It's good to see this thread, and I really hope that AVN is serious in wanting to take feedback seriously. I've been going to the January show since the IA2000 days, and it hurts to be saying, as I have been since I got back from this year's show, "no way I'll do that again." And this thread is in no way meant as a personal attack against Renee.
But I do have to shake my head.
When the Jan 2006 show was first scheduled, all *I* heard and saw showed overwhelming opposition to the plan in the webmaster community; anyone who spent any time in the webmaster community clearly knew that lots of people weren't going to attend this year and that many exhibitors were steering clear as well.
And even before the 2006 show began, the March 2007 dates had been determined (I would guess because of dismal advance sales) --- yet AVN Online on the first day of the show was putting a "yes, some people are unhappy but the show is a huge success" spin on things.
Now that the show is over and it obviously didn't work out the way they had hoped, AVN is saying "we get opposite feedback and no general consensus."
The way I see it:
Before the show most people were saying "this is going to be a cluster-fuck" - and it was.
Before the show, AVN was saying "this is going to be great" even as they were planning to do it differently the following year - during the show, AVN was saying "this is going great" even though it obviously wasn't - and they made plans for 2007 without consulting the webmaster community or even looking at a calendar of events.
I applaud Renee for coming here, and for the apparent concern that people's desires are seriously considered going forward.
But, to be honest, I'd take this all a lot more seriously if AVN could just come forward and first say "We were wrong - things didn't work out so hot this way after all, and we were also wrong to just pick out new dates based on our needs rather than yours - so we're back to square one. We're sorry, and we're here to start listening" rather than "It's hard because we get completely different feedback - like opposite feedback .....sometimes with no general consensus at all."
That's just spin, from the same people who answer complaints about unmasked adult bulk mailings with "you can email us and have your name removed from our mailing list."
AVN: the time for spin is long past. If you START by saying "Sorry, we screwed up and we realize that this year's show didn't meet anyone's expectations, including ours" and THEN tell us "we want to be part of what you do, tell us what you want in a show" - it would, to my mind at least, be a much better start.
Just my
