Newbies wanting to go to a convention...good idea?

[couple4couple]

My hubby and I are new to the lifestyle, although we've been discussing it for years. We've had one soft experience with another female (kinda...lol), but what we really want is to develop a friendship and play with another couple.

We're thinking of attending the National Swingers Convention in Las Vegas next week. It's hosted by JP Just Parties. We've never heard of this company before. Is this a legit convention, or what? We're skeptical because you have to prepay only and it doesn't give the exact location (will be given in an email, after you've purchased). Is this the standard?

Has anyone ever attended this before?

Are we setting ourselves up for a disaster by attending this, or should we get our feet wet at a smaller venue first?

Sorry for all the questions....we're slightly nervous

[Newpants]

We have not been to that specific convention or know anything about that one so we can not comment on it specifically.

However we have been to other conventions before and they are actually a perfect place to begin your lifestyel journey. Many of them have very pertinent and legitimate workshops and informational sessions during the day and parties at night (a good place to apply your newfound knowledge from the seminars) They are often a safe, classy and no-pressure place to gather information, meet people and if the mood is there...well the sky is the limit there

It is also a common practice to pay in full upfront and only be given the exact location after payment is recieved. Think about it, do you want to go to a swingers convention that is listing it'self in the local newpaper for every reporter, church-lady and wierdo to come watch the show.

Again, I don't know anything about this particular event but the conventions we have attended would be a great place to start and there are often many other newbies at the ones we have attended so they are not something to fear in general.

[exploringRM]

We went to a hotel take over party not long after we started swinging. It was one of the most fun times we've ever had. It was on a smaller scale than the Vegas thing I'm sure (probably 150 couples) I recommend you go with an open mind but reconcile the fact that you may not play with another couple. The interaction, sexy dancing, seminars (I'm assuming they have some at the LV convention), etc is fun and a learning experience.

[fun4Ds]

Welcome to the Swingers Board, couple4couple

Our personal opinion is to not send money to strangers. There are just so many other known, legitimate, alternatives to meet swingers...Especially, in Vegas

I have to ask, was there at least a phone number given ? Someone to talk with that could explain some of the details or a general consensuses of the crowd ?

If a swingers convention is this discrete, I would think twice about paying up front and then close my checkbook.


fun4ds

[two4youinswva]

Paging VegasLee. Your insider's knowledge is needed in this thread!

[VegasLee]

Originally Posted by two4youinswva

Paging VegasLee. Your insider's knowledge is needed in this thread!

You rang?

Ok, Jp Parties is Al Woods. It is normal to pay up front and that part can be trusted with Mr. Woods. There will be the convention and I will let the cat out of the bag, it is at the Tropicana hotel in Vegas.

Good for Newbies? Depends on what your looking for and how out going and social you are. This convention will many people at it. As long as you are a social type person/couple and can introduce yourself to other like minded people then it should be a decent experience for you. The best thing about the parties that Mr. Woods does is gets like minded people together.

If you expect a great deal of things being organized and set up for you, don't.

Mr. Woods has been around a very long time. He has his own opinions and way of doing things. Not saying they are wrong, just not what many would expect by all the hype on the Internet.

Many have gone to these, found some like minded people that they take to the local swing clubs. Seems to work for many.

As with any party, it is what you make of it and he does not charge a huge price for what is going on there.

That will be my PC Trailer Park view of this event.

[couple4couple]

Originally Posted by Newpants

It is also a common practice to pay in full upfront and only be given the exact location after payment is recieved. Think about it, do you want to go to a swingers convention that is listing it'self in the local newpaper for every reporter, church-lady and wierdo to come watch the show.

Good point! I never thought about that. I always forget about how many people there are out there that abhor the lifestyle. I definitely wouldn't want church ladies showing up. (although the looks on their faces would be priceless!)

Thanks for your input. We might just give it a try!

[couple4couple]

Thanks VegasLee. We appreciate the input. Glad to know it's not a scam It seems like it might be a good, relaxed place to meet some new people.

[exploringRM]

One thing you might look into is trip insurance, either available from the organizer or on your own. Most swing events I've seen do not offer refunds. There's so many things that can mess you your ability to travel...weather, illness, etc.

We singed up for a hotel takeover last year, paid close to $1000. My wife injured her neck a few weeks before the event and required surgery so we were not able to attend; that money was gone. The event was not a sell out, so there was no one to take our slot from a waiting list. The organizer did offer us 50% off this years event, but we've not talked much about going as yet.

In our case the reason for no refund is that the organizer was responsible for the rooms that were blocked out (entire hotel in this case), as well as other expenses.

[couple4couple]

Just an update, we went and had a GREAT time! So any other newbies considering it, GO!!!! Thanks everyone for the advice. It was so awesome just meeting other people in the lifestyle and chatting with them. Oh yeah, the afterparties were HOT!

[Coupleerotic22]

Originally Posted by couple4couple

Just an update, we went and had a GREAT time! So any other newbies considering it, GO!!!! Thanks everyone for the advice. It was so awesome just meeting other people in the lifestyle and chatting with them. Oh yeah, the afterparties were HOT!

Great to hear you had a good time. But, please tell us more, we have never been to a convention and would like to hear more. Where there convention like topic sessions or was it more a huge multi-day M&G? What kind of topics, how well was it attended etc.

[couple4couple]

Originally Posted by Coupleerotic22

please tell us more. Where there convention like topic sessions or was it more a huge multi-day M&G? What kind of topics, how well was it attended etc.

Coupleerotic, the convention was like a buffet. You could pick and choose what you wanted, when you wanted it. There were a couple of hotel floors, select suites, and an entire convention center (couple of large ballrooms) all dedicated to the convention. It began on Wednesday; however many people came in earlier. It's still going, and officially ends on Sunday (tomorrow).

There were many different packages you could purchase. You could attend one day, two days, all of the days, or just the weekend. And you could choose to include a hotel room that would be located on the same floor as others attending. Because this was our first experience ever, we decided to only attend on Wednesday and Thursday nights and we elected to stay at a different hotel. It's just what we were comfortable with.

During the day there were different sessions, seminars, vendors, etc. We did our own thing during the day and did not attend any of the sessions. From what we heard from other couples, most people were sleeping or out sight-seeing (it is, afterall, Vegas), so the during the day stuff was boring. You asked what topics were available, and from what we heard there was a newbie session, a flirting session, sex-toy session, single-guy session, and an all-ladies session. Also on the weekend Ron Jeremy was going to give his own little session/seminar.

Each night there was a HUGE meet and greet in the ballroom from 9 to 1-ish. There were different costume themes each night if you wanted to dress up. There was a cash bar and a DJ. We thoroughly enjoyed the "dance"/M&G and had so many conversations with a variety of people. We got a TON of advice from veterans, met two porn stars (one of them being Ron Jeremy), and made some great friends.

After the dance there was an official hospitality suite where many people would go for the afterparty. It was BYOB, there was a DJ, two bedrooms, smoking patios, a sybian, and the hosts were making fresh chocolate chip cookies! There were also plenty of other afterparties and many people just floated around until they found something that suited their desires.

It was kind of slow on Wednesday and Thursday, the two nights we attended, which was fine with us. We were in the area for Friday and Saturday, but were unable to attend the events as we had vanilla family visiting (bummer!). But we saw that it was PACKED both of those nights. There was even a private pool party going on all day on Friday and Saturday.

We'd like to attend another convention and when we do we'll stay at that hotel and participate in everything!

We were nervous about going, but we're so glad we did.

[serenandsol]

That sounds like a wonderful experience! So glad you had a fun time and thanks for sharing what it was like.

Where do you find out about conventions? We're in CA too.

[couple4couple]

Originally Posted by serenandsol

That sounds like a wonderful experience! So glad you had a fun time and thanks for sharing what it was like.

Where do you find out about conventions? We're in CA too.

We're just all over the forums, the podcasts (swingercast, supersecretswinger), and on the Swing Lifestyle website. We also do alot of googling. We found out about the Vegas convention by googling swinger club in Vegas and found it on one of the Vegas clubs' websites. SwingFest is our newest obsession....we found out about that on swingercast.

Glad to see another Cali couple!

[fun4Ds]

So glad to hear the JP parties was a great time

Just curious though, what was the total price of the package ?



fun4ds