Dan Davis
Dan Davis
Occupation: Director of Operations for Three Expo Events, producers of EXXXOTICA.
Location: New Jersey, United States
The Sex In My Business: My job is to oversee the organization and execution of the EXXXOTICA Expo, which is the largest adult convention dedicated to love and sex in the United States. Over the last 14 years, EXXXOTICA has produced 41 shows in almost a dozen American cities from coast to coast, with about three shows happening each year. In that timeframe we have had close to 1 million like-minded adults come to our events, and we have been covered by all kinds of media outlets ranging from adult press to mainstream, including CNN, “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” “Saturday Night Live,” ESPN, the Wall Street Journal, TMZ, and more.
A Typical Day: Most people think that because Three Expo Events does a few shows a year, we only really work those few weekends. But the truth is that this is a full-time (and then some) position. I work well over 40 hours a week year-round, planning and budgeting our events. I am involved in everything — venues, hotels, decorators, travel coordination, hiring and managing staff (temporary as well as full and part-time workers), marketing, advertising, public relations and publicity, booking talent, selling exhibition space, securing sponsors, logistics, after parties, ancillary businesses, etc. You name it. Everything the show involves, I am in there somewhere.
The Best Part: My favorite thing is definitely seeing everything come to fruition at each event and making it all a success. Seeing the exhibitors happy, stars smiling, and especially the attendees having a good time is by far the biggest reward of the job. To look at it all from 40,000 feet and think, “Wow, look at what we did. That’s pretty damn cool.”
The Worst Part: Encountering nonsense and bias. Because our events are “sex-related”, people tend to categorize us as a porn event, even though this is incorrect. We produce tradeshows for like-minded adults — there is no live nudity or sex at any of our conventions. Having a prospective expo center, hotel, advertising company or radio station refuse our business because of this “sex-related” category still gets under my skin after all these years. Seeing a billboard for a plastic surgeon with a woman in a bikini advertising breast augmentation and then having the same company refuse our advertising, even without any imagery, is incredibly frustrating.
How I Got Here: About 20 years ago, I was hired as a managing editor for a men’s magazine publishing company, which in its heyday produced 39 titles per year. Eventually, I worked my way up to editor-in-chief for a couple of the publications — CLUB and Genesis magazines — and then editorial director and group publisher for the company. After meeting the principal owner of EXXXOTICA when he was first beginning the expo, I came on board in a freelance capacity, which was shortly after the first show. I eventually became a full-time employee and have been working in my current position for the past six years.
What Society Thinks: Sadly, many people are closed-minded and sometimes not only form unfair opinions about what I do, but also about who I am. I am a businessman, a father, etc. I volunteer in my community. I have coached my kids’ sports teams and donated my time and money to various causes. These negative opinions and presumptions have sometimes affected my relationships (and still do), but they should not. I am just a regular guy, no different from anyone else who works hard to take care of their family.
When I’m Not At Work: I typically spend lots of time with my kids and girlfriend, relax, and enjoy life in my downtime.
If you would like to get in touch with Dan about exhibiting, sponsoring, or getting involved, please email him at dan@3xevents.com.
For more about EXXXOTICA Expo, follow them on Instagram and Twitter.
Published May 1, 2020
Updated Dec 19, 2022
Published in Issue VI: Identity