TAMPA BAY, FL — This year’s international Cybernet Expo is visiting the sunny and festive southeast portion of the nation — and thanks to Badpuppy Show and Sell sponsorship, the Expo’s 10th show anniversary is going to be just that much more festive… and diverse.Lisa Turner, marketing and advertising manager for Badpuppy.com, is excited about the company signing onto the Expo as its first gay sponsor for the June 7th – 10th event.

“Cybernet Expo was the very first conference that I ever attended,” she explains. “It was in Montreal and I noticed that there was a very different run of people and companies as compared to the Internext Expo, which has its own following. Being as this is the Cybernet Expo, it’s going to be a whole different group of companies that cross-market gay and straight.”

The move to the east coast is another reason that Turner expects this year’s Expo to be especially profitable for GLBT focused companies such as Badpuppy. “It’s going to be a whole new draw, not only of east coast people, but of gay people who may have labeled Cybernet Expo as being a straight show. We can show them that it’s expanding, growing, and reaching out to the gay community. All it takes is seeing a couple of bigger companies come on.”

Badpuppy has selected the Show and Sell sponsorship “mostly in the hopes of drawing a larger gay crowd to the show,” according to Turner, who also added that the company hopes to “scoop up and get working with” any gay companies that attend the Expo.

Cybernet Expo director LAJ is delighted to have Badpuppy join the mid-size conference’s Show and Sell list, which includes familiar names such as Sunny Dollars, HotMovies, and TheBestPorn.

“Given that several predominantly gay-owned and run companies have previously attended other tradeshows, potentially getting lost in the shuffle, we couldn’t be more thrilled to have a leader in the market — and Florida based company — like Badpuppy making what I consider to be a very wise sponsorship decision,” LAJ explains. “Who wouldn’t want to be a big fish in a medium sized pond?” he asks. “It’s refreshing to see how many companies ‘get it’ and are spending their sponsorship dollars on an international event that welcomes all facets of the adult and tech world.”

Turner and Badpuppy look forward to the chance to be the change they’ve looked for and make up for time lost by not attending previous Cybernet Expos. “Basically, we’re looking to meet and greet companies that we may have not had an opportunity to meet before, due to our lack of participation in Cybernet Expo.”

Early bird registration for the Tampa Bay, FL Cybernet Expo at the Hilton Westshore continues until late March, at which point the $109 price will increase. A memories page with photos from previous Expos will launch soon on the www.CybernetExpo.com site. Those considering sponsorships will want to contact jay@ynot.com soon, as they are half sold out.