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| by Rick C. Limpert |
February 18, 2001
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| Internext Winter 2001: Internext Comes of Age
The old saying, "You've come a long way, baby!" could've been the motto for the Winter 2001 Internext adult Internet show held January 4-6, 2001 at the Sands Expo in Las Vegas.
In what might've been thought of as a warm up act for the larger AVN Expo held following the Internext show, the show more than held it's own against the three other shows held in Vegas around the same time.
Being a veteran of five IA2000/Internext shows, they keep getting bigger and better. I can remember two years ago at the Monte Carlo in Las Vegas having to go between two different convention rooms to attend the whole show. Booths were for the most part, were tables in 10 x 10 spaces, and it was a small enough show where the show organizers provided free sit down lunch for all the attendees.
Now with more than 150 exhibitors, some taking up large 60 x 60 areas to showcase and demo their wares, Internext appears to be growing in tandem with the whole adult Internet industry.
With giveaways including a Dodge Viper, a new Harley, and a cash grab of more than $10,000, exhibitors keep trying to out do each other when it comes to name recognition and product positioning.
With big players like Cybererotica setting up a wrestling ring, and stages for dancers to strut their stuff around, and Babenet having a mechanical bull set up with bare butted blonde girls riding it up and down, there was bound to be a booth or two to attract your attention and get you to stop by.
A front page article in the Las Vegas Star Saturday edition concluded similar results in saying the adult Internet industry is expected to grow eight-fold by the year 2005.
Now onto the show, with seminars running concurrently to the trade show, and parties all night it made for some long days.
Internext with many of the same exhibitors as the larger more crowded AVN, provides the attendee a chance to get more up close and personal with their favorite adult entertainers and stars.
For example the girls of Voyeurdorm and their massive RV were friendly and more than happy to take you on a tour of their living quarters. At a bigger show, a star like Inari Vachs might have a line of gawkers, but I found her standing by herself promoting some products for an exhibitor and looking bored and happy to talk to someone where I had a nice conversation with her until fellow adult star Dee came along to greet Inari and I was privied to a nice kissing exhibition by the two.
Cassidey was more petite than I realized, as she was signing and wandering around the show floor.
Amber Michaels was showing off her body in a nice bikini, and greeting her fans. Danni Ashe was signing the current issue of AVN Online, as she is on the cover this month. She always had a nice line of fans waiting to talk to her, proving that running an honest site and being a great business women are what most people are looking for beyond just T & A.
Although not causing the commotion of Dennis Rodman in New Orleans last fall, Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf from Howard Stern fame was posing for pictures, signing autographs, and just being his angry self. It's hard to tell if the angry persona is an act, or he really that angry in everyday life.
But one of the pleasant surprises of this show are the local girls recruited to work the booths for some exhibitors. These girls, many local college girls are young, attractive, and being in the adult/porn environment causes them to relax their inhibitions a little, and many are hired for some adult work while at the show, never expecting such an offer.
On the downside of the show, are many of the companies use the same gimmick and booth year after year. While a nice idea in New Orleans the BLOW ladies of wrestling were entertaining and new, this show they rarely performed and the wrestling was a poor quality. Many of the same t-shirts that were given out at past shows, were thrown at you again this year. And Scores, who had a large presence at the show missed out on a big opportunity to promote their sites by having a bevy of Scores girls mostly sitting on couches talking amongst themselves, instead of setting up a stage in their large booth and shaking it.
Also, changes have to be made in some of the annual gatherings. Loud rap and house music dominate the parties and talking to anyone is almost impossible. Granted big name celebrities like Mike Piazza, Tony Hawk, and Herbie Hancock attended some of the events, VIP areas are set up and normal attendees have little if no chance at all of mingling with the big names.
Internext will be returning to the Sans Expo in June for a Summer show, ditching the Fall show. It appears Internext may have found a permanent home in Vegas, after rotating it around to Orlando, Miami, and New Orleans. And with expected growth, expect to see the show keep up its pace of growing into one of the larger shows in the adult industry.
Rick C. Limpert is a Talking Blue TV Special Correspondent and the founder and President of SBC Photography in Alpharetta, GA. Rick also writes articles and provides images for many magazines and e-zines. Rick's work has been featured in Digital Camera, Digital Photographer, Mav!, Swang, Talking Blue and Details.
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