The biggest change of course was physical; the move from Mandalay Bay to The Palms, at first glance an apparent step down but in the end an adjustment that made the show more accessible. The massive Vegas hotel/casinos are true wonders of the world that offer an abundance of delights, but they also take an increasingly painful toll on feet, budgets and patience.
The Palms, on the other hand, though somewhat bland thematically, fits nicely into the mold of the intimate and more manageable gaming resorts, like the Hard Rock, where the XBIZ Summer Forum is held. Located slightly off the strip but within spitting distance of it, these venues offer most of the amenities of their behemoth brethren without crushing the senses quite as flagrantly. Their greatest perk, however, especially for the harried writer, is the fact that it takes two and not twenty minutes to walk from club, restaurant, room or hotel entrance to any of the other places.
The Internext “show floor,” such as it was, was located in the multi-layered and leveled Rain nightclub, the use of which for this purpose was another gutsy move by the show organizers. Circular and tall, the arena turned out to offer more benefits than deficits for both exhibitors and attendees.
Early on, as might have been expected, the music in Rain was turned up far too high, making it difficult for people to interact, but that obvious mistake was rectified the following day and the result was a unique and interesting experience.
Upon entering, one was immediately thrown into a circular world. In the middle of the club, a large round upraised platform dominated the floor. Ringed with seats, it housed the AWE contingent, so traffic was diverted either around it or up to the upper levels where most of the companies had their "booths." Every cranny had some sort of representation, all the way up to the sky boxes where companies like Platinum Bucks and Silvercash were located.
Standing on any level, one could see most of the action going on in the small arena, which, as one observer remarked, created a nice social effect. There was a bar on the floor, another at the top level and another in the TMMSegPay booth, one of only a few separate rooms.
Almost completely decked from top to bottom in company signs and banners, the interior of the club had a reverberating convention feel to it, which might explain the propensity of many to “take a break” after a period of time to retreat to the calmer more private clime of the hotel’s circle bar.
More an oval than a circle, it is the act of being able to walk around the bar that gives it the essential Las Vegas “circle bar” credential. One longtime attendee to these events claimed that a circle bar is the single most important ingredient to a successful adult trade show, more important even than the show floor, seminars or parties because it is the one place where more business is actually done than any other.
The claim is impossible to prove, since everyone knows that a lot of business is also done in the inexpensive hotel coffee shops, but the point is valid nonetheless. Business is done wherever people feel comfortable and safe.
One other prime ingredient that was mostly missing from the show, however, was webmasters. This is an issue not unique to this event and indicative of a much larger trend, but it was in effect here too. The observation was overheard more than once,” Great show; too bad there are no webmasters.” The few spotted, however, seemed overjoyed at the prospect of being the only gun in sight with so many fish in the barrel.
Rain also featured a stage large enough to accommodate World Wide Content's belly dancers and a closing night party performance by Everclear. With a great view from any level of the club, the performance aspect of the event was a definite plus.
Another highly-promoted feature of the "new" Internext was Monday night's two-hour Block Party in the Fantasy Tower, during which attendees could go from sponsored suite to sponsored suite spread across two upper floors, enjoying a variety of offerings courtesy of the sponsoring entities.
Seminars were held in a large ballroom upstairs and were generally well-attended.
Most of the show's parties were held in the Palms, but one or two were off-site. Private dinners were held around town, as usual. Of special note this year were affairs thrown in the Hugh Hefner Suite in the Fantasy Tower. Complete with riveting views, an Acropolis-worth of marble and an indoor/outdoor pool and spa, it elicited the appropriate slack-jawed response from first-time visitors.
As mentioned, Everclear closed out the show. This writer had to skip town before they took the stage, and according to reports many others did as well, perhaps the result of having spent too many exhaustive days and nights in Las Vegas for both AEE and Internext.