I know this is a little late, but better late than never, right? I have attended every XBIZ Summer Forum since their first one in 2006. When I look back at the photos I took at that first show compared with this one, there are a couple of things that stand out. In 2006, it seems like it was more about the party. In 2010, things seem more focused on business and education. In today’s business environment, that is a good thing.

The XBIZ Summer Forum is billed as a three day online business event, but in reality, it is more like two and a half. The last day only had two events scheduled and they were both over by noon. On the other hand, they did schedule the XFANZ show to begin when the XSF ended, so if you stayed for that, you could easily get three or four days of networking and business done.

The Venue

As always, The XBIZ Summer Forum was held at the Hard Rock Hotel. I have a condo in Las Vegas, so most of the time when I have a trade show to attend there, I will use the condo. The exception to the rule is when the event is at the Hard Rock. My girlfriend really likes the pillows there, so I will opt to stay at the show hotel when it is held there. The rooms were a reasonable $100 a night, so no complaints with pricing.

The Hard Rock opened a new section to the hotel and the thing that surprised me the most was that the music was no longer rock. The Hard Rock might be changing their name to The Hip Hop Hotel in the near future. Additionally, I accidentally left some clothes there. They said they found them, but only returned some of my items. When I mentioned this on Facebook I discovered that several people had credit card issues with them, so I may have to rethink staying there in the future. We shall see.

The Food

Daily lunch buffets were held at Simon’s and sponsored by Dating Gold. I was not feeling well, so passed on the buffet the first day. I later found out that the meal on Tuesday was better than the one on Wednesday, but Wednesday was not bad. Both days were well attended, and the plates seemed to empty quickly.

The Networking Never Ends

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Yes, it is almost that time again. The XBIZ Summer Forum is only a couple weeks away. Held at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, NV on June 8-10, 2010. This is the 5th consecutive year for one of the better adult webmaster B-to-B summer shows. I remember talking to one of the XBIZ people (I won’t name names) after their first summer show in 2006 and was surprised to learn that they only expected 300 people to show up. I have seen XBIZ throw Friday night parties that had that many attendees, so I did not really understand why they were not more confident, but I suppose those worries are long gone now.

This year, tickets are only $100 and rooms at the Hard Rock are only $99 a night (plus all the local taxes and fees). These prices make the show a great value in my opinion. A quick review of the scheduled seminars reveals that SEO and social media seem to be a primary focus of the seminars, which is appropriate as they are quite important in today’s Internet marketing world.

For those of you that can not get enough of Las Vegas, after the XBIZ Summer Forum the XFANZ show follows, which is billed as the first outdoor erotica expo. It should be interesting, and I look forward to attending. I hope to see you there.

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