From affiliate programs to billers, publications to traffic brokers, almost 200 industry leaders made the annual pilgrimage to the crystal-blue waters off the Venezuelan coast, turning the island of Curaçao into a seat of the adult business.
Island Gathering offers an amazing array of distractions to push attendees' minds far from their computers. It's not hard to forget about plugging in while taking an island tour by ATV, horseback, jeep or catamaran, or swimming with the dolphins or feeding the sharks.
Arriving at the Curaçao Emerald resort, ground zero for the gathering, we received a comprehensive guide to the weekend and its dawn-to-midnight roster of excursions and activities. While our luggage magically made its way to our rooms, we headed to the poolside Seabreeze Bar for a cocktail hour courtesy of SexSearch. Afterward, it was back to our rooms to change for Thursday's highlight: the welcome dinner sponsored by Maleflixxx.
With the backdrop of an ocean view and a tropical breeze, waiters carried trays of champagne flutes filled with a local potent potable, and fire dancers entertained us before we sat down to a sumptuous five-star meal. Then, we moved to the Emerald bar for some late-night mixing and mingling. The entire day, from start to finish, was nothing short of glorious.
Friday morning's breakfast
was nearly standing-room-only - yes, attendees happily woke up early to fuel up
for the day's activities, which says a lot for the Island Gathering. The
evening's schedule features a surprise networking dinner where attendees will
be divided into 14 groups, which were chosen to help bring together those who don't
know one another. Since everyone in attendance is an owner or top-level
executive, these casual encounters could turn into lucrative alliances, which
is what the Island Gathering is all about - and no event does it better.
Harlan Yaffe is a co-owner of PrideBucks.com.
