TEMPE, Ariz. — The Phoenix Forum wound down to a close Saturday night after three days of solid networking, education and events for attendees who made the annual pilgrimage to this desert town.
The EU Forum became the starting point Saturday morning for the last day of the CCBill-hosted convention. The mini-tradeshow provided an opportunity to meet and network with European peers and providers.
The ending point, of course, was the exceptional Phoenix Forum Closing Party (sponsored by IMLive and CCBill) at Tempe Mission Palms hotel’s main ballroom Saturday evening.
The evening was complete with Brazilian dancers, a casino (poker, blackjack and craps), complimentary drinks and hors d'oervres. A raffle gave away $10,000 in prizes.
Shoehorned between these events were a number of educational seminars, XBIZ speed networking and, of course, other staples of the annual event’s last day — dodge ball (sponsored by Juicy Ads and Affil4You) and beer pong (BaDoink).
“Dating Lifecycle — From Mainstream Sites to Hook-up Sites and Beyond, ” a seminar that looked at the growing dating market, and how the mainstream and adult dating segments correlate to one another, provide a birds-eye view on what companies are currently doing to catapult revenue.
Moderated by Miranda Leaver of the Solstice Group, the panel was represented by Sean Eggert of CCBill, Lutz Obermann of Dating Factory, Tofu De La Moore of Dating Gold and Matthew Pitt of White Label Dating.
Eggert told the seminar’s attendees that the dating space has been a steady moneymaker for adult companies and, particularly, his company, CCBill.
“This market is one of the best,” he said. “We love dating sites, and we see twice the retention on the gay side. It’s also very good for cross sells."
Other seminars on Saturday included “Tenacity 401 — Gay Boutique Conent in a Mega Program World.” The panel — comprised of CCBill’s Gary Jackson, Cybersocket’s Morgan Sommer and others — fielded queries by moderator Cody Cummings.