August 11, 2005 | The Biz

Summer Internext report

Internext, the semi-annual adult Internet convention, was held last weekend at the luxurious Westin Diplomat Hotel in Hollywood, Fla. This edition of the convention held a few changes, not a big surprise in an industry that is defined by constant change.

The entire hotel was restricted to attendees; no one could enter without showing their badge. The additional security seemed a bit overkill at first, but eased up by the second day; the plus side was the knowledge that everyone on the grounds was serious about doing business.

We got the impression that overall attendance was down slightly from past years. There are a number of adult Internet conventions held throughout the year and it may well be that companies are limiting their attendance to one or two that they think will bring the greatest return on investment.

More seminars were offered this time round on topics varying from traffic building to pressing legal issues of the day. Besides the exhibition floor, companies also had the option of renting pool-side cabanas. Some might say the show was spread a bit too thin.

We estimate perhaps 20% of the attendees were on the gay side of the business. There has been quite an evolution within the gay subset of Internext. A few years ago there were 3 evening events, all sponsored by Cybersocket Magazine. Since then more companies have decided that they could get additional exposure by sponsoring their own parties. As a result  last weekend there were at least 6 gay events to choose from, not including late-night hotel suite get togethers.

Most gay attendees we spoke to thought the show was well-run and that they accomplished their networking goals. Sometimes smaller turnouts can be more fruitful than the giant Vegas Internext held each January.

Changes are in the offing for the January show as well; this will be the first time the industry oriented Internext will run simultaneously with the consumer-oriented Adult Entertainment Expo.

• Changes apparent at summer Internext Expo [YNOT Masters]