Quote Originally Posted by desslock View Post
If organizers like those of the Phoenix Forum keep running shows and the hotel books up in three days, then I take it to mean that they are making good money.
Steve
Phoenix Forum has always been a "break even" event according to CCBill. Of course, I'm sure that there's some "funny money" included in that figure, such as staff time that's probably paid out of the Phoenix Forum budget, but they have always said that all of the sponsor money that comes into the event goes right back out to providing a better program.

That might be different this year... I notice the Phoenix Forum is sponsored by "Forum Partners LLC" rather than CCBill, so they may have turned it into a for-profit event.

Quote Originally Posted by mgillis
What no one has convinced me of yet, is their ability to get the webmasters to attend their events (other than PF). The last few shows I've attended (although I've enjoyed each one and done good business at each) have been very much the same faces and very Business2Business with very few indy webmasters in attendance.
Mary, once again I'm in complete agreement. One of the things that we worked with CCBill on last year was to try and get more "first time" and new webmasters to GPF, and in my book, that's why the AVN shows are so non-worthwhile for us. It's expensive enough to fly and pay for hotels (particularly when you host your event in San Francisco or in Vegas in the middle of CES) and meals. For many newer or up-and-coming webmasters, the cost of a $300 ticket on top of travel, lodging and food makes it out of reach.

When you compare the AVN events to an event such as GPF where the hotel is reasonably priced, meals are included, there's no admission fee... the costs are much more affordable and the event is therefore much more accessible to the growing webmaster, which, for the show organizers with a brain, are the very people that they should be courting, both because the established businesses of all types are looking for new or growing companies to work with, and because the newer webmasters will have opportunities to network with people they have probably never met before.

As for the gay shows being lumped together... you have AVN to thank for that. GPF was already scheduled for October, and AVN clearly knew that, and could very easily have planned their October show to be at another time, but they clearly are trying to squash Gay Phoenix Forum... never mind the fact they weren't the slightest bit interested in a gay show until GPF happened and was successful.

I believe that if the major players in the industry try to work *together* instead of doing petty crap like this, everyone will be a lot more successful in the long run. I just hope that the people making the decisions see that sooner rather than later. It would be a real shame if we lose good opportunities because of one or more company's shortsightedness.