YNOT SUMMIT - San Francisco, pictures from F.U.B.A.R.

[softball]

the fact is that fewer and fewer people are actually working in this business. Its a last man standing kind of deal, I guess. Most business can be done remotely by phone. I get all my referrals when I need things done through this board, or my current trusted suppliers. The only time I did attend a convention, I did some face to face business that wound up losing me about 30K and a lot of angry busy work....my bad.
So, I just don't see a future for a small business like mine in attending events. What, exactly, would the point be?
edit: The other thing that mitigates against conventions, is that those of us who are still around, have been around long enough to have all our ducks in a row and could probably be speakers at those forums.

[Toby]

Originally Posted by rhetorical

The other thing that mitigates against conventions, is that those of us who are still around, have been around long enough to have all our ducks in a row and could probably be speakers at those forums.

Yeah, but we'd tell the truth, that they had to put in the time & effort and have the desire to do the work they don't enjoy so that they can be successful at the work they do enjoy.

Not the song most want to pay to hear.

[Hell Puppy]

We're at or past the end of the "easy money" phase of adult internet. There's consolidation. There's definitely a reduction in number of participants. The days of anyone in a dorm with maybe 20 hours of spare time being able to make enough money to buy beer, a used BMW and splurge for a few shows a year to go party on sponsor's dimes are gone.

Those left standing generally fall into two camps. They're either already doing well and know exactly what they're doing. Or they're circling the bowl and looking for that "next big thing" that they can grasp onto to keep from having to work hard or bail completely and go get a real job.

As for shows, I used to approach them the same way every time. I'd have what I'll describe as a shopping list in my pocket. I might be looking for services, software, sponsors, content or even partners. I could go explore all of that in one day, get contact info to follow up on when I get home and can research it further with a clear head. The rest of the time would be hanging out with folks, maybe a party or two and ideally mixing some business with pleasure and doing some touristy stuff even if just having a few good meals.

Over the years, things have shrunk. If I'm pissed at one of my hosting companies, I know who my alternatives are and everything about 'em. I can count the viable ones for adult on one hand. That's true of just about anything you can name in the industry. That means the shows don't offer me a lot in terms of real ROI, so I started picking venues where I could maximize the "play" part of business and play. This is why I like Vegas shows. Even if I only do 5 minutes of business, I'll have a great time and just write the whole trip off as a business expense anyway.

[Hell Puppy]

Originally Posted by rhetorical

The other thing that mitigates against conventions, is that those of us who are still around, have been around long enough to have all our ducks in a row and could probably be speakers at those forums.

I went to my first "adult industry" show for the web in January 1998 back when it was still mixed with audiotext. Now granted I NEVER have run the entire show circuit, I've always picked and chose and did maybe 2-3 a year. But in 13 years of doing that, again I can probably count the number of seminars I considered useful to ME on one hand and have a couple of fingers left.

No one in their right mind, me included, is going to share their recipes for making money. After being burned very early on, I don't even like to show my sites because there are little things in there that I don't want people picking up on and pissing in my well.

So the seminars tell you information that is already readily available with a little research. If anyone tells you anything "new", you can bet they've exhausted whatever vein it is, and it isn't very fruitful now.