Webmaster Access 2011 is an adult B2B trade show that was held at the Park Hotel in Amsterdam from September 16-19, 2011. While it seems like every show has chatter suggesting “this must be the last one,” it would be difficult to attend Webmaster Access and come away feeling that way. If anything, this show seems to grow each year.

The Venue

For the second straight year, Webmaster Access was held at the Park Hotel. Once again, I stayed off-site so I will not comment on the accommodations other than to say that I heard the same talk as last year. Small rooms. Well, it is Europe. I have found very few hotels with rooms the size we have become accustomed in the states.

The hotel itself is nice. I had little cause to interact with the staff, but whenever I did it was pleasant. My favorite feature of the hotel is their coffee machines. When dealing with time zone changes, those little machines were lifesavers.

Dutch Webmaster Meeting

It is my understanding that this was the second Dutch Webmaster Meeting. Apparently there was a scheduling conflict, so the organizers got together with AVN and made the Dutch Webmaster Meeting as the first day of Webmaster Access. I have to admit, I was impressed. While the days of adult trade shows with booths seem to be dwindling, the Dutch Webmaster Meeting had a room full of them. For a second time around, this event was quite impressive.

While the expo, or Meeting Market, went on for a good portion of the day, that was a small portion of the show. They had two speed networking sessions and a Q&A session. The Dutch Webmaster Meeting ended and Webmaster Access started with a cocktail reception. Later on in the evening there was an open invite dinner followed by the Webmaster Rock party, featuring live music by The Hun’s band. All in all, it was a very active day with an impressive show.

AWMOpen

Last year AVN assisted in breathing new life into Webmaster Access by joining forces with AWMOpen. AWMOpen is a Russian trade show for adult Internet marketers. Last year the Russian presence seemed more obvious. I do not know if it was due to cliques or the high number of translators. This year you knew the Russians were there, but everyone seemed ready to do business together. Every seminar I attended had a Russian translator available, but it seemed that they were not required often, if at all. Everyone I spoke to has stated that they are happy with the merger, so it appears AVN may be onto something.

Webmaster Access

Webmaster Access itself ran like a well-oiled machine. It was very obvious that Shelly has got this thing down. She actually looked relaxed. The show officially started on Saturday and began with seminars on tube and review sites. After lunch was a speed networking session which was followed by what was billed as the .XXX Smackdown! It was supposed to be a debate between Stuart Lawley of ICM and Tom Hymes, but Lawley had something come up, so Greg Dumas appeared in his stead. To be honest, it was a waste of an hour. .XXX is here; having a “smackdown” seems a little pointless at this juncture. I think the time for information is here. More on that in another post.

Sunday’s seminars covered dating, mobile and cams. I would suggest that these are three of the more important topics for today’s affiliate, so if they get repeated at more than one show, I completely understand and agree that they should be. Sunday evening ended with a “traffic dinner” that was a great networking opportunity. It was more snacks than dinner, so there was ample opportunity to mingle and solidify those relationships that were established earlier in the day. I heard nothing but praise from everyone that attended.

Monday had a lot of events like museum tours, Heineken tour, Segway tour and a sponsor brunch scheduled. None of it happened as far as I am aware. I saw people at the hotel looking to meet up for these events but no one seemed to know anything. Some people split up and did their own tours, but nothing that was scheduled happened. It was kind of a drag as I know many of us would have headed to Prague earlier if Monday was not happening. Poor planning.

GFY Awards

The 1st Annual GFY Awards were held at the Buddha Bar on Saturday night. Hosted by Jelena Jensen, this was a non-stop fun party. The awards covered the range of categories from Troll of the Year (Paul Markham) to Webmaster of the Year (Nick CrakMedia). You can find a complete list of the categories and the 2011 winners at http://gfy.com/awards/.

Summary

Webmaster Access 2011 was a very good show. The attendance was up; the seminars were educational and topical. I think bringing in the Dutch Webmaster Meeting and AWMOpen to the mix was a good thing for all three shows. While I keep saying I will be cutting down on the number of shows I attend, I have a feeling that Webmaster Access is one I will be attending for some time to come.

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