Quote Originally Posted by hdkbill
The seminars always seem to stay the same. Obviously with the advent of 2257 we had some new topics, but the best was put on by the FSC with little involvement from AVN.
I would have to disagree with you on this one, Bill. I thought the topics for this year's seminars were excellent. My editor bent over backwards trying to introduce new topics, and I think he did an excellent job balancing familiar topics with new and challenging ones. The "Mind F#ck '06" seminar was, in particular, extremely topical and interesting, and the ones on branding ("Brand Slam!") and blogging ("Blogging, Podcasting and Beyond") were also very lively and full of information. People were lined up for 30 mins following both of those to keep asking the panelists questions. I couldn't even get up to shake their hands.

I'm hearing a lot of sweeping dismissals from a lot of people, and I just have to keep wondering: how much did people really explore beyond their cursory and immediate impressions? 'Cuz my experience seemed to be a lot different than everyone else's, and I managed to find a lot of stuff to do that kept me busy while I was there, even when I wasn't "technically working." Perhaps this is b/cuz this was my first time actually covering the expo as opposed to just attending it, but I really don't think it was as bad as everyone keeps saying, and that's not b/cuz I work at AVN either. I learned A LOT up there that I was not aware of before, and I walked away with a new-found respect for the industry that I did not have before.

There was a lot of effort put into Internext this year. True, there were problems, as there most undoubtedly always will be for a show of this scale and scope. With the two other shows going on, we were up against a lot, but we worked with what we had available to us, and personally, I think it was a valiant effort. Not the best turnout we could have hoped for, but not every year can be a grand slam.

Anyway, I will certainly pass your feedback along to the powers that be in hopes that we can plan a more inclusive and exciting show for next year.