Sadly, a good many adult webmasters tend to be somewhat anti-social.
This business caters to the lone wolf mentality. The adult Internet is fueled by single site operators who would much rather stay at home in front of their computers than labor in the real world. We’re completely happy to conduct our business via instant message, email and telephone. For most of the time this disconnected connection serves us perfectly well. Adult Internet professionals operate successfully without ever meeting probably ninety percent of their associates.
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So when we finally get to an adult webmaster event it’s only natural we might be a little nervous.
We’ve spent all these months (and years) reading about porn conventions. We see the pictures of the bacchanalia but we also like to look at the pics of webmasters smiling together. We hear
about the drunken revelry as well as the deals made and the enmities resolved. We know there will be important industry movers and shakers at these events. We know liquor and naked clothed women will be at these conventions. We all know a gathering of the adult Internet industry is like no other and that can be a petrifying fact.
If you are going to an adult webmaster convention or gathering you want to have a good time but you also want to do some networking. These events have a long-lasting effect on your career. How you behave and whom you meet is important because you only get a little time to make an impression. You want to come away with something more than a few t-shirts and a cool mousepad.
You might be retiring and humble but get over yourself. Most everyone is there to have a good time. In spit of all the piss and vinegar on message boards and chat pretty much everyone there is relatively friendly.
For the larger events you get to wear a swell nametag and most everyone puts their nickname on it. People will know who you are by your tag and you will know them by theirs. Stick your hand out and introduce yourself at the booths of your sponsors. Look for nicks you know and say hello. Pass out your business card to people who ask for it. Ask questions of the providers, hosts and affiliate sponsors you do deal with or have interest in. Whatever you think about - remind,yourself, this is a very forgiving crowd. We all have something in common.
In the next lesson, we will take a look at even more things to keep in mind to help improve your networking efforts.