Scott And Carol Present - Viva IAAPA in Vegas!

Greetings from IAAPA in Las Vegas! Arriving late last night one can see why Hoover Dam is so close to Vegas. Lights of all colors stretched for the entire horizon and just had to use most, if not all the electricity the dam provides! You can see the glow in the sky for miles, from street level it seems like it is too bright outside to sleep, so everything stays open all night. We will do some reports on Las Vegas activities outside of IAAPA, but this week will be only show coverage.

Most of the first day consists of professional seminars targeted towards specific groups. They have a Museum and Science Center group that represents edutainment, the fastest growing segment of the average family’s entertainment dollar. Many of these organizations are facing some trying times with today’s economic conditions. One of the seminars, “Metrics That Matter,” was presented by Steve Jacobson and Beech Clark, they started with an amazing fact, 35% of the top 5,000 global companies fail to make an insightful decision based on information they already have, but don’t use. They also explained the difference between a mission statement and a strategy, (a mission statement is stable and a strategy is dynamic.) They stressed that any benchmarks must be both current and accurate to be actionable.

Other interesting titles included “Not for Profit is a Tax Status, not a Business Plan,” which is oriented towards increasing revenues for organizations, “You’ve Got Mail, which advised attendees of better email marketing strategies for attractions businesses.” “Strategic Pricing With Consumer Insight,” which was a case study of Disney’s Magic Your Way Promotion and “Getting the most Bang from your investment,” which was a case study about rebranding a park with little capital investment.

A quick peek through the trade show doors showed an incredible amount of activity. Many truckloads of exhibit material have been delivered everybody was frantically putting their booths together. No place for the weak, you have to move fast and work smart to be on the floor right now. And, there were lots of activities in the outdoor exhibit area as well.

Tomorrow it will all be different. We’ll start off with our first impressions from the floor and go on from there. Sleep tight, the ride is about to leave the station!