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7. What is your wildest convention story?
I have had a few ? one that DonMike won?t let me forget, is when I forgot DonMike. There was some weed involved (supplied by my boss who handed it to me in a Burger King bag) ? actually the size of a softball ? and the weekend was lost. Though I do remember sitting in my room with the sales team laughing our asses off watching Jaws by putting words in the fishes mouth. I also apparently I did an interview with ronaldo (Ron Steward) and had the best sales of anyone on the team, but I still can?t remember a single day of Vegas.
Though I feel that isn?t what your getting at ? there was a Internext convention in Vegas when I was working with a gay company. A brief history will tell you that although I did sales with the company , they were having difficultly finding a writer so to help out I said I would do it much to their surprise. A straight man writing gay advice column's and erotic stories?
Well 3 years later I was still writing for them and actually the magazine had grown huge in the gay community and won a Cybersocket award! They had pulled me to the center of the bar (Gypsy's) and had a male stripper dancing all over me. What was more comical was the idea that in that room ? I was the only straight man who turned out helped win a gay award for the company that was totally gay owned and operated.
That to me meant more than any other compliment at the time because I have always prided myself in learning what webmasters and clients want. To cross over into sales/marketing to the gay community by having a knowledge and sensitivity to what their needs were ? to understand their culture and be accepted ? meant that I did my job right and my network grew even stronger.
Soon after that I became a moderator on the gay chat board of YNOT and held that with pride for several years until they closed it down and I carried on as mod in the general area ? many thought at that time I was gay but honestly I didn't care, I was actually glad that they thought that because it meant I was doing my job right and at the time I was able to help and work with both markets when I knew few others could. I spoke on seminar panels, talk shows - even interviewed a Gay Archbishop on YNOTRadio and also got to know the Godfathers of the gay market very well. It has made me a better man to have worked with that community by dropping my guard - ego and pride to just relax and open my horizon's to a community that had so much dynamics and lessons to teach me that as time went on. The community knew I was straight but were amazed that I had no judgments against them and was willing to listen. In the end it helped me become a better and stronger voice within the adult industry.
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