Great Lakes Webmasters: An Exercise In Face to Face Networking
BUSINESS THREADS
I couldn’t help but notice the voice of the disappointed newbie that recently attended the Internext convention in Las Vegas as I read the second part to YNOT’s Internext wrap-up edition.BUSINESS THREADS
I couldn’t help but notice the voice of the disappointed newbie that recently attended the Internext convention in Las Vegas as I read the second part to YNOT’s Internext wrap-up edition. I’m sure YNOT as well as many other convention attendees fully understand the plight of this newbie. Trade shows are often mistaken as being great places to network, yet I don’t agree with this totally (although there is some truth to it). In order to do any effective networking at the big trade shows, you have to get off that showroom floor, and it’s most efficient if you arrange to meet those that you want to talk business with before you even leave for the show. It’s always been my opinion that the hospitality suites have been the best part of any trade show for the purpose of meeting, getting to know and networking with others in the business. That was my first impression when I attended my first trade show in Montreal several years ago and well, you know what they say about first impressions.
It occurred to me that if the hospitality suite at the big tradeshows was my idea of the perfect venue for networking, that could be done on a much smaller scale. In the summer of 1999 I took the idea to the boards and realized from the feedback, that there are indeed a good number of webmasters and sponsors in my own backyard and they loved the idea of a local gathering. This is how Great Lakes Webmasters (http://www.greatlakeswebmasters.com) was born. With the help of Lee and the great guys over at Pornication (http://www.pornication.com), I put together a very small get-together across the river in Windsor, Ontario. That first, very informal conference was great fun and everyone enjoyed the socializing and networking with like-minded business people from around the Great Lakes region. There were even some from outside the region who attended.
Last year’s gathering officially became a “conference” (just sounds so much more business oriented and professional), thus the website was built for the purpose of getting the information out to other webmasters who perhaps didn’t frequent the boards. With the decision to make it an annual event, I realized that I’d probably need help and when SusieS of Adult Cash Flow (http://www.adultcashflow.com) offered her assistance, it soon became apparent that we were a good team and a partnership was born. (Susie lives in Windsor, Ontario where we hold our conferences and that really helps a great deal with the organizational tasks involved.) We got busy and promoted the event on the boards and on the site, and before we knew it, we had a 60% increase in attendance over the previous year. Last year’s sponsors were Pornication (http://www.pornication.com), Oculus (http://adult.oculus.net), ARS (http://www.adultrevenueservices.com), Python Video (http://www.pythonvideo.com), UltraPartners (http://www.ultrapartners.com), GrammaCash (http://www.grammacash.com), VIP-ID (http://www.vip-id.com), Fetish Playground (http://www.1stNiche.com) and Freaky’s Links (http://www.freakyslinks.com).
Everyone who’s attended our conferences has made a clear statement of what they like best. The ability to leisurely converse with sponsors and webmasters while exchanging ideas and experiences with them in a quiet, comfortable and yet exciting atmosphere seems to be top priority. It’s also wonderful to have the entire event held under one roof so that you’re not wasting time commuting back and forth between hotels or other locations. This is exactly what we have and will continue to provide. It’s really great to see how the sponsors enjoy and make good use of this venue as well. Although appreciated in small doses, the feedback from webmasters has been that long lectures and workshops interfere with the one-on-one experience, especially because most workshop information is available in abundance from the wealth of resource sites for adult webmasters such as here at YNOT. I think this may be because most of the small conferences (including ours) have worked specifically with just one full day (Saturday) in their attempt to restrict the conference to that of a weekend (Fri, Sat, Sun). Perhaps we should try for two full days next year if there is strong enough support for it, then we could provide a few lectures or workshops each day without taking away too much of that valuable one-on-one networking time.
I’m not going to tell you it’s a breeze to organize a conference like this; it’s quite a lot of work, but it’s totally worth it in terms of being able to facilitate the type of networking that is accomplished. One of the things that Susie and I are very conscious of is the cost to both webmaster and sponsor. We strive to provide the best possible event at the smallest possible price. Let’s face it, any business owner who has a clue as to what they are doing realizes the need to carefully weigh the benefits of any investment. Attending conferences or conventions can be a considerable investment — it’s an investment in potential business gains. For webmasters, there is no fee of any kind to attend our conferences, aside from their transportation and hotel room — all other needs are provided. For sponsors, we strive to keep the cost of sponsorship down also, and this really isn’t easy to do not knowing up front how many sponsors will participate, but they’ve always come through for us and we appreciate it to no end! Without the generous support of sponsors, we would not exist.
Most organizers start to promote their events 3-4 months before they occur. The reason for this is because they need to know what to expect as far as attendance is concerned so that they can arrange for the necessary space, food and other accompaniments. I understand that it’s really hard to commit to something that is 2-3 months down the road, but remember, this is an investment. Decide ahead of time how many events a year you want to attend. Pick and choose between what is available to you. On most resource areas as well as on our site, you can find a list of all upcoming events. It’s especially important to register early and make your hotel arrangements early when planning to attend a conference such as Great Lakes Webmasters. Hotels will normally only hold rooms up until one month before the event, so if there is any special pricing in place, you will lose that discount if you wait ’til the last minute. Worse yet…you may not be able to find accommodations at all. As far as registration is concerned, if you know you’re going to be able to attend, by all means, register early on. If you want to attend, but are unsure of whether or not you’ll be able to, don’t register; wait until you are sure. On the other hand, you don’t have to wait until you are sure that you’ll be able to attend in order to make hotel reservations. Go ahead and make them, just make sure you know and understand what the hotel’s cancellation policy is. There are two benefits to doing this. If you are able to attend, all you have to do is register when you are ready to commit to it and your hotel room is already taken care of. Also, if you really won’t be able to make it, don’t cancel your room immediately, but let the conference organizer know about it and/or post to the boards that you have a reserved hotel room and see if anyone else needs it. Honestly, so many people wait until the last minute to commit themselves and then they run into the problem of finding accommodations. A little bit of planning ahead of time goes a long way. Additionally, if you have registered and made your hotel reservations and find that something comes up that is going to prevent you from attending, please be courteous and cancel with the organizers as soon as you know. The cost of putting on one of these conferences is in direct relationship to the number of people attending. There’s nothing worse to see resources going to waste when it could have been prevented.
This year’s conference, coming up on July 27-29, has surpassed our expectations in regards to registrations and sponsor support. It’s going to be the best ever, and I suppose I’ll be saying that each year as it grows. We’ve got some of the top sponsors in the business providing the funding for this year’s conference, ready willing and able to give webmasters their full attention.
We have tons of awesome content and other prizes to give away, too! So, if you’ve been wanting to attend a conference of this caliber, but have been afraid to or thought you couldn’t afford it, you can’t afford not to! Visit the site at Great Lakes Webmasters (http://www.greatlakeswebmasters.com) to register. I want every adult webmaster to have an opportunity to attend a truly worthwhile convention.