Are Trade Shows a thing of the past?

[MRock]

Never been to any trade show for adult. I can not comment about how they have been run or organized. I DO KNOW that I was told years ago ( 1999-2000 ) it was a waste of time by several other amateur webmasters, so we never worried about going. What does that say about how things were run???

On a related note, we used to go to many amateur web girl meetings here in Florida. One of my favs was a party hosted by Honez in Daytona. Ideas were exchanged, photo shoots done or arranged and they were awesome fun and productive. They have all but disappeared now ... have not been to one of those since the 9/11 fall of the web ...

[tony404]

I find I get more at dinners like we all did sat. And I agree hellpuppy the music is nuts, we didnt go back sun to the atl forum because my voice was gone. As far as branding I have been to a few things sponsored by the big boys, I never used their product or pushed their service. To me its much more powerful, I come on here ask people their thoughts and buy a product based on that. Then who bought drinks and naked girls. Maybe I have been in adult too long over 25 yrs, to me its a business nothing more. The cool look at the naked chicks lost its luster a long time ago.

[Hell Puppy]

I've continued to think about this, and I think it all starts with the attendees. And with the show operators, the type of show you put on dictates what type of attendee you draw.

Somewhere along the way, almost all of the adult industry shows became party shows. I think a lot of that is because that's what attendees came to expect. The attendees were going to see friends and business partners, have some good meals, go out to the clubs and in some cases maybe get wide and snort something off a strippers ass.

Deals done were incidental as the real work was always done by email and icq back at the office anyway. You might meet someone new, hear an idea, but the shows were social. In many cases the sponsors were there to entertain their best traffic providers just to make sure someone else didn't buy 'em toot and hookers and lure away those clicks.

This all worked well and good when the web was full of newbs who would easily part with their credit cards and sign up. Insane amounts of money were flying all over.

Fast forward to now. The money isn't there on either side. ROI is king.

So what are the attendees who still have money to go to shows today looking for? I think there are a lot of answers in these threads, let's see who acts upon it.

Personally, I'd like to do maybe 3 shows next year. I dont do drugs of any kind. I dont do hookers. I will drink socially, but I can afford to buy my own good booze instead of whatever is in the well. Though i can be suckered in with a really good meal. I do like to learn new things, and I am always on look out for new business however.