Page 38 - AVN May 2015

TECH NEWS
QUALITY OVER QUANTITY
Phoenix Forum offered less traffic, more conversions
FIELD REPORT | By Stewart Tongue
THE 2017 PHOENIX FORUM was a successful
show, but in a different way than most industry
veterans will remember from years past. So much
has changed (for the better and the worse) that
recapping the show itself is also becoming a bit
more complicated.
For starters, the plain fact is that the show is
considerably smaller than it was a few years ago. I
was told by more than one person that the Mission
Palms hotel was not sold out completely. For
those of us who recall frantically dialing the hotel
reservation office on two mobile phones and three
office lines simultaneously, like it was some kind
of radio call-in contest, only to find out the entire
hotel was sold out in 25 minutes … that is a bit of
a shocker. As people adapted, however, the smaller
size ended up being profitable.
Instead of shouldering your way through a
packed courtyard of half-drunk reps and low-level
entourages, attendees were able to find decision
makers to engage in meaningful dialogue easily.
The result was much lower courtyard traffic with
insanely good meeting conversion ratios. Rather
than 100 handshakes with people that you knew
weren’t going to result in anything, you now end up
with 20 meetings that result in actual deals being
done on the spot.
Along with the change in size came a significant
change in the maturity, age and focus of the people
attending. Yes, there was beer pong and naked
dodge ball, but the underlying focus on business
was much more apparent than at any show in recent
memory. This wasn’t the party it used to be, with
many heading off to bed by 11 p.m., and for those
who came to actually get things done … that was a
very good thing.
The entertainment lacked the House of Slam
event that Grand Slam Media and Adnium provided
38 | AVN.com | 5.17
in previous years, or any similar extravaganza.
There was a closing party, but it was much smaller
and less opulent than the fashion show staged
last year. Even the swag has become much more
conservative, with the best items this year being
high-tech lighters from ModelCentro and luggage
straps from Payze (rather than the pig noses and
toilet seats KennyB used to hand out to people).
The hotel itself has also evolved quite a bit.
Naked Dodge Ball was held on a plain gray rooftop
terrace where the tennis courts used to be …
because the infamous tennis court is no longer
there. Instead of a net, show runners adapted by
having people hold a line of caution tape across mid
court.
The seminars, always a strength of the show,
were informative, but due to the size of the
audience most had sporadic attendance. More than
a few people at the show suggested that a workshop
or Ted Talk format might be better suited to the
current paradigm.
GFY stepped up to host happy hour once again at
Rúla Búla right outside the show entrance. GFY’s
Eric Matis did a fine job with it, but the nostalgia
was palpable for a packed terrace balcony outside
of the famous Hooters restaurant that no longer
exists.
Among attendees the hot topics were virtual
reality porn, potential involvement by federal
governments in the U.S. and U.K. to limit free porn
online, technological advancements with services
like ProxyPony.com, and a rapidly growing interest
in the legal marijuana business sector.
It was easy to find experts in every arena of
adult from traffic to billing, hosting and content.
In almost every instance you are speaking directly
with an owner, top exec or one of the few reps that
has been in this business for decades and actually
knows what they are doing. There weren’t any empty suits
or pretty girls who didn’t quite understand what their own
company did as they fumbled their way through a drunken
sales pitch.
After speaking with dozens of people at the show off the
record, I can confirm that the forum was profitable for nearly
everyone who attended, but most were done doing deals by
Saturday. Without the high-profile entertainment of Method
Man or some other earth-shaking milestone on the schedule
it became a Sunday of seeing old friends and rehashing
the past rather than a frantic race to complete unfinished
discussions or squeeze in a few more meetings with fresh
contacts.
So what’s the true takeaway from the 2017 Phoenix
Forum? The honest appraisal that avoids parroting what
some people want to hear? It’s simple: The industry has
changed, the Phoenix landscape itself has changed, the age
of the participants has changed … but as usual, there are
still plenty of smart people in this industry adapting their
approach and making serious money as part of what will
always be considered a flagship show for anyone who wants
to do business in adult online.
BUSINESS FRIENDLY Opening ceremonies at the 2017 Phoenix Forum. Photos by
JFK/FUBARWebmasters.com. For more photos, see AVN.com.