Online adult industry professionals gathered in San Diego, California last week for Cybernet Expo, an annual business event that offers its attendees helpful seminars and live networking opportunities.Online adult industry professionals gathered in San Diego, California last week for Cybernet Expo, an annual business event that offers its attendees helpful seminars and live networking opportunities. The show started with an official kick-off party on the evening of Wednesday, June 9th, and continued on through the following Saturday evening, June 12th. According to show organizers, attendance this year sat at approximately 600 adult Internet professionals. YNOT spoke with a number of the attendees and sponsors of Cybernet Expo and found that with a few exceptions, most who attended the event were very pleased with the results.
“It’s actually been a huge experience for us. I mean, it’s been great,” said Martin Greif of PrivacyView Software. “Unlike the other conventions we’ve been at, people come up to us whether we’re at the booth or just walking around, introduce themselves, talk to you [and] tell you what they’re doing, find out what you’re doing, and just want to share. It’s been a tremendous experience and we expect to actually wind up doing business with a lot of these people. I would absolutely come back here at the next one. Not even a question.”
Attendee Holly Moss of HMoss Consulting also found Cybernet to be good for business.
“I think it’s good because it’s intimate and it’s small and you get to talk to people, you get to have actual real conversations,” explained Moss.
Moss was mostly satisfied with the Player’s Ball party as well, which took place on the evening of the 10th, but she expressed disappointment that the event allowed access to the general public.
“I felt like there should be some more branding for Split Infinity and I didn’t know it was a mixed crowd with other people,” said Moss. “Maybe somehow they should have said all the Webmasters upstairs or something. It was good for business, I did business, but I didn’t expect to see [non-industry] people there also.”
Industry veteran Rainey Stricklin from PrideBucks.com was impressed by the quality turnout.
“I was pleasantly surprised at the amount and quality of professionals that made the trip to San Diego,” said Stricklin. “Any time you can get a big group of industry people together you can do business, and it’s that much sweeter when it’s on a sunny day by the beach. I haven’t attended a Cybernet Expo event in a few years and was impressed with the improvements.”
So were there any problems with Cybernet Expo itself? If the show had an Achilles’ heel that honor would fall to the volume of foot traffic in the hospitality room. Several vendors indicated that foot traffic to booths was lighter than they had anticipated.
“The traffic in the exhibition area is light at times,” said Greif. “They’re all going outside. I think it’s more venue-based as opposed to content-based. The outside is very nice … we’re on the other end … we get bunches of people at the same time instead of a steady stream.”
Attorney Fred Lane, whose booth was selling an adult Webmaster legal resource guide that will be profiled in YNOT News next month, had similar observations about the foot traffic in the exhibit area.
“I think it’s been fairly slow,” said Lane. “My sense of it is that foot traffic hasn’t been as heavy as we thought it would be, and that’s a little bit disappointing, but the reaction that we’ve gotten has been really positive. People are really glad that this kind of resource is available.”
Asked what Cybernet Expo might do to improve the exhibit area, Lane said that more might be better.
“One of the frustrations that I’ve heard from people is that there just isn’t enough to look at,” explained Lane. “There isn’t enough industry representation in terms of products or content providers or services or what have you. I think those are all issues, but I know from running things myself that it’s really challenging to put together a successful show.”
YNOT spoke briefly with Cybernet Expo’s Fay Sharp, who also acknowledged the light traffic in the exhibit area but promised that steps would be taken for next year’s show to ensure more exposure for exhibits.
Sharp also expressed surprise at how many Webmasters were up at 10:00 each morning and ready to attend seminars, which she owed to a more mature industry and early bar closing times in California.
Will Cybernet Expo return to San Diego next year? The Hyatt Regency Islandia was pleased with the professionalism of the show and has invited it back, but according to Sharp the show is also considering a move to Vancouver. At this point no final decision has been made.
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