Industry Tradeshows?

[Lee]

Are there any industry tradeshows left for the adult website owner worth attending these days? The last time i went to a show there were actually more reps and owners at it than there were true 'webmasters'.

Do you think we have seen the end of the actual 'tradeshow' as an industry?

Regards,

Lee

[Bec]

The last time i went to a show there were actually more reps and owners at it than there were true 'webmasters'.

Lee

Isn't that pretty much always the situation though? Most webmasters that do this from home don't have the luxury of dropping several thousand dollars on a flight and a hotel room and show passes a couple of times a month for the various shows. I've always said the shows are over priced for the people they really need to have attend them.

[B2BwithJoeD]

There were still a few webmasters at the Cybernet Expo last year, we'll see what happens in June. There are a lot of Dutch webmasters at WebAccess A'dam every year - you just have to talk to every single person at the show to find out who they are - which is actually good networking! And they all speak English. The one to watch this year is the mid-June Barcelona Summit where webmasters are being given free access to attend if they meet prescribed requirements and many are having their trips 'sponsored' by the show sponsors. It is an interesting concept if it works - of course if it does work I am curious to see if it's 'blood in the water around each of them.' They'll need security :cop:

[nickbaer]

To me the "webmaster" trade shows are simply paid vacations. That's fine if you need/want to vacation that way. But if you can't do business 24/7/365 via e-mail, phone or in office, then there is a mob psychology going on about doing business at a hotel trade show.

I used to enjoy going to the LA Gay Erotica show, which was consumer oriented. The booths were mostly studios, and some of their talent were on hand, in varying degrees of undress.

[topcat]

It’s all about meeting people and networking. In a previous business PRS Telecoms trade shows were very valuable; the comment about cost is also very valid. I am interested in shows that have content sellers attending.

[Lee]

It seems there is some confusion between what a tradeshow actually is, it looks like most that have replied to this thread are actually basing their responses to the 'gatherings' which are much less informal than an actual tradeshow, where products, sites and services are put on display for every to see, not just webmasters.

To me a tradeshow has a centralized show floor, where people have booths or tables that they can use to tout their wares, a gathering on the other hand, is more like a working vacation where the atmosphere is much more relaxed and easy-going, much like the Phoenix Forums.

It seems like more and more people are opting to attend the gatherings rather than tradeshows because of the relaxed atmosphere and general all round 'vacation' feel they have on them but im wondering, other than on the physical product side of things and the sex toy conventions, etc, are there any tradeshows worth going to for online adult internet based businesses where the exhibitors sponsoring the events display information and products about their websites?

Regards,

Lee