** Continued From: Internext Las Vegas 2003! - Part #1

DAY 1

I was completely worn out when my head hit the pillow Monday night after the GFY party. I had even forgotten to call the front desk and ask for a wake up call. So when my eyes opened and I saw the clock read 10:00 am, I was relieved. I hadn’t slept the day away.

I got out of bed and looked at the room service menu for a good ten minutes trying to decide if a pot of coffee was really worth eight dollars. Luckily Redshoe called me before I made a grave financial mistake. He and Mrs. Redshoe were about to go to the show and wanted to know if I wanted to walk to the Venetian with them. I said "you betcha", gussied up and headed down the hall to the Redshoe’s room. Unfortunately, when I got there, they weren’t having sex and there was no porn on their television. The smut would have to wait until we got to the convention.

"Surveying the ratio of exhibitors in their various types, to me this convention was all about Billers, Lawyers and Hosts."

I’m so glad the Redshoes were there to guide me to the show because I get lost very easily. I am not exaggerating when I say that the walk from Treasure Island to the actual, physical entryway of the showroom was a least a half a mile walk. As I stood in line waiting to buy my show pass, I made a note not to wear new shoes to one of these conventions again. It took about a thirty minutes to get my show pass. When I got it, I put it around my neck and took a breath.

I’ve seen and done big things. INTERNEXT EXPO 2003 is definitely now one of them. The exhibits covered the space of one, if not two football fields. They projected at least 5000 people would come to this January EXPO and from the looks of the crowd already there, it appeared they had made their attendance quota. It wasn’t body-to-body but the floor was pretty darned busy. It became obvious why the show was spread out over a three-day period. There were so many exhibitors one person couldn’t possibly visit them all in one 10 AM-5 PM day. I let out my breath, snatched up the free carryall provided by Video Secrets and passed through the archway into the show.

Inside was a plastic, neon and aluminum wonderland. Everywhere I looked, I wanted to go so I just went. The first booth I hit was the AVN booth. I wanted to see our ad for Cozy in their magazine and C-Pimp had told me there would be free issues at the show. When I told the lovely lady at AVN my intention, she beamed and asked where was C-Pimp? I had to let her know he and Girly couldn’t make it because they were too busy putting the final touches on a new, secret project. She proceeded to tell how much she liked my boss and I told her I felt the same. I left, assuring her I would relay AVN’s greeting to C-Pimp and Girly.

Anytime I encountered someone familiar with Cozy, they asked about C-Pimp and Girly. They repeated words and phrases like "nice" and "good guys". It felt fabulous to represent somebody everybody liked so well. If C-Pimp wants to know how much he is admired, here is the evidence in print.

The show had everything any porn geek needed. From butts, to boobs to public Internet terminals, one could almost live at INTERNEXT. There was a bar, a food court; couches galore and free shit everywhere. CECash was running on ongoing game show. I forget who, but I think maybe MaxCash hosted a live radio program for the whole of the show. My favorite was blah who provided a polka band. Silver Cash had the best looking set-up complete with brushed-aluminum stage and frosted plexiglas partitions. Sweet had a cool army camp theme embellished with netting, sandbags and monitors playing war movies. The model factor was higher on day two but just the same, I had no trouble locating a bit of butt or breast spilling peeking out of spandex on Monday. Even Butch Patrick who played Eddie Munster on The Munsters television program was holding court, signing autographs. I thought about getting one from him but it was just too surreal.

Surveying the ratio of exhibitors in their various types, to me this convention was all about Billers, Lawyers and Hosts. The big niche was the gay niche and the word I added to my adult webmaster vocabulary was fulfillment. At the Muffs and Cuffs booth I found out fulfillment companies were the ones who physically possessed and distributed/sold inventory to online adult toy stores. They also do the whole affiliate/sponsor thing but when it comes to who has the goods, the fulfillment folks do. I noted the definite presence of new-to-online adult exhibitors and attendees at the convention as well. I don’t know if some of them were hold-overs from the old days but they were there representing like everyone else.

I tried to spend time with as many exhibitors and attendees as I could but was glad I had another show day in which to do my schmoozing. I had met YNOT Bob, Rochard from Lightspeed Cash, Crow and Joe from PornCity, Princess from XBIZ, The folks at PSW Billing, Bestat from Exclusive Content and Joan Irvine from ASACP.

I chatted at length with newbie Bruce from TrustedMedia who was promoting his streaming software. I had a fun time chilling with the owners of real-live brothel Sherie’s Ranch in Parump, Nevada. I was delighted to see the Free Speech Coalition booth even though it was tucked away in a back corner. I felt as if barely an hour had passed when a voice came over the loudspeaker announcing that INTERNEXT EXPO 2003 was now closed for the day.

After the long trek back to my room at Treasure Island, I wish I could say I rested up and readied myself to hit some killer parties, but I did something better. I played out my favorite long-standing fantasy. I sat in my hotel room and wrote and article, on my laptop, for my job as an Internet writer.

Come back to Cozy for what happens when I wake up the next day!

** Click Here For: Internext Las Vegas 2003! - Part #3