Industry fairs: what they are good for

Industry fairs are, in the erotic industry in Germany, the place where productions, platforms, traders and performers stand in the same spot once a year. For some that is a working day with a result; for others an expensive outing. And for everyone one point applies that in the anticipation is gladly overlooked: anyone who visits a fair gives up their anonymity. This article describes soberly what happens there, who gets something from it, what the visit costs and how you handle photos and visitors. We do not name concrete fairs and dates, because that changes continuously.

What actually happens at an industry fair

On the site three things run in parallel. First the trade business: production companies, platforms, distributors, studios, technology and accessory providers stand at stands and speak with business partners. Second the public programme: stage appearances, signing hours, photo opportunities, sales stands. Third the side business at the edge: conversations that arise from both.

For performers the first part is mainly of interest, but it usually does not take place spontaneously. Productions come with diaries, not with open ears. Anyone who wants to hold conversations there arranges them beforehand and appears at the stand at the agreed time.

For whom the visit brings something

There are three groups for whom a fair is working time and not leisure.

• Anyone who is booked. An appearance, a signing hour or stand work with a contract, a fee and defined tasks. Event accompaniment without sexual acts usually sits at 200 to 500 euros per day.
• Anyone who markets themselves. Anyone who runs their own channel meets audience and platform contacts there at once. That pays if the channel is already running.
• Anyone who has concrete appointments. Two or three conversations arranged in advance with productions for whom you are already of interest.

For whom the visit is not worth it

For newcomers without a portfolio a fair as a rule brings nothing. The reason is simple: there is nothing to show and no occasion for a conversation. Anyone who steps up to a stand and introduces themselves is referred to the application form — to the place where the path would have begun without travel costs as well.

On top of that comes a second problem. At fairs people are approached who look new, and not always by productions. Offers that are made verbally at a fair stand are hard to check and hard to evidence. Anyone who still has no experience with contracts is structurally at a disadvantage in this situation. The path via a documented application and a casting at a booked place is the more robust one for the start, and which production types come into question is on the page on the productions.

What a fair visit costs

Travel, ticket and overnight stay you bear yourself as long as you are not booked. At a fair in another city that quickly adds up to two days without income and with expenses. Meals and wardrobe come on top.

It is different only with a booking. Then the contract states who bears travel and lodging, how long you are present, what you do and what expressly does not belong to your tasks. Without these points you should not give a fair acceptance — verbal agreements do not hold long in a hall with several thousand visitors.

Anonymity and a fair visit exclude each other

This is the most important statement of this article, so it stands here without detour: if it matters to you that acquaintances, family or an employer learn nothing of your work, do not go to an industry fair.

A fair is a public space. Every visitor has a camera in their pocket, shots are published in networks during the event, stage programmes are filmed, press is admitted, and name badges carry legal names if you do not expressly require something else. Anyone who stands there is photographed — including in the background of pictures other people take.

A stage name protects only the name here, not the face. And pictures that are once in circulation cannot be taken back. If you work under a pseudonym and without a recognisable face, a fair visit is the most effective way to give that protection up. What works in anonymous work and what does not is in the article on working anonymously.

There are alternatives that do not demand this price: arranged conversations off the site, appointments in studios, video calls. For most professional conversations that is the more practical form anyway.

Handling photos and visitors

If you are booked or decide consciously for the visit, settle three points beforehand.

• Photos. Determine whether shots with you are allowed, in what form and whether publication is included. On bookings that belongs in the contract, not in a conversation at the stand.
• Physical contact. Touching is not part of a photo. A no is as permissible at a fair as on set, and a stand team is responsible for enforcing it.
• Limits and a companion. Record what you do and what you do not, and do not go alone. A companion is as useful at a fair as at a casting.

For the preparation the same system as for shoot days is suitable: write down what is permissible and communicate it beforehand instead of deciding in the situation. How that looks in practice the article on the yes-no-maybe list shows.

What actually becomes of fair contacts

Contacts arise quickly at a fair and disappear just as quickly. Anyone who holds thirty conversations in one day remembers three the next morning. That is why it is not the stand on the site that decides, but the follow-up: note directly after each conversation who you spoke with, in what function and what was arranged. Two sentences in the phone are enough.

Get in touch in the days afterwards in writing, with a brief reminder of the conversation and the details needed for a casting. That is the point at which a contact becomes an enquiry — or nothing.

What you should not do, by contrast, is make acceptances on the site. Dates, content and fees that are arranged verbally between two stage programmes rarely stand up to what later appears in the contract. A fair conversation is a beginning, not an agreement.

The sober classification

Fairs are a marketplace for people who are already in the market. They shorten paths if you have something to offer, and they produce visibility if you want visibility. They are not a start, not a substitute for an application and not an opportunity to be discovered.

If you are considering going, decide by three questions: do I have appointments arranged in advance? Can I bear the costs without the day having to pay? And can I stand being publicly recognisable on this day? With three yeses a fair makes sense. With a no on the last question the answer is clear.