Internext-Expo Day 2: Bikinis, Martinis and Business Meetings

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – Under blue skies and cooled by the ocean breeze, Saturday picked up where Friday left off at Internext-Expo 2009, with a full slate of seminars, a bevy of parties and dinners, a multitude of bouncing boobies and the iPorn Bikini Contest.

Notwithstanding the previous night's festivities, many of which extended well into the morning, attendance surpassed expectations at the early educational seminars and also during the second installment of Ultimate Networking.The day’s educational offerings started off with a workshop on social media marketing, presented by Kelly Shibari of Hourglass8 Media. The hour features a finely honed primer on the use of social media from an adult industry perspective, complete with helpful explanations of tools and techniques available to industry professionals determined to gain an edge in the new digital economy.

Later in the morning, a panel of experts weighed in on ways to exploit foreign markets with an eye to increasing much needed profits outside the U.S., followed by a seminar that addressed the burgeoning mobile-wireless industry. The afternoon sessions featured a panel that spoke to the need for adult entrepreneurs to adapt their thinking to the new economic realities and the evolving ways in which consumers are using and interacting with adult content, and a final panel – presented by Mojo Host principals Brad Mitchell and Corey Silverstein – that focused on tactics for taking your business to the next level.

This year, iPorn stepped up to provide the bikini contest honors, and as usual the pool was ringed with a crowd of mostly bod-ogling males cheering their favorite babes. Unlike previous version of the annual bikini-fest, this year the girls were more accommodating when it came to removing their bikini tops as they paraded before the judges in hopes of winning the $10,000 first prize and a $8,000 modeling contract.

The fetching Nadia Marcella from Jacksonville, Florida won the contest and proudly carried her oversized check back to the hotel. “This is fantastic,” she told AVN. “Where do you think I can cash it?” Marcella can be found in Mixed Magazine.

Saturday parties included the Porn Poker Tour, sponsored by Netbilling, Camz, Dating Gold, CeCash, Orbital Pay and Fame Dollars, and the Cybersocket closing Party, presented by Epoch. Both were so popular that while they were underway, the lobby, usually teeming with people, was virtually empty. The Cybersocket party was sponsored by NakedSword, Badpuppy, Men4RentNow, Buddy Profits, VS Media, AVN Online and Gay Greenbacks.

Like all adult trade events this year, Internext-Expo 2009 was smaller than in previous years, but there also was a definite consensus that not only the show’s quality remains strong but that the healthy intertwining of video and Internet veterans bodes well for an industry that is working hard to find its way through a very difficult year toward a promising future. There also was a noticeable number of new attendees, a sure sign that adult remains a irresistible destination for aspiing adult entrepreneurs.

Internext-Expo 2009 sponsors included Platinum Sponsors PussyCash and eMerchantPay, Gold sponsors Dating Gold, Black Label Ads, ProfitX and Cash Dorado, Silver sponsors Grooby Bucks, Helix Studios, Hot Movies and RoboMail, Seminar sponsor RIV Cash and Media and Association sponsors ASACP, AVNAds, Fuber Webmasters, Free Speech Coalition and AVN Online.