The benefits of keeping it casual were enjoyed by old-school industry members as well as newcomers. Cabana sponsors included CCBill, Pimproll, VCX Cash, PussyCash, SilverCash, Camz.com, IWantU.com, DHD Media, TrustCash, XXXContentDirect, Waat Media, CECash, Playboy Webmasters, VividCash, Video Secrets, NationalNet, Highdef Riches, Loaded Cash, Encoding TV, Fresh DVD Content, Shane's World, OC Cash and YanksCash.
“It’s a wonderful, wonderful show. I’m completely overwhelmed by how much it exceeded my expectations,” Tightfit Productions Owner Oren Cohen said. “Great atmosphere, great staff at the hotel, a very well-planned out event — everything’s top-notch. To say I’m surprised is an understatement. I’m doing good business and having a good time.”
A third-generation content producer and first-time Summer Forum attendee and cabana sponsor, Cohen came to Vegas looking to diversify his business options by making more connections in the online realm.
“I don’t think that DVDs are viable anymore — completely unviable,” Cohen said. “I’m finding, much to my own surprise, that we have a lot more to offer people than I even thought we did, as a production entity. There’s not too many people producing really quality stuff for the web.”
Most long-time show-goers were there to nurture their relationships with affiliates and reconnect with business associates.
“We love coming to XBIZ anyway, just because the Summer Forum is a great way to get some business done and chill out at the same time,” AEBN Marketing Executive Liz Wright told XBIZ. “What could be better than doing business by a pool? The cabana has been a really nice tool to pull people in and chat with them and offer them a little bit of southern hospitality. Many of the people that are here are already our clients and people that we work with closely, but some new people have come by.”
The crew from Python Cash prowled poolside, giving $50 to any attendees wearing Python logo underwear and chances to win a $50,000 giveaway to be presented after SilverCash’s Best of the West bikini contest on Thursday.
“The show’s good. I always come to Vegas for the XBIZ show,” Python Cash’s Derrick Bronco said. “The basis for me is seeing people I already know and solidifying those relationships better.”
Aside from the hot weather, hot topics of conversation seemed to gravitate toward acquiring new content, as well as new distribution platforms and networks.
“We have a multibillion-dollar family that operates cable companies and they have cable companies all through the Americas and they’ve been developing this IPTV technology for the last two years,” Adult Vest CEO Francis Koenig said. “They’ve hired us exclusively to go out and license adult content for their platform.”
Kicking back in his swim trunks on the couch in his cabana, Koenig explained one of his strategies for being at the Forum.
“We’re looking for a wide variety of content and ultimately they want to be able to give choices to the end consumer, so to give choices you have to have a lot. We would love the content producers to call us, so we can get them on-board and making money,” he said.
Epoch’s Rand Pate was overseeing foot traffic at the company cabana, surrounded by a flow of visitor and company staff. Next-cabana-neighbor Cybersocket had a bird’s eye view of the pool.
“I really don’t know of any company that makes money off of the shows. It’s a big expense for all of us to be here, but it’s very necessary,” Cybersocket Account Executive Douglas Richter said.
As the leading gay web-portal, Richter noted the importance of his company keeping up with consumer trends, in order to better serve his advertising customers.
“Surfers have gotten so savvy; they notice if you don’t update your banners," Richter said. "If you’re not updating your branding and your ads, they’re not going to go to your site. They don’t want to be tracked. People who advertise long-term; they’re noticing bumps in raw visits.”
On the opposite side of the pool, Shane's World and OC Cash rocked the pool from their super-size cabanas, with giant fans blowing a cool mist on warm bodies and huge stacks of speakers pumping a continuous flow of thumping party grooves.
Newly appointed president of LFP Inc. Michael Klein was seen making poolside rounds.
“We’re here mostly for our online presence right now, so we’ve been having a lot of meetings on that end of it,” Klein said. “I see there’s mobile providers here also, but the focus is online.”
“We reach all those different levels. We have our broadcast with Hustler TV, we have mobile and we’ve got burnable DVD coming up soon. So that’s what we hear, too. You try to find as many different avenues for distribution as possible,” he said.
Sarah Salimi and Lauren of Naughty America took shelter in their cabana when they weren’t out making the rounds, swimming in the pool or promoting Naughty’s latest launch, the Naughty Flipside website.
“We’ve been walking around just trying to get to know everybody, networking, and it’s been very beneficial with all the different events at the Circle Bar,” Salimi said.
As if things weren’t warm enough, several starlets turned up the heat in skimpy bikinis, including Pleasure Productions contract girl Tera Wray, as well as web adult star Naughty Allie in the cabana for Naughty Bank. MILF diva Rayveness was seen cabana-hopping, collecting stickers for the XBIZ sponsored scavenger hunt prize giveaway — and ended up winning $500.
There was lots of swag and one of the funniest giveaways was from the crew at Fleshlight, who greeted their cabana guests with life-size, pink jelly penises. They were looking to branch out to more affiliates and to also introduce the new gay-oriented Flesh Jack toy line.
Jim Kelly from CamDough.com launched his new webcam affiliate site to coincide with the Summer Forum and was there promoting his live Asian girl content.
“It’s wonderful. Everybody loves to stop by and of course, we go by everyone else’s and it’s all kind of mutual. In fact, I’ve met about 50 new people this year,” Kelly said. “We loosen everybody up. We get them drunk and then make them sign contracts.”
