This just in: We’re hearing the well-liked C. Brian Devinney (pictured), who ran HX magazine’s Expo division (once believed to generate significant cashf low for the company) and known for sporting his kilts, was just fired from Matthew Bank’s company. “It looks like the Gay Life and Gay Travel Expos are about to implode,” says a source, adding, “What happens to all those advertisers who paid in advance to be part of all the Expos?”
Prof. O. G. Whataschnozell
I was invited to a meeting once where people chant. I told them that I had never done that before and I was not in the mood because I had just been fired from my job after 12 years due to a downsizing. The room suddenly exploded in applause.
Wondering if they understood what I had just said I said it again while they were clapping and they told me now was the time to go out and find a better job. They were right. I thank them each time I think back on that day.
I did not take up chanting but I sure as hell kept that attitude and no longer give one fuck about quitting or being told I am being let go. When you work for someone else keep in mind you do not make the final decision in those types of situations (employee vs owner).
jarvisbearcub
Enough about that..
Any kilt pics? Woof!
Roy Pyatt
@jarvisbearcub: i concur
Lance Rockland
What a brilliant business decision!
(Sarcasm….)
Jake
Wasn’t the Expo stuff the only piece making money? I heard that when the guy was in various cities negotiating venues that Matthew told him to use checks for deposits that he and Unger knew were being drawn on accounts with no money?? That cannot be true? I remember Brian working tirelessly at one the of NY Expos we attended. He worked around the clock and all I heard from Bank was complain, complain, complain — and then when Unger arrived he just bragged to all the clients at the booths that he “owns all this,” and would waive his arms. Like owning a collection of gay carnival acts is something to be proud of? Brian was the best this HX had — and it is too bad they never appreciated all the hard work and connections he brought to the company.
CATWomyn
Brian put his heart and soul into that company. It really sucks that they treated him so bad.
Brian
Life sucks. But the history of the kilt stretches back to at least the end of the 16th century. Although the kilt is an item of traditional Scottish highland dress, the nationalism of that tradition is relatively recent. It was only with the Romantic Revival of the early 19th century that the highland kilt was adopted by Lowlanders and the Scottish Diaspora as a symbol of national identity. People from other countries with Celtic connections, some Irish, Cornish, Welsh and Manx, have also adopted tartan kilts in recent times, although to a lesser degree. Similar clothing had long been abandoned by related cultures such as Gauls, and Scandinavians. The kilt was abandoned like Brian was abandoned from HX and Banks & Unger’s companies.
Lisa Lipnicki
Queerty should have been responsible enough to report that Brian already has a new job. He got one the very next day after he was let go.
JJ Sanchez
@Lisa Lipnicki: Thank heavens! Brian was fantastic to work with at HX. My heart dropped a little when I saw this in my RSS feed.
Best of luck to him moving forward!
GalPal
Lisa: That is great news for Brian. I heard that he is looking for a job. I had a friend that was about to reach out to him with an opportunity that he’d be so perfect for. But if he has a job….. I will let her know. Thanks for the update!
Lisa Lipnicki
@GalPal: I’d say have your friend reach out to him anyway. You never know what he may say.
FlyBoy
Great news that Brian got a job. We worked with him on several travel Expos and felt that he was a hard worker. We just had something open up at our travel group that he would have been a good fit for, but our loss. It sounds like the company was miserable to work for but we wish Brian continued success.
FrequentFLYr
You go Brian. Take the world by storm. You are great.
Lisa Lipnicki
@FlyBoy: Reach out to him anyway. You never know what he will say. I talked to him last night and I know he loved working with the travel companies you may change his mind.
Molesto
Too bad all of the people that Matthew Banks and David Unger fired did not have jobs lined up. It sounds like Brian had his shit together and had his resumes out. A true sign of a professional.
jonah
Pretty sure Brian hasn’t formerly accepted anything so I’m sure he’d be VERY happy to hear from anyone who might want to hire him. He’s a rockstar! Snap him up before he says yes.
Lisa Lipnicki
@jonah: If that’s true then I say EVERYONE CALL HIM NOW!
BossSkaggs
Does this mean that Queerty was responsible or not, Lisa? I do not get the he already has a new job but then he is looking at new opportunities???? How should we proceed with Brian. Do you know him, hence the No. 8 reply that he has a job?
No. 8 · Lisa Lipnicki
Queerty should have been responsible enough to report that Brian already has a new job. He got one the very next day after he was let go.
Posted: May 28, 2009 at 9:23 am
Lisa Lipnicki
@BossSkaggs: Queerty did not report that he had a new job already but just that he was fired. His facebook status said that he had a new job. Yes I know him and I know he had an offer on the table. Jonah says that he hasn’t taken the offer. I thought he had. I say if you’re interested in hiring him then give him a call and see what he has to say. I sent him a text message but haven’t heard back. It couldn’t hurt to reach out to him and find out for yourself.
JJ Sanchez
@Lisa Lipnicki: I echo that sentiment!
Steve
The Gay Life Expo was never a money maker, as I know for a fact that they discounted practically every booth. I do not believe they actually cover the cost of the Javits or decorator with the revenue they received.
Since I produce the Original GLBT Expo for 16 years, every exhibitor told us of the way HX handled their customers. It wasn’t pretty.
Our show March 20-21,2010 will be our 17th at the Javits. We are the original, we do not discount booths and we donate thousands of $$ of booth space to non-profit groups and free admission tickets also for those groups.One last item.
HX copied every move we made. I should take it as a compliment but it also hurt our show. They did such a poor job producing the show that many people associated Gay Life with The Original GLBT Expo.
HX Magazine is also run the same way where they discount ads. Why would any legitimate company pay retail when HX will sell it for rock bottom pricing.
Steven Wesler
President of the RDP Group
Producer of the 17th Original GLBT Expo.
Sandle
Steven: You are so right. We had booths at the EXPO for a years and at the end they gave us a free one next to the one we bought just to fill the room up. It was like a ghost town and the show has been going downhill ever since Bank put his grubby paws on the established event. It was such a special thing to the community and we will miss it. As for the way they are run – shit does dribble downhill. We look forward to your Expo. You are a true partner to the LGBT community.
RDPGroup
WHAT’S The RDP Group All About?
Being UNIQUE – Not HX Expo
HAVING INTEGRITY – Not HX Expo
Showing CHARACTER – Not HX Expo
DELIVERING QUALITY – Not HX Expo
BUILDING CONFIDENCE – Not HX Expo
BEING INNOVATIVE – Not HX Expo
DOING BUSINESS – Not HX Expo
Demonstrating ABILITY – Not HX Expo
Acquiring TECHNOLOGY- Not HX Expo
Applying CREATIVITY- Not HX Expo
PRODUCING SHOWS FOR ALMOST 30 YEARS!
Bank at HX and Unger at Avalon copied)
The RDP Group is a proud producer of a number of niche’ events. Since 1975, they have managed and produced thousands of trade and consumer events throughout the United States. We believe that the “BEST SHOWS” are the ones that give back to the community. Such “giving back to the community” has earned The RDP Group a tremendous amount of loyalty and goodwill from our sponsors, exhibitors and attendees (not like the HX Expos)
RDP’s track record includes shows that have broken attendance records at the Hartford Civic Center, Meadowlands Convention Center, Nassau Coliseum, Jacob Javits Convention Center, Pittsburgh Convention Center, Providence Civic Center, Valley Forge Convention Center, Moriel Convention Center, Birmingham Convention Center, to name a few. We combine our unique and niche’ Marketing Concept with our community awareness approach to offer the niche’ Community with the best possible Expo of its kind — unlike the HX Expos.
RDP’s experienced producers include Steven Wesler, Sharmayne Wesler, Irene Ziskin, Nancy Connon, Denyse Norris and Pam Burton. Combined experience is over 100 years show experience.
The RDP Group has also owned and managed the Meadowlands Convention Center/Meadowlands Productions/Meadowlands Electrical; managed All-American Display Co., an Exposition Service Contracting Company, and Meadowlands Recordings – so much more experience than any of the competitors.
For more information, feel free to contact us at anytime.
Simply call 800-243-9774 or [email protected].
BrianRocks
We will miss Brian. He rocks!
Frieda FAbulous
Wow, Steve of RDP. You’re just kicking a guy when he’s down. Not only is it now published that a guy was fired, but you’re choosing to denigrate someone’s work. Or is it HX. Either way you’ve shown an extreme lack of professionalism by posting such on the website.
If anything you owe this guy an apology. You can hate HX all you want. Most of people do. But you’re bringing an innocent person into the picture and branding him as well. Do you not think prospective employers are going to look him on the internet? When they see this what do you think will happen?
Seriously. This is sad.
Steve2
Brian is terrific. He did what he could with a very challenging group of people. He has a terrific reputation in the community and was just stuck with a bum-deal with a group of individuals who were more interested in the bottom line than making a difference for the LGBT community. I did not see Brian’s name mentioned in any negative way above. Did you, Frieda?
Pacco
Brian is not the bad guy here, it is HX for using him and dumping him after all the hard work was done. They did the same with many Expo employees – they were fired the day after the Expo – after being worked for all hours. It is the way of HX.
Frieda FAbulous
Doesn’t matter if you mentioned him. He was head of their expo group. You denigrated the expos HX did. The logical conclusion is that Brian was the cause and Brian sucks. You didn’t make the separation clear in your statement until just now. If he’s so great, why aren’t you trying to track him down to make an offer?
Steve2
Brian told people of Facebook that he has a job.
Frieda FAbulous
Look above, Steve. No one has confirmed it. Hey Lisa, did Brian ever text back? If he’s so great and you’re in the same business, you should try to snag him. Or are you afraid that he will learn the truth about your business. I’ve been to your show and Brian’s. Neither are really all that great. That yellow “carpet” this year was heinous.
Bryan
Brian is a great guy. HX is a great publication. Why is everyone so angry? We all have heartache in our lives. Deal with it. Do the math, the magazine has been providing entertainment for many years. It has been an important part of the community. Get over it.
Lisa Lipshitski
I would hire Brian if I had a job for him. I want to see what is under that Kilt. Big low hangers I am sure.
SFOPaul
As a disliked bag of wind, I read your post with great interest as it relates to the question, “Is This the End of Gay Media?” As an employee of gay media, I find many of your assertions paint an inaccurate picture of our company’s landscape and strategy.
First of all, you note a few months back that The Advocate changed its publishing schedule to monthly. This decision was made in May of 2008, well ahead of the current challenges that face print media.
http://www.ebar.com/news/artic…..ticle=3265
Clearly, the world of Gay Media would like to link that decision with the doom and gloom of HX in order to support Bank’s effort to be “provocative.” The fact of the matter is that the strategic decision was part and parcel of the company’s envisioning of the relationship between the print and online expressions of The Advocate.
It was long overdue and part of the company’s immediate plan. That online and print strategy of OUT and ADVOCATE magazines is proving even more beneficial during the unexpected collapse of the American economy. Advocate.com’s traffic has increased by triple digits, and newsstand sales of the monthly magazine are exceeding the company’s goals.
While an e-mail sent out to entertainment publicists from certain gay publications uses traffic numbers that dispute that, it should be noted that Regent Media is not tagged for the analytics service that HX refers to. Additionally, their direct mail campaigns renewing or signing up new subscriptions are the strongest they have been in years.
Your old post went on to say that The Advocate’s “parent company” PlanetOut reduced its staff by a third. PlanetOut has not been The Advocate’s parent company since Regent Media completed its acquisition in August of 2008. This simple fact underscores the many inaccuracies posted in that story.
Amplifying certain media group’s incorrect reporting, this piece goes on to discuss specific staff members like Kerry Eleveld (whose named is spelled incorrectly in your piece). Contrary to your assertion, Ms.Eleveld is not and has never been The Advocate’s sole news staffer. Sean Kennedy is currently our news editor, and Eleveld has transitioned from political editor to Washington correspondent. Indeed, moving Ms.Eleveld to Washington, D.C., expands our presence in the hub of a dynamic political climate that is important to our LGBT audience. Other news staffers, including Neal Broverman, Ross von Metzke, and Michelle Garcia, are part of our dedicated newsroom.
Regent, OUT & Advocate are very proud of the work that their news staff and a bevy of contributing writers like Julie Bolcer (who was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for her Advocate.com work) and others are doing. Such good efforts from a hardworking group of LGBT journalists allowed Advocate.com to suspend its use of the AP in 2008 after Regent Media’s acquisition of the stalwart brand.
And as long as I am writing about the work of great journalists, it needs to be said that the expansion of The Advocate’s scope of coverage to provide more attention to subjects like finance and health speak to the needs of all LGBT Americans.
Expansion in coverage of these topics is not at the expense of news in the brand. News coverage has also expanded on the Web with a growing video strategy as well. What the LGBT audience interacts with every day is not limited or defined merely by our sexual orientation, but rather how we live comprehensive lives as members of society. While your past posts are critical of The Advocate’s expansion into covering new topics, looking at the entire world through an LGBT lens is something that only gay media can and will ever do. If we don’t share our thoughts or points of view on issues that affect our lives, who will? David Unger?
Finally, I find it disconcerting that your past posts statesthat you reached out to David Unger, who did not respond to your requests for comment, yet you failed to reach out to our company and you posted completely out-of-context and outdated quotes from our CEO Paul Colichman. After we passed the inaccurate statement describing PlanetOut as owner of The Advocate when the company went public in 2004 (it did not buy The Advocate until 2005), we were taken aback by the quote from Paul that he has no interest in gay media. While it’s true that there was one issue of a here! Networks branded “magazine,” it was a marketing tool in its inception. The very old quote speaks to the marketplace as having been saturated by established, solid LGBT print brands. Since purchasing the properties, everyone at this company, starting with Colichman and his partner Steve Jarchow, has been committed to reinvigorating what gay pubs refer to as “the most prominent gay publication on the planet.”
For 41 years The Advocate has been built on the shoulders and breasts of men and women who cared deeply about our community having a voice. Regent Media takes the responsibility of continuing that tradition very seriously as well as the responsibility of providing a progressive, secure workplace for its hundreds of employees and thousands of freelance journalists, contractors, and artists. While they strive for perfection every day, they are under no illusion that they are perfect.
They try every day to do a better job at what we do and eagerly look for constructive criticism to make their brands better.
The media worlds needs to remain optimistic around its challenges and grateful for the opportunity to work with talented people doing important work.
Enough of the infighting that plagues our community. Celebrate. Give love and life to everything that is.
Frieda Fabulous
And how does this relate to this post about someone losing their job. Way to co-op,SFO Paul
Lisa Lipnicki
Have not heard back from Brian. Left him a voicemail. I know he’s aware of the article here but not the love he’s been getting.
LisaSoftstoollips
Brian is great. I want to look under his kilt.
HX Travel Expo Client
We prepaid for four shows plus bag inserts based solely on our experience of working with Brian. He has been a tireless worker who has done everything he could to make his clients happy. Had it not been for his work we would have dropped out of the travel expos entirely this year. The management of HX Media has not put any money or resources into these shows and relied solely on Brian’s dedication and attention to detail to make these shows run as well as they possible given the limitations provided. At the NYC expo that we attended we watched as Brian was upbraided by a client who was disappointed with the turnout and were impressed at how well he maintained his composure.
Today, we got a farewell email from Brian letting us know of his dismissal. This was followed up less than 2 hours later by one of his colleagues who simply hit forward on his email and send a sales pitch to us without the benefit of a letter, introduction, or anything. We turned him down and will not do business with HX fafter this incident. It was truly tacky and classless on their part. If anything Brian is better off with another company and anyone who lands him is getting an amazing person.
Jason
@Travel Expo Client: Ditto. Everyone that received a request from this bunch should hit delete. Brian is a great guy and although he had bad experiences, he rarely spoke ill of his bosses.
Lily
Brian was aces in my book. He will be missed. I wish I could hire him too.
Lily
And for Steve with the RDP expo: Your sales staff discounted us heavily and made promises of over 20,000 people attending. Attendance was so bad and the quality so poor we shut down at 3pm on Sunday and left. The HX expos had their problems but Brian never lied to us like you did.
Lisa
@GalPal: Did your friend reach out to Brian? He told me he was turning his Blackberry off and enjoying the rest of the day and would deal with messages later.
Jason
Brian we want you to get a great job. We agree with you that HX staff, especially Matthew and his BF in his special office and special pay — are huge A-holes. You have many fans out there. So screw them them and all that they did to you and taking you for advantage and all that. You are LOVED in NYC.
GawkFart
Meet Martin Basroon, previous C.F.O. Of ‘New York Press’
The woes of David Unger’s failure the New York Press are infamous—staff turnover, low morale, little money. (There’s a plus side too—a crazy history, stunts sometimes gone right and also hilariously wrong, and always pluck and gritty determination.) While looking around at the men behind the weekly, we realized we knew nothing about New York Press’s Chief Financial Officer, Martin Basroon. He was on his duties since 2005, at the behest of a friend, Press owner David Unger, and he took that job pretty much right after his release from prison because David Unger insisted that he be part of any project he worked on.
Basroon was convicted in 2000 of stealing $12 million from investors in a Ponzi-like scheme, and was released from federal prison in March 2005. Sound Madoff like?
Basroon was the president of a company called Plaza Mortgage Inc., which was charged with duping around 200 investors out of more than $12 million. Many of those 200 investors were his friends and relatives, according to reports at the time.
According to court records and published accounts, Basroon told his investors that the money was going towards high-interest loans to poor Atlanta residents, but it was actually used to shore up his mortgage company. Sound familiar. A friend of David Unger? He was charged with transporting a fraudulently obtained check, conspiracy, and mail fraud, and sentenced in June 2000. His conviction and sentence were affirmed on appeal in 2002. And now David Unger has destroyed Window Media. There are similarities but Madoff was a true scam artist that got caught with his hand in the 50 billion dollar cookie jar.
The shocking revelation that prominent investment manager Bernard Madoff’s hedge fund, Ascot Partners, was a giant scam will intensify redemptions from scores of other hedge funds that will be forced to liquidate holdings and increase downward pressure on stock prices.
This additional negative influence on the market, together with liquidations by mutual funds facing redemptions and endowments facing the need for liquidity, are three significant barriers for optimism about the direction of stock prices in the near term.
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Run, don’t walk, into the high yields and safety of municipal bonds. Which ones? Click here for current buys from Marilyn Cohen inForbes Tax-Advantaged Investor.
The arrest of the 70-year-old Madoff, widely considered to have the magic touch as an investor, is another serious black eye for the hedge fund industry and all non-transparent investment vehicles. Investors across the New York area have clamored to be in Ascot because of the stability of double-digit returns and the reports of serious wealth creation. The scandal is bound to reveal the inner workings of the hedge fund industry, whereby intermediary feeders bring in their clients and take fees for putting clients with an investment manager.
If Madoff hadn’t faced $7 billion in redemptions, this Ponzi scheme might not have been discovered. What’s astonishing is that he got away with it for so long with nobody discovering it. What his four family members in Ascot knew is a puzzle that everyone wants answered, but one thing is certain: It’s virtually impossible to have returns like Madoff reported, and it should have been a major warning signal.
Aside from the impact on stocks overall, the exposure of fraud on a massive scale is also devastating to individuals who trusted Madoff with their fortunes and to nonprofit organizations like Yeshiva University, which counted on Madoff’s purported secret trading system to help operate its institutions. Sterling Equities, the investment vehicle of the Wilpon family, which owns the New York Mets baseball team, had $300 million reportedly invested in Ascot.
So did some wealthy investors who had money in related hedge funds who were never informed of ties to Ascot. Another private bank executive placed $10 million from a client just two weeks ago. He knew of another family that had $100 million with Madoff. A woman in California told us that she had lost everything with Madoff and another hedge fund.
Madoff is the real crook in so many of his investor’s and family’s lives. Very sad for many.
646guy
Greetings all from the real C. Brian Devinney.
First and foremost, thanks to everyone for their kind words and comments. I have had an amazing time while working at HX Media and have learned so much about the trade show industry during my tenure there. While that may sound like a canned/”wanting to leave on good terms” type of response to the most cynical of Queerty readers, it is the truth. I would still be working in the banking industry if it wasn’t for HX. Pulling off the full 180 and changing careers, especially at my age (I’m older than I look), is not easy and it would not have been accomplished without HX.
I know there is a lot of HX hate out there, but I do not hold any ill will. Technically, I was not fired by HX but was laid off. Firing means there was cause for dismissal. Laid off, by definition, is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment for business reasons, such as the decision that certain positions are no longer necessary or a business slow-down or interruption in work (yeah I wikipedia’d that shit to get the definition right). Yeah it looks like I’m splitting hairs, but since this is my reputation on the line, I prefer the right term be used.
To my friends and clients, you know how to get a hold of me (or at least you should). I thank all of you for your kind words, compliments, and comments. It has been a pleasure working with all of you over the past three, four years. Our paths will cross again I am sure.
Brian
646guy
PS Lisa…you’re a nut and I love you for that….
Kimberly
Good luck Brian. Are you also Gawkfart? I noticed that they posted around the same time. It is fun to have an alter ego and release what is on one’s mind. You are very inspirational.
646guy
No I am not Gawkfart…Bernie Madoff had nothing to do with being laid off
HX Travel Expo Client
Brian’s a class act…HX not so much…
MileHighClub
I am glad that Brian escaped HX. The stories that he use to share with us at the Expos about not having postage to mail media kits, not even paper to print on — one time they had to use color paper that they found in another office he told me. The holding of paychecks and strategically changing the pay periods so that sales staff did not get paid for weeks – I am so glad that he was able to survive that place. By the stories he told us I pictured the place being a real nightmare.
Lisa
Brian was aces in my book. He will be missed. I wish I could hire him too.
Happening
Dear Staff,
It is with a heavy heart that I announce I’m leaving Window Media to join Dynamix Unified Solutions as Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing. Mike Kitchens will step in to my role in Florida. Steve Myers will do the same in Atlanta.
I have been truly blessed with meeting so many amazing people and hold dear to my heart the fond memories of the last ten years. I look forward to reading the publications and supporting their advertisers for years to come.
Sincerely,
KEVIN HOPPER
HX Travel Expo Client
@MileHighClub: The fact that his boss refused to devote money to market the travel expos is insane. How did he expect people to come and people to be happy with an expo that had maybe 200 people comming to it? When Community Marketing ran the expos,wewould have over 1000 at each show. His bosses only cared about taking our money and giving us no returns.
Another Travel Expo Client
I was forwarded this posting by a colleague and am compelled to respond.
The expos are dead without Brian. They could not hire anyone to put forth the hours of work and attention he paid to the shows for the pitiful salary he was paid. As we told Brian before, the day he leaves HX is the day that we follow him to a new company – and we will. HX will not receive any further business from us.
The biggest problem with the expo lies solely at the feet of his employer, Matthew Bank. In the first year of HX taking over the travel expos, there was one constant you could count on – Brian would be working the room, responding to client needs and concerns and Matt would be sitting at the front desk ignoring the clients. This was something that we saw at every single show – even when Matt wasn’t traveling with the tour. He would be at the front while Brian was working the room. When we would send emails to Matt asking for a response *from him* we would hear back from Brian. The only time we heard anything from him was when he asked Brian to call and organize complimentary room nights for his vacations. The expos were, to us, nothing but a playground for Brian’s bosses to use to book free trips and stays.
To my fellow exhibitors, do not count on getting your money back from HX. It has probably already been spent and you will never see it again. If you charged the money, dispute the charge. I regret paying by check as I know that we will never get that money back.
Brian, let us know where you land in terms of work. Wherever you go that we can support you, we will. Like most people here, I wish we could hire you.
JB
News of Brian being a free agent made the rounds at the NGLCC conference in Seattle. He may get an offer sooner than he expects. His work is well known and well respected.
davidAnger
His work as an alien is recognized by so many. His work as someone who cannot keep a job is well respected. His work as a coordinator of a bunch of people — with the help of a staff that did all the work, is well respected. The talk of Seattle…
AnotherTravelExpoloser
I was forwarded this posting by a colleague and am compelled to respond because I am such a moron.
The expos are dead without Brian. They could not hire anyone to put forth the hours of work and attention he paid to the shows for the pitiful salary he was paid. Wait, that was his job and what he got paid for. What do you offers someone who did not even graduate HS? Just a rumor.
As we told Brian before, the day he leaves HX is the day that we follow him to a new company – and we will. We will follow him to MacDonalds and buy a quarter pounder.
HX will not receive any further business from us unless they continue to give us free sex with the back of book whores and a huge discount.
The biggest problem with the expo lies solely at the feet of his employer, Matthew Bank. He has big feet.
In the first year of HX taking over the travel expos, there was one constant you could count on – Brian would be working the room, responding to client needs and concerns and Matt would be sitting at the front desk ignoring the clients — especially given the fact that Brian did not work for HX the first year HX took over the Expo. You could be guaranteed he would be there.
This was something that we saw at every single show – even when Matt wasn’t traveling with the tour. He would be at the front while Brian was working the room, doing what he got paid to do. When we would send emails to Matt asking for a response *from him* we would hear back from Brian — could that be because Brian ran the Expo division and “Matt” was paying him to do a job — and by our having to call “Matt” it is because Brian was not doing his job???
The only time we heard anything from him was when he asked Brian to call and organize complimentary room nights for his vacations. The expos were, to us, nothing but a playground for Brian’s bosses to use to book free trips and stays. OMG and like we did not whore the free editorial.
To my fellow exhibitors, do not count on getting your money back from HX. It has probably already been spent and you will never see it again. If you charged the money, dispute the charge. I regret paying by check as I know that we will never get that money back. How will I ever pay for my alcoholic, ice cream-eating binges now??? Boo Hoo Hoo Hoo Hoo
Brian, let us know where you land in terms of work. Wherever you go that we can support you, we will. We would offer you a job if we were more than just the receptionists at our office. Like most people here, I wish we could hire you but we are just loser and cannot do much more than pick our noses with regret and sorrow that you are not made Director of a huge company somewhere in the world.
Carlos
> HX will not receive any further business from us unless they continue to give us free sex with the back of book whores and a huge discount.
@AnotherTravelExpoloser: Wow, what a class act. You sound like a real nightmare client. HX should ditch you — no one needs your business that badly. By the way, what is the name of your business? I want to make sure and NEVER give you any of my money.
Frieda Fabulous
@AnotherTravelExpoloser: Clearly you do not know Brian and your attempts at humor are futile.
Evil Betty Speaks
He got let go just in time.
PS Love the new “Recommended” feature queerty….