Webmasters & Affiliate - What shows will YOU be attending this year?
 

What I'm wondering is which shows you *are* going to?

I'd like to see what shows make sense for you - in other words, it's either the proximity, the cost or the networking possibilities that attract you and this is where you'll go: 98% sure you'll be there.

I remember going to shows and finding a 20-50 true webmasters there - advanced webmasters and up & coming webmasters looking for programs to work with or making special deals with. Are there any new webmasters coming into the biz or has that dried up totally? Have you given up on going to shows?

probably none. I have a little son and I dont really want him around porn people.. he may get ideas ha! :)

The atl forum,its 30 mins from my house.

Yeah was thinking about something like that too - 'a family friendly' business show - no 'sponsor banners or porn' around. But that would probably limit it to 'married with kids' people in the biz.

Is that the only show you & Mandy go to, Tony? Is it because of the proximity (don't like to fly/travel), cost (save the budget for other things) or network possibilities (the people you need to network with 'will' be there)?

The islandgathering for sure.
A small chance I may go to Miami or Amsterdam.
I want to have a quite year.

none... at this point in the game there is no need for shows. right now the only purpose the fill is to line the pockets of promoters.

Not really, but it would limit the people on how they behave, which means that 99% would not be able to show up..


As for me, I will be at the Cancun Show. What No cancun show this year, OH Yeah Its all me baby. Im a show of one and will be doing all sorts of events.

1 man volleyball. ( naked )

Beer drinking contest in a bikini

Para sailing ( Naked )

All sorts of thing.

Is there a reason for "affiliates" to go to these shows, they seem much more like a social environment where sponsors can promote themselves, to themselves, and quite frankly, I'm not interested in that.

Maybe since Im not 25 yrs old and interested in the big party scene, or maybe its because how I run my own stuff is sort of hush hush (seo network), but even when Ive been invited down and been offered free rooms/flights, I always say no.

Just for the record and for your question Trixxxia, Im an affiliate, family man, have a show within 4 hrs, 2 within 8 hrs, yet I've never been to one. Just dont see a real reason.

IslandGathering is in your neighbourhood right? :)

You don't have to answer this, but why are you deciding on a quiet year? Is it the industry's current climate / harder to make a buck? Or is your choice based on the amount of knowledge/business/partnerships you have come back from shows with?

Well - to some extent I agree that we've moved 'off-topic' of what shows were meant to do.

I am going to the Miami show on August 7th.

LMAO - Party for one? The least you could do is bring your wife and son, no (just make sure to keep the bikini on)? Isn't czarina your other half?
(I could be mistaken)

Florida Internext
Atlanta

Both shows expect to bring the large program owners since my target market is program owners.

So far this year I've attended Internext, The Costa Rica Bash, The Phoenix Forum, New York Webmasters Access Show, Cybernet in S.F.

I'll be at Vegas for XBiz and also for Internext in Florida (first time back at that show since 1998) Haven't made any plans past that yet as I am buying a house in Vegas and don't know when I'll finally find one, close on it and move.

So far I've made money deals at every show! I guess it's what you are doing at the moment that counts. When I had owned by content company 10 years ago, it was important to go to the shows. When I sold it in 2002 and just had Ampland, I stopped going. Didn't need to.

But last year when I opened Claudia-Marie.Com I attended my first show in 5 years (last years XBiz) It was so profitable for me that I went to the Amsterdam show last year as well...made a lot of money at that one.

So yeah, if you have a paysite and/or a cash program then you should definitely attend.
Programmers & designers? Only to have fun and who knows maybe meet some people. You know the money and work always go to people that you have met and that you liked. That's pretty much the way it is in all businesses.

Traffic guys? Yeah you should go if you want to have fun and see your friends. But I can make just as much money with my tgp's cutting deals via email and icq so it's not 100% neccessary.

Content guys? Yeah, I would go just to talk to potential clients.
Billing companies? Absolutely.

Models. Hell yeah. I want to see some tits! LOL! And of course you will meet people who have work for you as well.

Anything in LA and Vegas is a def... phx and fla are good as well.

Damn, I forgot about Atlanta! I'll be there too. We are doing a sponsorship with the Atlanta Forum. :)

Never bring a kid to a show. Years ago, we brought my son to a show because it was not all porn and the hotel was open to everyone. It was still an uncomfortable situation and you cannot truly focus on what you are there for.

We are really self contained, we don't have a program and very few affiliates.So besides it being nice to see people, the shows have no roi for me.To go to the fl show it would cost $3000 when all is said and done, it would be just to socialize. That can buy me a bunch of shoots.I wanted to go to the phoenix show before it got huge.It would of been nice meet the ccbill people but Mandy doesnt fly and it would be a gorilla drive.
The Atl show is close and Mandy is really excited about it, so we are going.

Honestly, Jdoughs - I worked in the biz for over 3+ before I went to a Montreal show and it definitely changed a lot going. Simply because when I did get to that first show there were a SHITLOAD of webmasters at it - people were discussing their general ways of doing business which opened up a lot more ideas/shortcuts/networking - even the panels actually gave 85-90% information you can use and the rest was a subtle sales pitch.

As the years passed though and the more shows I went to in different places, it seems like the core meaning of a show got lost. Somewhere along the line, shows lost their effectiveness for sponsors and webmasters alike. Too many shows - each show/travel costs going up - affiliates don't have million dollar budgets to go to them - so other than sponsors promoting to sponsors (which essentially can be done on the phone or ICQ after you've met them once) I'm wondering if I'm missing something (maybe I'm getting old LMAO).

My question is really, where are the webmasters going - have they just 'stopped' going to shows? Did they all move to mainstream? Or is it a matter of the influx of new and upcoming webmasters having trickled down to very very little?

I used to attend 2 / 3 shows every years back in the days.

There were a lot of affiliates. It was great to exchange partner accounts and seo tips, find trades etc..

Nowadays only sales rep are going to shows, and 99% of the conferences are just useless.

Events organizer don't listen to affiliates, they only listen to sponsors. Eventually in few years, adult companies will realize it's not worth anymore for them to sponsor an event and there will be a way less adult webmasters events.

It's still good to party and meet new people though..

Hi there Ali25extreme :)

Is Internext Florida the only show you will be attending this year? Is it a matter of proximity?

**I love that show simply because everything is confined to one hotel and it's compact enough to have everyone in key places 'all the time'. Great show to choose if it's your first one :)

Robbie - when you say you're coming out with lots of business, are you finding a great influx of 'webmasters & affiliates'? Exclude other program owners from this? Are you finding a great deal of nitty-gritty webmasters too at these shows?

Was in Vegas in January for AEE and Internext and in NYC in May.

Planning Internext Florida

Definitely WMA Amsterdam

Definitely Venus Berlin - the biggest adult show these days, a must for anyone in licensing

Then Eurowebtainment in fall to check what's up on the German speaking market and if there will be World Telemedia in Prague again in fall then I'll at least check with a couple attendees too.

Looks lke 3 US based shows and 3 Euro based shows this year in total.

Agree with what Robbie said.

Yes, it is my first show I will be attending in Miami. I am tired of just being the geek behind the computer! I might go to the Atl show as well in Sept. it is my home town there and I know all the hot spots to go!:winkwink:

I wouldn't take my kids 'to' a show, simply because my son is at an age where he'd have a boner the entire trip and my daughter would be asking 'when am I going to get those Double-D boobs'? hehehe

On a serious note though - I was thinking more of a 'family friendly' - no naked folks, even as boring as 'meetings in the day - family activities at night' kind of thing. But yeah - since I can only control what I do, I don't think I'd feel safe that everything would go smooth.

Yup its in my back garden. Miami is an easy flight 2.5 hours and Amsterdam is also doable with a direct flight and my family living there.

Shows have always been good to me and I have always come home with more business then I wanted but I am coping with some healthprograms that I want to get rid off. Shows seem to be bad for my health. I drink like a mad man and I tend to go non stop with close to 0 sleep for a couple of days....

Internext Florida
Maybe Curacao
LA in Nov
Internext Vegas

It all makes sense. I hope it is fruitful for you just the same :)

So far I've attended Vegas, Tahoe, Costa Rica, Phoenix and NY.

I plan on Vegas, Florida, Amsterdam, Germany & LA. Atlanta & Curacao are still up in the air for me:-)

The return on investment from these shows is getting less and less that it doesn't make sense to attend all these shows anymore. It costs between $1-2k/show to attend and the deals to be made at the shows aren't really there anymore. I'm definitely cutting back to 1-2 per year.
WG

At the Amsterdam show I saw more affiliates than I have in years at a show. The Europeans weren't even in the game (except the hun) 10 years ago. But they have really come into their own now.
In the U.S., the affiliates were never much of a presence at shows in comparison to people who actually had a product.
Back in the day, it was a bunch of guys running galleries on freehosts and thought they were "webmasters" lol There were ony a handful of us guys who were doing real traffic and real sales. So when I used to go back then it was pretty cool because the different sponsors would lay out the red carpet for me and AL4A everywhere we went.
But there weren't many of us then. And there aren't many now.
I do see a lot of young wannabes at the seminars trying to figure out a way to make millions with their blogs.
But the real business takes place at dinners, parties, and sometimes just sitting in a quiet corner having a conversation.
As an affiliate myself, I do enjoy talking to the people from the programs I promote (which are in the hundreds). And they do listen to my suggestions as far as things needed for promotion.
But to be honest...the people who are just affiliate webmasters are in a bind. The tube and torrents are making it harder and harder to sell memberships to the big "generic" type sites.
With that being said....when I was in Amsterdam I was literally swamped by European webmaster affiliates of mine who were eager to meet Claudia-Marie and talk with me about promotion etc.
I haven't seen that in the U.S. in a while. Maybe those guys are a little hungrier and more excited because of their relative "newness" to the game?
I don't know. But I'd like to see more affiliates coming out to the shows. Some input from both sides might come up with some way to stave off the killing fields of tubes and torrents for the mega sites
But in the meantime...I would like to suggest that you find a good solo girl program with exclusive content shot by the actual people who run it. That stuff is kicking ass and retains forever.
Now I wonder who might have something like that to offer to affiliates? :)

Hey Trixxia..

Actually my rest of the year schedule is : Vegas Xbiz - Miami Intx - QWEBEC Expo Montreal Of course :) - Amsterdam WA - Island Gathering Curacao and WA Los Angeles

Since I run a show myself, my new business target is very very broad at these shows. I mean anyboduy I meet can be a potential customer for us, From Attendees, to small or big sponsor. Also can be a supplier to some extends... I also run a network of 3o some sites, so there is always a new program or promotion that I never heard about before..

Also reminds me about some programs that I'm not that active with them, then back home, I go back to get their new tools/galleries...


And to finally answer your question, What motivates me to go to which show ? ROI.. ... I actually think ALL shows are good, it only depends what you make out of it... simple as that


xoxoxo to you Hon! :)

Our show schedule this year is pretty busy.
Internext Summer - Hollywood, FL, Aug 08 - 10, 2008
Qwebec Expo - Montreal, Aug 22 - 24, 2008
Webmaster Access Europe - Amsterdam, Sep 25 - 27, 2008
Octoberfest Gathering 08 - Munich, Sep 28 - 30, 2008
Webmaster Access West - Los Angeles, Nov 12 - 14, 2008
Anyone that wish to meet hit me up :thumbsup
I'm looking forward to especially all of them :1orglaugh

There were a lot of affiliates. It was great to exchange partner accounts and seo tips, find trades etc..

I agree on that - do you think the climate of the industry made people sell-out or move out of adult and is making people reluctant to join the adult community or do you think that people are simply staying home nowadays?

Must be all the panty searching expeditions at 5:30 am ;)

I hope you nurse yourself back to health, Pat!

It must be a little different for you since you also have traffic networks, but are you finding webmasters & affiliates for Twistys at these shows? I know the ROI for you as a whole would be good because of the different divisions you have - but if you were to look at Twistys alone, and webmasters/affiliates only - forget other sponsors, are you finding new, eager and up & coming webmasters to promote your program?

I'll be going to the amsterdam one then the UK one early next year again

Been there got the T-shirt. We did the same on Phoenix Forum years back and had our son off property for most of the show, plus some non-nude poolside stuff (he was 3 months old and in a stroller the entire time). It was a pain for my wife and I to manage him, so we never did that again.

The only grief I got was from (B)rad Shaw, who was a bigger baby about it than my son. Funnily enough I remember he got more pizza sauce on his shirt than my son did, but Brad was fat in those days, but he did have the same amount of hair.
:2 cents::winkwink:

Online Adult industry is for sure on recession. But there are still a lot of affiliates living from this business like i do.

I think if the convention organizer would concentrate more on the affiliate side, ie making trading panel, real seo panel etc... instead of concentrating on parties, there would be more affiliates. Same thing for conference, i went to many of them and i found only one to be usefull ( I remember a TGP panel with only one tgp webmaster speaker, there were 5 sales reps speakers who didn't have a club on how to run a TGP. )

I look forward to meeting you at the atl show.

The party`s were boring on shows. I see no use in it, this said as webmaster.
If i would be a sponsor, i would ask the organization to LOWER the volume of the music so i can speak on a decent level with the other players. Play some more classical music would be also one of my requests, it will encourage people to get the best out of a meeting.

Anyway, shows have also for some people a meaning. Hope they keep it up and have a good party ya all!

LMAO - Although I don't think I officially met either one of you, I saw you guys in Phoenix and besides being a bombshell, Claudia-Marie sure has a warm-hearted allure about her. Lots of things going on with our sites/content/members areas that are being rearranged, but once I can get back in there to add stuff, I will definitely give her some of our love :)

Michel - I think it's your birthday soon or it was - first let me wish you a Happy Birthday either belated or in advance XXX Sorry - been really overloaded with work both MassiveDollars wise, family-wise and everything in between :) All the best to you!

As for shows - I agree, for you anyone and everyone is your target so it's definitely good to be at all of them.

As a program though, you want to come out of there with new traffic sources, fresh minds promoting you and building more concrete relationships with the affiliates you already have. I agree all shows are good - but it depends what your target or objective for a show is. I want to know where the affiliates are going :)

As for the Qwebec Show - there's a good mix there. My first Qwebec show in Quebec City was one of my personal favorites!

Is this your first for the year? Which have you gone to most often?

There's definitely a recession, more merges, sponsors buying up traffic source networks. I agree there has to be a whole army of people that aren't getting to the shows or have not yet taken that plunge - there's also the ones, such as yourself, that are no longer enticed or inclined to come out anymore.

The earlier panels I went to were interesting to me - most of the speakers were webmasters/affiliates and only few were sponsors so you were really getting 'hands-on' experience and not a hand-me-down notebook from the previous rep from X company type of info being given.

Thanks for your feedback, PornMySex - much appreciated.

Sex2Have - Haven't seen you around in awhile!! I hope you are well!

Actually, come to think of it - less parties, people 'may' sleep earlier and be refreshed in the morning when most companies are there in 'full-force'. On that same note, if the parties 'subside' then people may lash out as it being a 'boring' show....damned if you do, damned if you don't kind of thing.

I think the biggest problem is this... everybody wants to run a show. So instead of having 4-6 really great shows, you have 20 mediocre shows and 4 pretty good shows. The investment money gets split between 24 shows instead of 6 shows, meaning less money to make the show great. If it isn't a great show, it attracts less people and then everyone else is thinking "why go to the show? Nobody will be there."

Put an axe to 24 shows, consolidate money and effort, and I can see them not only being a better show but also more cost efficient for both sponsors and affiliates.

We generally go to two shows a year. We aren't big show people. I find it's not so much about ROI as much as it is face time. We have a company image we like to maintain and every show we go to helps that. I find going to shows helps us strengthen and enhance our business relationships more than anything.

I went to a mainstream internet advertising conference that blew away any of our shows. I learned more in 5 hours at that conference than any of our shows could have ever offered. The adult shows are all parties and bs fluff. The only reason anybody goes is because it's a common gathering spot. The shows themselves have absolutely no value. Their value is gathering people.

going to vegas in 6 days to attend xbiz
then internext in florida