It is like the feeling of being born again: I'm about to attend the first industry event after almost two years of Corona break.
Nobody can tell me that the Zoom-like online events were anything to be looking forward (or back) to. Of course they were the only solution to not completely loose touch with fellow industry colleagues. So finally it's going to happen again, meeting people in real life. Off to Las Vegas. Off to Internext 2022.
This business-only or B2B event used to be held at the Hard Rock Hotel along with the consumer show Adult Entertainment Expo. That one got cancelled for 2022, also the Hard Rock Hotel is no more. It's now a Virgin hotel. So Internext 2022 is now happening at the pretty new Resorts World, next to the famous Wynn/Encore casino. Resorts World is like a 3-in-1 space shared by the Hilton group brands Hilton, Conrad and Crockford. There is a common casino area, a broad selection of pretty expensive restaurants and a conference floor.
As in previous years the concept of Internext was kept the same: It's three days of Meet Market, seminars, panels and parties. Yes, finally also parties again.
It is a bit shocking to see the current state of an entertainment city like Las Vegas. Some say the visitor numbers fell by around 80%. Not sure if it is still that low--specially on the weekend some places look pretty packed. However going outside there is visibly less traffic and also shops and casino floors look quite empty. Let's hope the city will recover again. Fortunately there is not much of noticable covid fuss except for a lot of masks.
Back to Internext: The show is running smooth, you can see people gathering, exchanging business cards and ideas. The seminars are unfortunately not that exciting and don't go too deep into the various topics--there is definitely room for improvement. The keynote by Vitaly Zdorovetskiy aka VitalyzdTv, a YouTube personality, is very entertaining though, what a character. He talks about how he creates all kind of content, how he is facing censorship and how he is using several platforms to go around that.
One little highlight is the cigar party at the Circle Bar in memory of Julius aka JFK. That guy that was seen at every event making photos, always ready for some drinks, smokes and interesting talks. Unfortunately he passed last year (AIE reported).
The other highlight is the GFY party at the Zouk Club. And coincidally DJ Tiësto celebrates his birthday at the same time and place, the croud is huge! Not to forget also the Karaoke evening where one can hear the singing skills of cam girls and online marketing experts...
With several hundred attendants the new old real life conference groove is back. This is the 25th Anniversary edition of Internext and the organizers are doing a great job even in these still more difficult times. Let's hope for more gatherings again in the future. Adultindustryevents.com will continue to be your source on what's happening when.