YNOT – Every year in January the adult industry makes the trek to Las Vegas, Nevada to promote their brands and products to customers at the annual Adult Entertainment Expo, which takes place this year at the Sands Expo Center. Those companies with an interest in the Internet side of the business can stay a few days longer for Internext Expo, which is strictly for networking between businesses and professionals.But after January has come and gone, the focus in 2010 will shift across the Atlantic to Barcelona where a European show called Barcelona Summit will be riding the positive reviews from 2009 into an all new time for 2010.
Like the Vegas show Internext Expo, the Barcelona Summit will be designed for networking with businesses and professionals, not with fans. The location however will provide those who attended Internext in Vegas with an opportunity to mix with a whole new group of people in a time when it’s growing increasingly foolish to ignore international markets.
“All events will be held in English,” said Walter from The Barcelona Summit, before correcting himself slightly. “Some country specific events could be held in the native language.”
The two and a half day show is expecting more than 450 participants from at least 30 different countries; a prediction organizers say is based on “our pre-sales period, signups and feedback.” Price for attending is set at € 229, and that rate comes with full access to all of the show’s speeches, lectures, networking mixers and parties.
The show will also return to the ME Barcelona Hotel this year, YNOT has found, an announcement that should be official sometime this week.
So what’s on tap for this year’s speeches and lectures?
“At the moment we are interviewing a number of people and companies from all over the EU, US and Canada concerning specific topics,” Walter told YNOT. “We hope to have all that in place at about 2 – 2.5 months pre-show. Generally we will be addressing country specific topics, EU topics in general as well as global issues. With the multitude of countries participating, from the EU, US and Canada, we are focused on creating strong cross-border relationships, both on a Pan European and cross Atlantic level. From our network base we are bringing new faces to the Summit, which is one of the main drivers in initiating new business. Furthermore, we are extending our reach to include interesting, peripheral, markets (i.e. mobile, adult dating, adult social networking). The Summit is planned from the 19th – 21st February, directly after the World GSM Congress, the planet’s largest mobile show to ensure participation of those companies already in Barcelona.”
The schedule of evening parties and networking activities are also under refinement at the moment, Walter did provide a glimpse of what the event has in store for participants.
“Of course we will be planning some excellent events,” Walter said. “For the big welcome party on the 19th we are finalizing our sponsor agreement. On Saturday we will be combining entertainment events at the hotel with a late night party in one of Barcelona’s hottest discos. For the closing party we will be doing a big entertainment fiesta at the hotel with various artists. For [soccer] fans we have organized a wonderful hospitality event, which will include a VIP program for attending that weekend’s F.C. Barcelona game.”
For more information about The Barcelona Summit, please visit www.thebarcelonasummit.com.
