YNOT – Las Vegas will be busier than ever in mid-January, as three AVN Media Network trade shows, an affiliate gathering and the International Consumer Electronics Show converge on the city at virtually the same time.Scheduled to take place Jan. 8-10 — not Jan. 9-11, as AVN announced in early October — Internext will overlap the annual AVN Adult Entertainment Expo and AVN Novelty Expo, which will occur concurrently Jan. 6-9. (ANE ends Jan. 8.) All three shows will occupy venues at The Venetian Las Vegas and the adjoining Sands Expo and Convention Center, plus the contiguous The Palazzo Las Vegas.
In addition, Affiliate Summit West will run Jan. 9-11 at Wynn Las Vegas. CES will overlap all Jan. 6-9.
The tangle of shows represents some good news for attendees: AEE and ANE business badge holders will receive complimentary admission to Internext. Affiliate Summit will extend a 10-percent discount off registration to Internext badge holders.
According to AVN representative Panos, verified members of the adult business community will receive free admission to Internext if they register online before the show.
“We will screen the participants and make sure that only business people will be accepted,” Panos wrote. “There will be a fee for the ones that choose to register onsite to cover the logistics — under $100 though.
“I think this is a huge step,” he added. “We have been visiting many mainstream shows lately, where this is more and more the standard of the big successful events. Given the situation of our industry, where small webmasters and companies have it much more difficult now, [this] is something that shows have to consider and adapt. [Free admission is] the minimum we can do to support the industry.”
According to pre-show promotional materials, January’s Internext will be devoted to networking and stimulating new business opportunities, particularly in the realms of financial transaction processing, European traffic and monetizing mobile content and services.
On the sponsor and exhibitor side, Panos noted fewer sponsorships will be available this year “in order to give back real value to the sponsors.” Exhibitors, too, will receive a price break, with tables in the Meet Market available for $500.
Low participation costs make “it easy for most companies to participate and brand themselves,” Panos noted. “Many people of the Affiliate Summit will attend the Meet Market, and this year [it] will be much bigger in size and duration, [with] free lunch and a lot of freebies.”
Other events expected to be part of Internext 2011 include an invite-only VIP dinner, a live domain auction, seminars and parties.
Although some of the events may sound familiar, Panos indicated all will display a new dedication to attendee, exhibitor and sponsor benefit.
“I believe the events in the business need a radical change,” he noted. “The decline has been obvious the last years all over the board, making the events less and less attractive for people to attend.
“We cannot change the past, but for sure we can change the present and try to affect the future,” he added. “I will be happy to hear suggestions and ideas on how [to] make the event even better. I think we are on a good way to make it a much more productive and a more fair activity for all the participants from now on.”
