Miami Beach [beaconnewspaper.com]- On March 30, the stars came out and the clothes came off as the second annual Exxxotica Miami adult tradeshow got underway. Held at the Miami Beach Convention Center, the three-day show featured many adult stars including the likes of well-knowns such as Jenna Jameson, Tera Patrick and Ron Jeremy, who sat behind tables and autographed posters while posing for photos with fans.
The convention, which carried a $25 admission price, capitalized on an industry with a worldwide revenue of more than $90 billion. According to information compiled by TopTenReviews.com from sources such as Associated Press and PornStudies, revenue for the U.S. pornography industry reached approximately $13 billion; this total includes video sales and rentals, novelties, magazines, internet, phone sex and exotic dance clubs. Adults aged 18-24 account for 14% of Internet porn users.
Present at Exxxotica 2007 were various merchants selling everything from adult DVDs and erotic toys of all types to whips, chains and all-inclusive Caribbean vacations where even the sex is included.
In addition to plenty of stars and merchandise, many of the adult industry’s finest were on hand to give a multitude of recurring seminars including “Swinging 101,” “Fetish 101,” “Sex Toys, Amateurs Turn Pro” and “Tying the Knot: Sensual Bondage.”
Attending the “Amateurs Turn Pro” seminar was Michelle Lloyd, 25, who was in town vacationing with her boyfriend.
“These folks really know what they’re doing,” Lloyd said with a laugh. “We’ve tried to make our own videos at home and were just interested in suggestions. Not interested in going pro, though.”
On the convention’s center stage, stars and show attendees alike participated in a variety of contests and demonstrations that made several audience members gasp. Attendees were able to vote in the annual Ms. Exxxotica competition, found out everything they wanted to know about porn but were afraid to ask and were witness to a fashion show hot enough to bear the Hustler name.
No contest, however, produced more gasps than the Screaming “O” Contest in which audience members were invited onstage to show off just how loud their orgasms could get.
Edith Velasco, 38, attended Exxxotica last year and has been waiting ever since for her chance to go again. Velasco was looking forward to the question and answer session with the entertainers.
“I’ve always wondered to myself how they can last so long,” Velasco said while blushing. “I never thought I’d get a chance to ask. Being here makes you realize that even porn stars are just regular people.”
Junior Suzanna Dawson, who attended the convention with her boyfriend Senior Nivv Oudit, was particularly impressed by the stars’ social personalities.
“It was really awesome seeing everyone just acting like normal people,” she said. “You see the actors and actresses in the movies, when you meet them, they’re just so down to earth – it’s refreshing.”
In an interview with AVN.com, J. Handy, director of Victory Tradeshow Management, the producer of the event, explained the reasoning behind the event’s creation.
“We saw a hole in the market,” Handy said. “Nobody was producing an adult event of this size on the East Coast.”
Exxxotica debuted in 2006 and, if estimates are correct, attracted more than 16,000 guests in its first year. Show coordinators decided to move the event from June to March in order to cater to the large influx of tourists in town for Spring Break. Attendance was expected to surpass 20,000 for the three-day long show.
If you want to find out more information on the tradeshow or see if you can catch it next year, check their website at www.exxxoticamiami.com.