Day 2: Workshops and Seminars by Day, Parties by Night

Pictured: Attendees at the seminar on mobile traffic; photo by JFK/Fubar Webmasters. LAS VEGAS—For the second day of Internext 2013, continuing through January 15 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, attendees spent the day in an array of seminars and workshops addressing topics ripped from the headlines. Worries about rising taxes, the new condom law in Los Angeles, the ongoing fight against 2257, and concerns about piracy were all addressed, as well as more positive explorations of the opportunities that lie ahead for professionals in the online adult sphere. Starting things off at 10 a.m. were tax experts Robert Bossart and Ovilier Abelhauser, who led a workshop on international and domestic tax planning. Other workshops followed, with representatives from Adult Webmaster Empire, Video Secrets and Streamates participating in a workshop titled “How to Find, Hire and Retain Webcam Models.” Also on board were talent representatives Best Kept Secret Talent Agency and Web Cam Modeling Association, and the workshop was moderated by Sean Phillips of SexyJobs.com. In the afternoon, two workshops directed attention to other ways for companies to beef up their bottom lines. AdultCentro gave a presentation on how its suite of products and services can help companies grow revenues, and Affil4You sponsored a workshop on making money in mobile. The pot of gold at the end of the mobile rainbow was also the subject of one of the day’s first seminars, with moderator Christian Kreul peppering an expert panel with questions. In the hot seat were Joey Gabra of Affil4You, Rene Pour of First Mobile Cash, Alex Noirot-cosson of Mobjizz, Andy of SexGoesMobile and Rainey Stricklin of Reporo. Particularly interesting were their explanations about which countries they were gaining the most revenues. As Andy noted, “Mobile is about micropayments,” and there are few chargebacks, which allows these companies to make headway into poorer countries and less developed markets. But in more mature markets like Japan, as Reporo’s Stricklin explained, a company needs more “boots on the ground” in order to make headway. Concurrent with the mobile workshop was the legal seminar, titled “Peering into the Crystal Ball.” Moderator Colin Rowntree of Wasteland kept things movie as attorneys Joe Obenberger, Jeffrey Douglas, Greg Piccionelli, Michael Fattorosi and Corey Silverstein addressed in detail several major sticking points in the adult business: the new condom law in Los Angeles and its attendant lawsuit, the prospect for obscenity prosecutions in the future, the threat of harassment from local officials, and the latest in the Free Speech Coalition’s 2257 lawsuit. This last point gave the session a sober note, as FSC’s Douglas explained that without more donations and support from the adult industry, the 2257 lawsuit might go nowhere. The seminars covered other hot topics—hot in the sense of their potential for generating revenue, and also controversy. “Next Gen Tube Sites and You” emphasized the importance of understanding that these sites give both content producers and webmasters new revenue horizons to explore, with representatives from AdXpansion, DreamStarCash, CrakRevenue, Orgasm.com and PartnerCash each providing a distinct point of view on the topic. Programmed at the same time was “Front Lines in the War on Piracy,” with panelists Sybrand R. Kuppens and Dominic Ford, moderated by Nate Glass of Takedown Piracy. The final slate of educational programming offered attendees a choice between a traffic seminar that brought together experts from AdXpansion, Ero-Advertising, JuicyAds, ExoClick, Star Advertising and Adjizz, under the direction of moderator Jason Rouleau of CrakMedia. Finally, AVN senior editor Sherri L. Shaulis stepped in as a substitute moderator for “Live Content: The Future of Porn,” with featured panelists Chris Pass of PartnerCash, Douglas Richter of Adult Webmaster Empire, Oren Cohen of ImLive.com, and Raul Cristian of LiveGonzo.com. The educational programming culminated in the afternoon with Karl Bernard’s keynote address; click here for more. Following his talk, participants headed back to the Block Party in the Paradise Tower, with participating companies Affil4You, PussyCash, Ero-Advertising, NETbilling, Reporo, Dating Factory, PartnerCash, MojoHost, AWE and Cool Mobile. The action was fairly sedate during the Block Party, however, as party guests looked ahead to a long evening. First there was the Traffic Dinner at Hofbrauhaus, sponsored by AdultFriendFinder.com, AdultCentro, JuicyAds and Reflected Networks. LabelSex took on the job of sponsoring the Poker Night, and JuicyAds and Affil4You teamed up for a bash in the Hard Rock’s infamous Bowling Alley Suite. Affil4You also collaborated with AWE and Ero-Advertising for a night at the Hustler Club Las Vegas that culminated with a male revue.