

[miz_wright]

Originally Posted by Hell Puppy

It's vegas, when it comes to their gaming or liquor license they'll always error on the side of caution.

Seems like every female we went in there with got carded, while we sailed right thru. But then that might be a reflection on us being dirty old men. We just tell 'em we have a lot of "nieces"...

Possibly... I dunno. It just seems if they wanted to be cautious, they'd hit everyone. But there I go, with my crazy "logic"

Originally Posted by EmporerEJ

Did it ever occur to you that the guys just wanted to stop you and talk to you?
Yes, I know it's hard to believe, but men actually believe, especially with adult industry people, that this simple interaction may result in "Gee Mr Security guard/ rent a cop....yer the hottest guy I've seen here. Wanna come up to my room for a quick romp?"

It's pitiful, I know....but sadly, true. This is called: "little brain reasoning."

... Well, no. That didn't occur to me, 'cos that's just silly. I mean, I know GonZo likes to make out like I have some crazu fanclub, but... No. I just can't buy it. I mean, I appreciate the sentiment, but it does not compute.

[EmporerEJ]

Originally Posted by LizAEBN

... Well, no. That didn't occur to me, 'cos that's just silly. I mean, I know GonZo likes to make out like I have some crazu fanclub, but... No. I just can't buy it. I mean, I appreciate the sentiment, but it does not compute.

Wow...how can you be that good looking, been in the adult business, and NOT understand the ability of men to be this shallow?
I'm really not kidding.
I'm telling you, in the spirit of being vegas, I'd put money on my evaluation of the situation.

[gonzo]

Originally Posted by EmporerEJ

Wow...how can you be that good looking, been in the adult business, and NOT understand the ability of men to be this shallow?
I'm really not kidding.
I'm telling you, in the spirit of being vegas, I'd put money on my evaluation of the situation.

You tell her EJ!