It’s the same schedule staple that we’re all accustomed to, but there’s something different about this year’s Cybernet Expo.
The familiar faces are here, the lineups are similar, so maybe there’s just something in the air. Pre-show began as it always does with YNOT Bob’s south-of-the-border jaunt for lobster and shopping. Mexican wrestling masks are apparently cheap, because they graced a few heads last night.
SmashBucks and OC-3 Networks threw the first get-together of the event, supplying free drinks to attendees in the courtyard bar. Afterward, various dinner gatherings came together and bar-hopping followed.
Friday opened with the seminar schedule with panels on billing, legalities, marketing and branding, and content, and security issues. The highlight of the track was the appearance of Extreme Associates’ Rob Black.
The return of the popular Corridor Cruisin’, which let’s companies display their wares booth style (without actual booths), is slated to round out the day, although it was moved from the courtyard to the inside of the hotel this year.
If there is any trend to be noted here, it seems to be the influx of harder and harder content. In addition to Extreme Associates, Max Hardcore is being repped at Cybernet and several new companies peddling similar content are on the scene.
The legal rumblings centered around the then fresh 2257 and dot-xxx of last year’s show is now almost non-existent. How quickly we forget.
One thing that won’t soon be forgotten is last night’s after-hours party in InterClimax President Ben Jelloun’s suite. Of course, the quantity of Jager Bombs consumed probably makes most of those memories fairly cloudy.
If there’s one staple of Cybernet that won’t be going anywhere, it’s that the partying isn’t going anywhere.
